Where is the 4.4 OTA update file located?

[thecarlsoncrew]

I received my notification for the 4.4 OTA update a few days ago. I initiated the backup, and the device rebooted. I'm rooted so it booted into TWRP and did nothing. After I manually rebooted from TWRP, it came up in my 4.3 environment with no changes, and I have not gotten the 4.4 OTA update notification since.

In the event that the update file actually finished downloading prior to the reboot and I can install it from storage...does anyone know where that file would be located?

Thanks!

 

[Rukbat]

Just a guess (I didn't write the OTA process), but if the update fails (and it will if the phone is rooted), the file probably gets deleted.

 

[John Bean]

Just a guess (I didn't write the OTA process), but if the update fails (and it will if the phone is rooted), the file probably gets deleted.

I don't know about 4.4 but previous failed OTAs didn't delete the file, which is saved in /cache I seem to remember. Someone with more intimate knowledge may wish to confirm (or otherwise!); my memory isn't always entirely trustworthy these days.

 

[thecarlsoncrew]

I don't know about 4.4 but previous failed OTAs didn't delete the file, which is saved in /cache I seem to remember. Someone with more intimate knowledge may wish to confirm (or otherwise!); my memory isn't always entirely trustworthy these days.

Perfect - it appears the update file is, in fact, located in the /cache folder! It's a zip file with a gigantically long filename that includes "KRT16S" and is 185MB in size. That's gotta be it.

Now the question is: how do I install it? I tried flashing it straight up from TWRP...failed. I turned off SuperSU (in the settings) and then tried it again...failed. How do I install this zip file?

 

[jhawkkw]

The only way I have found to install Nexus ota files is through the sideload function of the stock recovery. Everything else seems to have mixed results or failures. You could also flash the factory image manually through the bootloader and not flash the userdata.img file and that would serve the same purpose.

 

[thecarlsoncrew]

The only way I have found to install Nexus ota files is through the sideload function of the stock recovery. Everything else seems to have mixed results or failures. You could also flash the factory image manually through the bootloader and not flash the userdata.img file and that would serve the same purpose.

So, how do I boot into the stock recovery? When I start the tablet while pressing Up/Down and select to go into recovery, it brings up TWRP. Is there a different recovery that I need to access? If so, how do I do that? I'm also not sure how to flash the image manually through the bootloader - how is that done?

 

[John Bean]

You'll need to reflash the stock recovery. I don't use TWRP but perhaps it has a simple way of doing this, otherwise you'll need to download an image and flash it with fastboot.

To be honest I'd probably ignore the OTA file and download a full factory image from here and manually reflash the bootloader and system images - look in the "flashall.sh" (or .bat) file for the individual commands - and you won't lose data so long as you omit the "-w" from the last line.

I updated my Nexus 7 using only two commands - the first to install the bootloader, the second to update the OS (without the "-w"). I specifically did not clear any data. It went smoothly and works perfectly.

 

[thecarlsoncrew]

You'll need to reflash the stock recovery. I don't use TWRP but perhaps it has a simple way of doing this, otherwise you'll need to download an image and flash it with fastboot.

To be honest I'd probably ignore the OTA file and download a full factory image from here and manually reflash the bootloader and system images - look in the "flashall.sh" (or .bat) file for the individual commands - and you won't lose data so long as you omit the "-w" from the last line.

I updated my Nexus 7 using only two commands - the first to install the bootloader, the second to update the OS (without the "-w"). I specifically did not clear any data. It went smoothly and works perfectly.

Thanks for the link to the Nexus files! Before proceeding, I want to make sure I have this exactly right. Here are the commands in the .bat script (I have added line numbers for clarity's sake):

1. PATH=%PATH%;"%SYSTEMROOT%\System32"
2. fastboot oem unlock
3. fastboot erase boot
4. fastboot erase cache
5. fastboot erase recovery
6. fastboot erase system
7. fastboot erase userdata
8. fastboot flash bootloader bootloader-grouper-4.23.img
9. fastboot reboot-bootloader
10. ping -n 10 127.0.0.1 >nul
11. fastboot -w update image-nakasi-krt16s.zip
12. echo Press any key to exit...
13. pause >nul
14. exit​

So, according to your last post, I just need to open a terminal session and manually run the fastboot command that flashes the image (line #8), then the fastboot command for the zip file itself without the "-w" flag (line #11). Correct?

 

[John Bean]

Correct, except I omitted to mention that it needs to be rebooted back into fastboot after flashing the stock bootloader so you can either reboot it manually or execute the reboot shown in the script.

This is exactly what I did:

fastboot flash bootloader bootloader-grouper-4.23.img
fastboot reboot-bootloader
fastboot update image-nakasi-krt16s.zip

You should of course wait until reboot has completed by observing the Nexus before executing the last command; the "ping" line in the script is just a poor-man's "wait" command to insert a 10-second delay.

 

[thecarlsoncrew]

Correct, except I omitted to mention that it needs to be rebooted back into fastboot after flashing the stock bootloader so you can either reboot it manually or execute the reboot shown in the script.

This is exactly what I did:

fastboot flash bootloader bootloader-grouper-4.23.img
fastboot reboot-bootloader
fastboot update image-nakasi-krt16s.zip

You should of course wait until reboot has completed by observing the Nexus before executing the last command; the "ping" line in the script is just a poor-man's "wait" command to insert a 10-second delay.

Got it, and all appears to be functioning correctly, at least from what I can tell. Thanks for your help!

 

[John Bean]

Good result