Team Win Recovery Project (TWRP) is a custom recovery that allows you to modify the operating system of a rooted Amazon Fire TV. It is most commonly used to install customized operating systems (a.k.a ROMs) but can also be used to install packages that just modify aspects of the existing operating system. This guide will show you how to use TWRP to install/update a package. The information in this guide is redundant to step 4 in my Fire TV 2 rooting guide, but will come in handy in the future as a quick reference for when you need to update to a new ROM or install a mod.
You need to have a USB keyboard connected to the Fire TV in order to enter TWRP and to interact with its menus. TWRP also supports a mouse, but it is not required. You can use the arrow keys on a keyboard to move the on-screen cursor, and you can press the return key to select menu items under the cursor.
File Location
TWRP can access files located on external USB drives, MicroSD cards (Fire TV 2 only), or stored on the Fire TV’s internal storage.
- USB Drive
USB drives must be formatted with FAT32 to be read by TWRP. The Fire TV 1 operating system will offer to format a non-FAT32 USB drive to FAT32 when it is connected. If you use a USB drive to store your files, you will need a USB Hub so that you can connect both the USB drive and the USB keyboard to the Fire TV’s single USB port simultaneously.
- MicroSD Card (Fire TV 2 Only)
MicroSD cards must be formatted with FAT32 to be read by TWRP. The Fire TV 2 operating system will offer to format a non-FAT32 MicroSD card to FAT32 when it is inserted. The advantage of using a MicroSD card over a SUB drive is that you do not need to have a USB hub since the USB port on the Fire TV will remain available for the USB keyboard.
- Internal Storage
TWRP is capable of reading files stored on the Fire TV’s internal storage. If you don’t want to use a USB drive or MicroSD card, you can store the file you wish to install in the Fire TV’s/sdcard directory. You can transfer files to the Fire TV in several ways like, through a file manager like ES File Explorer, or by sending files through ADB by:
1. Connecting to the Fire TV via adb.
2. Running the commandadb push [PATH-TO-FILE-ON-PC] /sdcard/
Pre-Rooted ROMs
Fire TV 1 pre-rooted ROMs can be downloaded here.
Fire TV 2 pre-rooted ROMs can be downloaded here.
Fire TV Stick pre-rooted ROMs have not been released yet.
File Verification
As an optional precaution, you can add a
Installing / Updating a Package
- Connect a USB keyboard and your USB drive/MicroSD card (if applicable) to the Fire TV and then power it on. If you have a Fire TV Stick, you will need to connect it to a PC using its USB cable.
- When you see the boot menu, press the RIGHT arrow on the USB keyboard to boot into TWRP recovery. For Fire TV Stick owners, refer to this guide for a reminder of how to launch TWRP.
- Once your are in TWRP, if you don’t have a mouse/touchpad connected to the Fire TV, use the arrow keys on the keyboard to move the cursor. Press enter to select buttons under the cursor.
- Select the
Install button in TWRP.
- Select the
Select Storage button.
- Select the location where your files are stored and select OK.
- Select the file you want to install.
- Select the
Swipe to confirm Flash button to start installing the Pre-Rooted ROM. You don’t actually have to drag the button. Just clicking it will work.
- Wait for the file to install.
- Once the file is finished installing, select the
Reboot System button to restart the Fire TV.
- (OPTIONAL) If you’re following this guide to install a pre-rooted ROM and you rooted with KingRoot or Kingo Root, it is recommended that you perform a factory reset by following this guide to get rid of all the junk that KingRoot installed. You only have to do this the first time you install a pre-rooted ROM, so if you’ve already performed a factory reset after rooting with KingRoot, there’s no need to perform a factory reset every time you install a pre-rooted ROM.
Remember that doing a factory reset will restore OTA updates and require you to go through the initial setup process where the Fire TV will try to download updates, so be sure you’re confident you can get through the initial setup process without updating before performing a factory reset.
Troubleshooting
• If you get stuck in a loop and can’t boot normally:
- Enter TWRP using the boot menu
- Select the
Wipe button in the upper right. - Select the
Advanced Wipe button in the lower left. - Check the
Cache checkbox. - Select the
Swipe to Wipe button. The wipe can take anywhere from a few seconds to 10+ minutes, so be patient.
• If TWRP recovery is hung/frozen, do not reboot. Instead, restart TWRP recovery by:
- Connect via ADB. (The IP is on the TWRP home screen)
- Run the command:
adb shell - Run the command:
killall recovery
• If TWRP recovery has a blurry/double interface, try connecting the Fire TV to a different TV to complete the guide. Some TVs are having issues displaying TWRP correctly. There are also reports that TWRP is not compatible with interlace 1080i TVs. Try using a 1080p or 720p TV.
@AFTVnews
AFTVnews
Can u pls make a guide for what needs to be done for users like me who are stuck with the Amazon logo with a failed rooting process.
Thanks !
Can you access recovery?
I thought mine was bricked with recovery access, but it may be that I just had to wait longer than I thought on the white Amazon logo
No i cannot get into recovery. I have had it on for few hours but all i see is the Amazon Fire TV logo.
Rbox told me he plans to release a script that will install recovery completely through the A-to-A USB cable. The process will take a few hours, but it should fix bricked devices. I don’t know when that will be released, but don’t expect it too soon so just sit tight. I’ll post a guide on how to use it when it’s released.
any update? i am looking for USB A to A solution to repair the recovery section.
any update on this.. @rbox – you have been doing a great job supporting aftv.. but for all the tinkerers i think this solution is on highest priority :-)
Hi Saba, any update on this please? I bricked my fire tv 1 during upgrade
If your TV is in “Overscan” mode, the TWRP screen will be cut off. Most people don’t realize that the normal view of many HDTVs scale up the picture about 3%. Sometimes people will notice this and reduce the size using the Fire TV’s scaling feature in the settings. Do not do this. Find the non-scaling setting for your TV and do NOT adjust scaling using the Fire TV.
is this gonna work on aftv 1?
Yes I think so he did say he would do a OS5 for the AFTV1 at some point but only when rbox has time, he’s been a busy bee at the moment doing so much stuff for the AFTV 2 people.
I’m not able to get the USB keyboard to work on the boot screen to get into recovery, arrow keys don’t work. I uninstalled FireStarter launcher and turned on and off USB debugging and ADB debugging, still doesn’t work. UBS devices work after fire TV booted up when USB debugging is turned off. Can someone help?
Did u get ur keyboard to work I’m stuck at the same place I haven’t got a usb keyboard I will have to get one
I tried again yesterday on a different TV (1080p) and it worked! I also used a wired keyboard, the wireless didn’t work. Also the Enter key on the num pad didn’t work, I had to use the other enter key (below the \ key). I still think the twrp recovery is buggy, it might be a hit or miss. After the flash of the newest image, keyboard worked again on the recovery. Good luck to you.
I ran into the looping issue on all but one TV, unfortunately on the one TV that didn’t loop a double picture was displayed. I was able to update on the TV with the double picture by doing the following.
Connect the Fire TV to the network with a network cable then boot into recovery. (This could have been done without a keyboard and mouse by connecting via adb while in the Fire OS and issuing the command “adb reboot recovery)
After the Fire TV booted into recovery I made note of the IP and then used this IP to connect to ADB.
I then connected to the adb shell.
Next I navigated to the /sbin directory
Finally I ran the following command to install the update.
recovery –update_package=/sdcard/bueller-5.0.5.1-rooted_r1.zip
After the ROM installed the picture wouldn’t display on the TV that had displayed the double picture, however I was able to hook it up to one of the TVs that previously displayed the looping issue in recovery and the Fire TV booted fine.
This would probably work for someone who just doesn’t have a usb keyboard and mouse too.
I hope this helps someone.
Alan Thank you…I was stuck with TWRP double screens. Followed your recommendations and was able to load Bueller….Note it took along time to load program update. I did have the problem with 720/1080 screens, blinking light. I tried a TV that did not work before, and was able to get program update….Hope this helps someone.
Hi there,
Just followed the complete guide in order to root my 1rst gen 5.0.5 fire tv and all went well including reset factory, many thanks for that. My only problem is that now all my third party apps are zoomed in and I can’t find any solution to that (tried with a mouse and few keyboard command), any idea ?
Many thanks in advance
You are a life saver. Thanks for posting your problem and solution.
Hi
I rooted my 2nd Gen FTV couple weeks back and installed custom rom ect, but after factory reset I am not able to get my catch up apps back what i downloaded from amazon, i have tried downloading from third party markets but these are built for touch/mouse not remote control.
I have rooted my FTVS with Kingo and still able to use these apps
is there some way i can get AFTV compatible apps install?
Thanks in advance
Never mind i found a solution…
I installed Apps2Fire on my FTVS and copied the apps over from there and they are working perfectly
After upgrading my FTV1 to the pre-rooted 51.1.6.3 ROM, I successfully inatalled bueller-5.2.1.0-rooted_r1 and bueller-twrp_3.0.0-7. After rebooting the Fire TV, the OS seems to be loading but “Home”, “Your Videos”, “TV Shows”, “Movies”, “Games” and “Apps” all stay blank. Also, I keep getting the message “We are currently unable to contact our servers” with a “Try Again” button. I did try again of course, but the same thing happens again. The “Settings” icons all appear to work fine. I also confirmed in system>about that 5.2.1.0 (550145120) was installed. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Never mind, turns out I just needed to reregister my Amazon account.
@ Bill….
Big THANK YOU for posting your issue AND the solution. I just tonight finally updated my FTV1 to the latest ROM (as you also did) and had the EXACT same problem you experienced… I was SO relieved when I found your post and most importantly your solution to the issue. I also had to sign in to my Amazon Account and “poof” now everything works perfectly.
Thanks again.
Paul
Install this prerooted 5.2.1.0 on aftv 2nd gen. PlayStation vue says not supported on the device. My other aftv2 non-rooted and on 5.2.1.0 works as expected. I am guessing the problem is because the device name is changed to block updates on the prerooted ROM. Any advice on how to deal with this? I need to be able to use PlayStation vue.
I have blocked updates using opendns and it works great.
PS: sorry about the duplicate comment. Just looking for help soon.
Stuck on: Optimizing system storage and applications
I just updated to the 5.2.1 everything seems to have went fine but after rebooting it goes into this “optimizing system storage and applications” states it will take approximately 10 minutes. It have been about 30 minutes??
Hmm just got a new ftv2 rooted via kingroot, installed twrp and flashed latest pre rooted 5.2.1.1. It worked all fine. Then as recommended I did a reset via tarp.
NOW I am stuck at the update screen, already tried my phone Hotspot since my wifi is blocking amazon updates
What can I do?
Follow method 5 of my blocking guide. http://www.aftvnews.com/block
solution: see bills comment/ I found a hint on XDA forum
maybe it is obvious it was not to me and after this procedure. the fire TV could get stuck at the update screen.
Since it was previously registered to an amazon account it will not register again adn gives out unable to update Fire tv, try again later screen”, so I had to go to amazon.com under my devices and unregister it, then it let to the next screen on the fire tv and I could register again(this drove me nuts for 2 days)
Maybe you could update the guide just in case, thanks
Followed all the instructions and ended up with a black screen after the first reboot. Just let it sit for about 10 minutes or so then it rebooted twice more and then went on to the upgrading screen and that took another 14 minutes. Eventually booted up to a “blank” home screen saying that it was not able to connect to server. Saw the comment here about re-registering which I did from the settings screen and then all was good.aftvuser
Great guide, thank you, Elias!
I got stuck on Step 8 because I checked the “zip file verification” box on that screen. Could you please amend the wording above NOT to check the box? It was late at night and I kept on thinking my file was corrupt since the system gave me an error message. Come to find out the file was fine, MD5 matched, and that option should NOT be checked.
This morning I went back and clicked on your screenshot of Step 8 and noticed you didn’t check the option. Having it as a note will help those who don’t click on each screen image.
Looking on Rbox’s updates, the latest Pre-rooted ROM release *might* just in fact block OTA updates. I still blocked per the guide to make sure.
FYI I seem to be able to use my wireless k400r to enter TWRP (And to be absolutely clear I mean flick the toggle to enter TWRP on boot) and the mouse works to navigate it. It’s awesome!
Do you have any thoughts on Magisk? As a systemless root mechanism and as it seems to have better compatibility with xposed.
Frankly, I couldn’t care less about the xposed library in general but I’d loooooove to get xmultiwindow woring for some split screen action!
TWRP has wipe my amazon box, please help me fix this.
New update was simple as pie. Thank you rbox and elias. So many new features and brand new interface. Reminds me a bit of Estuary on Krypton.
Noticed that the usb stick on the AFTV Gen 2 can no longer be used for apps. They say you need a micro SD card to extend storage.
Feels like the difference in going from the old Apple TV interface to the new one. Look forward to playing around with customization.
Any advice on buying a microSD card for the AFTV? I want the fastest possible, but I don’t know what standards the reader in the AFTV supports and what would be overkill. My next stop is clicking on BUYERS GUIDE at the top of this website and the ABOUT section to see what Elias might be using.
Hi mate can you please help, i have installed all the latest roms however my internal storage only has 2gb free and dont have any apps installed yet, i have tried to wipe as much as i can, is there a way to do a clean wipe without losing all my root
If.you updated to a new from 5.0.5 to 5.2.6.2 and did a factory reset from twrp am I still able to install another rooted firmware ?