How to - Multi-boot Android OS' on your phone

Those of you Android users who are looking to add a little more to your existing handset, in terms of ROMs, here’s how you can go about booting up your handset with upto five different Android operating system versions on a single phone. All you need is a simple utility app, called Boot Manager, a fairly large SD card (at least 8 GB or higher) and your favorite ROMs.

Boot Manager is a unique and powerful utility app from ‘www.init2winitapps.com’ and costs just Rs 146 on the Android Marketplace. The app is a multi-boot application, which allows you to boot up to five different ROMs on a single Android smartphone. The first ROM is installed on the phone’s internal storage itself, while the other four ROMs are installed on the SD card in the form of image files, which are mounted and ready for use when required.

Each image file (boot, system, data and SDEXT) is created according to the existing phone’s partition table and ROM needs; but they can be tweaked to increase or decrease the space for each ROM’s requirement. Switching between the ROMs is as simple as selecting the desired ROM and rebooting the device.

These ROMs (apart from the phones ROM) run directly from the SD card without disturbing or affecting the original ROM on your phone’s internal storage. Those who like to test and try different ROMs from third-party developers can benefit from this app. App developers can also benefit those testing their apps on different Android OS versions using a single phone.

If you’re game, let us show you how to configure and run this app. But before we start, here are a few important things you need to know.

• You will need a rooted handset with a recovery (CWM or 4EXT recovery) utility already installed.

• Your phone should have the security flag set to OFF (S-OFF).

• An updated Superuser app with logging disabled.

• An SD card with no bad sectors.

• A fully charged phone. Connecting the charger is best suited.

Those unfamiliar with some above words can refer to the XDA forums on how to root, S-OFF and install a custom recovery utility on the phone.

Here is a list of compatible Android handsets on which this application will run successfully. Those who have handsets, which are not listed here can try them at their own risk. To get more information about handset support and software related issues you can log on to the developer’s website at ‘www.init2winitapps.com’.

Compatible handsets:

 
HTC: Desire, Desire HD, Desire S, EVO 4G/3D, Incresible1/2/S, Inspire 4G, Sensation, Thunderbolt, Vision.
Motorola: Droid 1/2/X, MyTouch 4G
Nexus One and the Samsung Galaxy Nexus

Note: Little knowledge about how to root and tweak your android handset can end up with a permanently damaged phone and also void the warranty. We are not responsible for any bricked handsets, while performing this workshop. Do this at your own risk.

If you haven't rooted your phone, yet, this workshop should help you get a better idea of how to do it and how to install a custom recovery firmware.

Let’s begin
Download and install the BootManager app from the Android Marketplace and run the app. You should be greeted with a few welcome screens. Proceed with the instructions on the screen and you shall be informed to initially setup your phone’s original ROM, before installing any other using BootManager. This is a crucial step as your phone’s original ROM’s boot.img file needs to be saved, in order to boot into the original ROM, whenever you need it.

BootManager installation and backing up boot.img

Once done, the app will inform you about the success of saving the boot image of your phone’s original ROM. A warning message will also pop up informing you not to do this step, if you are booted into one of the SD card’s ROM. This step needs to be performed only once at the initial stage and will take just a few seconds. If you bypassed this screen accidentally, you can do it after Boot Manager starts up. It is recommended that you take a complete backup (nandroid) of your phone’s existing ROM, using the recovery utility of the phone before proceeding further.

Adding details for each ROM being installed

Now that you are in the Boot Manager’s user interface, you will see six screens from left to right named ‘Phone ROM’, ‘ROM 1’, ROM 2’, ‘ROM 3’, ‘ROM 4’ and ‘Settings’, respectively. Begin with the Phone ROM first. Click on the button ‘Manage UI’. This step is optional, as it is just an information screen setup for the phone’s ROM. Here you can enter the details about the ROM, such as ROM name, Kernel name, description about the ROM and a screenshot for visual identification of the ROM.