How To Update Your Motorola Droid To The Official Verizon Android 2.1 Update
After delaying the Android 2.1 update rollout for Motorola Droid users, Verizon has finally begun pushing the software to its subscribers. Sadly, it’s a very slow processor and less than 10,000 users received Android 2.1 so far. The good thing is that you shouldn’t wait for Verizon to push the software update as you can manually upgrade to Android 2.1! How? Simple, all the details are below. First of all you should know that you don’t need to root your Droid and this is the same package that Verizon will send to you, although the file is stored on Google’s servers.
How to manually update your Motorola Droid to Android 2.1:
- Download this file and do NOT unzip it;
- Rename the file to “update.zip” without the ” marks;
- Take out the microSD card from your Droid;
- Plug the microSD card into a computer using a card reader, and then drag&drop the file on the microSD card. Do not put the update.zip file into a folder or something, just put in the main folder (the one that appears when you open the microSD card);
- Turn off the smartphone and plug in the microSD card;
- Slide out the QWERTY keyboard and press the X key. Keep holding it, then turn the phone ON;
- After you see the exclamation point on the display, press the volume “UP” and the camera buttons at the same time. If the bootloader doesn’t show up, then do it again until the bootloader screen shows up;
- Using the D-pad, go to “apply:update.zip” feature, and choose the “update.zip” file that you copied on the microSD card;
- After the process is completed, the phone will reboot and that’s it!
Go to the All Droid forums for more information. Also, please note that you are going to lose root on your Droid for the moment.
Motorola Droid
Yea, maybe a link to the file to download.
Yeah. A link would be helpful
I’ve read some people are complaining that after they installed 2.1 manually all their app icons disappeared and they had to add them all over again. Any truth to this?
Also, if we add it manually, will we still get the notification from Google to upgrade?
i got tired of waiting so i decided to update it manually. in fact, i just updated mine 10 minutes ago following the instructions posted above. all my icons appeared except for the photo gallery, which i can understand because it has major upgrade with the 3D effect.
not sure about getting mortification from VZW regarding the upgrade. i guess it should not matter since if the OTA has the same build as what is posted above. good luck.
Got signature verification failed????
When it says name the file update.zip you really just name the file update it is a zip file so if you name it update.zip it will essentially name it update.zip.zip which will give you the error.
I updated mine yesterday using the link and info at droidlife.com yesterday. But this morning the guy who runs the site says his phone is bricked. You guys may want to just wait, the update isn’t super fantastic anyway, kind of a letdown after all the hype and delays :/
Worked perfect for me and took less than 10 min. The only difference I found is the phone does NOT automatically reboot after the install. You have to select reboot using the D-pad.
I used this update yesterday and it worked like a charm.
I have had a fine update with no problems at all. But yew, you do have to manually reboot as it will not do it for you.
Worked like a champ…Hopefully this will cure all of the crazy reboots that the OS has.
Just completed my update and worked like a charm. I only had one icon that I needed to rest for on one of my seven homescreens and that was the “Gallery” icon. Never been more pleased and happier!
Update my phone via the link last night. Works ok, except I have no zoom option in my browser (pinch-to-zoom or the old way).
My wife got the Verizon OTA update and has the same, exact problem. Did you find a resolution for it?
pinch to zoom is flaky. it works but you have to bring up another web site say yahoo or whatever then the pinch to zoom works like it does in maps. weird but true
Hi
I followed the steps above and IT WORKED!!!!!
many thanks to Dragos Pirvu
Appreciate you taking the time to post this and help us
update completed successfully…version shows “2.1-update1″, live wallpaper available, pinch/zoom not working, still only 3 app-screens instead of 5 ? April-Fool’s on me for downloading/insatlling this ?
I checked with my updates and checked if pinch/Zoon works or not It worked fine for me….. you probably went to a webpage that doesn’t need to be zoom try go to a bigger site and see if zoom worked
I use Open Home for the background/screens I got 7 screens out of that app.
Good luck
Good call on the pinch/zoom. It was just the mobile browser-page I was viewing…all better on that front. However, I’m not sure I understand your recommendation for viewing all the avaialable home/app screen-pages ?
I download OPEN HOME FULL app from Market and use it It allows me to have 7 screens (So far only filled up 4 screens)
I find that OPEN HOME FULL app useful….. Everyone has their different taste for many different apps for the home screen So you can try and see what you like best for yourself
Glad it worked for you on the pinch/zoom.
He means that the Open Home and also the Home++ apps — I prefer Home++ — give you 7 screens.
Didnt work…
Did you follow the instructions above and do what instructions tell you to do?
it worked for me and it took me 10 minutes
Can you describe what you did and what was the results?
Well, the update worked like a charm, but it’s not that great.
Live wallpapers are cool
3-d photo/movie browsing is cool
You still only have 3 homescreens, not the rumored 5 or more…
There is not an updated app launcher, it’s the same as before…
The speech to txt is cool but works no better than what I got on the android market…
Kinda dissapointed..
I followed the instructions and it appears to have installed 2.1 (from the system info), but the system doesn’t operate any differently. Even the application tray looks like the 2.0 version.
The pinch/zoom works in the standard browser, so I assume the 2.1 is installed. Why doesn’t it look any different from the previous version?
I keep getting sig. verification failed, please help
Instead of taking your SD card out and plugging it into your computer download “Linda Manager” with this app installed just download the update file, go into Linda, click on your SD.card open downloads folder, rename the file to update.zip, long press on update.zip, cut it, press back twice to return to SD card root, press menu button, edit, paste. Then you can turn off. Power button&X at the same time, up volume& 1/2 press camera button. Select install update.zip with D pad. Reboot. = android 2.1
The only issue I had was with the gallery icon. Throw the non working icon in the trash, find the new gallery icon in the Apps list, make a shortcut on the desktop. Pinch to zoom works only on sites that need it & the gallery.
Everyone needs to relax…Grab a beer and just wait for the update dumbasses!!! If all of you are so smart go work for motorola and get the update on my phone, instead of acting like you know what you are talking about!!! Leave it to the people who get paid for what they do…
Very happy with the update. Now I have live wallpaper. Photo galley is empty, looks like I have to download all my pictures from my computer again, no big deal.
I successfully manually updated my Droid. But have no gallery or extra home pages. How do I get the gallery back?
i did the update last night and only got multi touch.everything else looks the same will i be able to get the verzion update still
I installed this update using my tether. I dropped the update.zip file into the open disc window and it transferred ok. I shut the phone off, and then installed like instructed.
The OS is snappy fast with every program. I guess I could have waited but I am glad I didn’t.
Thanks for the post.
I installed the Android 2.1 update as described. I have the pinch/zoom, and 3-D wallpaper, but nothing else has changed. Is it possible to redownload update to see if I screwed up somewhere down the line?
The other thing I have noticed is that my qwerty key board no longer lights up nor are the buttons at the bottom of my Moto Droid Phn. Has anyone else encountered this problem, and how do I correct it?
i followed the instructions but it is telling me that the file isnt in the directory or no file and then aborts it…am i placing the update in the wrong area?? i dont know what im doing wrong
i keep getting the error message after i try and drag the update file onto the SD card that the disk is write-protected… and that i need to remove the write protection or use a different disk… i can’t figure out how to remove the write protection.
I installed the update and now my Gmail is not syncing up. I have to manually open the Gmail app and hit refresh to see if I have any emails and if I delete and email on my phone it is not actually deleted on my account. Has anyone else had this problem and how do I fix it?