MultiROM is one-of-a-kind multi-boot mod for Motorola Moto G. It can boot any Android ROM as well as other systems like Ubuntu Touch, once they are ported to that device. Besides booting from device's internal memory, MultiROM can boot from USB drive connected to the device via OTG cable. The main part of MultiROM is a boot manager, which appears every time your device starts and lets you choose ROM to boot. You can see how it looks on the left image below and in gallery. ROMs are installed and managed via modified TWRP recovery. You can use standard ZIP files to install secondary Android ROMs and MultiROM even has its own installer system, which can be used to ship other Linux-based systems.
Features:
* Multiboot any number of Android ROMs
* Restore nandroid backup as secondary ROM
* Boot from USB drive attached via OTG cable
You can also watch a video which shows it in action.
Warning!
It _is_ dangerous. This whole thing is basically one giant hack - none of these systems are made with multibooting in mind. It is no longer messing with data partition or boot sector, but it is possible that something goes wrong and you will have to flash factory images again. Make backups. Always.
Installation
1.Manual installation
Firstly, there are videos on youtube. If you want, just search for "MultiROM installation" on youtube and watch those, big thanks to all who made them. There is also an awesome article on Linux Journal.
Note 1: Your device must not be encrypted (hint: if you don't know what it is, then it is not encrypted).
MultiROM has 3 parts you need to install:You current rom will not be erased by the installation.
- MultiROM (multirom-YYYYMMDD-vXX-falcon.zip) - download the ZIP file from second post and flash it in recovery.
- Modified recovery (TWRP_multirom_falcon_YYYYMMDD.img) - download the IMG file from second post and use fastboot or Flashify app to flash it.
- Patched kernel - You can use either one of the stock ones in second post or third-party kernels which include the patch, you can see list in the second post. Download the ZIP file and flash it in recovery.
Download links are in the second post.
Adding ROMs
1. Android
Go to recovery, select Advanced -> MultiROM -> Add ROM. Select the ROM's zip file and confirm. As for the space, clean installation of stock 4.2 after first boot (with dalvik cache generated and connected to google account) takes 676mb of space.
2. Ubuntu Touch - Not available yet on Moto G
3. Firefox OS
Firefox OS is just another Android ROM from MultiROM's point of view, so grab the ZIP file from Firefox OS' thread and add it as if it were Android
4. SailfishOS - Not available on Moto G yet
Using USB drive
During installation, recovery lets you select install location. Plug in the USB drive, wait a while and press "refresh" so that it shows partitions on the USB drive. You just select the location (extX, NTFS and FAT32 partitions are supported) and proceed with the installation.
If you wanna use other than default FAT32 partition, just format it in PC. If you don't know how/don't know where to find out how, you probably should not try installing MultiROM.
If you are installing to NTFS or FAT32 partition, recovery asks you to set image size for all the partitions - this cannot be easilly changed afterward, so choose carefully. FAT32 is limited to maximum of 4095MB per image - it is limitation of the filesystem, I can do nothing about that.
Installation to USB drives takes a bit longer, because the flash drive is (usually) slower and it needs to create the images, so installation of Ubuntu to 4Gb image on my pretty fast USB drive takes about 20 minutes.
Enumerating USB drive can take a while in MultiROM menu, so when you press the "USB" button in MultiROM, wait a while (max. 30-45s) until it searches the USB drive. It does it by itself, no need to press something, just wait.
Updating/changing ROMs
1. Primary ROM (Internal)
- Flash ROM's ZIP file as usual, do factory reset if needed (it won't erase secondary ROMs)
- Go to Advanced -> MultiROM in recovery and do Inject curr. boot sector.
2. Secondary Android ROMs
If you want to change the ROM, delete it and add new one. To update ROM, follow these steps:
- Go to Advanced -> MultiROM -> List ROMs and select the ROM you want to update.
- Select "Flash ZIP" and flash ROM's ZIP file.
Changelog
Code:
MultiROM v32
=====================
* Minor GUI improvements
* Support for device encryption (with Android-based secondary ROMs only). See
FAQ in this device's XDA thread for more info.
* Bunch of ROM compatibility fixes
MultiROM v31
=====================
* Add support for "multimount" fstab (fixes CM12)
* Support interlaced PNGs (fixes wrongly rendered icons in boot manager, e.g.
the L icon)
MultiROM v30
=====================
* Fix logs generated by the "emergency reboot" screen, they were incomplete
MultiROM v29
=====================
* Implement "autoboot if no key pressed" mode - the boot manager won't show up
unless you hold down a volume down button during boot. Must be enabled in
recovery.
* Android 5.0 preview related tweaks
MultiROM v28
=====================
* You can now swipe between the tabs in the boot manager
* Minor UI adjustments
MultiROM v27a
=====================
* Fix freezes in the boot manager
* Add support for SailfishOS
MultiROM v27
=====================
* Redesign the boot manager GUI. Looks much better now.
* Fix separate radio.img not working on Android L preview ROMs
* Fix issues with unaccessible /sdcard on Android L preview. Do NOT run
restorecon manually on /data/media, ever - it breaks MultiROM!
* Workaround bug which caused franco.Kernel on N5 to break secondary ROM's
boot
* Update Ubuntu Touch init scripts
* Use power+volume down (you have to press power first!) to save screenshots.
They are now PNG images and are saved to /sdcard/Pictures/Screenshots/.
MultiROM v26
=====================
* Fix boot into secondary ROM from the MultiROM Manager app broken in v25
MultiROM v25
=====================
* Add support for the Android L preview
MultiROM v24
=====================
* Add F2FS support
* Show icons in ROM list, configurable via MultiROM Manager app
* Improve compatibility with different ROMs and kernels when booting a ROM
from the Android app
MultiROM v23
=====================
* Fix compatibility with Ubuntu Touch rev 290 and higher. If your Ubuntu
installation won't boot, go to recovery and use "Re-patch init" option in
Advanced -> MultiROM -> List ROMs -> *ubuntu*.
MultiROM v22c
=====================
* Fix graphics corruption with some custom kernels
MultiROM v22b
=====================
* Mount the real /data partition to folder /android/realdata in Ubuntu Touch,
enabling sharing data between Android and Ubuntu Touch. See
http://bit.ly/ut_sharing for more info.
MultiROM v22a
=====================
* Add support for ROMs with DTB only as separate blob in boot.img (AOKP)
MultiROM v22
=====================
* Fix Ubuntu Touch boot taking long time
* Fix Ubuntu Touch freezing on Google logo for some users
MultiROM v21a
=====================
* Add support for testing builds of Ubuntu Touch (see XDA thread, post #323)
MultiROM v21
=====================
* Revert "mount /system in secondary ROMs read-only" - if done so, SuperSU
breaks the boot.
MultiROM v20
=====================
* Support booting ROMs directly from Manager App
* Fix FCs on CyanogenMod-based ROMs
* Fix support for USB drives formatted with NTFS, broken in v17
* Mount /system in secondary ROMs read-only
MultiROM v19
=====================
* Initial versionRecoveries:
Code:
28.3.2015
=====================
* Update to TWRP 2.8.6
* Added "restorecon" option to secondary ROMs (in MultiROM -> List ROMs),
should be used to fix broken SELinux contexts, which can be causing
bootloops of secondary ROMs
* Bunch of ROM compatibility fixes - recovery now uses entirely new way to
inject ZIP installation files, which should be much more robust and reliable
* Big ZIPs (> 450MB) are no longer permanently modified when flashed as
secondary ROMs
* Fix sideloading of big ZIP files (> 450MB) into secondary ROMs
12.2.2015
=====================
* Update to TWRP 2.8.5
* Fix support for ROMs containing a supersu.zip in their installation file
(e.g. AICP)
15.11.2014
=====================
* Support for ZIP files which are using the new 'block_image_update' command
(e.g. SimpleAOSP ROM)
29.10.2014
=====================
* Update to TWRP 2.8.1
21.10.2014
=====================
* Update autoboot settings for MultiROM v29
14.9.2014
=====================
* Update with changes from 2.8.0.1 upstream version: fix a bug that causes
weird graphics glitches and touch issues
11.9.2014
=====================
* Update to TWRP 2.8.0
* Fix adding ROMs from backup to a FAT32 USB drives
* Remove "share kernel with internal?" from "Add ROM" page, there is usually
no reason to use it anymore and it might be confusing to figure out what it
actually does. You can still get the same behavior by clicking "Remove
boot.img" on the List ROMs -> *rom name* page.
12.8.2014 - 1
=====================
* Fix 'Flash ZIP' function for Android ROMs, broken by a typo in previous
version
11.8.2014
=====================
* Remove Ubuntu Touch installation, installing via recovery is deprecated
* Add SailfishOS installation
8.8.2014
=====================
* Show secondary ROM's name in the title bar while executing it's script (e.g.
during OTA update)
* Update Ubuntu Touch updater
* Fix failure to swap ROMs if it contains filenames starting with a dot
* Fix add ROM from a backup producing unbootable ROM with Android L preview
* Add option to remove radio.img from secondary ROMs
* Add config options for MultiROM v27
5.6.2014
=====================
* Update to TWRP 2.7.1
* Hide misleading "Mount: Unable to find partition for path '/data'" message
which appeared during secondary ROM installation, it is not _actually_ an
error.
4.6.2014
=====================
* Fix installation of bigger (>350MB) ZIPs as secondary ROMs
12.5.2014
=====================
* Fix crash during settings loading, causing a bootloop with certain settings
11.5.2014
=====================
* Add F2FS support
* Add tool to switch F2FS<->ext4 to Advanced menu
* Fix problems with backups introduced by TWRP 2.7.0
8.3.2014
=====================
* Update to TWRP 2.7.0
* Remove "save" button from MultiROM settings page, it is saved automatically
now
27.2.2014
=====================
* Support for system-image based (from the Manager app) Ubuntu Touch
installation
* Fix time in recovery
* Some rendering optimizations, resulting in noticeably higher FPS in recovery
4.2.2014
=====================
* Update to support latest Ubuntu Touch testing builds
* Fix date and time in recovery
* Add support for mice connected via USB-OTG
* Fixup scrollbar behaviour in file list
26.1.2014
=====================
* Fix radio in Ubuntu Touch
24.12.2013
=====================
* Fix installing ROMs to USB drive
* Fix ZIP verification
* Support ZIP verification for secondary ROMsCredits :
@Picohackrhackr for the recovery
@tassadar for the entire multirom
@h2o64 for the OP
DOWNLOADS
Tested Configuration:
Primary Rom: CM12
Sec. Rom: CM12
Sec. Rom: SLIMLP
Sec. Rom: AICP
Sec. Rom: FIREFOX OS
Sec. Rom: CM11 - BEFORE BOOT CM11 AS SECONDARY FLASH SuperSU - BE SURE TO FLASH IT TO CM11 AND NOT TO PRIMARY ROM
Donations / Coffee kitty
Paypal
BiTCOiNS
THX A LOT!:good:
XDA:DevDB Information
MultiROM v32, Tool/Utility for the Moto G
Contributors
sub77, sub77, Brawn_Sg
Source Code: https://gitlab.com/sub4s0nik
Version Information
Status: Beta
Created 2015-04-01
Last Updated 2015-04-01
xda-developers