Install /e/OS on a Asus - Zenfone 5Z (ZS620KL) Z01R

This guide installs /e/OS on your Z01R. Read it through once before you start, so you don’t hit surprises partway in. Downgrading from a newer OS version than the /e/OS build you’re about to install can cause instability or brick some devices — check your current OS version first. Flashing is done at your own risk: /e/OS builds are provided as best effort, without any guarantee, and the /e/OS project takes no responsibility for the consequences.

Requirements

  • Back up your important data to an external storage device — some of the steps below format the phone, wiping any backup left on it.
  • Charge your phone above 50%.
  • Enable adb and fastboot on your PC — setup instructions.
  • Download every file listed in the Downloads section below before you start.
  • Use a real data cable — some cables only charge and can’t transfer data.
  • Enable USB debugging on your device — instructions.
  • Confirm your exact model in the Device Selector: where shown, hover the device name for the supported model number, and check it matches yours exactly.
  • Boot the stock OS at least once and check everything works — SMS, calls, and both over WiFi and LTE if available (some devices need VoLTE/VoWiFi used once on stock to provision IMS). Whatever’s broken on stock stays broken on /e/OS.
Warning: Log out of any accounts (Google, Samsung, Mi Account, etc.) set on the stock ROM before proceeding. Most vendors enable Factory Reset Protection (FRP): after a factory reset, a device that's still signed in will ask for the credentials of that account before it can be used again. Also remove any screen locks.

Downloads for Z01R

community /e/OS A15

Each of these pages also lists a separate /e/OS Recovery file where available — grab it from there when the install steps below ask for it.

Not sure which one to pick? See official vs. community builds.

Unlocking the bootloader

These steps only need to be run once per device. Unlocking the bootloader will erase all data on your device — make sure anything you want to keep is backed up (see Requirements above). Not sure what unlocking changes on your device? See Bootloader relocking.

Please note ASUS bootloader unlock App service are not functional for the past couple of months. Only users with devices which are already unlocked should proceed with the installation as the instructions in the Unlocking section may not work .

  1. Download the bootloader unlock app for your device:

    • Navigate to ASUS’ support site and go to your device’s page by entering its model number.
    • Click Driver & Tools
    • Select Android from the drop-down menu
    • Open the Utilities section
    • Download the Unlock Device App
    • If the downloaded file is packaged in a .zip archive, extract it.

  2. Connect the device to your PC via USB.

  3. On the computer, open a command prompt (on Windows) or terminal (on Linux or macOS) window and change to the location where the Unlock Device App .apk resides.

  4. Install the .apk by typing:

adb install Name_of_unlock_app.apk

  1. Run the application Unlock Device Tool from the device and agree to the terms.

    Follow the steps as given on the ASUS support site to complete the unlock process

  2. Press the button to unlock your device.

  3. The device should automatically reboot into bootloader mode and the message unlock successfully...reboot after 5 seconds should be displayed. The device will then reboot and load Android.

Temporarily Booting a custom recovery using fastboot

  1. Connect your device to your PC via USB.

  2. On the computer, open a command prompt (on Windows) or terminal (on Linux or macOS) window, and type:

    adb reboot bootloader

  3. Once the device is in fastboot mode, verify your PC finds it by typing:

    fastboot devices

  4. Flash a recovery image onto your device

    fastboot flash boot recoveryfilename.img

    Replace the recoveryfilename with the name of the recovery image you downloaded in the previous section

  5. Manually reboot into recovery mode

    • With the device powered off
    • hold Volume Up + Power. Keep holding both buttons until the word FASTBOOT appears on the screen, then select recovery mode by pressing volume button, press and hold the power button to reboot to recovery.
Tip: Outdated fastboot releases dropped legacy A/B support, so it might attempt to flash to boot__a / boot__b rather than boot_a / boot_b if you try to flash boot. In this case, you must update fastboot to a release newer than or equal to 31.0.2. Alternatively, you can manually specify which slot to flash to based on what slot fastboot failed to flash to. For example, if fastboot fails to flash to boot__a, you must flash to boot_a.

Steps to install /e/OS from recovery

Use Volume to navigate and Power to select — to go back to the main screen, use Volume Up to choose the arrow at the top. If your PC can’t detect the device over adb, tap Advanced » Enable adb from the /e/OS recovery main screen.

Format the device

On /e/OS Recovery main screen:

  1. Select Factory reset

  2. Select Format data / Factory reset option

  3. Next screen will display a warning that this action cannot be undone

  4. Select Format data to proceed or Cancel if you want to go back

  5. If you selected Format data, the format process will complete

    You’ll see text in small font on the lower left side of the screen showing format progress, similar to this:

    Wiping data
Formatting/data
Formatting/cache
Data wipe complete

  6. Display will now return to the Factory Reset screen

Install /e/OS

In /e/OS recovery main screen:

  1. Select Apply Update and in next screen Apply update from adb

  2. In the next screen, the device is now in sideload mode

    Note at this point the Cancel option is highlighted that does not mean you have canceled the action. The device is in adb sideload mode.

  3. On your PC begin adb sideload. Type the below command in a console

    adb sideload downloaded_file_name.zip

    Replace downloaded_file_name.zip with the name of the /e/OS file you downloaded in the previous section

  4. Press enter key on the keyboard to start the sideloading The screen will show the progress percentage…This might pause at 47%

  5. Give it some time

  6. The PC console will now display Total xfer: 1.00x

  7. The phone screen will now display some text with a message similar to:

    Script succeeded result was [1.000000]

    This means that the install was successful.

Reboot the device

In /e/OS recovery main screen:

  1. Select Reboot system now

    The reboot process may take 5 - 10 minutes

Success: Congratulations! Your phone should now be booting into /e/OS.
To find some troubleshooting tips… click here

adb

  • Getting a Total xFer ':' 0.01x message - Try to upload the /e/OS to internal storage and retry to install
  • adb ':' sideload connection failed ':' insufficient permissions for device error - Try to execute the commands adb kill-server and adb start-server and retry
  • Getting an insufficient permissions error - Try the solution given here
  • When running "adb devices" in bash a device is shown as "unauthorized" - Try the solution given here

Connectivity

  • Trying to troubleshoot mobile connectivity issues - Read this guide


Please share your experience , suggest tips or changes to this install guide documentation by visiting the Zenfone 5Z (ZS620KL) specific topic on our community forum. To report issues in /e/OS please refer this guide

This documentation “Install /e/OS on a Asus - Zenfone 5Z (ZS620KL) - “Z01R”” is a derivative of “install LineageOS on Z01R” by The LineageOS Project, used under CC BY.