[UNOFFICIAL GUIDE] Flash Sailfish X using Linux or MacOS
 

UPDATE: If your bootloader is still locked or if you updated to firmware 34.3.A.0.228 or newer before unlocking consider following the official
linux-instructions instead! Otherwise their guide recommends using windows for updating so in that case this one is still useful if you don't want to deal with windows.

This is an unofficial Guide for installing the official Sailfish X image on your Xperia X (single sim-version, it might possibly work with the dual-sim version but that's untested) using Linux/MacOS.

Some people are reporting that this guide also works with the dual-sim version.

Please keep in mind that while I don't think it is possible to accidentally permanently damage your phone by following this tutorial it's still you who does the flashing and since these are unofficial instructions neither me nor Jolla is responsible for any damage that might happen in the process.

If your bootloader is still locked updating to the latest android-ota eliminates the need for the flashtool step (do the update before unlocking the bootloader). It may be needed to update multiple times (until android doesn't find any new updates anymore) so don't assume that you're done after updating once.

If you haven't already unlocked your bootloader you may want to consider backing up your drm-keys first.

First we'll need to unlock the bootloader, this will void your guarantee (at least officially, in some places this is not enforceable).

If you already unlocked our bootloader you can skip to the flashtool-step.

It will also will erase your drm-keys from your phone! They'll be lost forever unless you backed them up! (irrelevant for sailfish x but backing them up might be useful if you ever want to use stock android again)

Go to the developer-settings in Android (can be made visible by repeatedly tapping the build-version in the settings) and activate OEM unlock.

After that we'll need to install fastboot on your computer. To do that on Ubuntu/Debian run

On MacOS install homebrew and run

Obtain your unlock-key by following the instructions here.

Get the device into fastboot mode by fully turning it off and plugging in the power-cable while holding volume up.

Run on MacOS and on linux.

Congrats! Your bootloader is now unlocked :)

We will download and install the newest official firmware from Sony which allows flashing to a special partition (on Windows this step is done using Emma, but we don't have that on Linux/MacOS so we'll use the unofficial flashtool).

Download and install the unofficial flashtool for your platform.

Download this image (mirror, mirror 2) (source). If you have the dual-sim version (again, untested) you should look for the newest update for the f5122.

Fully turn off your phone.

Open flashtool.

Plug your phone into your computer. Flashtool should now recognize your phone. If it doesn't unplug it again and plug it back in while holding volume-down.

Click on the Flash-Symbol, select Flash Mode, select the folder where you downloaded the file and select the xperia-x firmware (34.3.*). Leave the rest of the settings alone unless you know what you're doing.

Click on the Flash button. This will now install the update so it will take a while. Don't get scared if it's stuck at preparing files for a long time, it's supposed to be that way. If an error pops up (can't quite remember what the message was) select continue.

After this is done unplug your phone, Quit Flashtool (hint for MacOS: cmd-q won't properly exit the program so be sure to click on File->Exit to exit Flashtool) and boot into Android once.

Now fully turn off your phone again and enter fastboot-mode (hold volume-up while plugging in your phone).
The led should now be blue.

Extract the Sailfish-X zip to a location of your choice.

Go to this site, accept the terms and conditions and extract the SW_binaries_for_Xperia_AOSP_M_MR1_3.10_v13_loire.i mg file to the unpacked folder.

cd to the location where you unpacked the zip and run
to mark the flash.sh as executable.

Now run on Linux and on MacOS to flash Sailfish OS.

Finally reboot your phone and enjoy Sailfish OS!

Re: [UNOFFICIAL GUIDE] Flash Sailfish X using Linux or MacOS
 

The Mega link is down :(

Re: [UNOFFICIAL GUIDE] Flash Sailfish X using Linux or MacOS
 

I updated the link to a new one which works for me. At least one person in the irc is having trouble with it though so I'll also link to a mirror in a few minutes.

Re: [UNOFFICIAL GUIDE] Flash Sailfish X using Linux or MacOS
 

I have my xperia x already unlocked, flashed with TWRP and a custom rom.

Do I have to go back to the official Sony rom before flashing? And do I need this drm-keys for the steps described above?

Re: [UNOFFICIAL GUIDE] Flash Sailfish X using Linux or MacOS
 

You don't need any drm keys.

If you didn't run ota while on an official sony rom in the last few days you'll need to install the update. It enables a special partition to be written to from fastboot-mode which is needed to install sailfish-x. (there is a workaround but this way is much easier)

Re: [UNOFFICIAL GUIDE] Flash Sailfish X using Linux or MacOS
 

Thanks jakibaki for your instructions!

One additional question: If I installed the community build, performed these countermeasures:
devel-su
mkdir ~/oem
mount /dev/disk/by-partlabel/oem ~/oem
rm -rf ~/oem/*
cp -ar /system/vendor/* ~/oem
umount ~/oem
rmdir ~/oem
then do I still have to use emma to return to the latest Android for XperiaX or can I just flash official downloaded SailfishX over the community build?

Re: [UNOFFICIAL GUIDE] Flash Sailfish X using Linux or MacOS
 

That should also work. Just remove the oem line from the flash.sh script before flashing :)

EDIT: Turns out there are some problems with that way because the blobs were updated. Read this if you really don't want to use flashtool.

Re: [UNOFFICIAL GUIDE] Flash Sailfish X using Linux or MacOS
 

Sony sent me an unlock key like 146xxxxxxxxxx761. However
sudo fastboot oem unlock <MY_KEY> failed:

FAILED (remote: Incorrect format for unlock data. Should be on the form "0x)

Just added "0x" before the unlock key, then okay.

Re: [UNOFFICIAL GUIDE] Flash Sailfish X using Linux or MacOS
 

Thanks for the hint, I'll clarify it in the guide :)

Re: [UNOFFICIAL GUIDE] Flash Sailfish X using Linux or MacOS
 

i flashed that then flashed sfos but network isnt working :/ guessing something didnt flash?

Re: [UNOFFICIAL GUIDE] Flash Sailfish X using Linux or MacOS
 

That's weird :/ Network is working flawlessly for me.

Does it just not find any wifi-networks or what's happening?

Re: [UNOFFICIAL GUIDE] Flash Sailfish X using Linux or MacOS
 

doesnt find wifi or ofono. I am downgrading from android 7 to android 6 so maybe thats it?

Re: [UNOFFICIAL GUIDE] Flash Sailfish X using Linux or MacOS
 

Wait, did you not flash the 7.1 image I linked?

Re: [UNOFFICIAL GUIDE] Flash Sailfish X using Linux or MacOS
 

I flashed the community build before, and prepared the oem partition.
Now flashed official without flashing the oem part from flash.sh.

Wi-fi doesn't work, but 4G network is.
Camera doesn't work.

With the community build, SW xperia blobs was V12. With the official it is V13 (SW_binaries_for_Xperia_AOSP_M_MR1_3.10_v13_loire. zip)

I guess it's the blobs that needs updating, any ideas to how to do that without flashing android and do it the official way?

EDIT:
Updating the blobs made wonders. Camera and wi-fi is working now:

Re: [UNOFFICIAL GUIDE] Flash Sailfish X using Linux or MacOS
 

Think I did? Its a spanish image?

Re: [UNOFFICIAL GUIDE] Flash Sailfish X using Linux or MacOS
 

Finally managed to do this. It wouldn't flash SailfishX for me saying the android version was wrong, so I reflashed the image you shared, booted into android, and then shutdown and repeated and it worked fine.

Brilliant! All the worries about having to find a Windows PC seem unfounded :)



As for the network issues, there was a post on another thread where the user reported that leaving the phone in Airplane mode before flashing SF resulted in the SIM services being inoperative. Is this the case here?

Re: [UNOFFICIAL GUIDE] Flash Sailfish X using Linux or MacOS
 

Try flashing android again and check if everything is working in android.

Re: [UNOFFICIAL GUIDE] Flash Sailfish X using Linux or MacOS
 

Trying it now tbh, I rebooted android, and checked modem and wifi working fine. Just reflashing SFOS now

Re: [UNOFFICIAL GUIDE] Flash Sailfish X using Linux or MacOS
 

Tested your guide under linux: it works! Thanks :-)

Re: [UNOFFICIAL GUIDE] Flash Sailfish X using Linux or MacOS
 

Hmm, but what about the blobs itself?
When flashing the community build I used SW_binaries_for_Xperia_AOSP_M_MR1_3.10_v12_loire.z ip, but now the recommended one is: SW_binaries_for_Xperia_AOSP_M_MR1_3.10_v13_loire.z ip?
v12 vs v13?

Re: [UNOFFICIAL GUIDE] Flash Sailfish X using Linux or MacOS
 

Use the normal blob img file (the one I linked in the guide) in combination with these instructions.

Re: [UNOFFICIAL GUIDE] Flash Sailfish X using Linux or MacOS
 

You need to boot onto Android once. That's very important. I had same problem than you ;)

Re: [UNOFFICIAL GUIDE] Flash Sailfish X using Linux or MacOS
 

Currently in the final step: sudo ./flash.sh
Detected Linux
Searching device to flash..
Found device with vendor id '0fce': Bus 001 Device 023: ID 0fce:adde Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB C2005 (Xperia M dual) in service mode
Fastboot command: fastboot -i 0x0fce

How long is it supposed to be? (15 minutes so far)

(...) Aborted :-(
Phone still running Android.

(...) Retrying after pressing volume up a bit longer than before. Blue LED instead of green. Now flashing. Phone rebooted as SFOS (Without a SIM card, as the required size is now even smaller.)

Thanks a lot, Jakibaki!

Re: [UNOFFICIAL GUIDE] Flash Sailfish X using Linux or MacOS
 

You're my hero. Worked great! Thank you so much!

Re: [UNOFFICIAL GUIDE] Flash Sailfish X using Linux or MacOS
 

Thanks jakibaki!

Flashed a F5122 from Linux and seems to working well :-)

Re: [UNOFFICIAL GUIDE] Flash Sailfish X using Linux or MacOS
 

Hi jakibaki,


What do you mean by « (there is a workaround but this way is much easier) ».

Also, I own a F5122 (double sim), I am running build n° 34.3.A.0.238, so it look like it is at the right level of build.

Is there a way to just verify the special partition exist on my device, before engaging the process to flash SFOS for X ?


Regards,

COLIN Stéphane

Re: [UNOFFICIAL GUIDE] Flash Sailfish X using Linux or MacOS
 

Just completed using Mac OSX High Sierra, many thanks.

Re: [UNOFFICIAL GUIDE] Flash Sailfish X using Linux or MacOS
 

The workaround would have been booting into recovery and moving the blobs to the special partition from there (the partition is only read-only in fastboot mode) but since you're already on a new firmware you very likely won't need that.

Download and extract the .img file from here, enter fastboot mode and then cd to the folder where you downloaded that image and run If it runs without an error that means that the partition is properly writable.

Re: [UNOFFICIAL GUIDE] Flash Sailfish X using Linux or MacOS
 

So if this works we don't need EMMA for the official build?

Re: [UNOFFICIAL GUIDE] Flash Sailfish X using Linux or MacOS
 

You don't need emma for the official build at all (that's the whole point of this guide).
If this works you can just skip the flashtool step of the guide.

Re: [UNOFFICIAL GUIDE] Flash Sailfish X using Linux or MacOS
 

Great guide. Worked great to flash in Linux. I have a few improvement proposals.

I had some problems understanding how flashtool works. It became clear once I booted up the phone into Android and then run Flashtool and plugged the cable. The phone was recognized and there were instructions how to power it off and press volume-down when plugging in the cable etc.

Please add that you need to press volume-down to enter flash mode while plugging the USB cable. This is also explained when using Flashtool.



Hold volume-down to enter flash mode here (not fastboot mode). It is true that led is blue in flash mode.

Re: [UNOFFICIAL GUIDE] Flash Sailfish X using Linux or MacOS
 

I didn't need to hold any volume-key to enter flash mode but a few people had to do that so I'll add it to the instructions.

No, you're really supposed to enter fastboot mode there, not flashmode (the flash.sh script executes fastboot commands).

And you do that by holding volume up while the phone is fully turned off and then plugging in the usb cable as I said in my guide.

Re: [UNOFFICIAL GUIDE] Flash Sailfish X using Linux or MacOS
 

For flashing it's volume up to get blue LED and be in fastboot mode. Volume down is used for EMMA flashing

Re: [UNOFFICIAL GUIDE] Flash Sailfish X using Linux or MacOS
 

That is really strange. I did hold the volume-up first, and it didn't blink blue (it was red or something else). The flash command just stopped there, waiting. Then I did it the other way and it worked. I'm confused now :confused:

Edit. Maybe I have it all wrong, it was late and I was tired. Following the instructions in the Flash tool worked, though. And no harm is done by pushing volume button wrong way. You can just try again the other way.

Re: [UNOFFICIAL GUIDE] Flash Sailfish X using Linux or MacOS
 

Summary:
VolUp+USB firstly shows red led until ready, then switches to blue (release) for fastboot
VolDown+USB shows red led until ready, then switches to green (release) for flash.

Re: [UNOFFICIAL GUIDE] Flash Sailfish X using Linux or MacOS
 

Hi Jakibaki

By any chance was that error that popped up in Flashtool about RESET-NON-SECURE-ADB being missing?

Rich

Re: [UNOFFICIAL GUIDE] Flash Sailfish X using Linux or MacOS
 

No that actually wasn't it D:

Did it work anyways for you? In that case there are multiple non-fatal errors that can happen.

Re: [UNOFFICIAL GUIDE] Flash Sailfish X using Linux or MacOS
 

thanks for the guide!

flashing starts fine on my xperia x until it stops with an error:

Flashing oem partition..
target reported max download size of 536870912 bytes
sending 'oem' (163040 KB)...
OKAY [ 5.309s]
writing 'oem'...
FAILED (remote: Command not allowed)

:confused:

the phone is unlocked,

could anybody help me with some hints?

best regards,

Re: [UNOFFICIAL GUIDE] Flash Sailfish X using Linux or MacOS
 

It looks like you didn't properly update it. Were there any errors during the flashtool step?

Re: [UNOFFICIAL GUIDE] Flash Sailfish X using Linux or MacOS
 

properly update? ... i'm quite sure i did this

flashing starts correctly, the phone is found and all previous steps end with OK. like this here:

Searching device to flash..
Found device with vendor id '0fce': Bus 001 Device 034: ID 0fce:0dde Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB Xperia Mini Pro Bootloader
Fastboot command: fastboot -i 0x0fce
Flashing boot partition..
target reported max download size of 536870912 bytes
sending 'boot' (10842 KB)...
OKAY [ 0.356s]
...

just this oem partition doesn't want to be flashed :(