Is it possible to put Android on a Windows background? Everything you need to know about installing Android apps and games on Lumia smartphones

Installing Android on smartphones running Windows Phone is quite possible. The second generation Lumia and Samsung ATIV S phones have already prepared the ground for this. Enthusiasts managed to hack their bootloaders and gain access to the partition of the drive where the system files of the tiled operating system are stored. It remains to wait until the people involved in transferring firmware with the “green robot” to various devices create a working port for phones with mobile Windows on board. Just one that contains correctly working drivers for all modules and sensors, and does not exist just for show.

Now on the Internet you can find unofficial firmware with “clean” Android 7.1 OS for Lumia 520 and 525 smartphones, as well as instructions for installing it. But it is of little interest, since the vast majority of modules do not work in it - camera, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and others. In addition, the method of installing firmware on an Android system does not allow for reversion to Windows Phone. It is quite possible that a little later enthusiasts will figure out how to solve this problem, but at the moment this is the situation.

Video: Android 7.1 on Nokia Lumia 520

How to install Android applications on Windows Phone and is it possible?

Since the weakest point of Windows Phone has always been the application store with a meager range of content, in 2015 Microsoft decided to open two bridges for quickly porting software from iOS and Android - Project Islandwood and Project Astoria, respectively. With their help, the company planned to significantly reduce the existing gap between the markets of leading mobile operating systems and the Windows Store, as well as increase the number of users of its tiled OS.

While Islandwood only involved editing the code and recompiling iOS applications for their further deployment on devices with Windows 10 Mobile, the Astoria project provided more advanced capabilities - installing and running applications created for the “green robot” directly on devices with mobile Windows. All these tricks could be done thanks to the Android subsystem, present in the “tens” builds for smartphones, but only with software that was not linked to Google Play services.

Initially, Astoria tools were issued to a limited number of developers, but then “quite by accident” they became freely available. Literally immediately after this incident, several ways to install programs from a “robot” to a mobile “Windows” appeared on the network. Everyone could use them, but only the most “hungry” experienced special delight from this. And all because when using programs written on Android, the system slowed down significantly and loaded the phone. This was due to the fact that the OS devoted a large amount of resources to emulating and maintaining the virtual machine in working order. Since Microsoft engineers have not figured out how to fix this jamb, third-party developers have refused to use Astoria to port their creations. As a result, the company had to close the project and cut out the Android subsystem from builds of Windows 10 Mobile newer than build number 10536. This is why now no one can install applications from APK files on Windows phones using existing methods.

From all this we can conclude that now there are no compromise options for users who are not satisfied with the pace of development of Windows 10 Mobile, and are also upset by the situation with the release and support of applications for this operating system. We can only hope that in the near future the big-headed guys will be able to come up with something and arrange a holiday for desperate users.

There are people who constantly find something to complain about about the Windows Phone OS. Some criticize the platform for its annoying tiled interface, while others find the reasons for what they consider to be an insufficiently diverse application store. You can argue about these two topics for quite a long time, but there is one circumstance with which it is completely pointless to argue: Windows Phone is the simplest and most convenient mobile operating system. And this manifests itself not only during use, but even if the smartphone for some reason fails.

Usually the term “firmware” is associated with a complex and very risky process, which can only make the situation worse. But in the case of Windows Phone, the situation is radically different. Never before has flashing a mobile device been so easy. Unlike the good old Symbian or the super popular Android, to flash a Winphone firmware you don’t have to do a lot of manipulation with firmware files, do magic in the flash program menu, setting the desired mode, unlock the bootloader, etc. Without exaggeration, Windows Phone firmware can be installed by anyone, even an inexperienced user.

Why do you need flashing?

First of all, flashing may be necessary in case of some large-scale software problems, for example, if the smartphone freezes during an update and even the treasured combination of “volume down button + lock” (+ camera button, possibly with the memory card removed from the smartphone) cannot save you from this ). In addition, flashing the firmware will be useful if you, but want to return to the native firmware because of the dampness of the update.

Before flashing

Before flashing the firmware, if the smartphone is working, do not forget to back up your important data so that you can then restore photos, videos, applications, achievements and settings, including Notification Center and desktop settings, on the already flashed device. You can check the availability of backups and make a new one by going to “Settings” -> “Backup”.

How to flash Windows Phone

Regardless of the model that needs to be flashed, to upload the firmware to a Windows Phone smartphone you will need one single program installed on your computer. You do not need to download any additional files. Everything you need for your model, program Windows Phone Recovery Too l will download itself. You will only need to click on a special button and wait a few minutes until the flashing process is completed.

You can download WP Recovery Tool from the Microsoft website at go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=522381. The program (at the time of writing this post) weighs just over two megabytes and is extremely easy to install.

After launching, the utility will first check for new versions and then greet you with a window asking you to connect your smartphone to your computer. WP Recovery Tool does not work with all Winphones, so if your model is not on the list of supported ones, you will immediately know about it as soon as you connect the device to your PC.

If the phone is not detected, you can try clicking the appropriate link in the program window, and then the utility will try to find a solution.

Also make sure that your smartphone has installed the necessary drivers on your computer. If the drivers are installed, but the smartphone is still not detected, reboot it without disconnecting it from the computer. Sometimes the reboot process provokes the installation of additional software.

In our case, the device was successfully detected:

Click on the tile with the name of the identified phone. The program will scan the model for important data and start the process of downloading the latest firmware from official servers.

The size of the firmware can exceed a gigabyte, so you may have to be patient. If the download suddenly stops halfway, do not be upset, because when you reconnect to the Internet and even after restarting the computer, the download will continue from the same point where it stopped last time.

In the future, if you need to reflash the Winphone again, you won’t have to download the firmware for it again, because it is automatically saved in one of the folders on your PC.

When the program finishes downloading the firmware, an active “Reinstall software” button will appear in its window. This means that the smartphone is ready for firmware. Make sure your USB connection is secure before clicking Reinstall Software.

The smartphone will turn off and the software reinstallation process will begin.

During the firmware installation process, it is prohibited to disconnect the smartphone from the computer, forcefully turn on the smartphone, or press any buttons on it. WP Recovery Tool itself warns about this, among other things. The whole process will take a few minutes. Once the process is complete, the phone will turn on on its own, but keep in mind that the first startup will take a little longer than usual.

Now all you have to do is activate and configure your smartphone, as you once did when buying it in a store. Connect to the WiFi network when prompted by your smartphone and sign in to your Microsoft account. After this, the system will check if you have backups and, if any, will offer to restore from them. Select an available copy, click “Forward” and wait until the Winphone takes the form you saw it before flashing. You also have the right not to restore the backup, but to start working with the phone again.

Modern man is designed in such a way that he is constantly in a state of critical attitude towards surrounding objects. No matter how original the proposal, after a certain period of time, something begins to not suit you, and you will want to replace something.

To update the system, the developers provided special software

This is exactly the case with the Windows Phone operating system. Many users are critical of such an OS due to the fact that the official store contains a small number of applications that could be installed on a smartphone. In any case, Windows Phone is a successful operating system that allows you to do many things, and also effectively competes with Android and Symbian.

Windows Phone firmware is an opportunity to make fundamental changes to your HTC device, increasing its versatility, performance and other important parameters.

Many users associate the word “firmware” with complex technical actions, since it is still fresh in their memory how the firmware of Windows Phone was carried out on Android. Then it was necessary to install flash programs, search for and download firmware files, and perform complex manipulations to set the desired mode. Firmware for Windows Phone on Android was indeed accompanied by incredible difficulties, so many preferred to resort to outside help rather than do it themselves. Fortunately, at present, the flashing process for HTC smartphones is not accompanied by problems, as a result, even a beginner who has first studied all the instructions can do it.

What to do before starting the process

Those owners of HTC gadgets who have begun to notice serious software glitches in the operation of their favorite device want to install Windows Phone firmware. There is also an active desire to reflash Windows Phone when, during an update of system files, an unforeseen circumstance arises as a result of which the tablet freezes and does not respond to any resuscitation actions.

In order for the HTC Windows Phone firmware to be successfully installed on your favorite mobile device, you should carry out some preparatory steps.

First of all, you need to create a new backup, which will allow you to restore the settings if there is an urgent need for this. It is also advisable to back up the content stored on the memory card of your HTC device. Such actions can only be performed when the gadget is in working condition.

It is very important to ensure that the battery charge is maximum. You cannot allow your smartphone to turn off unexpectedly during the firmware process.

Due to the fact that there are times when the electricity in the apartment can turn off at the most inopportune moment, workshop users recommend flashing gadgets based on both Android and HTC using a laptop with a full battery charge or a computer that is connected to alternative power sources.

Windows Phone firmware process

Having studied the instructions on how to change the firmware on a Windows Phone, it will become absolutely clear that in order to successfully implement your plan, you will need to download and install only one program on your computer - Windows Phone Recovery Tool. The system engineers made sure that no problems arose when using the utility, so that the firmware process was not accompanied by the difficulties faced by users who wanted to flash Android.

Windows Phone Recovery Tool is truly unique and easy to use. It independently searches and downloads all the required files. The user only needs to start the firmware process of the HTC smartphone and patiently wait for its successful completion.

Flashing using Windows Phone Recovery Tool

Of course, you should initially download the Windows Phone Recovery Tool utility, then install it immediately. This completes the preparatory work, and the user can begin practical flashing activities.

First you should run Windows Phone Recovery Tool, after the first launch the program will check for updates. If an outdated version of the utility was downloaded, the user will be prompted to update it immediately. Of course, we must agree with this.

After a successful update or in the case when the program does not need to be updated, a window will appear on the screen in which you will be asked to connect the HTC gadget to the computer.

Unfortunately, WPRecovery Tool does not work with all device models, so if the required model is not in the list, it will be pointless to continue the process. You will need to close the program and look for alternative ways to flash the gadget, perhaps using the analogy of how Android is flashed.

Fortunately, in most cases, the user will still detect the model of his smartphone and will be able to use the functionality of the WPRecovery Tool.

So, next you need to connect the smartphone to the PC, after which the program will confirm the successful connection. If this does not happen, you should check whether the drivers for the device are installed on the smart machine. It is recommended to restart the electronic computer without disconnecting the gadget from the computer. Very often this contributes to the additional installation of missing drivers.

After the drivers are installed, the smartphone model will be determined in the program window. Then WPRecovery Tool will independently start a search, and then download the current firmware version from official resources. The download process may take a long time, it all depends on the Internet speed and the size of the firmware file. Very often the size exceeds 1 GB. The good thing is that if the Internet connection is interrupted, the download process is suspended, but after resuming, the download continues from the point where it ended.

The successful completion of the firmware download will be indicated by the “Reinstall software” button in the utility window. It indicates that absolutely everything is ready for the firmware process. The user must once again make sure that the device is securely connected via USB to the computer, and then click on the “Reinstall software” button.

After pressing the button, the process starts and the smartphone turns off. You cannot take any actions during the firmware; you should wait patiently until the process is completed. It is advisable to note that you will not have to wait long, since the process lasts several minutes. Once completed, the gadget will turn on and be ready for further use. Of course, you will have to make some settings on it again to adapt them to yourself. At this point, the firmware process is considered completely completed.

So, using the WPRecovery Tool program, any user can flash a smartphone. By confidently following the instructions, the user will not even find any problems.

Why might you need to flash your device? How to change the operating system? We will try to answer all the questions as clearly as possible. If your phone starts to work slowly or you want to change the operating system, you can reflash it from windows mobile to android. The developers made sure that everyone could do this on their own. And we, in turn, will help you solve this problem: how to flash Android on Windows.

Your phone is a mini-computer that performs fewer functions than a regular one and has slightly different functions. Standard software is installed by the manufacturer. If you are not satisfied with it, you can update them to newer ones or change them.

How to flash windows mobile on android yourself?

In fact, many are not happy with the limitations of the Windows Mobile operating system, therefore, in order not to buy a new smartphone, you can upgrade it to the Android operating system.

You will have to select the software for your smartphone yourself, because not all versions of Android may be suitable for your Windows Mobile. You can select it using program catalogs, where there is a detailed description of them (you can find them on specialized sites or on forums). You should be aware that some smartphones may not have the Android operating system.

You can make transferring files easier by using a program called Sprite Migrate. Install the program on Windows mobile, mark the necessary data for saving and copy it to your computer where the converter for Android is installed, then load the result onto the SDcard in your communicator, the Sprite Migrate program will be installed on the device itself and import the data.

There are no difficulties in flashing Android firmware on Windows Mobile. The main thing is to follow all the points specified in the instructions and the process of reinstalling new software will be simple. Flashing a mobile device at a service center may take several days, since you will have to wait for your turn, and at home it may take several hours. And now you know how to upgrade Android to Windows.

Flashing your phone's firmware is sometimes the only option to restore its stable operation without having to contact a service center or private technicians.

Let’s say your smartphone starts to freeze, won’t turn on, doesn’t respond to commands, can’t update, can’t find the network, etc. In such cases, it is not necessary to immediately contact specialists; you can first try to reboot, reset the settings, or, as a last resort, reflash it with the official Windows Device Recovery Tool.

If you are looking for information on how to flash your Nokia, Microsoft Lumiya or any other smartphone based on Windows Phone and Windows 10 Mobile yourself at home, then these instructions will help you with this.

Firmware for smartphone on Windows Phone 8, 8.1, 10 via computer

Important! Before you start flashing your device, make a backup copy of your data, as all files and documents will be deleted. After the procedure, you will receive a completely clean phone. Read how to backup data through the Windows 10 Mobile interface. You can simply transfer all the files to your computer.

What is required for the firmware

1. PC or laptop with Windows 7, 8, 8.1, 10 installed;
2. Working USB cable and port;
3. Firmware program;
4. The victim herself, whose battery must be charged at least 50% (preferably fully).

Download and install Windows Device Recovery Tool

This program is specially created for updating smartphone software. You can download it for free from the official Microsoft website at.

1. Download the installation file;
2. Install the utility;
3. We launch it and connect the phone to the computer.

Step-by-step flashing process

Important! Before you begin, keep in mind that you cannot turn off the device during the procedure. It is also prohibited to close the program, turn off the computer, etc. Otherwise, instead of a smartphone, you will get a lifeless brick.

So, we launched the program and connected the smartphone. The following window will open:

Click on the image with the device, after which we see information about the available firmware version. Select "Reinstall software".

Click “Continue”.

In the next window, you can leave nothing marked and select “Continue without filling.”

and then installing it.

After some time, the phone’s firmware will be completed, click “Finish”.

In this simple and official way, we updated the software of our smartphone. After this, the device will reboot several times and you will need to configure it before the first launch.

First launch after flashing

After the smartphone starts, you need to select a language and continue setting up by accepting the terms of use.

In the next step, you can select the type of settings - recommended or custom. If the latter, then I advise you to uncheck all the boxes except the first two and last two points. After this, you need to configure the region and time: set the country, time zone, exact date and time.

This firmware method is suitable for all phones (for example, models 520, 535 Dual Sim, 800, 920, 710, 610, 925, 620, 914, 630, 510, 525, 1020, 620, 625, 635, 820, 900, 830 , 430, 435, 1520, 930, 640 XL, 550, 735, etc.).

This utility can also flash Windows phones from other manufacturers, such as LG, BLU, Alcatel, Acer, HTC (One M8 and 8X), VAIO, UniStrong, HP.

If you have Nokia and it does not work on Windows Phone, then for firmware there is a program called Nokia Software Recovery Tool, which you can download from

Last weekend, first documentation about Project Astoria leaked online, then Microsoft's tool itself, which makes it relatively easy to port almost any application and game originally created for Android to smartphones running Windows 10 Mobile. Then programs appeared that further simplified the process of installing applications.

It is known that not all smartphones on which Windows 10 Mobile can be installed are compatible with Project Astoria, but only some of them. Here is a comprehensive list:

— Nokia Lumia 920
— Nokia Lumia 925
— Nokia Lumia 929 (Icon)
— Nokia Lumia 830
— Nokia Lumia 930
— Nokia Lumia 1520
— Nokia Lumia 635 (1 GB RAM variant)
— Nokia Lumia 730
— Nokia Lumia 820
— Nokia Lumia 435
— Nokia Lumia 928

There are several ways to install an Android application on any of these smartphones. The most reliable (albeit the most complex) is using the wconnect and ADB tool from the Android SDK.

Instructions:

Download from the Android SDK from this repository.
- Unpack the downloaded files into a folder on your computer.
- Open the folder in Explorer where you copied wconnect and launch the command window (hold Shift, right-click on an empty area of ​​the window and select the appropriate option in the context menu.
- Connect your smartphone to your computer. This can be done in two ways. The simplest is using a USB cable. If this method does not suit you for some reason, use a local Wi-Fi connection. In the first case, in the command window, write “wconnect.exe usb” (without quotes) and press Enter. In the second case, enter the command “wconnect.exe 192.168.xxx.xxx” (also without quotes). Here 192.168.xxx.xxx is the local IP address of your smartphone. This address can be found through the device settings or router.
- You will need to pair your smartphone and computer. The code will be shown on the smartphone screen. Remember it, enter it in the command window and press Enter.
- Go to the folder with ADB and open a command window.
- Make sure that your smartphone is correctly detected by the computer. To do this, run the command “adb devices” - you will see a list of connected devices.
- And the last thing: copy any APK file to the ADB folder and issue the command “adb install xxx.apk”, where xxx.apk is the name of the file that you want to port to Windows 10 Mobile.
- Wait a few seconds or minutes while the application or game is installed on your device. After that, you can try to start him (or her).

The second method of installing Android applications is more automated, so it is much easier.

Download the program and run it on your computer.
- Open system settings on your smartphone, go to the update and security section and enable developer mode and device detection.
- Pair your smartphone with your computer. To do this, connect your smartphone to the computer’s USB port with a cable and wait until the code appears on the smartphone screen. Remember it and enter it into the program window.
- Drag the APK file you need into the program window and wait a while while the application installs.
- Try launching the application.

Initially, not all applications can be run on Windows 10 Mobile. Those that require Google services to function properly will not launch. Blackberry owners are familiar with this problem, so there is a special tool for the Canadian company’s smartphones that “dissects” the code of APK files and removes links to Google services from applications.

Download the program from the crackberry.com forum, install it, run it and feed it the APK file of the application that does not want to run on Windows 10 Mobile. The application will patch the file, remove the link to Google services from it and save a new version of the file, much less capricious. Try installing it - with a high degree of probability, the installed application will work on Windows 10 Mobile.

It is worth keeping in mind that installing APK files can be very harmful. Firstly, in most cases you will violate copyright (of course, unless the application developer himself posted the APK file on some site and did not allow it to be ported to different platforms, which happens extremely rarely). Secondly, malicious code is very often distributed through APK files, which can conduct unwanted activity on the smartphone (send messages, generate traffic to sites with dubious content, steal money, files, correspondence, photos, etc.). In addition, Astoria is an experimental project intended exclusively for developers who want to port their own apps or games from Android to Windows 10 Mobile. It is, of course, not intended for ordinary users, and even more so for those who intend to use it for the purpose of piracy, and this is more than obvious. After all, an incompatible APK file can easily damage your smartphone, turning it into a hard-to-recover brick. In any case, we cannot recommend that you port applications that you did not create from one platform to another. If you do decide to do this, we have warned you of the consequences.

There have been rumors that Windows 10 Mobile has a built-in virtual machine for running Java code for Android applications, but now we are sure that this is the case. Microsoft found itself in a rather strange situation. As we know, the number and quality of applications for Windows Phone (and now for Windows 10 Mobile) largely leaves much to be desired, and support for Android applications could solve this problem.

Microsoft has long considered the possibility of running Android applications on Windows Phone, but could not come to a final decision on how to implement this feature. If you let developers port them themselves, there would be a risk that many of them would simply not want to spend the time porting the code, even if the process were as simplified as possible. On the other hand, it is impossible to allow Android application code to run unmodified on WP smartphones for several reasons. Firstly, applications still need to be optimized, and secondly, in this case, many users would pirate the most popular games, including those released on Windows Phone.

Surely Microsoft still hasn’t decided whether Windows 10 Mobile needs such simple support for Android applications, whether it will be useful to the platform or, on the contrary, will only bring harm and suffering. Still, we are talking about the mass market, and not about experimental functions. What's good for Android can be deadly for Windows 10 Mobile. Viruses, piracy, is this what we have been striving for all these years? We were proud of the security of Windows Phone, but what will happen to Windows 10 Mobile? Second Android?

Operating systems for mobile devices one of the multifaceted prospects for further creativity. You can fully experience all the functionality of your gadget. Think about your personal computer. You had the opportunity to install up to 3 - 4 operating systems on one hard drive at once. It all depends on the amount of memory. For mobile devices, it is also possible to implement a procedure for switching from one operating system to another. For example, you are an avid mobile phone user OS Android, But Windows Mobile sometimes I would also like to use it. I want to assure you that this is not only theoretically possible, but also practically feasible. In this article, in detail, I will tell you how to implement this kind of idea.

Initial mobile operating system will be Windows Mobile(since the manipulations will be carried out with a pocket personal computer), and we will install Android OS on it.

To start, free up a volume of information equal to one gigabyte on the flash card. Because it is on this that we will install Android. After that, we will install the initial bootloader. This is done so that you can choose custom operating systems. And there was no cyclic loading Windows Mobile, losing sight Android.

To do this, we need a file, the installation of which, step by step, is presented below:

1. You need to install in the PDA, and after this process occurs, click on the program icon, and the following should appear on the screen:

In order for the Android OS to start automatically, you need to click on the button marked in the screenshot below (right). For Windows Mobile - the button highlighted in the image, located on the left. If you want to choose between one OS or another, then do nothing.

After this, we must set the loading window wait time(how long the window for selecting operating systems will hang). Here, as you wish. The optimal option is 6 seconds.

I’ll tell you some subtleties that will allow you to understand the essence of the process.

When working with Android OS there is no significant redistribution of memory; everything that was under the control of this OS, namely: contacts, settings, applications or games, is written to the data.img file, which will have a fixed size. The only thing that can increase is the cache. That is, applications are expanded with all sorts of different add-ons, databases and libraries. For example, google maps will not be saved in "data.img", and to some other place on the memory card. In other words, the programs that you initially installed will be written to "data.img", and what was built on top of them (add-ons downloaded via the Internet) will be saved in separate folders specifically designed for these add-ons. In any case, this is the user's lot. For example, consider the following situation: you have the most common program, which is a service for providing navigation services - Navitel. You downloaded the cards and successfully installed them for yourself, whatever you like. Naturally, you will not have enough memory for data.img. It is necessary to treat memory more rationally, leaving only the most necessary. I advise you to leave an extra 300 - 400 megabytes for the operating system.

Having dealt with the first step, let's move on to the next one. To do this, we perform the following manipulations:

1. download the file and unpack it directly to the root of the memory card, without changing any configuration parameters of the folders. After the action has been performed, approximately the following picture should appear:

[memory card]\data
[memory card]\Desire_DL
[memory card]\"icon pack"
[memory card]\Update_DL
[memory card]\Wallpaper

2. download and unpack into a folder where is haret.exe located. ([memory card]\Desire_DL\haret.exe)

3. Run "CLRCAD.exe", and we see that nothing happens. Don't be alarmed - this is normal.
4. After some time we launch the application "haret.exe"
5. Do not try to reboot the system with your incomprehensible antics. Android will boot itself, the waiting time is different for everyone, depending on the capabilities of your personal computer. The approximate waiting time, on average, will be about 10 - 15 minutes.
6. After the download is complete, a language selection window should appear a - install the one you need, and as soon as you do this, Android will appear. When you boot for the first time, you will need to do a soft reset. If you were unable to install the bootloader, then you need to repeat steps 3 and 4 on "Windows Mobile", but using Explorer and manually.

If for some reason the initial bootloader could not be installed, you can remove it manually. Go to "Windows Mobile" and follow the path - "empty->options->menu->all settings->system->uninstall programs". A dialog box opens in which you find “EBL2.1a._PlusUbuntu” and remove it from your operating system. A in order to get rid of Android itself, you need to launch Explorer and delete the folders that the Android OS created automatically, including those unpacked to start the system.