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How to Extract Currently Installed Boot.Img Via MSM Download Tool: A Comprehensive Guide

By AndroidGreek Team
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This comprehensive guide will demonstrate the step-by-step extracting of the currently installed boot.img through the use of the MSM Download Tool for your OnePlus device. When rooting your OnePlus device, downloading the firmware corresponding to the device’s build number is the first action. However, the complete firmware package can be large, ranging from 4 to 5 GB, leading to unnecessary bandwidth consumption and wasting time.

So, what else can be done? Many may not be aware, but the MSM Tool features a hidden ReadBack Mode that allows you to extract individual partition files from the currently installed on your device, not the OPS firmware it comes with. While dealing with MSM Tool and EDL Mode might initially seem challenging, remember that this setup is only required for one-time use.

Subsequent times will only take a few seconds for the entire process. The best part is that you do not even need to download the firmware for your device, which saves both time and network resources. With that in mind, let us investigate the steps to extract the installed boot.img via the MSM Download Tool.

Step 1: Disable Driver Signature Verification

To initiate the process, follow these steps: Firstly, press and hold the Shift key and simultaneously click on the Restart option. This action will boot your PC into the Windows Recovery Environment. From there, navigate to Troubleshooting > Advanced Options > Startup Settings > Restart. After the restart, press F7 or 7 to enter the OS with driver signature verification disabled.

Step 2: Boot into EDL Mode

The next step involves booting your device into EDL Mode, and here is how you do it:

  1. Start by powering off your device.
  2. Connect one end of the USB cable to your PC, leaving the other end empty.
  3. Press and hold the Volume Up and Volume Down keys while connecting your device to the other end of the USB cable.
  4. Upon hearing a connection prompt indicating that the device is booted into EDL mode, release the keys that were held.

Step 3: Verify the EDL Connection

To verify the EDL connection, perform the following steps:

  1. Right-click on the Start menu and select Device Manager.
  2. Expand the Ports section to check if your device is listed as Qualcomm HS-USB QDLoader 9008, which indicates that you can proceed.
  3. If listed as QHUSB_BULK instead, install the Qualcomm US Drivers before booting your device back into the OS.

Step 4: Check the Current Active Partition

You need to download and extract Android SDK Platform Tools from your PC to check the current active partition. Then follow these steps:

  1. Enable USB debugging on your device and connect it to your PC.
  2. Open Command Prompt in the platform-tools folder, type “CMD” in the address bar, and press Enter.
  3. Execute the following command to get the current active partition:

adb shell getprop ro.boot.slot_suffix

Step 5: Enable Read Back Mode in the MSM Download Tool

To enable Read Back Mode in the MSM Download Tool, proceed as follows:

  1. Download the MSM Download Tool specific to your device.
  2. Launch the MSM Tool, select “others” under Login, and click Next.
  3. Use the F8 [or Fn+F8] key to answer the Read Back prompt.
  4. Select the boot_a or boot_b partition based on the results obtained in Step 4.
  5. Type “oneplus” under Password and click OK to access the Read Back button.

Step 6: Extract Boot. img via the MSM Download Tool

For extracting boot.img via the MSM Download Tool, perform the following steps:

  1. Boot your device into EDL mode using the command:

adb reboot edl

  1. Check that your phone is listed as connected in the MSM Tool. Then, click on Read Back.
  2. The MSM Download Tool will initiate the extraction of the boot.img file from your device.
  3. You will be notified upon completion, and the extracted file will be placed on the C drive.
  4. You can utilize this boot.img file to root your device via Magisk.

Important Note

Before embarking on any steps, remember to back up all your data to ensure its safety.

Conclusion

Following the steps mentioned earlier can efficiently extract the currently installed boot.img via the MSM Download Tool for your OnePlus device. Using readback mode helps save time and network resources, making the process quick and effective.