How To: Hack HP Touchpad to run Android (with pics)
Filed under Guides by Victor Mosquito on October 25, 2011 at 8:32 AM
Android on HP Touchpad
Many of you probably bought a HP Touchpad with the hopes of someday maybe running Android. Well the wait is over. With this guide you will be running Android on you HP Touchpad in a matter of minutes. Click after the break for the full guide.
Requirements:
- HP Touchpad with at last 2 GBs of space available.
- USB Cable that came packed with your Touchpad
Before you start, please keep in mind that you follow this tutorial at your own risk. In no way or form is Briefmobile responsible for any damage to your Touchpad. Now that we got that out of the way, let’s start.
Step 1: You will need to download the following 3 files: CM7 (currently in Alpha 2.1), Clockwork Recovery, and Moboot. They can be found here at Rootzwiki. Just scroll down and about halfway down you will see the files just like in the image below.
Step 2: Download the WebOS SDK for your operating system. Here are the direct links for Windows, OSX, and Linux. Follow the directions found on these sites to make sure that the Touchpad Novacom drivers are installed.
Step 3: Download Acme Installer once again from Rootzwiki. Once you have the zip file, unzip the file and move the file ACMEInstaller into the following path ”C:\Program Files\Palm, Inc\”. This is not neccesary for all installations to work, but under certain circumstances under Windows this might need to be done. I needed it for mine to work so I’m just putting this step here.
Step 4: Once you have all those files ready connect your Touchpad with the USB cable that came with it and when prompted select USB Drive on the Touchpad.
Step 5: Once the Touchpad appears on your computer, create a folder named cminstall in the root of the Touchpad and put the files from Step 1 in that file. The files would be CM7, Clockwork Recovery, and Moboot.
Step 6: Eject the Touchpad from your comptuer and remove the USB cable from the computer and shutdown your Touchpad.
Step 7: Now once the Touchpad is shutdown, press and hold the power and volume up button at the same time until a white USB symbol comes up on your touchpad. The volume up button is the one closest to the power button, nearest to the edge. Refer to the photo below.
Step 8: One you see the white USB symbol, connect the Touchpad, and you should see that the Novacom drivers automatically detect the touchpad. If they do not, repeat step 2 making sure that you are following the directions found in the link pertaining to your operating system.
Step 9: Now is the time to install Android. Open command prompt (windows) or terminal (Mac / linux) and “cd” into the directory that we put the ACMEInstaller file. If you followed the directions from step 3the directory should be “”C:\Program Files\Palm, Inc\”. If not then “cd” into which ever folder you put the ACMEInstaller.
Step 10: Once you are in the directory where you have the ACMEInstaller file type in the following command:
novacom boot mem:// < ACMEInstaller
Now just sit back and enjoy the show while you see Android being installed on your Touchpad. Do not touch it until Android is loaded. From here on you can enjoy Android. If you want to install the Google Apps and the Market then follow the additional steps.
Steps to Install Google Apps and the Market.
Step 1: Download the ”gapps-gb-20110828-signed.zip” and the market fix “update-cm-7.1.0-tenderloin-marketfix-Flemmard.zip” found on the XDA site here.
Step 2: Connect your touchpad via usb to your computer and make sure to turn on USB Storage when prompted to do so.
Step 3: Copy ”gapps-gb-20110828-signed.zip” to the root of your Touchpad, meaning not inside any folder. Look at the image for reference.
Step 4: Safely disconnect your touchpad from your computer. Now hold the power button and select reboot. Another menu should appear, in this one select Recovery, and then press ok. If you did this successfully you should see the following screen in a few seconds. To navigate these menus simply use the Volume Keys and the Home Key to make a selection.
Step 5: Using the volume Keys select “Install zip from sdcard”, and press home.
Step 6: Using the volume keys select “gapps-gb-20110828-signed.zip” and press home.
Step 7: Using the volume keys select “Yes…” and press home. Google apps should now be installed.
Step8: Now repeat the same steps but now selecting the file “update-cm-7.1.0-tenderloin-marketfix-Flemmard.zip”.
Step 9: Once you have both files installed, select “reboot system now” and press home.
Step 10: You will not see the setup wizard, it might freeze on you on the first boot, so just simply reboot the Touchpad again and enjoy Android.
You tutorial is very good but you are missing one KEY step. I spent hours trying to figure out what I did wrong and trying on Win XP and Win 7.
I kept getting “The system cannot find the file specified.” after running the novacom command.
You never stated that you have to UNZIP the ACMEInstaller.zip file. That zip file has the “ACMEInstall” file with no extension that is required by novacom.
Sorry about that oversight, I did mention the file ACMEInstaller without extension, but I didnt make it clear. I updated that step and added a screenshot for better clarification. Thanks for your feedback!
Tell us, how did it go? How much do you like your Touchpad now?
I love it! This was the reason I bought 3 Touchpads the day the fire sale started!!! Other than the glitch above the install was quick and painless. I did the other 2 Touchpads in about 5 minutes each.
Same here
I’m having that same problem but mine isn’t working, I already unzipped it and still nothing is happening. I did every thing as it says, still no luck. It’s very frustrating because I’ve been trying on and off for at least a week and every time I get to that part it messes up!
I can not get google apps and marketplace to install. I installed the files just as shown, but when I reboot and go into recovery there is no selection for selecting those files. It will only let me reboot in cyanogenmod and webos. I would greatly appreciate it if you could help. Thanks
Dan I am Having the same issue, I hope they can help us
Can you switch between WebOS and Android with this mod?
Yes you can, which makes it that much better!
But after you run Android on your touchpad, I highly doubt you’ll want to go back lol
It maybe necessary to reboot Windows after downloading and running Palm_webOS_SDK*.
After the “novacom boot ….” I was stuck in the USB white screen logo. Repeated all the steps carefully again and only after I rebooted Windows as suggested above, Android started installing. I’m guessing the reboot got the drivers installed in place correctly. Again, just a guess.
My command prompt doesn’t recognize spaces. What do I do?
Also, it shows C:UserTest> not just C:
Nevermind about the command prompt I fixed that. I can’t figure out where “gapps-gb-20110828-signed.zip”. I went to the link, but other the other file downloaded, I did this twice.
Works like a charm ! Thank Victor ! : )
Glad it worked!
I’ve had my HP touchpad set up on Android for about a week and a half now. For some reason in Android it says there is no SD card installed, but in WebOS there is. How do I fix this? Email: Hollaway2011@gmail.com
you are awesome! Victor. your instructions are so clear. Thank you!
i cant seem to get passed step 8
Thank you! I was debating whether to root and even whether to keep the TP after finally getting one. Wasn’t thrilled with the limited WebOS. Was a little nervous rooting, but I followed your instructions which were pretty much on par. One or two steps were a little unclear but the pics helped a lot. I’m pretty much a newbie, with some very basic understanding of computer. Glad to say me and my Android TP are doing pretty well.
I’m glad to hear everything worked out for you. Could you please tell me which steps seemed a bit unclear so that I could improve on it?
Thank you for your feedback!!
can you email me your awesome instructions?
lamonica500@gmail:disqus .com
Why don’t you change the tutorial, so the
gapps-gb-20110828-signed.zip is placed in the cminstall folder at the same time with the three other files?
It works and is so much easier that way…..
i followed everything the best i could. and now its stuck on the usb page and wont budge. what do i do?
I’m not sure why, but everything works until the point of booting all the code. At the end it says:
Looking for the install images . . .
Initial install files not found.
Please download it from touchpad . linuxhacker .ru
and put in sminstall folder on media partition
the name should start with update-cm and end with .zip
Sounds like the files are not in the right folder. Refer to the two photos above step 6 to the correct placement of the files.
I’ve had the same problem as Rebecca, but now when i connect the touchpad back to mac it doesn’t mount. How can I re-upload correct files to the touchpad?
It worked! I have two questions though:
1) How do I get it to start back up after being turned off or asleep for more than a couple minutes? The only way I know now is power + volume up + center button for 10 seconds.
2) Withdrawn.
This appears to be common. It’s called the Sleep of Death. There is a fix out there but I don’t trust it because even the download page says it might not work. So for now I’ll stick to Power + Home button and make it boot. (The volume up referred to above was unnecessary — just power + home for about 30 seconds makes it boot.)
I’ve got everything okay up to the command box, but after I type in the command it doesnt do anything to the touchpad
How do you know when you are actually running Android? How can you download Android apps?
When I type in the command it keeps saying it cannot find the file specified I used the universal novacom installer and it can’t find it arrrrr I’m a newbie when it comes to computers I’m using vista
Bobby.green534@gmail.com
Is there anywhere I can send my to to get this installed
I’m a newbie. What’s the benefit of doing this? So this will become just like an android machine? Exactly same just different shell? Can I use a stylus to take notes and write on PDF files ? Thanks
how long will it take to install android?