Restore Nexus 5 to Stock and Flash Factory Images (Win/ Mac/ Linux)

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restore nexus 5 to stock

One of the fascinating things about Android is that it lets you unleash your adventurous self. If you are just a basic or average user, you could explore millions of apps in the Play Store to make the most of your device. However, if you are even a little passionate about the phone or tablet you own and have rooted it, the possibilities are immense. You can try and experiment custom ROMs and mods that can be easily found around the web if Googled.

Rooting lets you enjoy some really good apps and ROMs that help you get better battery life, capability to tweak and optimize your device, and option to customize your device in a plethora of ways. As you know, any adventurous feel involves the element of risks too. You might root your Android device, try a mod or kernel, or might go for a custom ROM, but there might be certain situation when you would either wish to return to the stock firmware of your device, or be forced to flash stock ROM as the ultimate resort to recover your device to normal state in case its is caught into bootloop.

The reason why I decided to write this tutorial is a little mishap that took place yesterday when I was going to install a ROM. I copied the ROM and GApps file to phone, backed up the old ROM, and then while wiping data, cache and system, I also selected internal SD card. The result was catastrophic and it was by flashing the factory image back that I cold recover my Nexus 5.

While not all Android OEMs provide stock firmwares of their device for public download, there are a few like Google and Motorola who have been pretty good at making them available to users. So, if you own a Nexus 5 and wish to restore it to stock firmware by flashing the official factory image, you can follow our detailed tutorial below and do it within minutes. Though this guide is meant for Nexus 5, it can be used on any Nexus device. The only important thing is, you must have the appropriate image file.

Disclaimer

The procedure described below has been well tested but its success depends on how good you are while following it. The method is pretty easy to follow but it involves a few ADB and Fastboot commands.Read all steps a couple of times, make all preparations and do them carefully.

Preparations:

  • Download the latest Nexus 5 factory image from the official site: Click Here to Download
  • Download and setup Android SDK on your computer. To do this, download the SDK zip and extract its contents to the following path: C:/Program Files/Android (create this folder first). If you use Windows 8, extract the SDK files to Program Files (x86). Then run the SDK Manager.exe as administrator, check the Google USB Drivers and install it. Skip this step you have already done it. To get ADB and Fastboot working  properly, read our guide.android sdk location
  • Enable USB Debugging option on your phone: Settings> Developer options> USB Debugging. If you do not find the developer options, you’ll have to make it visible manually. See the instructions here.
  • Download and install the latest Google USB Driver on your Windows PC. Since the USB drivers is not an executable file but a zip, it requires special steps to install it. Download and extract the zip on your desktop. Connect your device to computer. Press Windows+X keys on the keyboard and click on Device Manager option. Now click on the “Other Devices” expander button. Right click on Nexus 5 (with yellow triangle sign) and select “Update Driver Software”. Then click on “Browse My Computer for Driver Software”. Locate the “latest_usb_driver_windows” folder and select Install option. When the driver is installed, you device should show in device manager as “Android Composite ADB Interface”.nexus-5-usb-driver

Restore Nexus 5 to Stock: The Steps

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Well-versed in English literature and active in politics, Rakesh is a teacher by profession and geek by heart with ardent passion for all-things-tech. He has been a theme-maker, modder, and has contributed to some custom ROMs. He enjoys learning, discovering, growing and sharing the newest and latest trends in the world of Android. Current Devices: LG G3, Nexus 5, Galaxy Note 3, Galaxy S5, HTC One M8 & Galaxy Note 10.1.

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  • dandiGher

    the other problem I have also, is that all the places I’ve tried to download Android ver.4.1.2(for SGS3_GT-I9300 XXEMC2) from is linked to HotFile account(S) & I understand they no longer exist(were bought by a predator co.) are you not able to provide a link where, we are able to download from your server pls? In U.K.Thank you for your insightful website info!

  • dandiGher

    hi Rakesh; this Tutorial is no good for myself & others when SGS3 does not get past ‘bootloop,’ to allow entry to switch on the ‘USB Debugging?’

  • ana

    hello, i’m very desperate and heartbroken- wanted to see if anyone could help me… i sent my nexus 5 to lg to fix the screen and they wiped everything without telling me, i’m pretty sure my phone wasn’t backed up since i had no idea they would do such a thing without informing me. Is there any way i can get at least my pictures and notes back? thank you so much !

  • http://www.droidviews.com/ Rakesh

    Glad to know we could help you!

  • Séb

    You have no idea how much you help me, thank you very much :)

  • http://www.droidviews.com/ Rakesh

    Life is much more valuable than a phone, bro!

  • Trevor

    Thank you sooooo much!! This has really saved my life!!!

  • Cheri Lange

    Rakesh, thank you so much for the detailed instruction. I’m anxious to get home and try this. There’s a long story about the history of the phone and why it wasn’t set to Google+ Auto Backup back up, but I’ll spare you details. :)

  • http://www.droidviews.com/ Rakesh

    You can also try flashing only the boot, recovery and system images.

  • http://www.droidviews.com/ Rakesh

    Hi Cheri, you have made a big mistake by relying on a phone with no external storage for storing your important pictures and data.

    Anyway, try the Nexus 5 Tool to install the factory images.

    Nexus Root Tool: http://www.wugfresh.com/nrt/

    Also download the factory images.

    Open Nexus Tool, go to the Options and head over to the Flash Stock tab and tick the box next to Enable “No Wipe Mode”. This will prevent the stock images from wiping your data.

    Next, it is important to install the proper drivers which can be done in the Initial Setup menu. Simply follow the the steps and you should be good to go soon. You are now able to flash Android 4.4.4.

    Click the Flash Stock + Unroot button while having Device is on/Normal status checked. On the next screen select “Other/Browse ..” and “I downloaded a factory image myself that I would like to use instead”. In the next window you’ll be able to select the Android factory images you downloaded earlier.

    If the program asks for an MD5 number, take the correct one from Google’s factory image page. The next steps will guide you through the process and you should be done quite soon. Your Android device is now running Android 4.4.4. However, your device is not rooted anymore and does not have a custom recovery installed. Head over to step 4 to fix that.

  • Cheri Lange

    I have very sentimental photos of the last days of my dying mother’s life surrounded by her kids, grand kids and great grand kids stored on my Nexus 5. The phone is stuck in boot loop, won’t respond to hard factory reset, and my photos weren’t backed up. If I follow the instructions outlined here, am I going to lose the photos on my photos? In advance, thanks for your help!

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  • http://www.droidviews.com/ Rakesh

    Great! Thanks for sharing your experience!

  • MichaelFarese

    This worked for me. I got a little confused because I couldn’t find the SDK folder, but I eventually found it inside the adt-bundle folder… once I moved it up one level to the Android folder, all else worked perfectly. Thanks!

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  • http://www.droidviews.com/ Rakesh

    Hi Bobby, thanks for the appreciation and the suggestion. You pointed the right thing and I have made the changes you suggested.

    Keep visiting!

    Regards!

  • Bobby Davidson

    You have written a wonderful tutorial! I was able to follow each step with ease and I am now back to stock, and I thank you for that.

    There was only one moment where I felt lost and I feel I should explain in case anyone else runs into this…

    When connecting my Nexus 5 to my PC(Windows 7 64bit) the device manager showed that it had already installed a driver of its own and my phone was showing up under “Mobile devises” as simply a “Nexus 5″ (a quick check of the properties showed that it was using a Microsoft driver from 2006) and I could not for the life of me update the driver and get it to use the Google USB Driver.
    It wasn’t until after I placed the phone into “Developer mode” that my PC would let me install the Google USB Driver.

    So I would suggest re-arranging your tutorial to instruct users to “Enable USB Debugging” prior to downloading and installing the Google driver.

    Cheers!

  • http://www.droidviews.com/ Rakesh

    You can still flash the factory images.

  • Maliki

    What if you have a locked bootloader

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