Boot Images from External Media

There are many images that are designed to run from an SD Card or Thumbdrive (U-Disk). For example, Volumio, CoreELEC, LibreELEC, Armbian images and Khadas SD images(VIM1/VIM2/VIM3). This tutorial is about how to boot these images.

In order to boot images from external media you must make sure:

• Android OS is installed on the eMMC
• Activate the Multi-Boot

For different images you may need different Android versions.

VIM1 and VIM2:

• LibreELEC / Ubuntu with Linux 3.14: You need Android M or the latest Android N (V180207 or later) or latest Ubuntu running on the eMMC.
• Ubuntu with Linux 4.9: You need Android O or latest Ubuntu running on the eMMC.

VIM3:

• Ubuntu with Linux 4.9: You need Android Q or Ubuntu running on the eMMC.

Step 1. Clone image to SD-Card or Thumbdrive (U-Disk)

• Download Etcher, it will clone the image into your SD Card or Thumbdrive. It’s got a user-friendly GUI for beginners, and is compatible with Mac, Windows and Linux.After decompression, it is an executable file. Select firmware and it will automatically identify your USB device.

• Else, use dd on Ubuntu:

• Use dd on the Ubuntu command line

$ sudo dd if=/path/to/image of=/dev/sdX bs=8M

• Or, Win32DiskImager on Windows:

• Use Win32DiskImager on Windows. Please refer to Install LibreELEC Via Windows PC.

Step 2. Copy the Appropriate DTB File

• Unplug then plug your SD card into your computer (re-mount it).

• Navigate to your SD card’s /boot directory, and open the folder labelled DTB.

• Find the appropriate .dtb file and copy it into your SD card’s /boot directory.

• For VIM1: Copy kvim.dtb, kvim_linux.dtb or meson-gxl-s905x-khadas-vim.dtb to /boot, and rename it to dtb.img.

• For VIM2: Copy kvim2.dtb, kvim2_linux.dtb or meson-gxm-khadas-vim2.dtb to /boot, and rename it to dtb.img.
• For VIM3: Copy kvim3_linux.dtb or kvim3l_linux.dtb to /boot, and rename it to dtb.img.

Note:if you board is VIM3,please choose kvim3_linux.dtb, or your board is VIM3 Light,please choose kvim3l_linux.dtb.

Step 3. Boot VIM from SD Card

There are 2 ways to boot from the SD Card:

1). Via Keys mode (Side-Buttons)

2). Activate Multi-Boot via Android.

• Enter Settings->About Device->System->Updates.
• Click select and choose aml_autosript.zip.
• Click update, then the system will reboot and boot from the external media image.

WARNING: Don’t use your PC as the USB-Host to supply the electrical power, lest it will fail to activate Multi-Boot!

NOTICE

• Android N has a permission issue. You cannot use it to boot from your external media image without damaging your SD card.

• Android O also has a permission issue. If you want to boot Ubuntu with Linux 4.9 please refer to this guide.