If you have one of the newer Nexus devices and want to install the Android developer preview then follow these step by step instructions.
Android M was announced at Google I/O today and right now the developer preview can be downloaded for all to enjoy. All of those who own a Nexus 5, Nexus 6, Nexus 9 or a Nexus player, that is. We’ve heard the rumors about Google not supporting the Nexus 4 with Android M.
While that might not end up being true(it was just a rumor), it doesn’t seem that the aging Nexus smartphone is going to be getting the Android M developer preview.
Warning – Flashing the Android M Developer Preview onto your Nexus device will wipe all of your data. This developer preview is just that, a developer preview so you should expect things like bugs, glitches and other parts of the operating system to not work.
I have already written up guides for how to download the developer preview for the Nexus 5 as well as the Nexus 6 so if you have just downloaded it, we are going to get it installed onto our devices now. This tutorial assumes you have already downloaded the factory images for the developer preview onto your computer and that you have already extracted them into a folder on your computer.
Install Android M Developer Preview
- Download and Install ADB and Fastboot Tools
- Enable Developer Mode
- Enable USB Debugging
- Then Connect the Nexus 5 to Your PC with a Micro USB Cable
- Boot the Nexus 5 into Fastboot Mode
- Copy the Android M Developer Preview Files into the ADB and Fastboot Directory(for me this is C:\Program Files (x86)\Minimal ADB and Fastboot)
- Hold the Shift Key Down on the Keyboard and then Right-Click on an Empty Space in the ADB and Fastboot Directory
- Left-Click the ‘Open Command Window Here’ Option
- Type the Following Command. . .
- flash-all.bat
- Then Press Enter on the Keyboard
Explanation
To do any of this you will need to install the ADB and Fastboot tools onto your PC. The link in the tutorial above will take you to a guide where you can install them very quickly and very easily onto your PC. Once that has been installed, you’ll need to enable the developer mode on your Nexus device and then go into the Developer Options menu so that you can enable USB Debugging. Once that is enabled, you’ll need to connect the USB cable from the PC to your Nexus device. If you get prompted to allow USB Debugging access from this PC you are going to need to tap on the ‘OK’ option.
If you don’t get this pop-up dialog box asking about allowing access, you may need to reboot the Nexus 5(or type in the command ‘adb devices’ into the command line while in the ADB and Fastboot directory to initiate access). Then you can reboot the Nexus 5 into Fastboot Mode while you start to work on the Android M developer preview files.
As shown here, you’ll need to copy the contents of the Android M developer preview into the ADB and Fastboot directory. ADB and Fastboot generally install into “C:\Program Files (x86)\Minimal ADB and Fastboot” so you’ll want to copy them into there unless you installed it elsewhere. Use the image above as a guide for what you want your ADB and Fastboot folder to look like. Once that is all setup, now we can launch the command prompt right from this directory. Just like how it is shown in the image, you’ll want to hold down the Shift key on the keyboard and then right-click on an empty space in the folder.
As you see from this image, you’ll get a menu with a special option if you do this. The option says ‘Open Command Window Here’ and you want to left-click on that option. This will not only launch the command prompt, but it will also instantly take you to the ADB and Fastboot directory and that is where we need to be. Once you are in there, simply type the command “flash-all.bat” and then press Enter on the keyboard. If you have done everything else properly, you’ll see some text appear at the bottom left of the screen(on the Nexus device).
This is telling you what Fastboot is doing to your device and it is usually stuff like copying images, installing images, etcetera. Once that process has been finished, you’ll be told to press any key within the command prompt to close the window and your Nexus device will automatically reboot. During this reboot process, it can take some time for Android to set everything up. I want to say my Nexus 5 sat there for at least 15 to 20 minutes(at least it seemed that long to me) until it finally booted up into the Android M developer preview build.
Please be patient during this boot up process and everything should work perfectly for you.
