ArkOS was one of the most widely used alternative firmwares on handheld consoles with a RockChip processor. Its main repository was archived on 30 December 2025: it went read-only, and the home page of its wiki announces that the project is no longer maintained and is replaced by dArkOS. The images are still downloadable and still work, but nothing more will be added to them. This guide explains how to install it cleanly, what you gain, what you lose, and which maintained alternatives to take instead.
Which machines ArkOS actually runs on
ArkOS is not a universal firmware. It targets two families of RockChip processors: the RK3326 and the RK3566. Outside those two families, there is no image.
The images published on the official wiki cover the GameForce Chi, the Anbernic RG503, RG353V, RG353VS, RG353M, RG351V, RG351MP/RGB10X and RG351P/M, the Powkiddy RGB20 Pro, RGB30 and RK2023, the R35S, the Odroid Go Advance 1.0 / RK2020 and the OGA 1.1 / RGB10 / RGB20 / V10.
Two warnings appear in black and white in the documentation: the RG351MP/RGB10X image does not work on the RG351P and RG351M, and the OGA 1.1 / RGB10 image works on neither the RGB20s nor the RGB10 Max.
In our catalogue, only one machine is concerned: the Anbernic RG353V (RK3566). The other Linux consoles we sell use different processors and come under different firmwares.
| Machine | Processor | ArkOS image? | What to look at instead |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anbernic RG353V | RK3566 | Yes, a dedicated image | dArkOS, ROCKNIX |
| Anbernic RG353PS | RK3566 | No dedicated image listed | To be checked in our compatibility table |
| RG35XX Pro, RG40XXV, RG34XX, RG28XX, RG CubeXX, RG35XX SP/H | Allwinner H700 | No | muOS, Knulli, ROCKNIX |
| TrimUI Brick, Smart Pro | Allwinner A133 Plus / A523 | No | Original firmware, CrossMix |
| Miyoo Mini Plus | SigmaStar SSD202D | No | OnionOS, Knulli |
| Powkiddy RGB20S, X55 | RK3326 / RK3566 | Not listed | ROCKNIX, Batocera |
If your console isn't in the first row, go through our firmware compatibility table and the guide on installing custom firmware, which compares muOS, Knulli, ROCKNIX and Batocera.
The state of the project: archived, and replaced
This has to be clear, because many tutorials are not. The ArkOS GitHub repository has been archived since 30 December 2025, kept "for historical purposes". The latest images date from 9 February 2025 for the RK3566 and from 24 December 2024 for several RK3326 machines. They remain usable, but there will be no new version and no fix.
The developer went straight on to launch dArkOS, for "debian based Another rockchip Operating System". It is the direct continuation of ArkOS, on a Debian Trixie base, with the same EmulationStation-FCAMOD interface and the same games partition. Releases followed one another from December 2025 to the summer of 2026, with SHA256 checksums. Two other projects remain actively maintained on these machines: ROCKNIX and Batocera.
What ArkOS brings compared with the original firmware
The original firmware works, but it ages badly: frozen cores, limited settings. ArkOS answers on specific points, announced by the project itself.
- More than 90 emulated systems and access to PortMaster, meaning more than 800 ports of PC games.
- A choice of emulation core per system and per game, without editing a file.
- A separate games partition in exFAT, named EASYROMS, readable on Windows, macOS and Linux with no third-party software.
- Stable sleep on the listed models, including the RG353M, RG353V, RG353VS and RG503.
- SSH and Samba disabled by default, to be enabled yourself from the Options menu.
- A boot and recovery menu, BaRT, by holding B while switching on.
Now the drawbacks. The interface is in English. The project is frozen, so the emulation cores will no longer move forward. And fine configuration goes through the RetroArch menus, which are off-putting at first.
The hardware you need
You need a second microSD card, a card reader, 7-Zip and an image-writing tool. The project requires 8 GB minimum and recommends 16 GB or more, on a card from a recognised brand (SanDisk, Samsung, PNY). Counterfeits are the leading cause of a crash at start-up: our guide to choosing a microSD card explains how to spot them.
For writing, the documentation recommends USB Image Tool on Windows (Win32DiskImager works too), ApplePi-Baker or dd on macOS, and the Disks application or dd on Linux.
Installation step by step
- Identify your exact model. Turn the console over, read the reference and compare it with the list of images. An RG351V is not an RG351MP. An RG353V is not an RG353VS. Choosing the wrong image gives you a black screen at best.
- Download the image from the project's official wiki, in the download links section. Don't use any "preloaded" image found elsewhere: the project does not support them, and they almost always contain illegal game files.
-
Check the checksum. The wiki publishes an MD5 next to each ArkOS image (dArkOS publishes SHA256). On Windows:
certutil -hashfile file.img MD5. On macOS:md5 file.img. On Linux:md5sum file.img. If the value differs, the download is corrupted: start again, write nothing. -
Extract the archive with 7-Zip to get the
.imgfile. For an archive split into several parts, download all the fragments into the same folder and open only the first one. - Write the image to the second card. Check the drive letter or device name three times before confirming: a mistake here wipes a hard disk.
- Refuse the formatting. At the end of the write, Windows often offers to format the card, which it can no longer read in full. Click Cancel: accepting means starting all over again.
- First start-up. With the card inserted, switch on. The machine restarts twice while it expands the games partition and converts it to exFAT. Let it get on with it, don't cut the power. The console is ready when the EmulationStation menu appears.
Configuration after installation
Language
The ArkOS EmulationStation interface is in English and the project offers no French translation. RetroArch, for its part, has its own language setting: the emulation menus can switch to French, the main menu cannot.
Wi-Fi
The Options menu, the WIFI entry, then "Connect to new Wifi connection". To check, press Start: the SSID appears at the bottom of the menu. If your password contains characters that aren't on the on-screen keyboard, the documentation provides for a wifikeyfile.txt file to drop into the tools folder of the games partition, with the lines ssid= and pass=.
Buttons and shortcuts
Press Start then Configure Input to map the controls, including those of an external controller. The global shortcuts go through the F key: F and up/down on the D-pad for brightness, F and left/right for volume, F and R3 for Bluetooth. In RetroArch, Select + X opens the menu, Select + R1 and Select + L1 handle save states, and Select + Start quits the game.
Sleep and shutdown
A short press on the power button puts the console to sleep. A clean shutdown is done with F + the power button: get into the habit straight away, as cutting the power by force ends up damaging the card's file system.
Where to put your games
All your files go into the EASYROMS partition, which appears as a removable drive on your computer, in the subfolder of the emulated system under /roms/. Don't delete any existing folder or its contents: some of them, such as those for the PSP and the Nintendo DS, hold files that the emulators need.
The folder structure is covered in detail in our article on transferring games and firmware folder structures.
The second card for games
On machines with two slots, ArkOS can move the library onto the second card, referred to as roms2 in the documentation. That card must be preformatted, in exFAT, EXT4, FAT, FAT32 or NTFS; the project recommends EXT4, exFAT or NTFS, and points out that with EXT4 the permissions must belong to user and group 1002. You enable it through Options > Advanced > SWITCH TO SD2 FOR ROMS. The system creates the folder structure without overwriting what is already there, but copies nothing. Above all: once that mode is enabled, both cards have to stay in the console for it to start.
The most frequent pitfall
On this particular firmware, it is neither the Wi-Fi nor the emulators: it is writing the image. Three mistakes come up again and again and give the same symptom, a frozen start-up or an unreadable card. Balena Etcher used despite the warning. The partition expanded by hand before the first start-up. Windows allowed to format the card at the end of the write. None of them can be repaired other than by starting again from the image file.
The second pitfall follows close behind: copied games that don't appear in the menu. The documentation gives three checks. Is the file extension supported by the system you are targeting? In Start > UI Settings > Visible systems, is everything selected? In Start > Advanced settings, is "parse gamelists only" definitely disabled? For the other symptoms, see our 14 causes of a game that won't start.
Updating
While it was maintained, ArkOS updated online, without rewriting the card: the Options menu, the Update entry, with a stable Wi-Fi connection. The mechanism still exists, but since the project is archived, nothing more is published. Consider your installation frozen.
Moving to dArkOS is therefore not an online update: it is a new image to write, preferably to a new card. Before doing anything, copy the contents of the games partition to your computer: in-game saves and save states live in the game folders themselves. The Options > Advanced menu adds a backup of your settings in the backup folder.
Going back
This is the easy part, and the whole point of the golden rule. ArkOS installs on the microSD card, not in the console. Switch off, take out the ArkOS card, put the original card back, switch on again. You get the manufacturer's firmware back exactly as it was.
One reservation: the documentation also describes an installation on the internal memory of the RG353. It replaces the factory system, and going back then means reflashing a separate Android image. We do not detail it here and advise against it until you are comfortable with these machines.
Does ArkOS work on an Anbernic RG35XX Pro or an RG40XXV?
No. These machines use an Allwinner H700 processor, whereas ArkOS only targets the RockChip RK3326 and RK3566. No image exists and there will not be one. For these consoles, look towards muOS, Knulli, ROCKNIX or Batocera.
Now that the project is archived, is it risky to install it today?
It is not dangerous for the console: the published images work and the installation stays reversible as long as it is done on a second card. The real cost is the absence of a future: no fixes and no new cores. For a fresh installation, dArkOS or ROCKNIX will last longer.
Can I keep my saves when changing firmware?
Often yes, but never automatically. In ArkOS, saves are stored in the game folders of the EASYROMS partition: copy them to your computer before making any change. Save states depend on the emulation core and don't always carry over from one firmware to another, unlike in-game saves.
Do I really have to check the checksum?
Yes, it's thirty seconds well spent. These images are several gigabytes, and an interrupted download produces a normal-looking file that will give you a console that won't start, with no usable error message. The MD5 value is next to each link on the ArkOS wiki; dArkOS publishes SHA256.
Will my console still start if I take out the second games card?
No, not if you have enabled two-card mode. The documentation is explicit: once the switch has been made, both cards have to be present for ArkOS to start. That is the main drawback of this mode.
In summary
Repository archived at the end of 2025, images frozen, a successor over at dArkOS: ArkOS remains usable, but its story is written. If you do install it, do it on a second card. If your hesitation is about the machine rather than the firmware, our retro consoles running Linux set out, listing by listing, the condition they arrive in.