How To Flash A Nexus 7 With A Factory Image

Here are the steps needed to flash a factory image on a Nexus 7. It may appear rather long but, in an
effort to make it as clear as possible to those who may be technically challenged, there are lots of screen
shots that take up a fair bit of space.
WARNING: Read this document completely from start to finish before trying to perform this
procedure. If you are uncomfortable with any of the steps, seek out the assistance of
someone with the skills to perform them. If you decide to proceed, look at the results of each
step. If something doesnt seem right, do not proceed on blindly. Back up and recheck or
seek clarification in order to avoid a catastrophy. I have tried to be as thorough as possible;
however, you proceed further at your own risk!
I will assume that the computer being used is a Windows PC running 10. It would make this document
even longer than it currently is if I were to try to cover doing the process from a Mac and a Linux
computer. If you have one of these other devices, you hopefully are aware of how to make adjustments
for the differences.
I will be focusing on flashing a Nexus 7 to version 6.0.1 (MMB29K) as this is the latest version applicable
to the Nexus 7 (2013-WiFi) device. (If you have a 2012 model or LTE model, make adjustments as
needed to the files and filenames).
Flashing a device can take time, depending on the amount of data to be written. However, no flashing
operation should take more than 30 minutes to complete. Keeping this upper limit in mind, be patient
and:
Rule #1: Never interrupt a Nexus flashing procedure.
Also be sure that your battery is more than 50% or better that your Nexus is connected to a power
source before performing any update. Loss of power during the update process can have the same
negative effects as not being patient.
Rule #2: Ensure your Nexus has sufficient power before initiating any update.

Phase 1: Preparations

Before flashing, a number of preparatory steps are needed, like getting the tools and files you will need
on your computer.
1.1
The Factory Image file has a tgz file extension. You will need to get a utility to extract the files
needed for flashing your Nexus from the Factory Image file. If you are familiar with this concept and
already have the necessary tools, then by all means use them, but if you dont you could use one called
Bitser. Download and install it and I will come back to using it a little later.
1.2
In order to flash a Factory Image, you need a tool called fastboot.exe. It is usually packed
together with another tool called adb.exe, but all we really need is fastboot.exe. The easiest way to get
this utility is to download and install Minimal adb and fastboot. (Note: It takes a bit of time for this web
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page to load up, so be patient. When you are able to scroll down the web page, you will find the link to
download and install the utilities.)
1.3
Create a folder where you will assemble all the files needed to flash your Nexus 7. I will be using
c:\flash. Copy the fastboot.exe utility from C:\Program Files\Minimal ADB and Fastboot to this
directory. Also copy the two dll files (AdbWinApi.dll and AdbWinUsbApi.dll) to the same directory.
1.4
Download the Factory Image. Factory Images for the Nexus 7 are located here. The Nexus 7
WiFi image I will be working with is located here. (The latest one for Nexus 7 LTE is located here.) For
now store this in a different working directory. I will be using c:\Nexus.
(Note: I recommend using the Chrome browser to download the factory image. Microsoft Edge and
Internet Explorer have a tendency to alter the file extension from tgz to tar which may confuse the
extraction utility. If you do use Edge or IE to download the factory image be prepared to manually
change the file extension back to tgz.)
1.5
Extract the files from the Factory Image. Using Windows Explorer go to the directory c:\Nexus.
Right click on the entry for razor-mmb29k-factory-a39e7047.tgz, drag the mouse down to Bitser, then
over to Extract to this folder, and left click to select it. This will decompress the tgz file into a tar file.
(For Nexus 7 LTE you are using the entry razorg-mmb29k-factory-44d21f0a.tgz.)
Right click on the entry for razor-mmb29k-factory-a39e7047.tar, drag the mouse down to Bitser, then
over to Extract to this folder, and left click to select it. (For Nexus 7 LTE you are using the entry razorgmmb29k-factory-44d21f0a.tar.) This will extract a directory named razor-mmb29k (for Nexus 7 LTE, it is
razorg-mmb29k) from the tar file. Use Windows Explorer to go to this directory in c:\Nexus.
Copy the file bootloader-flo-flo-04.05.img to c:\flash. (Note: for the Nexus 7 LTE the file name is
bootloader-deb-flo-04.05.img. Also for the Nexus 7 LTE, copy the file radio-deb-debz00_2.44.0_0213.img to c:\flash.))
Right click on the file image-razor-mmb29k.zip, drag the mouse down to Bitser, then over to Extract to
other, then over to Folder, and left click to select it. At the prompt specify the c:\flash folder and
click OK. (Note: for the Nexus 7 LTE the file name is image- razorg-mmb29k.zip)

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For a Nexus 7 WiFi, the directory c:\flash should now contain the following files:

For a Nexus 7 LTE, the directory c:\flash should now contain the following files:

Note: USB debugging is not required to be enabled as only the fastboot.exe utility will be used.

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Phase 2: Ensuring USB Drivers are on the Computer

From observation, this seems to be an area where a lot of people report problems, but it should really
be fairly straight forward. The easiest way to ensure the drivers are working OK is to bring up Device
Manager.
On the Windows 10 computer, drag the mouse to the lower left corner of the screen, click on the
window icon and click on All apps, then scroll down the list and click on Windows System, then Control
Panel.

After clicking Control Panel, if you see a screen like this, click the drop down arrow next to Category and
select Small Icons.

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When you see a screen like this, click on Device Manager.

2.1
You are now ready for your first test. With your Nexus 7 on the
home screen in normal operating mode, attach it to the computer with
a USB cable. After a few seconds (keep in mind that if the computer
needs to download and install USB drivers, it could be a bit longer), the
Device Manager window should look like this:
Under the entry for Portable Devices, there should be an entry called
Nexus 7.
If you see an entry with a yellow question mark under Other Devices,
you probably need to click on the entry, uninstall drivers or try update
driver to get the appropriate result as seen here.
At this stage you should be able to use Windows Explorer to access
your Nexus 7 and backup files you want to keep.
If you see an entry with a yellow question mark under Other Devices,
right click on it and choose "Update Driver Software", then choose
"Browse my computer", then "Let me pick from a list". If you see
categories, select "Android Device", then select "MTP USB Device", then
click Next to complete the driver installation.

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At this stage you should be able to use Windows Explorer to access your Nexus 7 and backup files you
want to keep (if your Nexus 7 has Android 6.0 or later installed, you will need to swipe down the
notification shade, tap USB for charging and select the MTP option to access files from your computer).

2.2

Disconnect the USB cable and the Nexus 7 entry under Portable Devices should disappear.

Power off your Nexus 7 by holding the Power switch until the Power Off notice appears on the screen
and then tap the Power Off notice.
Boot your Nexus 7 into Fastboot Mode by doing the following:
Press & hold the Volume Down button, then also press &
hold the Power button until the device turns on, and
immediately release all buttons.
You'll see one of the phrases "Start", Restart bootloader,
Recovery mode, Power off with an arrow drawn
around it.
DO NOT press the Power button to select any of these
options.
At this point you should be in Fastboot Mode

Attach the USB cable to your computer.

If you go back to the Device Manager window on your computer,

it should now have an entry Android Device and under it an entry
called Android Bootloader Interface.
Again, if you see an entry with a yellow question mark under
Other Devices, right click on it and choose "Update Driver
Software", then choose "Browse my computer", then "Let me
pick from a list". If you see categories, select "Android Device",
then select "Android Bootlader Interface". Click Next to complete
the driver installation. . (Note: There might be a couple of
version of Android Bootloader Interface. Try the one with the
latest version number. If it doesnt work try another.)
Unplug the USB cable, then plug it in again. Dont continue until
you see Android Bootloader Interface in Device Manager.

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2.3

You are now ready for the final test to be sure everything is working OK.

Open a Command Prompt on the computer. You do this in a similar way to starting Control Panel
Command Prompt is the entry just before Control Panel under Windows System in the All apps list. On
the Command Prompt screen, enter the following two commands:
cd \flash
.\fastboot devices

The response should be similar to the line below; however, the serial number of your Nexus 6 would be
the first value.
ZX1G224NBN

fastboot

If you make it to here all is in good shape to proceed to flashing your Nexus 6 with the Factory Image.
Enter the command:
.\fastboot reboot

And then disconnect the USB cable.

Phase 3: Flashing your Nexus 7

Once your Nexus 7 reboots, connect the USB cable and use Windows Explorer to browse the folders on
your Nexus 7. Pay particular attention to folders like DCIM, Movies, Music, Pictures, Documents, etc
where you may have files stored that you want to keep. Copy these files/folders to a safe place on your
computer so that you can restore them after you finish flashing the new factory image.
Disconnect the USB cable from your Nexus 7.
Power off your Nexus 7 and then boot it into Fastboot Mode (if you need a refresher, it is covered in
section 2.2).
Connect the USB cable to your Nexus 7, open a Command Prompt on your computer and change to the
folder where all the extracted Factory Image files are located:
cd c:\flash
Verify that you have a good connection between the computer and your Nexus 7:
.\fastboot devices

Warning: Up until this point everything has been very benign. Starting here is where you are treading
into the modification of your Nexus 6.

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In the steps below I recommend flashing each partition individually. There is a batch file called flashall.bat that is intended to automate the entire process for you. However, I have found this to be
problematic on many devices. It may fail if you do not have sufficient cache space available to expand
the partition images on the device as opposed to on your computer.
Examine the responses from each command. Do not proceed further if there is any indication of an
error or write/erase failure.
Now unlock the boot loader on your Nexus 7. This will put a message on the screen of your Nexus 7
indicating that this will void your device warranty. You must acknowledge this on the screen in order to
proceed.
.\fastboot oem unlock

Now you enter the commands on a Nexus 7 WiFi:

.\fastboot flash bootloader .\bootloader-flo-flo-04.05.img
.\fastboot reboot-bootloader

Now you enter the commands on a Nexus 7 LTE:

.\fastboot flash bootloader .\bootloader-deb-flo-04.05.img
.\fastboot reboot-bootloader
.\fastboot flash radio .\radio-deb-deb-z00_2.44.0_0213.img

Now you enter these commands to flash the common image files to their respective partitions:
.\fastboot
.\fastboot
.\fastboot
.\fastboot
.\fastboot

flash
flash
flash
flash
flash

boot .\boot.img
recovery .\recovery.img
system .\system.img
userdata .\userdata.img
cache .\cache.img

NOTE: userdata.img may potentially reduce the size of your

available memory. If you have more memory than the base model,
then do the following command:
.\fastboot format userdata
Now reboot your Nexus 7:
.\fastboot reboot

After your Nexus 7 reboots you will have to go through the initialization steps as you did when you first
got your Nexus 7. Be sure to sign in with the same Google account that you were using previously.

Attach the USB cable to your computer and use Windows Explorer to restore files you previously saved.

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If your Nexus 7 successfully boots and you are satisfied with its operation, reboot your Nexus 7 into
Fastboot Mode and lock your bootloader so that your Nexus 7 is back to full factory state but with the
new factory image installed.
.\fastboot oem lock

Now reboot your Nexus:

.\fastboot reboot

Best of luck and I hope this has helped get your Nexus 7 back into tip top operation.

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