How To Flash A Nexus 5X With A Factory Image

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How To Flash A Nexus 5X With A Factory Image Here are the steps needed to flash a factory image on a Nexus 5X. 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 doesn’t seem right, do not proceed on blindly. Back up and recheck or seek clarification in order to avoid a catastrophe. I have tried to be as thorough as possible; however, you proceed further at your own risk! This guide provides examples for a Windows 10 PC; however, the basic concepts still apply to MAC, Linux and other Windows versions. Just remember to change c: to ~ and \ to / on MAC and Linux machines. I will be focusing on flashing a Nexus 5X to version 8.0.0 (OPR4.170623.009). 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, and 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 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 it. Use this guide to get fastboot and adb installed on your system. 1.2 Download the Factory Image. Nexus 5X Factory Images are located here. The one I will be working with is located here. For now store this in a different working directory. I will be using c:\Nexus (NOTE: On a MAC or Linux use ~/Nexus).

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1.3 Extract the files from the Factory Image. Using Windows Explorer go to the directory c:\Nexus. Right click on the entry for bullhead-opr4.170623.009-factory-b9f20abf.zip, drag the mouse down to Extract All, and left click to select it. Then click on Browse, find the c:\Nexus folder, then click Select Folder followed by Extract. This will extract a directory named for bullhead-opr4.170623.009 from the zip file. Use Windows Explorer to go to this directory in c:\Nexus. Copy the file bootloader-bullhead-bhz21c.img to c:\flash (a new directory where we will assemble everything that needs to be flashed - on a MAC or Linux use ~/flash). Copy the file radio-bullhead-m8994f-2.6.39.3.03.img to c:\flash Right click on the file image-bullhead-opr4.170623.009.zip, drag the mouse down to Extract All, and left click to select it. Then click on Browse, find the c:\flash folder, then click Select Folder followed by Extract. The directory c:\flash should now contain the following files:

1.4 Now on your Nexus 5X, ensure that Developer options is shown in Settings. If it is not, then go to Settings -> About phone and scroll down to Build number and tap it seven times. You will get a notice that you are now a developer when successfully completed. Now go to Settings -> Developer options and enable OEM unlocking by moving the slider to the right. (See figures below) Note: USB debugging is not required to be enabled.

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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 (NOTE: If using a MAC or Linux, skip areas that are Windows specific). 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 (NOTE: If your Nexus 5X will not boot into the full system OS, then skip to section 2.2.) You are now ready for your first test. With your Nexus 5X 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 5X. 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 5X and backup files you want to keep (if your Nexus 5X 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). Pay particular attention to folders like DCIM, Movies, Music, Pictures, Documents, Download, 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.

2.2

Disconnect the USB cable and the Nexus 5X entry under Portable Devices should disappear.

Power off your Nexus 5X by holding the Power switch until the Power Off notice appears on the screen and then tap the Power Off notice. Boot your Nexus 5X 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.

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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.

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 Bootloader 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 doesn’t work try another.) Unplug the USB cable, then plug it in again. Don’t continue until you see Android Bootloader Interface in Device Manager. NOTE: If you are still having trouble, there have been reports of success after installing these drivers.

2.3

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

Open a Command Prompt on the computer (NOTE: On MAC or Linux, open a Terminal). 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 command: fastboot devices

The response should be similar to the line below; however, the serial number of your Nexus 5X would be the first value. ZX1G224NBN

fastboot

If you make it to here all is in good shape to proceed to flashing your Nexus 5X with the Factory Image.

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Phase 3: Flashing your Nexus 5X

Warning: Up until this point everything has been very benign. Starting here is where you are treading into the modification of your Nexus 5X. 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 5X. This will put a message on the screen of your Nexus 5X indicating that this will void your device warranty. You must acknowledge this on the screen in order to proceed. NOTE: change c: to ~ and \ to / on MAC or Linux in the following commands. cd c:\flash fastboot oem unlock

Now you enter the commands to flash the image files to their respective partitions: fastboot flash bootloader .\bootloader-bullhead-bhz21c.img fastboot reboot-bootloader fastboot flash radio .\radio-bullhead-m8994f-2.6.39.3.03.img fastboot reboot-bootloader fastboot fastboot fastboot fastboot

flash flash flash flash

boot .\boot.img recovery .\recovery.img system .\system.img vendor .\vendor.img

fastboot format cache fastboot format userdata Now reboot your Nexus 5X: fastboot reboot

After your Nexus 5X reboots, you will have to go through the initialization steps as you did when you first got your Nexus. Be sure to sign in with the same Google account that you were using previously. At this time DO NOT install any of your third party apps. If your Nexus 5X successfully boots and you are satisfied with its operation, go to Settings -> About phone and tap Build number 7 times to activate Developer Mode. Then go to Settings -> Developer Options and enable OEM Unlocking. Reboot your Nexus 5X into Fastboot Mode and lock your bootloader so that your Nexus 5X is back to full factory state but with the new factory image installed.

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fastboot oem lock

This operation may also do a Factory Data Reset, so if you had installed your third party apps, they would all be removed at this time.

Now reboot your Nexus 5X: fastboot reboot

After your Nexus 5X reboots, you will have to go through the initialization steps as you did when you first got your Nexus. Be sure to sign in with the same Google account that you were using previously. At this time you can install your third party apps if you wish to. Go to Settings -> About phone and tap Build number 7 times to activate Developer Mode. Then go to Settings -> Developer Options and ensure OEM Unlocking is disabled. (It has been known to be left on after locking the bootloader on some devices.)

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

Best of luck and I hope this has helped get your Nexus 5X into tip top operation on the latest Factory Image.

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