How to convert a Dell Venue 11 Pro (5130) to Android

Disclaimer - this could cause data loss and render your tablet useless.  I take no responsibility for your data or system if you decide to try this with your device. This is no guarantee it will work on your device. Also this article is not an endorsement of any kind for the products or companies listed.

Early last year I received a Dell Venue 11 Pro (5130) tablet as a gift.  It had Windows 8 and even upgrading to Windows 10 I found it - well, not very useful.   Why you ask?  The applications I wanted to use work only on Android or IOS.  So hence another research project - this one took several months and then some!

I tried many versions of Android, Remix OS, 64 bit and 32 bit versions, dual boot options and design loads.  I will not bore you with all the iterations and failed attempts - trust me, there were many!

Remix OS for 32bit worked with dual boot and installing from Windows was straight forward using their install utility. The downfall, Wi-Fi would stop unexpectedly and usually in the middle of a movie, causing the family to look at me with a funny look. Most of the Apps seem to work, but first you have to side load google play using GMSActivatotr.apk.

Since the intense stares were increasing, I decided to go with a straight Android load and found a way to utilize the entire disk storage - there is a trick to get Android to recognize the entire disk storage rather than the default 4Gb storage.

What Worked and What You Need

•  A USB Thumb drive
•  The Android X86- 4.4-R5 ISO image
•  Rufus 2.11 install utility

Steps to install: 

Disk format utility in Android Install

Storage greater than 4gb default

1. Download the Android X864.4-R5 image to a windows pc.
2. Download Rufus 2.11 to the windows pc.
3. In the bios settings of the Venue Pro, you must turn off Secure Boot and ensure booting from USB is enabled.
4. Run Rufus, and pick the Android Image.
5. Pick the USB drive (be careful with this step not to pick your OS drive).
6.  Format and install the image as an ISO.
7. Boot from the USB drive on the tablet (either hit the fcn F12, or hold the volume down key after power-up to bring up the boot menu selection).
8.  On the Android boot screen, pick install to disk (3^rd option).
9. Using the disk utility, Select Create/Modify partition, pick all the disk partitions and delete them (this will destroy any data, so make sure you have saved anything off the tablet, this includes anything in windows as you will wipe that off the tablet).
10. Create a new partition. Pick a small primary size.  This is the trick I mentioned.  I made mine 1Gb in size.
11. Create a secondary partition using the rest of the space.
12. Write the new partition data, then quit the disc utility.
13. Install Android on the second partition. Answer yes to all remaining questions. Format it NTFS (ext3 doesn’t work - the tablet just will not boot).
14.  After it installs, it will ask about the size of the data.img file, enter the size of the second partition minus 1Gb for the OS size (this will take a while to write).
15.  Once complete, Reboot and Android should boot up.

Summary

The only app I found not to work so far is the Time Warner TV app. All household automation apps, screen cast (I use localcast), HD Movies, Kodi and others all seem to work and update.

I hope this helps others out and shows open source can work.  Good luck!

Until next time - happy computing