Install Android on BPI-M2 Pro

BPI-M5/BPI-M2 Pro/BPI-M2S/BPI-CM4/BPI-CM5
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There appears to be confusion on how to flash the Android firmware onto the board.

The Banana Pi BPI-M2 Pro Single Board Computer (SBC) comes bare bone, meaning no operating system is installed on eMMC.

The instructions bellow explain how to flash Android 9.0 onto the Banana Pi BPI-M2 Pro SBC with use of a Windows PC.

  • These instructions can easily be adapted for other Operating Systems.

Requirements:

  • PC with Microsoft Windows
  • Android mbox variant ui image (release 2021-05-20, Android 9.0 kernel 4.9.113)
  • Amlogic USB Burning Tool v 2.2.3.3
  • USB A-Male to Micro B Charger Cable

Preparation:

Flashing the firmware:

  • Extract the BPI-M5 / M2-Pro firmware archive
  • Start Amlogic USB Burning Tool
  • Import aml_upgrade_package.img (file / import image) from the extracted archive
  • Ensure only 'erase flash" and “erase bootloader” are checked and “normal erase” is selected
  • Press start
  • Connect the M2 Pro with the USB A-Male to Micro B Charger Cable to an available USB slot on the PC.

Upon successful completion:

  • Press stop
  • Disconnect the USB A-Male to Micro B Charger Cable from PC

First boot:

  • Reconnect the USB A-Male to Micro B Charger Cable to PC USB slot

The SBC should boot into Android

Be aware this SBC has only 2Gb of Ram, which is far from optimal for Android OS.

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