Essential Tools & Driver Setup

Before communicating with an MSM8916 modem, you must prepare your host development machine with the appropriate flashing tools and USB drivers.

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1. Android Platform Tools (adb & fastboot)

The Android SDK platform tools are required for high-level interaction, rebooting, and flashing partition images.

Linux (Ubuntu / Debian / Arch)

# Debian / Ubuntu
sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y android-tools-adb android-tools-fastboot

# Arch Linux
sudo pacman -S android-tools

macOS (Homebrew)

brew install android-platform-tools

Windows

1. Download official SDK Platform-Tools for Windows.
2. Extract the folder and add its path to your system’s PATH environment variable.

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2. Qualcomm EDL Programmer (edl.py)

The open-source edl utility created by Bjoern Kerler is the standard cross-platform tool for Qualcomm Emergency Download Mode.

Setup (Linux / macOS / Windows)

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/bkerler/edl.git
cd edl

# Create a virtual environment (optional but recommended)
python3 -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate  # On Windows: venv\Scripts\activate

# Install dependencies
pip install -r requirements.txt

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3. OS-Specific Driver Configuration

Linux: Udev Rules

On Linux, create a udev rules file so you can access USB devices without running as root:

sudo tee /etc/udev/rules.d/51-android-msm.rules << 'EOF'
# Qualcomm 9008 EDL Mode
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR{idVendor}=="05c6", ATTR{idProduct}=="9008", MODE="0666", GROUP="plugdev"

# Android ADB
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR{idVendor}=="05c6", ATTR{idProduct}=="9091", MODE="0666", GROUP="plugdev"

# Fastboot Mode
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR{idVendor}=="18d1", ATTR{idProduct}=="d00d", MODE="0666", GROUP="plugdev"
EOF

# Reload rules
sudo udevadm control --reload-rules
sudo udevadm trigger

Windows: Qualcomm HS-USB QDLoader 9008 Driver

When your dongle is placed in EDL mode, Windows may show it in Device Manager with a yellow exclamation mark: QHSUSB_BULK.

1. Download and install the official Qualcomm HS-USB QDLoader 9008 driver (x64).
2. Alternatively, use Zadig to assign the libusb-win32 or WinUSB driver to the QHSUSB_BULK device if you intend to use edl.py.

macOS

macOS includes native CDC-ACM drivers. For EDL mode with edl.py, ensure Python’s libusb is installed:

brew install libusb

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4. Verification

Test your setup by connecting your dongle:

# Test ADB
adb devices

# Test Fastboot (when booted in bootloader)
fastboot devices

# Test EDL (when connected in 9008 mode)
python3 edl.py printgpt

If python3 edl.py printgpt outputs the partition table of your device, your environment is 100% ready for flashing!