Dual Boot Linux and Android on spes

3 min readSep 28, 2023

Disclaimer : All your data will be erased ! Make sure to backup.

Step 1 :

Process — Flash MIUI (strictly Android 11) Fastboot ROM
Link or similar— (dont worry spes and spesn ROMs are inter-compatible; make sure to download the fastboot type = 5.8 GB not the recovery type)
Details —
1. Go to Fastboot mode (Power + Volume Down)
2. extract the .tgz file, then use sudo ./flash_all.sh on linux (for windows, you can find guides to flash Xiaomi fastboot roms online). The process will take several minutes
3. MIUI will soon try to boot, let it boot or not idc, Go Again to Fastboot Mode

Step 2 :

Process — Flash Android
In Fastboot mode, boot TWRP : fastboot boot Location_to_twrp.img
TWRP will boot, Go to Mount -> Mount everything you can (USB-OTG will fail ofc). Then tap back, Go to Wipe -> Advance Wipe -> Format Data -> type yes
TWRP -> tap home button -> Go to Reboot -> At bottom, you will see your current active slot.
Assuming you have your Android ROM in your SD card or OTG Cable, Flash the zip file using the Install section on TWRP home.
During Flashing, the terminal will inform you that it is flashing the Android ROM to inactive Slot. Wipe Dalvik after flashing.

Step 3 :

Process— Flash DFE
Go to Reboot -> Power Off -> Go to Fastboot mode again ! -> Boot twrp from fastboot again -> Go to Install -> Flash DFE (put the zip file in Internal storage or sd card etc)
When Flash DFE, it will ask you to select language and config, use default config
Now Boot to your Android ROM ; on TWRP Home-> Reboot -> Reboot to system
Now Go to Fastboot mode again and boot twrp again :(

Step 4 :

Process — Flash Droidian
In TWRP ; Go to Install and Flash (the latest night build available here with name droidian-OFFICIAL-phosh-phone-rootfs-api30-arm64-nightly_smthng.zip)
Go to TWRP home -> Reboot -> Switch to Opposite Slot -> Now Go to Install again and Flash adaptation
Now reboot to droidian or switch slot again to boot Android ROM

Step 5 : bootctl

You are already dual-booting but In order to boot the other OS, changing slots via Fastboot or TWRP can be time consuming. Thus, we will use bootctl tool to change slots from withing the OS.
Droidian comes preinstalled with bootctl ; use android_bootctl set-active-boot-slot 0 or android_bootctl set-active-boot-slot 1 in Droidian’s terminal where 0 = A and 1 = B.
For android we will use a magisk module (magisk is already installed with dfe on your Android, you need to set it up) named bootctl. Flash this magisk module using the magisk app.
We can use a gui app to switch slots on android, install this apk, give root access and switch slots with one tap !

Step 6 :

Written by canute