How to install Custom ROM on OnePlus 8 Pro

Note

Potentially will work on any other OnePlus, I just have 1+8 Pro

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• Phone: OnePlus 8 Pro (instantnoodlep)
• ROM: Evolution X 11.2 Android 16

Contents

• Unlock Developer Options
• Install drivers
• Unlock the bootloader
• Flashing images and installing ROM

What is needed

• OnePlus phone
• Windows/Linux PC
• USB cable (preferred original, but suits any cable)
• Battery charge 60%+
• Curiosity

My stock ROM

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Unlock Developer Options

1. Tap 7-10 times on "Build number" to unlock "Developer options"
2. Go "Additional Settings" → scroll down → "Developer options"
3. In dev options find and set "OEM unlocking" and "USB Debugging"

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Install drivers

Now we need to download adb and fastboot drivers.

For Windows

• adb: Go to SDK Platform Tools Downloads and choose SDK Platform-Tools for Windows Download it to any directory.
• Fastboot: I had some problems with this one, so this video helped me. Download fastboot drivers from Google Drive, attached in given video desc

For Linux

# Update package list
sudo apt update

# Install ADB and Fastboot
sudo apt install android-tools-adb android-tools-fastboot

# Check
adb version
fastboot --version

It automatically adds adb to path, so you can call adb commands from any directory.

Unlock the bootloader

Caution

Everything on your phone will erased!
Make sure you backed up important data (numbers, chats, media, files, wifi settings)

If on Windows, go to platform-tools directory, where adb drivers are stored and call cmd

Then cmd commands are following:

1. Check adb connection

adb devices

You should see:

List of devices attached
<serial number>  device

2. Reboot to fastboot mode (yes, it is called bootloader)

adb reboot bootloader

3. Check fastboot connection

fastboot devices

You should see:

<serial number>   fastboot

4. Unlock bootloader

fastboot oem unlock

or for newer devices

fastboot flashing unlock

Than you will see the screen on phone that asks you whether unlock or not. Navigate via button Volume Down and press Power button to choose option "UNLOCK THE BOOTLOADER". Remember, everything on phone will be erased!

Then walk through the OS start screen on phone.

Note

You can verify that bootloader is unlocked by going in Delevoper options once again and see, that button "OEM unlocking" is not available now.

Flashing images and installing ROM

At this step we need to boot crucial files:

• recovery.img
• vbmeta.img
• dtbo.img
• boot.img
• EvolutionX-16.0.zip

Warning

Make sure you download this file from ROMs official website, because:
vbmeta.img - ✅ universal
dtbo.img - ❌ ROM specific
recovery.img - ❌ ROM specific
boot.img - ❌ ROM specific

That means, if you downloaded for example dtbo.img or recovery.img from LineageOS website, but will flash EvolutionX-16.0.zip ROM, you most likely will get broken phone (brick or bugs in system, if it boots)

1. First go to Evolution X site
2. Press How to install button
3. Press all buttons named images/archive names
4. Put the files in platform-tools directory for your convenience (to avoid specifying path to .img/.zip in cmd)

Make sure you are in platform-tools directory in cmd, then switch phone to fastboot mode and re-check connection:

adb reboot bootloader
fastboot devices

1. Flashing images (SEQUENCE MATTERS!)

fastboot flash vbmeta vbmeta.img 
fastboot flash dtbo dtbo.img
fastboot flash recovery recovery.img

2. Load in Evolution X recovery

fastboot reboot recovery

3. While in recovery, navigate:

Factory Reset → Format Data/Factory Reset → confirm to format the device.

4. After data wiped out, choose:

Apply update → Apply from ADB → back to cmd and flash the ROM itself:

Note

Specify .zip extension as well

adb sideload EvolutionX-16.0-20251006-instantnoodlep-11.2.1-Official.zip

Then chill for a couple minutes!

Tip

You can face a notification in cmd:

D:\platform-tools> adb sideload EvolutionX-16.0-20251006-instantnoodlep-11.2.1-Official.zip  
serving: 'EvolutionX-16.0-20251006-instantnoodlep-11.2.1-Official.zip'  (~47%)    adb: failed to read command: No error  

It's OKAY. ADB connection was lost when recovery automatically rebooted. The firmware was fully installed by this point.

After installation is complete, you will be asked in recovery, whether you'd like to install additional packages (they mean GApps, root, another recovery etc.). Choose No.

Note

Evolution X has pre-built GApps, so no need to install it separately.

Then in recovery press Reboot system now

And enjoy your new ROM!

Warning

Don't lock the bootloader while using Evolution X, it can permanently brick your device and recover it would be hard because the bootloader is locked.
It's advised to keep the bootloader unlocked to avoid complications.