Restoring Windows 8.1 Backup to New Phone--Tricky Process

[Arsynic]

So the earphone on my 928 bit the dust and Verizon sent me a warranty replacement. Of course it's still running the old OS and now I'm wondering how I do I restore it since the old OS doesn't have "Backup". There's no "Restore" feature in Windows 8.1 unless you factory reset the phone after updating it.

So I'll have to spend one hour updating the phone and then factory reset it. Once it reboots I'll have the restore option available. MS needs to have a "Restore" option in the Backup section.

 

[eepyaich]

FWIW I recently did a firmware reset of my L920. Before the reset it was running 8.1, so had a backup, but after the reset it was back to 8.0.

The 8.0 start-up process found the old 8.0 backup from April (prior to my move to the 8.1 dev preview). I (foolishly, in retrospect) told it to use this, so the phone tried to download all of my apps, which turned out to be a pain - all I really wanted was the Preview for Developers app. Anyway, once I got the preview, I then went through the process of updates:

- First there was an 8.0 update to "get ready" for the preview, then 8.1 itself (which, I think, was the first 8.1 update build - 8.10.12382.878), then the latest 8.1 update (8.10.12393.890).
- At this point, I did a hard reset, which got me the "set-up" phase for a new 8.1 device. During this, the phone found my 8.1 backup from that morning and restored it.

It took a little while after that to get everything back to "normal", but I was pleasantly surprised by how much "just worked" after the restore.

 

[gapost]

The only way it can restore is on the first boot from a hard reset. On your new 928, login with your account, but don't restore from backup. Do any updates for your phone, then install Preview for Developers, and install all the updates for 8.1. Once that is all installed, do a hard reset, and restore from your online backup for your last 928 with 8.1 software.

 

[leland_jr]

My restore is stuck at 25%. Are there issues going from 8x --> 929 in this fashion? My 8x is nearly full on storage, but there is some kind of error I can't get past.

 

[SMMinke]

Yes, I had just made a warranty claim through AT&T on my beloved Lumia 1020 and was nonplussed at the idea of having to start from scratch. Then, I remembered reading a couple of articles on my beloved WPCentral about this crazy new idea of "Backup". However, was mentally stuck for a couple of hours considering just how to go about this since I had long ago upgraded to 8.1. Did some searching, lots of people who just gave up and started from scratch. I had wondered: "What if I just download the Preview for Developers app, do all updates then hard reset. Didn't want to burn another 3 hours or so though if I was wrong. Good thing is, I was right, apparently. Seems to be working like a charm. Thanks for the post and hope this helps others stuck in this position prior to the official 8.1 release.

 

[scottinmd]

gapost, just so I'm clear... I did a complete reset, downloaded Preview for Developers, and upgraded to 8.1. Now do I go to Setting>About>Reset you phone and do it again?

 

[safesax2002]

I believe that is what he is saying.

 

[gapost]

gapost, just so I'm clear... I did a complete reset, downloaded Preview for Developers, and upgraded to 8.1. Now do I go to Setting>About>Reset you phone and do it again?

The general consensus is if you install an update, like 8.1, you should do a hard reset after. The original OP was talking about getting his 8.1 backup back. If you don't have an 8.1 backup, your option will be to restore an 8.0 backup, which will work, but there has been discussions about doing a clean install with no backup and a restore from backup. Personally, I like to do a clean install and no restore from backup and then re-install my apps. Even if you don't do a restore, you should still get your MS account stuff, like calendar, people, texts, etc.