Monday 18 March 2013

Updating to Windows Phone 7.8 with Seven-Eighter

Flashing Windows Phone, How To, Seven Eighter, Windows Phone, Windows Phone 7.8

Are you one of those frustrating Windows Phone users waiting for the Windows Phone 7.8 updates? Or are you just the sad user desperate to get the update even if your device is not meant to update to the latest Windows Phone OS? Well, cheer up! Seven-Eighter is here to the rescue!

Developed by jaxbot of WindowsPhoneHacker, this program ends all the fuzz with Microsoft Zune and lets you tirelessly update your phone to Windows Phone 7.8 and to the later updates even if your phone is not on the official update list. Yeah, that means every Windows Phone 7 device can be updated to to Windows Phone 7.8 with Seven-Eighter.

So, this program is device independent. It works using the actual update files provided by Microsoft and so, updating would be the same as updating via Zune. However, the creator clearly says that it has the same risk of manually using the update file to flash the phone. Hence, you should be careful with this.

However, this program really helped me a few days back. I wasn't able to update my Lumia 610 already loaded with the Windows Phone 7.8. The new minor updates fixed the bugs with the live tiles and the lockscreen but Zune would take lots of time to load the update process and finally shows an error message. I tried this on my Windows 8 machine. I also tried to manually update my phone with NCS but the latest update files were not listed on Nokia servers. Moreover, I will also face the problem of wiping the whole data off my phone if I do it manually by flashing. Hence, I was out of options until I ran into Seven-Eighter. I was quite scared as I risked the chance of bricking my phone. However, the update was simply, quick and within a few minutes, my phone got the latest 8860 and 8862 updates which fixed most of the bugs. It was just like updating on Zune but this one was rather simpler and quicker.

Basically, I would suggest this program for minor updates for your phones as this is the best way to do it rather than waiting for your Zune software to finish the job. However, I'm not sure about large updates as I haven't done that but it would work the very same way as that's what the name suggests -- it updates to 7.8 which is quite big enough.

Once again, this works for any Windows Phone 7 device as its a device independent one.

So, if you're reading this post, then I believe you are desperate too, to update your phone to Windows Phone 7.8 or to get the latest updates. So now, lets get into the steps to update your phone!

! Important !

As always, you're doing this on your own risk as this is not the official way to update your phone. However, I don't think its that much risky but as a formality, this message should be remembered. You're doing this on your own and doing this improperly may brick your device.
Make a backup of your phone first before updating. Google for Windows Phone backup tools and use them to backup the important data. But when I did this, I never lost any data from my phone but it was just a minor update. I didn't actually update my phone to 7.8 but I updated my already 7.8-ed Lumia. So, make a backup if you're not sure. Well, I'm not sure.
If you're looking for the 8860 and 8862 updates which fix the Live Tiles and Lock Screen bug, this will work for you as well. It can not only update to 7.8 but bring the latest Windows Phone 7 updates as well.

Downloads

Below are the downloads required for this process. Click on the names to download the respective files or programs.

1. Seven-Eighter by Jaxbot

2. WP7 Update Tool

Instructions

1. Extract the downloaded archives to any location on your computer.

2. After extracting the WP7 Update Tool, open the folder X86 or X64 depending on what your OS. If you have a 32-bit OS, then open X86 folder and run the setup. If you have a 64-bit OS, then open the X64 folder and run the setup.

3. Run SevenEighter.exe from the extracted files of Seven-Eighter archive. You'll get a window like shown below.

4. Connect your Windows Phone to your computer. Make sure the device is fully charged as any interruptions due to low battery may brick your device. So, be extra careful. Also, ensure that the connection is proper.

5. After connecting the device, click the Install WP7.8 button in Seven-Eighter.

6. This is a very important step as any mistake caused here may result in your device bring bricked or functioning improperly!

You must've got a dialog box as shown above with a list of different languages with check boxes next to them. You need to select the languages present on your phone by ticking the check boxes next to those respective languages. For example, if your phone has English UK and English US, then tick the boxes next to the respective names of the list. If you have all the languages in the list, then check them all but dont forget to leave any one. If any language is missing from the list, then don't worry over that. However, make sure you checked every language on your phone and left none. To check which all languages are present on your phone, go to Settings > Keyboard and you'll see the list of languages installed. If you miss anyone of those languages, your device may not work properly so be cautious here!

7. After selecting the required languages, make sure everything else is perfect and then click continue when you're ready to begin.

8. Now, Seven-Eighter will start to update your phone. Your phone will reboot many times depending upon the number of updates and it will take a while. As always, don't use the phone while updating or don't try to unplug the phone during the process as it will brick your device. Just keep it as it is and wait till the update finishes Seven-Eighter installs the updates available one by one and not just all in a go. So, if you're OS is pretty old, then it could take a lot of time for the update to finish.

9. You'll get a message once the update is complete like the one given below. However, don't just disconnect the phone yet. Click OK and see if Seven-Eighter is searching for more updates. If it does, it will try to install these too. Typically, you may get a success dialog box like these after each update and hence, just click OK and it will continue to update. Once all the updates are over, Seven-Eighter remains static and just displays the OS version with a moving bar. Now, you can disconnect the phone and remove the cord.

10. What? That's it! Voila! You're phone is fresh with the Windows Phone 7.8 and the new updates. Feel free to try it out!

Check the OS version by Settings > About and click on the More Information button. You'll see the latest build number if your update went all well. If not, there's some mistake somewhere. However, if you're getting it all good -- then its a success! Just try out the new Windows Phone features like the new Live Tiles, the Bing Wallpaper and more. Feel free to comment here on your new experience.

If you're experiencing any difficulties, then don't forget to post them here. I'll try to resolve as much as I can. If this worked for you, do give me a feedback and you can rate and share the post as well. Keep in touch with my blog to get the latest stuff for your Windows Phone and for more help. Thank y'all for reading.

Ooh, and a final thanks to jaxbot for creating this awesome program. I've derived some of the definitions and steps from his original document. If you like this program and if it helped, then don't forget to give this guy a big thanks -- Click here to go to his website.