Related: 2022 review: Sansa Fuze+

Notes

• This guide comes with no warranty, don't sue me if you brick your device, etc.
• I installed Rockbox 3.15 onto my Fuze+.
• Here's the Rockbox manual for the Fuze+.
• I had some issues installing Rockbox based on the manual.
• I was unable to use the Rockbox Utility to install the bootloader.
• Once I had installed the bootloader (following the steps below), I was able to use the Rockbox Utility to make changes to other parts of the installation.

Installing Rockbox

1. Connect the Fuze+ to your computer

1. In the regular firmware, go to Settings → USB Mode and set it to MSC.

This means when you connect the Fuze+ to a computer, the computer will treat it as a mass-storage device (like a flash drive).

2. Connect the Fuze+ to your computer.

It should appear as a storage device.

3. Mount the Fuze+.

You should be able to do this from e.g., your file manager.

2. Install the firmware

1. Download the Rockbox firmware.

Get the .zip for your device from https://download.rockbox.org/release/. Here's Rockbox 3.15 for the Sansa Fuze+: https://download.rockbox.org/release/3.15/rockbox-sansafuzeplus-3.15.zip

I have this SHA-256 hash for rockbox-sansafuzeplus-3.15.zip:

05ba18f971c33d329544fa87b620659dbc81b7de51bb9c292bbff0c3d23051c3

2. Extract the firmware.

Extract this .zip to the root directory of your mounted device storage, such as /run/media/user/SANSA FUZEP/.

3. Install the bootloader

This is the hard step. You need the following:

• firmware.sb - the original Sansa Fuze+ firmware
• bootloader-fuzeplus.sansa - the Rockbox bootloader for the Fuze+
• mkimxboot

Steps 1-3 tell you how to get them.

1. Download the original firmware.

It's available from here: https://mp3support.sandisk.com/firmware/fuzeplus/fuzeplus02.38.06.zip

Get version 02.38.06 or later. (I don't anticipate there ever being a later version.)

SHA-256 for fuzeplus02.38.06.zip:

61a2b976986f0a3f5d9f2932f0e89c92eeb612a9a4a65d84698473fcbb887e95

Extract this file to get firmware.sb.

2. Download the Rockbox bootloader.

Get it from https://download.rockbox.org/bootloader/sandisk-sansa/fuzeplus/bootloader-fuzeplus.sansa

SHA-256 for bootloader-fuzeplus.sansa:

c63d2d3e7198f31ad846010e8c3cdd5c8ab38bbc5404477622fb1facd9a68587

You should now have bootloader-fuzeplus.sansa.

3. Get mkimxboot.

This is a tool which modifies the original firmware for you. I couldn't find a complete build, so I had to compile it from source.

If you don't want to do that, here's the version I compiled for amd64 Linux. This file is licensed under the GPLv2, and the source can be obtained and compiled using the steps below.

SHA-256 for mkimxboot (downloaded from here):

d927c3b3acc26a7141d8a41cc057d033e0a9b7b18e28238b6edd6637b063a1bf

Compilation instructions:

1. Ensure you have the required packages installed.

This is at least git, make, and a C compiler (gcc).

2. Clone the Rockbox repo.

git clone --depth=1 git://git.rockbox.org/rockbox.git

3. Change to the mkimxboot directory.

cd rockbox/utils/mkimxboot

4. Compile mkimxboot.

make

You should now have an executable file called mkimxboot.

4. Patch the bootloader.

At this point, you should have the three files:

• firmware.sb
• bootloader-fuzeplus.sansa
• mkimxboot

Put them all into the same directory.

Now, in that directory, run mkimxboot to patch the bootloader:

./mkimxboot -i firmware.sb -b bootloader-fuzeplus.sansa -o patched.sb -t dualboot

The name provided with -o (in this case patched.sb) will be the output filename.

While we're at it, SHA-256 for patched.sb:

679399eeb5f8d2e48613e2d37a70801a8849233da338c7f573d19c88bc5464f6

I think this should always be the same, as long as you apply the same bootloader-fuzeplus.sansa patch to the same firmware.sb.

5. Copy the patched bootloader to the device.

   Copy the output file (patched.sb) to the root of your device as firmware.sb. For example:

   cp patched.sb /run/media/user/SANSA\ FUZEP/firmware.sb

6. Ensure the device is properly charged!

The device will need to be unplugged for a few minutes to update. Make sure it won't power off during this time, or risk bricking your device.

7. Unplug the device.

Safely eject the Sansa Fuze+ and then unplug it. It should display a clover leaf-style animation and say "Updating Fuze+". Once it's done, it should boot into Rockbox!