Having trouble with WP Recovery Tool rolling back to 8.1? Here's a solution.

[GuovaGames]

Copied from my reddit post (NovaX7):

Tried Windows 10 on your Nokia and you want to downgrade to WP8.1. But WP Recovery Tool constantly displaying downloading variant file failed at details. I have found the solution:

1. Go to C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Packages\Product\ and you will see a folder with your phone's model number.
2. Delete that folder with your phone's model number (or at least rename it just in case) (remember make sure WP Recovery Tool is not running).
3. Then start WP Recovery Tool again, select your phone and then try to restore it. (But be patient, since you got rid of the old WP image so the program has to redownload the package).
4. And there we go! You're back to Windows Phone 8.1!

Explanation: I searched Google earlier for the solution, most of the answers telling me to reinstall the program, blah-blah-blah. But it did not help me out at all. I did remember I have downgraded my Nokia Lumia 635 back around early March, and the WP Recovery Tool attempt to use the old downloaded package. But the program started to act full retard (bug). So I used Space Sniffer and searched my hard drive content for any Windows Phone related files that's around 1.6 GB, and then I found the original package. Did that trick above and my phone is now on WP8.1!

Hope this help y'all and I hope Microsoft can get this bug fixed!

 

[MDK22]

FINALLY, someone with an analytical mind & a good answer.

 

[GuovaGames]

Thank you and well, what do you expect from a WP app developer?

 

[lesterando]

I've been trying to fix my phone today, but not success... I wanna know if this method works for a phone that dont turn on anymore (he bricked while trying to hard reset with WP Recovery Tool)

Thanks!

 

[oviedofreak82]

Excellent thread I'll bookmark this page on my browser!

 

[Prikolists]

I hawe red screen and writen nokia, how can i repair it? Or my phone is brick now?

 

[oviedofreak82]

The most recent update to the Windows recovery tool (version 1.2.4) is successful at rolling back the Lumia 520/521 to Windows Phone 8.1. I successfully rolled back my 521 tonight without any issues and took about half an hour.