# Unpack stock boot magiskboot unpack boot.img magiskboot hexdump boot.img | grep 'AVB0' Strip the vbmeta footer magiskboot cpio ramdisk.cpio add replace Repack without the footer magiskboot repack boot.img new-boot.img new-boot.img now has no vbmeta footer. Flash it.
# Reboot to bootloader fastboot flash --disable-verity --disable-verification vbmeta vbmeta_stock.img # THEN immediately reboot to system. You will now have root and no loop. But note: the goal of "patch vbmeta in boot image better" is to avoid the above step. If you needed it, your bootloader is ignoring the in-image vbmeta patch (common on MediaTek devices). If you want to understand why it's better, do it manually once: patch vbmeta in boot image magisk better
| Issue | Cause | Solution | | :--- | :--- | :--- | | | Bootloader forces vbmeta verification of all partitions regardless of boot footer. | Flash stock vbmeta with --disable-verity once. Then future updates can use patched boot only. | | "Unsupported vbmeta flag" error | Magisk version too old (< v24). | Update Magisk to latest Canary/Beta. | | Device with no ramdisk (e.g., Pixel 6 series Tensor) | Google moved ramdisk to init_boot partition. | You must patch init_boot.img with "Patch vbmeta in boot image" ON. Boot.img is just kernel. | | Samsung with VBMETA binary | Samsung uses proprietary avb signature. | You must use vbmeta_samsung custom binary. The "better" method only works on AOSP AVB 2.0. | Final Verdict: Is It Truly "Better"? Yes, for 80% of devices (Pixel, OnePlus, Realme, Motorola, Nothing, ASUS). # Unpack stock boot magiskboot unpack boot
Let’s settle the debate: