Google has released Android 6.0 Marshmallow for Nexus smartphones and tablets. The flash-able factory images for Android Marshmallow 6.0 are now available for Nexus 6P / 6, Nexus 5X / 5, Nexus 7 (2013), and Nexus 9 /10. In this guide, I am going to show you how to install Android 6.0 Marshmallow on your Nexus phone or tablet using factory images.

• Android Marshmallow is currently available for Nexus 6P, Nexus 5X, Nexus 6, Nexus 5, Nexus 7 (2013), Nexus 9 or Nexus Player.
• This guide is applicable to all the above-mentioned devices.
• Make sure to download the right firmware file for your device. Flashing a wrong factory image may brick your device, however, Nexus devices can easily be revived. Better safe than sorry.
• Backup your personal data before proceeding.

Prerequisites

• First of all, you need to install ADB and Fastboot on your computer and have installed USB drivers. We have a detailed and easy to follow guide to do that:
  How to install ADB and Fastboot on Windows, Mac, or Linux
• Also, make sure you have unlocked the bootloader of your Nexus device. If you have not already done so, follow this link:
  How to unlock bootloader of Nexus devices
• Enable USB debugging before proceeding.

How to install Android Marshmallow 6.0 on Nexus Devices

Flashing an Android factory image is very simple. All you need to do is to download factory image file, extract it, and install it. Let’s get started.

1. Download Android 6.0 Marshmallow factory image for your Nexus device. Extract the contents of the downloaded factory image file using any archive extraction tool, such as 7zip.
2. Power off your Nexus device and put it in Fastboot mode:
   • Press and hold both the “Power” and “Volume Down” buttons until you see an Android Robot with big Start label at the top. That’s Fastboot mode.
3. Now connect your Nexus device to your computer and go to the folder where you extracted the contents of the factory image in step 1.
4. Execute the flash-all.bat file and let it do its magic.

   

5. Once the flashing process is successfully completed, you Nexus device will reboot into Android 6.0 Marshmallow. If you’ve encountered a problem during flashing process, check out the troubleshooting section below.

6. Your Nexus will reboot and should now be running Android Marshmallow. If it doesn’t, check the troubleshooting section below.

Troubleshooting

If you’ve encountered a problem with the installation process, make sure that you’ve unlocked the bootloader of your device and the USB Debugging is enabled, as described in the Prerequisites section above.

Stuck in Bootloop

If the flashing process is completed and your device has rebooted, but it is now stuck in the bootloop showing the loading screen at startup, all you need to do is clear the cache partition. Here is how to do that:

1. Put your device back into Fastboot mode.
2. Use volume keys and navigate to Recovery Mode and press the Power key to confirm.
3. In recovery, use volume keys to navigate to wipe cache partition and then press the power button to confirm.
4. Now reboot your device.

If your device is still stuck in the bootloop, go back into Recovery and select Wipe data/Factory reset.

Flashing problem with flash-all.bat

After executing flash-all.bat file, if you get an error such as “failed to allocate 1043723460 bytes” or “update package missing system.img,” you’ll have to manually flash the files inside the image.zip file. Here is how to do that:

1. unpack the image*.zip file and go to the extracted folder.
2. Hold down the Shift key on your keyboard and right-click within the folder and choose “Open command window here.”

   

3. This should open the command prompt with a path to that extracted folder. Now enter the following commands and execute one by one:

   fastboot flash bootloader .img
   fastboot reboot-bootloader
   fastboot flash recovery recovery.img
   fastboot flash boot boot.img
   fastboot flash system system.img
   fastboot flash cache cache.img
   fastboot flash vendor vendor.img

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