Enjoy Dual Boot on OnePlus 3T

Dual booting is nothing new to a lot of PC users but on smartphones, dual boot is still very much a not-so-popular-but-still-very-cool feature. On PCs, you can dual boot two very different Operating Systems on your own but on smartphones, it is simply not possible. Not unless the device manufacturer wants. You can, however, dual boot two different ROMs on the same smartphone provided your device can support it, or at least the cool developer community behind the device finds a way. Thanks to these developers, you can now enjoy dual boot on OnePlus 3T and we’re going to teach you how.

This can be achieved via an app called DualBootPatcher which was originally created by chenxiaolong to provide a simpler dual-booting solution for Samsung Galaxy S4. Usually, enabling dual boot on Android devices requires some complicated flashing methods. Since then the app has been ported by others to work with a number of devices.  XDA member Glove007 ported the app to also work with the OnePlus 3T. Ported apps often tend to have some issues, however, and unfortunately, so is the case with this ported version of DualBootPatcher.

Known issues

• In-app flashing doesn’t work, meaning you will still have to fall back on your custom recovery to flash the patched zip files.
• Often after flashing something, one of the installed ROMs might refuse to accept any PINs, patterns or passwords claiming them to be incorrect. This can be fixed by going to Advanced> File Manager. Browse to /data/system/ and select the locksettings.db file, and delete it.

Disclaimer

You understand the risks involved with such a process and take full responsibility for your actions and for anything you do to your device. Even if you follow the guide, DroidViews takes no responsibility. Of course, this also voids your warranty. That said, the method explained here has been successfully tested by a number of users.

Using dual boot on OnePlus 3T

1. First and foremost, make sure you are already on the ROM you wish to keep as your Primary ROM. Then you need the app. Download DualBootPatcher APK and install it. For any newer versions of the app, check out the original XDA thread.
2. When you open the app you will see the app icon, name, version and some other information. The main screen is not of much use and everything you need is in the hidden menu drawer. Tap on the hamburger menu icon in the top left.

   

   

3. If you tap on ROM the app will show you the list of current ROMs installed on your device. But for now, you need to select Patch Zip File.

   

   

4. Tap on the floating  button in the bottom right and select Add flashable zip. Browse and select the ROM files you wish to patch. The app saves the patched files with the same name adding “dual” at the end. For example, cm-13-20160118-sprout4.zip would create a new cm-13-20160118-sprout4_dual.zip
5. To save the patched zip file, select OnePlus 3T from the sliding menu instead of internal storage since the selecting the latter does not seem to work. 
6. To flash the zip files you just patched, you will need to boot into TWRP recovery since in-app flashing doesn’t work on the OnePlus 3T for now. Flashing is just as simple as flashing any other zip file.
7. Just select Install from the TWRP menu and select the zip files. Swipe to flash.

   

   

Another thing to consider here is that if you plan to dual boot alongside the stock ROM, you should install the stock ROM as the primary ROM since most Mods are based on stock ROM and you will need to patch them each time you flash a new mod if the stock ROM is not your primary ROM.

If you wish to know more, and we recommend you should, visit the XDA thread for the OnePlus 3T and also take a look at this thread to learn about the app.