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device_setup.md

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Preparing your Android Device

These instructions are provided to replicate the setup we used in the AutoLabel paper. We used a Nexus 6 device with Android 7.1. How to mimic the Android 7.1 installation that we performed and our rooting process is explained below.

Prerequisites

  • Android Development Tools: 
    $ sudo apt-get install android-tools-adb android-tools-fastboot

Preparing the OS

Flashing Android 7.1

First, allow OEM unlocking:

  • Go to Settings --> About Phone
  • Click the Build Number 7 times
  • Go back to Settings --> Developer Options and enable "OEM Unlocking"
  • While in Developer Options, ensure the USB Debugging box is checked

Flashing:

  • Download the Android 7.1.1 (N6F27M, Oct 2017) image from Google.
  • Unzip it and also unzip the image-shamu-n6f27m file within.
  • Enter the bootloader mode on your device. You can do this in 2 ways:
    • Turn off the device and then turn it on by pressing both the power button and the volume down button
    • Executing the following from a connected computer: adb reboot bootloader
  • While in bootloader mode, we recommend pressing the volume up key until you are in "Bootloader Logs." This will help you see what the device is doing while we are flashing.
  • Connect the device to your computer
  • Open a terminal and navigate to the unzipped image-shamu-n6f27m directory.
  • Execute the following commands in the terminal (note that flashing the system.img sometimes takes over 5 minutes): 
    $ fastboot flash system system.img
$ fastboot flash boot boot.img
$ fastboot flash recovery recovery.img
$ fastboot flash cache cache.img
$ fastboot flash userdata userdata.img
$ fastboot reboot

The device will boot and you are ready for the next section.

Setting up the Device

  • Once the device boots, you will be asked to setup it. Setup it up as you see fit, but do not provide a Wi-Fi network. The device must remain disconnected from the Internet until we turn off auto-updating.
  • When you are finished setting up the device and are taken to the home screen, go to Settings and enable Developer options again.
  • Go to Settings --> Developer Options and disable "Automatic System Updates."
  • While in Developer Options, ensure the USB Debugging box is checked
  • Now you can connect your device to a Wi-Fi network. The device may start updating certain apps. As long as WebView and Google Play Service do not update, we should be ok. Note: you can cancel updates by expanding the notification.
  • Open the Google Play Store app and sign into your Google account. From the app, expand the hamburger menu and go to Settings. Click on "Auto-update apps" and select "Don't auto-update apps."
  • Now we need to enable the Android System WebView. Go to Settings --> Apps and find Chrome. Click on it and then click "Disable."
  • Go back one screen to see the full list of apps. To make sure we have the correct setup, click on the top right menu and click "Show system."
  • Find the Android System WebView app, make sure it is enabled, and make sure it's version is 55.0.2883.91. Then find Google Play Services and make sure it's version is 9.8.79.
    • If the apps ended up updating, don't worry. You can click on the top right menu within each app and click "Uninstall updates."

Rooting

Instructions below are adapted this XDA Developers forum thread.

  • Download the CF Auto-Root for Nexus 6 from this link
  • Extract the ZIP file
  • Boot your device into bootloader (as we did in Flashing Android 7.1)
  • Connect your device to your computer
  • Open a terminal, navgiate to the unzipped CF Auto-Root directory, and execute the following: 
    $ fastboot boot image\CF-Auto-Root-shamu-shamu-nexus6.img

Don't interrupt the process until the device finishes booting. When it's done you can check that you have obtained root by executing:

$ adb shell
shamu:/ $ su
shamu:/ #

Note that the SU binary on the device will ask you to grant permission to the shell script before the su command succeeds. Your device is now rooted and you can start using AutoLabel!