Install Linux on PS5 Phat upto firmware 4.51 | Detailed Tutorial

A few weeks ago, theflow0 shared a few screenshots and videos of Linux gaming on PS5. And now, he is back with a detailed tutorial to install Linux on PS5 Phat models upto firmware 4.51.

You can check the complete tutorial with the source code for the PS5 Linux loader on GitHub. The same page also features the detailed instructions, chunks of which we will cover here as well.

PS5 Linux: Status

Currently, the PS5 Linux loader supports the following firmware versions, exclusively on PS5 Phat:-

• 3.00, 3.10, 3.20, 3.21: Without M.2 support
• 4.00, 4.02, 4.03, 4.50, 4.51: With M.2 support (not for installation)

While the team says, firmwares 1.00 will be considered for future, thought not on priority, they do mention 5.00 might soon be supported, albeit with lesser features.

How to install Linux on PS5 Phat?

Let us now jump straight into the tutorial, beginning with the requirements:-

Requirements

• PS5 Phat on firmwares mentioned above.
• System running Ubuntu (preferably) or WSL on Windows.
• USB drive, ideally external SSD (minimum 64GB).
• USB Ethernet/WiFi adapter (Try to get one with inbuilt drivers in mainline Linux kernel).
• USB Peripherals: Keyboard, Mouse, Bluetooth dongles, etc.
• BalenaEtcher for Windows/MacOS.
• Latest PS5-Linux Loader (.elf).

Now, let us get straight into the tutorial.

Step 1. Configure PS5 using the PS5 UI

1. Go to Settings → System →Power Saving → Features Available in Rest Mode and set Supply Power to USB Ports to Always.
2. Go to Settings → HDMI → Enable HDMI Device Link.
3. Go to Settings → System Software → System Software Update and Settings and disable Automatic Updates.
4. Go to Settings → System Software and disable Report System Software Errors Automatically.

Now, that configures your compatible PS5 Phat for booting Linux using the PS5 Linux Loader.

Step 2. Build PS5 Linux image

Soon, we will have pre-built images. Infact, if you already have one from a reliable source, you may skip this step. But, if you want to get your hands dirty, this step is going to be fun. These steps have to be run on Ubuntu or WSL for Windows.

1. Open up a terminal and run these commands one by one to install and setup Docker:-
   sudo apt update
sudo apt install docker.io -y
sudo service docker start
sudo usermod -aG docker $USER
2. Once done, reopen the terminal. WSL will require a restart. These steps ensure that the user has sufficient rights to run Docker, which we will need in the next step.
3. On a new terminal, run the following commands one by one. You can also build a multi-distro image. Follow the instructions on this GitHub page.
   git clone https://github.com/ps5-linux/ps5-linux-image
cd ps5-linux-image
chmod +x ./build_image.sh
./build_image.sh --distro ubuntu2604
4. Once done, you can find the built image in the output folder.

Step 3. Flash the built image to your USB drive

1. Connect the USB drive (preferably external USB) to your PC.
2. Find the device identifier for the USB device using the command lsblk on Linux. Make a note of it.
3. On Linux terminal, run sudo dd if=output/ps5-ubuntu2604.img of=/dev/sdX bs=4M status=progress conv=fsync. Replace /dev/sdX with the identifier we acquired in step 2 above and change output/ps5-ubuntu2604.img if your image resides elsewhere. On Windows/MacOS, you can also use BalenaEtcher to burn the image to the USB drive.
4. Once done, unplug the USB drive.

Step 4. Boot Linux on PS5

1. Connect the USB drive to either the front USB Type-C port or the rear USB Type-A ports on the PS5.
2. On your PC, open a terminal and run git clone https://github.com/idlesauce/umtx2.
3. Ensure your PC is connected to internet and find your PC’s local IP address. On Linux, you can run ip addr to find it. Make a note of it.
4. Go into the umtx2 folder we just cloned and open dns.conf. Replace 10.0.0.143 with your PC’s local IP address.
5. Open a terminal within umtx2 folder and run python fakedns.py -c dns.conf.
6. Then, run python host.py.
7. On your PS5, go to Settings and under Advanced Network Settings, set the Primary DNS to your PC’s local IP address and set Secondary DNS to 0.0.0.0. Once done, go to Settings → Network → View Connection Status and make a note of your PS5’s IP address.
8. On your PS5, go to Settings →User Manual. When prompted whether to allow untrusted certificate, choose allow and let it run.
9. Back on your PC, open a terminal and run socat -t 99999999 - TCP:192.168.178.127:9021 < ps5-linux-loader.elf. Replace 192.168.178.127 with your PS5’s IP address and change ps5-linux-loader.elf if the file resides elsewhere.

With that, your PS5 Phat boots into Linux.

Conclusion

For troubleshooting and other details, kindly check the GitHub pages linked in the article.