Remix OS 2.0 is a free Android experience, that you can download and install on your computer. The best part about this is that you can install it to a USB drive, and take it in your pocket anywhere you go so you have access to your stuff everywhere. Remix OS was showcased at CES last week and is expected to launch today, 12th January 2016. Here we are coming up with a guide to install the Remix OS through your Windows machine on a USB drive.
Minimum Requirements for Remix OS 2.0
There are a few minimum requirements that you need to meet before using the Remix OS. These are as follows.
- A USB 3.0 Flash Drive, 8GB (although a USB 2.0 might work, but a 3.0 is much better)
- A Windows computer to install the OS to the Drive
- Legacy mode support in the BIOS
In order to correctly install Remix OS 2.0 on your USB drive using Windows, there are a few steps involved and these steps can mainly be classified into the 5 following categories.
Download Remix OS
The first and the foremost thing that you have to do is to download Remix OS 2.0 and the USB installer tool to your Windows computer. Currently, you can go ahead and download the leaked build of the OS, and the USB tool but when the OS is officially launched, we will update new links in the post.
Download Remix OS via Torrent (You need a torrent client like uTorrent to download this file)
Install Remix OS on USB Drive
After you have downloaded both the files on your computer, move them to a folder together and unzip the Remix OS file so you get the ISO file. Now, follow the following steps to get the OS on your USB drive.
- Connect your USB Drive to the computer, and right-click on it and choose Format. Be sure to check that you use the following settings. Make sure you backup all your data before you format your USB drive otherwise all that data will be lost.
- Now, run the Remix OS USB tool that you had downloaded earlier.
- Here, choose the ISO file that you had just extracted and then choose the Drive Letter for the USB disk. Make sure you choose the correct drive letter if you have more than one drives plugged in.
- Now just click on OK on the screen to allow the tool to create your USB Drive for the Remix OS 2.0
- When it’s done, the installer will notify you about the same and then you can proceed with the next step. Choose exit at the settings dialog box that appears now.
Change BIOS Settings
If you’re running a computer with Windows 8 or Windows 10, your computer will be configured to run in the UEFI BIOS mode generally. If you’re using an older operating system, it might already be set to the Legacy mode, and you can skip this step.
If you’re using Windows 8 or 10 on your computer, follow these steps to get into your BIOS and change the BIOS mode.
- Restart your computer and as soon as it restarts, press the hotkey for your computer to get into BIOS. It can either be F10, F12 or the Delete key. If you don’t know this, do a quick search on Google with your laptop or computer model to know the hotkey.
- Next, Enable the Legacy mode support in the BIOS. When you do this, the computer will say that your OS might not boot, but it is okay. You can change it, your Windows will still continue to work.
- At this point, you can also make sure that the default boot order for your devices is set in a way that the USB Drive that you have boots first, and then the default hard drive boots. Remember to change your Legacy Boot Order, and not the UEFI boot order.
- Now, choose Save and Exit (F10 for me) and then reboot your computer.
Boot from USB Drive
If you already changed the boot order in your BIOS, you should not need to do this step and your computer will automatically boot into the USB drive that you have Remix OS on. However, if you didn’t do that step, search for the hotkey to choose your device booting order (usually F8/F9) and then choose your USB Drive from the list of devices there.
Run Remix OS 2.0
Finally, all the hard work is done and you can boot into your new Remix OS 2.0. When you run from the USB drive, you will be shown two options, either to run it in Guest mode or in Resident mode. For this tutorial, I used the Guest mode, but you can use the Resident mode as well if you like.
The difference between the Guest Mode and the Resident mode is that the Guest mode will not save any of your data when you turn off the computer, whereas the Resident mode will save all your data to the USB Drive, even when you boot into the OS next time.
That’s it for this tutorial, and right now you should have a working USB Drive with Remix OS 2.0 installed on it. Have fun using Android on your computer now, and make sure you share this tutorial with all your friends and family so they can also enjoy the goodness of Remix OS 2.0.
