Can't flash onto Pixel 5, "Error: You need to download a release first!"

ElnuDev

I've tried multiple times and I simply can't do "Flash release" onto my Pixel 5 through the web installer, it always says "Error: You need to download a release first!" even though the image is already downloaded. I'm running on Linux (NixOS) and am flashing on Ungoogled Chromium running as root.

For the life of me I can't get an image to display on this forum, so here's a link to Imgur.

Any ideas what's going on? Thanks in advance!

de0u

ElnuDev I'm running on Linux (NixOS) and am flashing on Ungoogled Chromium running as root.

Neither that OS nor that browser appear on the list of installation prerequisites. There may be a way to get it to work, but maybe not, and substantial debugging effort might be required.

Titan_M2

ElnuDev “Error: You need to download a release first!" even though the image is already downloaded.

Someone reported that issue on Matrix a few days ago. Reboot to fastboot and flash through another Android phone.

ElnuDev

Alright then, I'll try on my Pop!_OS install since it's basically Ubuntu and let you know how that goes. Thanks!

ElnuDev

@de0u I'm now on Google Chrome on Pop!_OS 22.04 (basically Ubuntu 22.04) and it gets further this time, but it fails at "Error: Failed to execute 'claimInterface' on 'USBDevice': Unable to claim interface." after going through the writing bootloader, restart device, etc. steps. Any ideas?

In the meantime I'll try on Windows I guess

GrapheneOS

ElnuDev This is caused by a GNOME bug that's documented in the install guide.

ElnuDev

Well, shit. It's not coming up on Windows anymore and the fastboot screen says that the device is corrupt and it seems to be hanging on the "Google" screen when booting now.

Michiel

Did you install the fastboot driver for Windows?

ElnuDev

I'll try, but have I just irreversibly bricked it at this point? Wait it's not showing the corrupted screen anymore for some reason, let me try with the driver.

ElnuDev

Well, I've got the Windows driver installed and after waiting quite a while to download the release, for some reason, it fails to find the release? I press "Flash release", it says "Finding latest release...", then just times out "Error: Timeout of 10000 ms exceeded". Any ideas? This is on Windows with Edge.

ElnuDev

Seems I can do Flash release without doing the Download first and it now works?

ElnuDev

Alright got it installed! Sorry for the trouble, a bunch of weird things happened in the install process but it worked out in the end.

spring-onion

Welcome. Remember to complete the post install steps.

SEE

Hi guys - I am having a similar problem. I am trying to use the web installer to flash my Pixel 7. I am using Brave as a browser. The factory image Download appears to be successful:

Downloaded panther-factory-2023121200.zip release.

Yet when I try to flash the release I get the error:

Error: You need to download a release first!

When I switch to MS Edge I just get the Error:

Error: Failed to execute 'claimInterface' on 'USBDevice': Unable to claim interface.

I can't seem to locate the downloaded image on my drives. I can't seem to find info on a fix for the Gnome bug that was mentioned above. Also the CMD line install instructions are really over my head. I am a bit of a noob. Any help is appreciated!

treequell

SEE Hi there, I've answered you on https://discuss.grapheneos.org/d/9667-error-when-trying-to-flash-image-on-pixel-7

Please don't cross-post.

APVoid

Hello, I have looked through other help topics and I followed the instructions in u/treequell's reply above but on my Pixel 6a I am still unable to download the factory image. I am getting the red text [Error: undefined].
I have made sure not to be in incognito mode, have no other web-installer instances running. I am trying to install from a chromebook using chrome browser, all up to date. Any help would be appreciated.

fid02

APVoid
Make sure the Chromebook has at least 32 GB of free space available.

Titan_M2

APVoid Happened to me as well but couldn’t figure out why. Resolved by flashing from another Android phone.

fid02

@APVoid If you're still having issues, I recommend joining the community chat for assistance, as community members who have the most experience with the install process are generally more active there: https://grapheneos.org/contact#community-chat

APVoid

OK, I'm going to check to see if I can get help on the community chat but for the record, I call BS on the Web Installer being easy. I have tried a chrome book with plenty of storage space, and desktop, Three different browsers, 4 different cables and I still get stuck at different spots in the install.

de0u

APVoid I call BS on the Web Installer being easy. I have tried a chrome book with plenty of storage space, and desktop, Three different browsers, 4 different cables and I still get stuck at different spots in the install.

I'm sorry to hear it hasn't worked out so far. But the GrapheneOS web installer works pretty reliably once the necessary ingredients are in place. The cable matters; the browser configuration and browser release matter; etc.

One thing you could try is Google's browser-based flash tool. If that gets stuck, then there is some hardware/software barrier that will likely also preclude the GrapheneOS tool from working.