Installing to internal NAND/eMMC

Help & Support Installation & Booting
1

Please be aware that if users choose to use the installtointernal script to install CoreELEC to the internal partitions of their devices then no support or assistance will be offered by any CoreELEC developer for any issues that you may have or that may arise in the future.

You may receive assistance via the community but you WILL NOT receive any official support or assistance.

There is 1 exception to this for users with developer boards, ie, LePotato / Odroid C2 / Khadas VIM1/2, support WILL be offered as these boards are designed for this purpose.

There is a long history of problems that installing to internal has caused on cheap Chinese devices and as such this policy is something that the whole team is in agreement on.

3

I’ve been seeing that “install to internal is not supported” from time to time, and now this official statement from the “system” itself makes me wonder as I have a Mecool K1 Pro where I “installed to internal” in the day after I saw that CoreELEC would fulfill all my needs (Kodi and DVB-S2) and I saw a chance to just get rid of android and all that google BS.
Mecool K1 Pro wasn’t a “cheap” device and it used to work just fine even with the original firmware but it’s a lot better (faster) now. :hugs:

So, what does this “not supported” really mean?
I thought I could “revert” to the original firmware at any time (but I don’t want to).
Do you think that CoreELEC might toast my box or something like that? :thinking:

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4

@Jazzda in this case “not supported” == You can do it if you want to, and it might work, however if it doesn’t or you have problems with the box setup that way then the developers wont be trying to help you figure it out.

5

Thanks for the reply, cdu :+1:

I’ve been using linux for a couple of years now, and just moved every PC in the house to use it.
I’m far from an expert, but still can’t see how booting from internal (a card) could be that different from booting from an external (another card). But I’m fine with it.
However, I don’t know what I should do now. Reinstall CE in the SD again and boot from there and use the internal only to save stuff (recordings and the like)? Just keep it as it is now, hoping for the best?
If I only knew what’s behind such a decision, technically speaking?

6

We do not expect there to ever be issues, especially when booting from an sdcard or usb flash drive but no guarantee is given or implied.

8

I have a tanix tx95 and was only able to get coreelec to boot off the sd card after using an andriod app called reboot libreelec app.

Is there a big possibility I could make my box a paper weight if I try to use installtointernal?

I don’t plan to use andriod and I just want to use coreelec but if installtointernal doesn’t work I’m afraid I may not be able to boot coreelec from the sd card since the pin method does not work on the box.

Does anybody have any comments or is what I stated above totally incorrect?

Should I just continue booting off the sd card because it works or risk trying to install coreelec on the emmc using installtointeral since it’ll be a little faster and I won’t have to use the sd card anymore?

Thanks

9

Make SURE you have the original Android Firmware for your box and you know how to use Amlogic Burning Tool.
If you soft brick it you can install the Original Android Firmware back to stock.

10

I doubt you will actually notice the extremely minimal speed increase, you could check out sharing internal storage with Android (without the risks associated with installtointernal), as described here and check the speed ‘improvement’ for yourself. :wink:

11

I installed to internal on both my S912 boxes and all went smoothly. I just had to run the commend twice in order for it to take.

Boot up time is faster and updates install much quicker.

I also use mine as dual tuner DVB-T2 recorder and when it comes to comskip producing the edl file, the process is considerably faster.

It also frees up the micro sd card slot for additional storage.

12

i have 3 boxes that all runs internally for over a year, tx3 tx5 and x96. all have s905x and 1G ram. they were running LE before now CE.

13

Which boxes you have installed?

can I install to my T95Z MAX S912 3gb lpddr4 ram and 32gb rom?

14

I use installtointernal on a Vorke Z6 Plus S912.

I use it because I don’t never need android and want pure 100% coreElec.

Actually the Vorke Z6 was incredibly compatible with CoreElec and I recommend it: CoreElec installation was always extremely smooth, never any error, installtointernal worked with 1 run, and even the stock Remote control is supported out of the box.
In addition, CoreElec on the Vorke Z6 works even better than its stock Android firmware: lower temperature and zero freezing.

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Just wanted to thank everybody for their feedback

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I wil tell you. You have 90% chance you will brick your box and you will be only able to boot from SD. I did the same with my MXQ Pro 4k. Now it boots to CoreElec when SD is inserted and dead when SD card is not inserted. Not big deal for me personally, because I found default Android system to be useless and laggy, I’m not even going to bother with restoring original rom.

17

Just because it didn’t work as expected on your box, doesn’t mean the failure rate is at 90%. :wink:
I would say it works most of the time, but IF something fails, there is no official support provided.

1 Like
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Maybe it works on some devices, definitely not on mine

19

You have tried to redo another “installtointernal” in your box. There are some box that need to do “installtointernal” twice.

By the way, the 90% you have invented it.

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I tried twice and more times even. Box is dead.

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This is exactly why this option is unsupported - lesson learned.

It should be possible to get your box back with the AML-burn tool if you can find a compatible Android Rom, or you made a backup of your original Rom using TWRP. If both of these options don’t ring any bells with you then you are well out of your depth and you do indeed have a dead box because no one asked you to take the steps you took and certainly it is explicitly stated that you did so at your own risk.

However I want to correct your original statement, at least 90% of people who use install to internal are successful and encounter no issues.

Shoog

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When novice users use it and have problems then it becomes a massive support burden, and it is for this reason I would love to strip it from CoreELEC.

Users asked for this feature, the team didn’t want to add it, so if you have problems then do not expect any of us here to help you fix it if you end up with a brick.

It should never have been created.

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