Hello LUGS,

Am I allowed to ask Android questions? It is a Linux distro, right?

Backstory: I bought a WIleyfox Storm mobile several years ago, mostly because it ran Cyanogen out of the box. (My previous phone was a discount job from Orange that I'd rooted and wiped and put Cyanogen on). I was pretty pleased with it right up to when Wileyfox went into administration around the same time Cyanogen closed. Three years ago I tried to put the last Cyanogen version on it, but failed and reverted to stock. It has been getting slow and was full of crap so I decided to install Lineage OS (fork of and follow on to Cyanogen).

So it's unlocked and rooted and USB debug enabled, has been for years. As per Lineage install instructions I have Fastboot and ADB on my PC. Put phone into Fastboot mode and flashed a recovery ROM (twrp). Recovery mode works OK. Wiped data and cache partitions.

Onto flashing Lineage OS and it seems to go well but ends with a message 'Signature Verification Failed'. Tried it both from ADB via PC and by loading Lineage to SD card and running from there. Same error.

Lineage 'support' is via a Reddit forum and lots of people have asked the same question in relation to several different phones. The answers make no sense to me, I guess because the twrp screens vary. Some suggest that twrp cannot verify signed files so the user must verify it manually, but there's no clue how to do that. The Lineage download filename includes 'signed' but there's no sign of a downloadable key.

Not to worry, I thought. There's a recovery mode...

It boots OK finds my WiFi and accepts a password. The next screen requires my Google login. I used to use a fake ID on the phone 'will.e.ffox' (ie Wileyfox) but the setup won't accept that, it wants the 'email previously used on the device'. As I wiped the device there should be no record so I assume that the recovery rom has a username and pwd all of its own. But what?

Advice online is all about recovering lost Google passwords to known accounts. I guess what I really need to know is how do criminals reset stolen phones and get past Google's checks?