How to remove Developer Preview and restore the 'old' WP8 on Nokia devices

[HomeyJay]

There are some out there (like me) who just couldn't get DP to work well for them, so here's how to get rid of it and get back to WP8:

Download the Nokia Software Recovery tool : here

- Launch the tool
- Connect the phone.
- Click to restore the software (you don't even need to select which firmware!)
- It will then download and install the latest firmware for your phone (but not DP!).
- Phone will then reboot after its done and do a restore but don't use a restore made with the DP. Use one made earlier, if you have one. I used one made when I had DP installed and it didn't restore anything at all!

That's it. It's really simple and once you've downloaded the firmware, it takes 10 mins max to get done!
I'm now back to WP8.0 on my 1520!

Hope this helps!

 

[dorelse]

Title needs to be changed to "How to remove Developer Preview and restore the 'old' OS on Nokia Phones"

 

[Xpider_MX]

I don't want to back to WP8 but thanks.

 

[anon(5335899)]

Can we get Windows Phone 8 back after WP8.1?

I've been playing around with the 8.1 developer preview and must say I am not happy at all. Some of the new stuff is good but we are basically and IMO left with Android plus live tiles and that's not what I want.

Many if not most of the unique points WP had seem to have been eliminated.
The action centre may be great for some, but besides the quick action buttons it's pretty much what we had in Notifications in the people hub.
Facebook integration was so great but it's all but eliminated
Thanks to Cortana instead of 'search' > 'scan' I now have to jump through hoops to scan a QR code
The screenshot keycombo is awkward at best

Besides these and quite a few other points this preview is so bugridden it's not even funny. I sure hope MSFT pulls this one out of the fire in time but I fear their ambition will leave us with a mess when this gets out.

few issues;

- Wifi OFF toggle goes to settings
- games show up in applist
- xbox (games) hub keeps reloading
- Facebook share is completely broken and horrible now.
- Issues with people hub, music hub, video hub
- generally laggyness
- many apps are very jumpy
- VPN is there but is at best limited in the way it is implemented. (supported modes)

Now I know some of these may be fixed with new firmware but there is way too much not going right when it would appear this is what MSFT is going with. From past releases we know there's not much more they can/will change and they probably pretty much signed off on this. Right now I am very tempted to flash back to 8.0 and wait for things to come. If it goes the way I fear it will I may as well go Android as it seems MSFT is following their model and right now Android is way more mature if you ask me.

But I am ready to be proven wrong, MSFT make my day PLEASE!!

​

 

[hs k]

Re: Can we get Windows Phone 8 back after WP8.1?

Asssuming that you are having a Lumia 1020 or a Nokia device (because of your profile picture), you can use Nokia's recovery Tool. Search the internet for the download link!

 

[Curtieson]

Re: Can we get Windows Phone 8 back after WP8.1?

Right now I am very tempted to flash back to 8.0 and wait for things to come. If it goes the way I fear it will I may as well go Android as it seems MSFT is following their model and right now Android is way more mature if you ask me.

But I am ready to be proven wrong, MSFT make my day PLEASE!!​

Yes, there are a couple threads about this already.

http://forums.windowscentral.com/wi...-remove-developer-preview-restore-old-os.html

 

[anon(5335899)]

Re: Can we get Windows Phone 8 back after WP8.1?

Yes I know all about how to get back.. I created a new thread with my post and have no idea why it was merged here as besides the mention it has nothing to do with this at all.

 

[wongsik]

Boo:crying:

It doesn't work for me. I did the flashing thing to turn my AT&T L920 to get Amber early. So it's on the French rom. I did the developer preview to 8.1. Everything worked fine. However, I decided to do a factory reset because the forums were suggesting that to increase battery life and maybe get Cortana working on WiFi. Well, neither of that changed. But worse of all, I lost the tethering capability. I get the message to contact att. I tried the old Spanish keyboard trick, but it doesn't work. So, no more tethering. I'm on a Data Plan that allows it too.

I tried to use this method to see if I can revert back. I'm thinking the keyboard trick doesn't work in 8.1. Unfortunately, I get an error on the Nokia Software Recovery program that says it cannot download any firmware.

I'm afraid of bricking if I reflash with Nokia Care Suite. But I wonder if that would work?

Now I'm on the phone with AT&T with fingers tightly crossed to see if they can solve the issue from their end. So far it's been 40 min....no luck yet. Of course, I did not tell them I flashed my phone with a different rom nor that I'm on the developer preview of 8.1.

 

[SAM 77]

I already had the tool installed just in case.

Thank You for letting us know it works for future reference.

I am happy with the preview and wont be going back.
Sorry to hear 8.1 preview did not work out.

 

[AndrewL920]

Thanks I will go back to wp8 now.

 

[Curtieson]

Re: Can we get Windows Phone 8 back after WP8.1?

Yes I know all about how to get back.. I created a new thread with my post and have no idea why it was merged here as besides the mention it has nothing to do with this at all.

The subject to your post asked how to get Wp8.0 back...I'm not surprised it was merged with a thread that completely answered that question...even if (as you say) your subject had nothing to do with your post.

there are a ton of people all asking the same stuff and creating new threads with the same complaints, very tough for the mods with all this new info.

 

[Curtieson]

Now I'm on the phone with AT&T with fingers tightly crossed to see if they can solve the issue from their end. So far it's been 40 min....no luck yet. Of course, I did not tell them I flashed my phone with a different rom nor that I'm on the developer preview of 8.1.

This is why the paperwork around the Dev Preview says it voids your warranty, we know if you told them you were on the preview (after 30 minutes of trying to figure out what that meant!) they would cut you off and say you did it to yourself, haha.

 

[wongsik]

This is why the paperwork around the Dev Preview says it voids your warranty, we know if you told them you were on the preview (after 30 minutes of trying to figure out what that meant!) they would cut you off and say you did it to yourself, haha.

I did, do it to myself.

Update: No, because the issue was caused by myself when I did the hard reset in 8.1, AT&T did was not able to fix the problem. Since NSRT didn't want to download the package, I flashed it with Nokia Care Suite. The same way I did to get the French rom with Amber on it. Except I didn't bother with the Rogers rom flashing part first.

So, I'm back on 8. Now I can try to revive my tethering. :evil:

 

[Dan TheMan86]

Nokia Software Recovery Tool 1.1.3 won't detect my phone!! What do I do??

 

[Guzzler3]

Nokia Software Recovery Tool 1.1.3 won't detect my phone!! What do I do??

Do you have a Nokia phone?

 

[Zacharyw70]

Wow why is everyone whining about how WP is too much like Android, and they're going to jump ship QQQ?
Having used Android before I like WP a LOT more, and it's nowhere near as buggy or sluggish as Android was.


Also thanks OP! Didn't realize you could go back, if that's the case I guess there's nothing to lose if I try 8.1 on my future 1520.

 

[Mr Lebowski]

Download the Nokia Software Recovery tool :here
http://forums.windowscentral.com/wi...y-releases-software-recovery-tool.htmlhttp://

Oops! This link appears to be broken.

Did you mean: wpcentral.*com

 

[oditius]

Boo:crying:
But worse of all, I lost the tethering capability. I get the message to contact att. I tried the old Spanish keyboard trick, but it doesn't work. So, no more tethering. I'm on a Data Plan that allows it too.

:sweaty: You had me worried there, I had not tried that since I went to 8.1. But I just did, and no problems.

 

[oditius]

Wow why is everyone whining about how WP is too much like Android, and they're going to jump ship QQQ?
Having used Android before I like WP a LOT more, and it's nowhere near as buggy or sluggish as Android was.


Also thanks OP! Didn't realize you could go back, if that's the case I guess there's nothing to lose if I try 8.1 on my future 1520.

If you can't beat them, join them. Reason WP wasn't climbing up the ladder very much is because it wasn't like Android. The only way to gain popularity and sales is to be more android-like, while still maintaining the WP quality. You don't like transparent tiles, then shut them off. It isn't forced on you, it is your choice. We are not iOS where you don't have a choice, Apple tells you what you look at and we are not Android where it makes you install power consuming widgets and live wallpaper to get anything moving on the home screen for a cool look. We are #WinPhan, we are #WindowsPhoneFan 's.. We are also still unique....

 

[LTTG]

I can't decide whether to go back or stay with 8.1