Install your favorite Android custom ROMs on your computer with Android Generic Project

Android Custom ROMs Your Pc

If you like custom Android ROMs then get ready to celebrate, because you can already enjoy them on your computer natively. Thanks to a new community project, it is possible to install them as if they were any other operating system, such as Windows or Linux. Are you ready to enjoy them? We teach you how to install Android mobile ROM on PC with Android Generic Project.

Android Generic Project brings Android ROMs to your PC natively

We always say it, one of the coolest things about Android is how flexible it can be in everything. The level of customization is enormous, and with AOSP that is open source, the possibilities are practically endless.

Custom ROMs are the pinnacle of customization on Android, and there is something for everyone. However, until now these modified versions of Android were reserved for mobile devices only.

You could only install a Stock version of Android on your computer, or at most AOSP. How did you do it? Through an Android emulator, Android Studio, or more recently through Android x86. However, that will no longer be the case, because thanks to Android Generic Project you will be able to enjoy any custom ROM on your computer natively.

This initiative was introduced very recently, and it has the Bliss OS / BlissRoms team behind it. What did these guys do? Develop a suite of tools that allows you to easily port a custom Android ROM from ARM RISC architecture to x86 architecture.

What advantages does it have? That the consumption of resources will be less when installing it on the computer and that you will carry out a totally native installationAnything else? Yes, and the tool allows you to create an ISO file with custom ROMs to make installation much easier.

Android Generic Project uses Android x86 and also Google’s AOSP GSI as underlying basesThe result? You can now run Bliss OS on your computer, as well as Dirty Unicorns, Carbon, and more. In fact, every little bit more projects are added, and some famous ROMs such as LineageOS and Pixel Experience are already in the development queue. But how do you install the ROMs?

So you can install a custom Android ROM on your PC easily thanks to Android Generic Project

Yes, the title mentions Android Generic Project, but the reality is that this tool is only used by developers to port Android. What you will use to install an Android ROM on your PC is the final product. These are the steps you need to follow, which are actually very similar to Android x86, but please read to the end first:

Step 1:

Step 2:

  • Download Rufus on your computer from its official website. This tool will help you create a bootable USB key that will serve as an installer.

Step 3:

  • You can also burn the image to an optical drive like a DVD, and if you decide to do so, skip straight to step 10.

Step 4:

  • Install Rufus on your PC and open it.

Step 5:

  • Select the USB device that you will convert to a bootable drive.

Step 6:

  • In “Choosing start”, choose “Disk or ISO image”.

Next, press “Select” and add the ISO of the Android custom ROM that you have downloaded.

In the “Partition scheme” select GPT if your computer has UEFI or MBR if it has the classic BIOS (although a PC with UEFI should also read MBR).

Leave everything else as is and press “Start”.

Wait for the boot drive preparation process to finish, then close Rufus.

With the bootable USB key or bootable DVD ready and connected, reboot your computer.

Step 7:

  • Access the BIOS / UEFI of your motherboard.

Step 8:

  • Modify the boot order of the storage drives and put the drive first with the custom ROM installer.

Commit the changes and reboot. If you did everything right, the next time your computer boots it will try to boot from the bootable drive

Step 9:

  • Within the installer of your custom ROM, choose “advance options”

Step 10:

  • Select the option “… Install to specified hard disk”.

Step 11:

  • Choose the storage device and partition you want to install it on and confirm the action.

Be very careful what you do, especially if you are installing on a partition that has already been used. If you want to maintain two operating systems at the same time then the partitions of both systems must be different.

Step 12:

  • Wait for the installation process to finish and then select “reboot”.

Step 13:

  • Your computer will reboot and enter your Android custom ROM for the first time.

Step 14:

  • Complete the initial configuration of Android as on your mobile.

Step 15:

  • Enjoy your favorite custom ROM on your computer natively.

As you can see, it is a simple process, although there are some considerations. This installation process is the generic one used by Android X86 and is the one that all custom ROMs should use at least.

However, Android Generic Project allows you to modify many things, and perhaps a developer decides to change the process. Anyway, installing a custom ROM has never been a complex process, as long as you read and know what you’re doing, everything will be fine.

Are you ready yet?

Source | XDA-Developers