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Updating Lineage OS while keeping root working with Magisk

Decided it would be nice to document how to perform an update, because the releases appear fairly frequently and the process isn't exactly straightforward like clicking Download and Install button.

Perform update normally trough OTA

Navigate to Settings --> System --> Advanced --> Updater. Pick the newest update, download and install. After it has finished, reboot your device.

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After reboot, open Magisk to check if you are still rooted. Most likely, you are not. Now how to fix it. The only way I found working is to basically repeat the whole root process again. In short:

Extract
  • Download filesthe latest build from Lineage OS website, extract boot.img using payload_dumper
  • Copy boot.img to Android, patch with Magisk
  • Copy patched image back to PC
  • Use fastboot to flash the newestpatched image

HeadThese steps are decribed in more detail over tohere: https://download.lineageos.org/pioneer and download the latest signed zip build and recovery image (optional)

image-1630092593900.pngselfhostedfuture.xyz/books/everything-nix-and-libre-software/page/rooting-xperia-xa2-on-lineage-os

Compare the SHA256 signature from the website with the downloaded file. If you are on Windows, you can use simple powershell cmdlet Get-FileHash. You don't have to check the entire string, just some of the characters, since if the file was modified, the hash would be completely different.

Get-FileHash .\lineage-18.1-20210826-nightly-pioneer-signed.zip

Algorithm       Hash                                                                   Path
---------       ----                                                                   ----
SHA256          DD82D969CA7898F3C42F7B2373F3C354E2733CED4DF94721E7D06472E6D665A0       D:\Exampledir\dir...

Get-FileHash .\lineage-18.1-20210826-recovery-pioneer.img

Algorithm       Hash                                                                   Path
---------       ----                                                                   ----
SHA256          DDED053F46A94222925F30FCF062585DAF6510C1C309F309E13CCCD73855842A       D:\Exampledir\dir...

Download this utility: https://github.com/vm03/payload_dumper to extract boot.img from payload.bin located in the ZIP file you just downloaded. You need python and a couple of other dependencies, everything should be described on the GitHub page.

Extract the ZIP and place payload.bin to the root folder of payload_dumper

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and run

python payload_dumper.py payload.bin
Processing boot partition............Done
Processing system partition.................................................................................
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.......................................................................Done
Processing vendor partition.................................................................................
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....................Done

You should end up with three files located in the output folder

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Copy the boot.img file to your Android device and open Magisk.

Choose the boot.img file and click Next. Magisk will now create a patched boot.img file

 

 

 

Copy the newly generated file to your computer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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