Prerequesites

To ensure a smooth installation, you may need to install a few additional packages on your system. This is particularly important for Windows users.

Installing Platform Tools

1. Download platform tools from Google or alternatively use the direct download for Windows
2. Extract it somewhere, for example, C:\
3. On Windows 10 or newer:
   • Open the Start menu, and type advanced system settings
   • Select View advanced system settings
   • Click on the Advanced tab
   • Open the Environment Variables window
   • Select the Path variable under the bottom System variables section and click the Edit button
   • Click the New button
   • Insert C:\platform-tools in the text field

Installing USB Drivers

You may need to install USB drivers for Windows to detect your Pixel device. This is a one-time step; you do not need to repeat this if you have already installed drivers before.

1. Download Google's USB driver.
2. Extract the downloaded ZIP file to your computer.
3. Plug in your Pixel device
4. From Windows Explorer, open Computer Management.
5. In the Computer Management left pane, select Device Manager.
6. In the Device Manager right pane, locate and expand Portable Devices or Other Devices, depending on which one you see.
7. Right-click the name of the device you connected, and then select Update Driver Software.
8. In the Hardware Update wizard, select Browse my computer for driver software and click Next.
9. Click Browse and then locate the USB driver folder. For example, the Google USB Driver is located in C:\Users\Install\Desktop\
10. Click Next to install the driver.

Troubleshooting

If you’ve followed the steps above but the web installer still can’t detect your device, try the following quick troubleshooting steps.

1. Enable Developer Options on your Pixel device, then ensure both USB Debugging and OEM Unlocking are turned on.
2. Confirm that your device appears in the list. If it doesn’t, check your USB cable, try a different port, or ensure that the proper drivers are installed on your computer.
   C:\Users\Install> adb devices
   List of devices attached
   35171JAHN11337   device
   

3. Reboot into bootloader and make sure your device appears in the list.
   C:\Users\Install> adb reboot bootloader
   C:\Users\Install> fastboot devices
   35171JAHN11337   fastboot
   

4. Make sure you can reboot into fastbootd
   C:\Users\Install> fastboot reboot fastboot
   Rebooting into fastboot                            OKAY [  0.000s]
   < waiting for any device >
   Finished. Total time: 16.206s
   

5. Confirm you can get back into bootloader mode by typing fastboot reboot bootloader
   C:\Users\Install> fastboot reboot bootloader
   Rebooting into bootloader                          OKAY [  0.000s]
   Finished. Total time: 0.031s
   

If all the above steps worked you can close your command prompt and proceed to the web installer.