Manually Upgrade Nexus 7 to Android Marshmallow 6.0

October 9, 2015

Google started rolling out Android 6.0 Marshmallow update for Nexus devices. I have two Nexus devices Nexus 4 and Nexus 7 2013 (WiFi-LTE). It’s really sad that I’ll not be getting Android Marshmallow update for my Nexus 4.

I still like my Nexus 4 better than any other mobile devices and even better than Nexus 5, given its modest specs as compared to many new devices that were released after Nexus 4.
Nexus 5X is still not impressive but Nexus 6P seems impressive to me. This is enough to explain that I’m a big fan of Nexus devices.

In this post, I’ll guide you through how to Manually Upgrade Nexus 7 to Android Marshmallow (6.0). I read that Google started rolling out Android Marshmallow update for Nexus 7 but when I checked on the tab it was still saying I already have the recent version of Android.

I was so curious that I couldn’t wait for OTA and upgraded manually which I have have done already for early updates of Nexus 4 and Nexus 7.

Well if you still haven’t got any OTA notification and don’t want to wait you can do three things to upgrade there are two method to manually upgrade/update and one is force OTA.

How to Force OTA Updates:

Put your device into Airplane Mode.
Go to Settings >>> Apps >>> All(to see all apps) and look for >>> Google Services Framework.
Tap on Clear cache (Tap OK on warning screen).
Tap on Clear data (Tap OK on warning screen).
Tap on Force stop (Tap OK on warning screen).
Now disable Airplane Mode go to setting >>> about phone >>> system update >>> check for update

Note:- This may not work always. In that case, you have to update manually.

Manually Update/Upgrade from recovery mode.
This method is for devices having custom recover like TRWP.
1. Download the Update file.
2. Put the zip file in the home directory of your device.
3. Boot into recovery mode.
4. Flash the device with the downloaded update zip file.
5. Reboot your device.

Manually Update/Upgrade from default recovery mode.
This method is for those who have default recovery on their device.

1. Download the Update file.
2. Download and install the Google USB driver. Click Here to Download.
3. Download and install Android ADB and fastboot tools Click Here to download, my recommendation is please read the mentioned documentation also.
4. After successful installation reconnect your device if everything goes well you will see the notification like below.
5. Now in C: drive you will see a folder called Minimal ADB and FastBoot put the downloaded update zip file in that folder. Not need to unzip the file.
6. Now enable USB DeBugging to do > open settings in device and go-to About phone scroll down to Build number and tap it seven times it will enable the developer options. Now from Developer options enable “USB debugging”.
7. Now turn off your device, connect to PC
8. Boot your device in recovery mode.
9. Select Apply Update From ADB.
10. Open Minimal ADB command window and type “adb devices” to see the attached devices.
11. Next type “adb sideload update.zip” without double quote and replace the update.zip with the file name of your zip file.
12. Now you will see the file transferring to your device.
It may take time depending upon the size of the update file. Once file get transferred, your device will begin to update automatically. Once you will see the successful message on ADB terminal unplug reboot your device. Now Android will boot in the new updated version and it might take few more minute to upgrade all apps so wait till it updated-upgraded completely.