How to install Garlic OS on Anbernic RG35XX?

This guide will help you on how to install Garlic OS on Anbernic RG35XX. While the stock OS system of the Anbernic RG35XX is overall fine for most users (including me), there is no problem with installing custom OS, such as Garlic OS made by Black-Seraph. Again, I recommend you to check my RG35XX Garlic guide for more information.

It seems new stocks of Anbernic RG35XX have already come with dual systems: stock OS and Garlic OS. If you want to install dual systems on your Anbernic RG35XX, you should scroll down from this guide.

I also want to show my gratitude for Black-Seraph for all of his contributions. After all, the retro community is still small that we should support each other. You should become his patron to catch up with more interesting stuffs in the future.

Finally, make sure to read my ultimate RG35XX custom firmware comparison, in case you want to see how Garlic compares to other RG35XX’s systems like Koriki or MinUI.

What you need

• The latest version of SD Formatter
• The latest version of guiformat
• The latest version of Rufus
• The latest version of 7zip
• The latest version of MiniTool Partition Wizard
• The latest version of Garlic OS (version 1.4.9)
• Some finalization folders
• The latest version of Stock+Garlic dual systems on Anbernic website (optional)

How to install Garlic OS on Anbernic RG35XX

To run the Garlic OS on Anbernic RG35XX, you need to pre-format your microSD card first. There is usually SD cards included with the Anbernic RG35XX, but it is known to be slow. You should read my handheld SD card guide, to know which SD card you should choose (quite a long guide).

Step 1: Preparing the microSD card

You need to format your microSD cards as FAT32. Remember that this is not the same format as exFAT. You must format every SD card that you would like to use with the Anbernic RG35XX.

Formatting a microSD card (Windows)

• For microSD cards 32GB or smaller: You should use SD Formatter
  1. Insert your SD card into your computer with an SD card reader
  2. If the microSD card has any files or folders, copy them all to a folder on your computer
  3. Run SD Card Formatter Setup (the .exe file) in the downloaded .zip file as Administrator, then install the program
  4. Run SD Card Formatter from the Start Menu
  5. Select your SD card’s drive letter for “Select card”. Make sure you pick the right drive letter, or you might erase the wrong drive by accident
  6. Enter anything for “Volume label”
  7. Ensure that “Quick Format” is selected
  8. Click “Format”. Then click “OK”. Wait for the format to finish
  9. Click “OK”
• For microSD cards 64GB or larger: You could use the latest version of guiformat
  1. Insert your microSD card into your computer
  2. If the microSD card has any files or folders, copy them all to a folder on your computer
  3. Run guiformat.exe
  4. Select your SD card’s drive letter for “Select card”. Make sure you pick the right drive letter, or you might erase the wrong drive by accident
  5. Select a size for “Allocation unit size”:
     • If the microSD card is 64GB, choose 32768
     • If the microSD card is larger than 64GB, choose 65536
  6. Enter anything for “Volume label”
  7. Ensure that “Quick Format” is selected
  8. Click “Start”. Then click “OK”. Wait for the format to finish
  9. Click “Close”

Formatting a microSD card (Mac)

• OS X El Capitan (10.11) and later
  1. Insert your microSD card into your computer
  2. If the microSD card has any files or folders, copy them all to a folder on your computer
  3. Run the Disk Utility app
  4. In the top-left “View” menu, choose “Show All Devices”
  5. Select your SD card in the left panel. Make sure you pick the right drive letter, or you might erase the wrong drive by accident
  6. Click “Erase” at the top
  7. Enter anything for “Name”
  8. Ensure that “Format” is set to “MS-DOS (FAT)”
  9. Ensure that “Scheme” is set to “Master Boot Record”
     • If “Scheme” does not appear, click “Cancel” and make sure to choose the device instead of a volume
  10. Click “Erase”. Wait for the format to finish
  11. Click “Close”
• OS X Yosemite (10.10) and earlier
  1. Insert your microSD card into your computer
  2. If the microSD card has any files or folders, copy them all to a folder on your computer
  3. Run the Disk Utility app
  4. Select your SD card in the left panel. Make sure you pick the right drive letter, or you might erase the wrong drive by accident
  5. Click “Partition” at the top. If “Partition” does not appear, make sure to choose the device instead of a volume
  6. Ensure that “Partition Layout” is set to “1 Partition”
  7. Enter anything for “Name”
  8. Ensure that “Format” is set to “MS-DOS (FAT)”
  9. Click “Options” below the partition table. Choose “Master Boot Record”.
  10. Click “OK”
  11. Click “Apply”
  12. Click “Partition”. Wait for the format to finish
  13. Close Disk Utility

Step 2: Add Garlic OS image on SD card

After downloading the latest version of Garlic OS, which is currently stable at 1.4.9 for a long time, you need to extract the compressed file with 7zip. Then you need Rufus to add Garlic OS image into your SD card.

• Open Rufus, select Device to be your SD card. In Boot selection, choose garlic.img that you previously downloaded
• Click START. Then click OK. The process of writing Garlic to your SD card needs 5-10 minutes to be done
• Don’t format any partitions after that

Now, depending on how many SD cards that you want to use with Anbernic RG35XX, then we can move on to the next step. I always recommend to go the dual-SD-card route, because that is truly why the Anbernic RG35XX is designed with two TF slots. If you read this guide thoroughly, you can even use the included Anbernic SD card for system, without worrying about losing your precious save states.

If you want to use only one SD card for everything on Anbernic RG35XX (in slot TF1), you will need a partition tool to make full advantage of your SD card. By default, after flashing image into SD card, there is around 3 GB for the main drive (in FAT32 format). The remaining size of the SD card can be retaken with a partition tool, in this case the MiniTool Partition Wizard.

• Open MiniTool Partition Wizard, choose the correct drive of the SD card, which should be in FAT32 format. Right click, then choose Extend
• An Extend Partition window will pop up, in Take Free Space from, select the remaining unallocated space. Click OK
• Wait for the process to finish

After that, copy finalization folder that you downloaded previously into the root of the SD card. It should have a README.txt file to help you know which file to put in which folder.

Sometimes you want to set up dual SD cards for your Anbernic RG35XX, because either you want to separate OS files from ROM and BIOS files, or you want dual systems setup. So again, I give you the right to choose:

Step 3: Configure Garlic OS settings (optional)

Go to CFW/skin/ folder in your system SD card, open settings.json with Notepad, then replace:

"text-alignment": "center",
"text-margin": 16,

with

"text-alignment": "left",
"text-margin": 352,

You’ve finished installing Garlic OS on your RG35XX. If you’re buying the RG35XX from now on, Anbernic will setup dual boot on every device by default. That’s it, if you have any other questions, please find it in my RG35XX tutorial.