Fastboot is a

protocol Protocol may refer to: Sociology and politics * Protocol (politics), a formal agreement between nation states * Protocol (diplomacy), the etiquette of diplomacy and affairs of state * Etiquette, a code of personal behavior Science and technology ...

and a tool of the same name. It is included with the

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package used primarily to modify the

flash Flash, flashes, or FLASH may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional aliases * Flash (DC Comics character), several DC Comics superheroes with super speed: ** Flash (Barry Allen) ** Flash (Jay Garrick) ** Wally West, the first Kid ...

filesystem In computing, file system or filesystem (often abbreviated to fs) is a method and data structure that the operating system uses to control how data is stored and retrieved. Without a file system, data placed in a storage medium would be one larg ...

via a

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connection from a host computer. It requires that the device be started in Fastboot mode. If the mode is enabled, it will accept a specific set of commands sent to it via USB using a command line. Fastboot allows to boot from a custom

recovery Recovery or Recover may refer to: Arts and entertainment Books * ''Recovery'' (novel), a Star Wars e-book * Recovery Version, a translation of the Bible with footnotes published by Living Stream Ministry Film and television * ''Recovery'' (fil ...

image. Fastboot does not require USB debugging to be enabled on the device. Not all Android devices have fastboot enabled. To use fastboot, a specific combination of keys must be held during boot. Android device manufacturers are allowed to choose if they want to implement fastboot or some other protocol.

Keys pressed

The keys that have to be pressed for fastboot differ for various vendors. * HTC, Xiaomi, and Google Pixel: Power and volume down * Sony: Power and volume up * Google Nexus: Power, volume up and volume down On Samsung devices, (excluding the Nexus S and Galaxy Nexus devices), power, volume down and home has to be pressed for entering

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mode. This is a proprietary protocol and tool as an alternative to fastboot.

Commands

Some of the most commonly used fastboot commands include: * flash rewrites a partition with a binary image stored on the host computer. * flashing unlock/oem unlock *** unlocks an OEM locked bootloader for flashing custom/unsigned ROMs. The *** is a device specific unlock key. * flashing lock/oem lock *** an opposite action. * erase erases a specific partition. * reboot reboots the device into either the main operating system, the system recovery partition or back into its boot loader. * devices displays a list of all devices (with the serial number) connected to the host computer. * format formats a specific partition; the file system of the partition must be recognized by the device. * oem device-info checks the bootloader state. * getvar all displays all information about device (IMEI, bootloader version, battery state etc.).

Implementations

The fastboot protocol has been implemented in the Little Kernel fork of Qualcomm and in

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. Fastboot is a mode of the Android bootloader called ABOOT.Hay, R. (2017). fastboot oem vuln: Android bootloader vulnerabilities in vendor customizations. In ''11th USENIX Workshop on Offensive Technologies (WOOT 17)''.

References

External links

Flashing Devices - Android.comFastboot protocol specification

{{Firmware and booting Android (operating system) Communications protocols Android (operating system) development software

Keys pressed

Commands

Implementations

See also

References

External links