Installation #

Check if your device is supported #

Download KernelSU manager APP from GitHub Releases or Coolapk market, and install it to your device:

• If the app shows Unsupported, it means You should compile the kernel yourself, KernelSU won't and never provide a boot image for you to flash.
• If the app shows Not installed, then your devices is officially supported by KernelSU.

Backup stock boot.img #

Before flashing, you must first backup your stock boot.img. If you encounter any bootloop, you can always restore the system by flashing back to the stock factory boot using fastboot.

Necessary knowledge #

ADB and fastboot #

By default, you will use ADB and fastboot tools in this tutorial, so if you don't know them, we recommend using a search engine to learn about them first.

KMI #

Kernel Module Interface (KMI), kernel versions with the same KMI are compatible This is what "general" means in GKI; conversely, if the KMI is different, then these kernels are not compatible with each other, and flashing a kernel image with a different KMI than your device may cause a bootloop.

Specifically, for GKI devices, the kernel version format should be as follows:

KernelRelease :=
Version.PatchLevel.SubLevel-AndroidRelease-KmiGeneration-suffix
w      .x         .y       -zzz           -k            -something

w.x-zzz-k is the KMI version. For example, if a device kernel version is 5.10.101-android12-9-g30979850fc20, then its KMI is 5.10-android12-9; theoretically, it can boot up normally with other KMI kernels.

Kernel version vs. Android version #

Please note: Kernel version and Android version are not necessarily the same!

If you find that your kernel version is android12-5.10.101, but your Android system version is Android 13 or other; please don't be surprised, because the version number of the Android system is not necessarily the same as the version number of the Linux kernel; The version number of the Linux kernel is generally consistent with the version of the Android system that comes with the device when it is shipped. If the Android system is upgraded later, the kernel version will generally not change. If you need to flash, please always refer to the kernel version!!

Introduction #

There are several installation methods for KernelSU, each suitable for a different scenario, so please choose as needed.

1. Install with custom Recovery (e.g. TWRP)
2. Install with a kernel flash app, such as Franco Kernel Manager
3. Install with fastboot using the boot.img provided by KernelSU
4. Repair the boot.img manually and install it

Install with custom Recovery #

Prerequisite: Your device must have a custom Recovery, such as TWRP; if not or only official Recovery is available, use another method.

Step:

1. From the Release page of KernelSU, download the zip package starting with AnyKernel3 that matches your phone version; for example, the phone kernel version is android12-5.10. 66, then you should download the file AnyKernel3-android12-5.10.66_yyyy-MM.zip (where yyyy is the year and MM is the month).
2. Reboot the phone into TWRP.
3. Use adb to put AnyKernel3-*.zip into the phone /sdcard and choose to install it in the TWRP GUI; or you can directly adb sideload AnyKernel-*.zip to install.

PS. This method is suitable for any installation (not limited to initial installation or subsequent upgrades), as long as you use TWRP.

Install with Kernel Flasher #

Prerequisite: Your device must be rooted. For example, you have installed Magisk to get root, or you have installed an old version of KernelSU and need to upgrade to another version of KernelSU; if your device is not rooted, please try other methods.

Step:

1. Download the AnyKernel3 zip; refer to the section Installing with Custom Recovery for downloading instructions.
2. Open the Kernel Flash App and use the provided AnyKernel3 zip to flash.

If you haven't used the Kernel flash App before, the following are the more popular ones.

1. Kernel Flasher
2. Franco Kernel Manager
3. Ex Kernel Manager

PS. This method is more convenient when upgrading KernelSU and can be done without a computer (backup first!). .

Install with boot.img provided by KernelSU #

This method does not require you to have TWRP, nor does it require your phone to have root privileges; it is suitable for your first installation of KernelSU.

Find proper boot.img #

KernelSU provides a generic boot.img for GKI devices and you should flush the boot.img to the boot partition of the device.

You can download boot.img from GitHub Release, please note that you should use the correct version of boot.img. For example, if your device displays the kernel android12-5.10.101 , you need to download android-5.10.101_yyyy-MM.boot-<format>.img. , you need to download android-5.10.101_yyyy-MM.boot-<format>.img.(Keep KMI consistent!)

Where <format> refers to the kernel compression format of your official boot.img, please check the kernel compression format of your original boot.img, you should use the correct format, e.g. lz4, gz; if you use an incorrect compression format, you may encounter bootloop.

flash boot.img to device #

Use adb to connect your device, then execute adb reboot bootloader to enter fastboot mode, then use this command to flash KernelSU:

fastboot flash boot boot.img

reboot #

After flashing is complete, you should reboot your device:

fastboot reboot

Patch boot.img manully #

For some devices, the boot.img format is not so common, such as not lz4, gz and uncompressed; the most typical is Pixel, its boot.img format is lz4_legacy compressed, ramdisk may be gz may also be lz4_legacy compression; at this time, if you directly flash the boot.img provided by KernelSU, the phone may not be able to boot; at this time, you can manually patch the boot.img to achieve.

There are generally two patch methods:

1. Android-Image-Kitchen
2. magiskboot

Among them, Android-Image-Kitchen is suitable for operation on PC, and magiskboot needs the cooperation of mobile phone.

Preparation #

1. Get your phone's stock boot.img; you can get it from your device manufacturers, you may need payload-dumper-go
2. Download the AnyKernel3 zip file provided by KernelSU that matches the KMI version of your device (you can refer to the Install with custom Recovery).
3. Unpack the AnyKernel3 package and get the Image file, which is the kernel file of KernelSU.

Using Android-Image-Kitchen #

1. Download Android-Image-Kitchen to your computer.
2. Put stock boot.img to Android-Image-Kitchen's root folder.
3. Execute ./unpackimg.sh boot.img at root directory of Android-Image-Kitchen, this command would unpack boot.img and you will get some files.
4. Replace boot.img-kernel in the split_img directory with the Image you extracted from AnyKernel3 (note the name change to boot.img-kernel).
5. Execute ./repackimg.sh at root directory of 在 Android-Image-Kitchen; And you will get a file named image-new.img; Flash this boot.img by fastboot(Refer to the previous section).

Using magiskboot #

1. Download latest Magisk from Release Page
2. Rename Magisk-*.apk to Magisk-vesion.zip and unzip it.
3. Push Magisk-v25.2/lib/arm64-v8a/libmagiskboot.so to your device by adb: adb push Magisk-v25.2/lib/arm64-v8a/libmagiskboot.so /data/local/tmp/magiskboot
4. Push stock boot.img and Image in AnyKernel3 to your device.
5. Enter adb shell and cd /data/local/tmp/ directory, then chmod +x magiskboot
6. Enter adb shell and cd /data/local/tmp/ directory, execute ./magiskboot unpack boot.img to unpack boot.img, you will get a kernel file, this is your stock kernel.
7. Replace kernel with Image: mv -f Image kernel
8. Execute ./magiskboot repack boot.img to repack boot img, and you will get a new-boot.img file, flash this file to device by fastboot.

Other methods #

In fact, all these installation methods have only one main idea, which is to replace the original kernel for the one provided by KernelSU; as long as this can be achieved, it can be installed; for example, the following are other possible methods.

1. First install Magisk, get root privileges through Magisk and then use the kernel flasher to flash in the AnyKernel zip from KernelSU.
2. Use some flashing toolkit on PCs to flash in the kernel provided KernelSU.