(UPDATE/SOLVED) help REALLY needed!! lost my way after downgrade to 8.1 on L920... what now?!
Thought i'd update this post to hopefully help others out who have doubted themselves with the Nokia Software Recovery tool process... I held off the process until a fix for the Dev Preview was released but couldn't be a*sed waiting so here we are. I'd searched guides on the WPC forums of course but found some of them littered with some confusing contradictions and specifics that I couldn't follow as a lay-person..
For the record I had never used any recovery software before and had never even had to Hard Reset a device before. This was the most 'advanced' process as i had embarked on to date.
I now have my phone back to normal, that is, WP 8.1 Update 1 (with Dev Preview) and Cyan, exactly as i wanted. The phone is an EE Nokia Lumia 920. Here's how that happened for me:
1:
After fully backing up the handset (VERY IMPORTANT) , NSRT found the phone and began the download of the phone OS. This took about 25-30 minutes to download to PC. The version number of the latest OS available for my phone didn't indicate that this was infact 8.1 and Cyan (I could have checked the version numbers out but didn't at the time) I had wrongly assumed from previous recent guides online, it was going back to WP8.0 + Black that the phone shipped with of course..
The fact that NSRT now installs 8.1 and Cyan helps immensely to make the whole process easier imo- and of course it saves you a step in the whole ordeal!
2:
The connected handset then went on to immediately install the 'new' OS and did its thing. This took about 15 minutes. After auto restarting I then had my 920 with a box fresh OS and of course NO data/contacts etc. To my pleasant surprise at the time, it was 8.1 and Cyan and not 8.0. EE announced via their support forums that Cyan was being pushed to 920's at long last. No public announcements as of today 5/9/14 though.
3:
So, all that remained was to go through the set up on the fresh handset and sign back in-keeping everything crossed that the back up was there! I needn't have worried, it was there and that process was what actually took the longest time about 40+ minutes to re install my layout and apps- yours will vary considerably based on the data being backed up etc. The app installation (minus Cortana- i'll get to that) took some time but all apps, excluding some that have since been de-listed in the store (Twitter Beta for example) did eventually appear in the list and on my start screen. They appear 'grayed out' on the start screen but slowly become live again during the installation of the app updates.
4:
To get the 'Update 1' version of the OS, just mean signing back into the Preview For Developers app and searching for the update in the usual manner on the phone. That install then took a further 15 minutes or so, to bring me back to what i have now. 8.1 Update 1 on Cyan. FYI: There is NO need to disable or uninstall that app before the process as you might read elsewhere. Nor was a hard reset required to prompt a full restore/back up. I believe this 'hard reset to prompt back up' step was once the case when restoring a handset back to 8.0 but isnot the case when restoring to 8.1 as happened in my case automatically with NSRT. The MS account sign in at the point of set up, seemed to take care of all my back up preferences, save for a few in app settings that you have to re-do manually. No big deal. Hurrah!
Cortana note: I was previously using the region change to US to enable Cortana as although it was showing upon the fresh install of Update 1 UK region, i was greeted with "I'm sorry, i cant speak your language yet" This confused me as I have read she was out in the UK, but i changed the region settings back to US, installed the US language pack and got her back up and running as before... Not sure why this is the case but i'm not bothered at the moment. She works well for me.
So, it wasn't as horrible as i feared and just took a while. Nothing broke and the phone seems to be just as good as it was before- forders are a neat anti- clutter solution and i'm glad i got it.
I would advise anyone to try it although NOT to start the process at 1 am when you should be sleeping like i did... too much tension that late at night!!
Any questions, feel free to ask/update.:smile:
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram