How to Install Windows Phone 8.1 Developer Preview (Video)
Microsoft’s new version of Windows Phone has just become available to developers and will be available to the public in a few months. This update is huge for Microsoft as it adds a lot of features that many people are feeling “matures Windows Phone” and makes a little more competitive with the other major operating mobile systems. While, that has yet to be determined, if you want to try it out for yourself, you can. So long as you either have a developer account, have a developer unlocked device, or an open app project in the Windows Phone App Studio, you can install the developer preview and start using it now. Interested? In this post, I’ll show you how to open an app project and how to install Windows Phone 8.1 Developer Preview onto any Windows Phone 8 device.
*You cannot revert back to Windows Phone 8 after doing this, so keep that in mind.
I. Before You Begin
1. If you do this, you cannot easily downgrade back to Windows Phone 8, so you’ll be stuck with it until you find a stock ROM to flash to get back to stock (which you may not be able to find).
II. Create a New Developer Project
1. Head to http://appstudio.windowsphone.com/.
2. Click on the blue button at the top right that says “Start a New Project”.
3. Choose any of the templates to start a new project (that we won’t use).
III. Install the Developer Preview App
1. On your Windows Phone device, head to the App Store.
2. Search for and install the Preview for Developers app.
3. On the phone, go to Settings > Phone Update and click for Phone Update and reboot the device. You may have to do this many times until you get to the latest Windows Phone 8.1 version.
IV. Setup Cortana
1. To use Cortana, Microsoft’s version of Siri/Google Now, you need to set your region to United States, English and your language to English (United States) as well if it isn’t already.
2. Reboot.
Enjoy playing with the new features and let me know what you think! Is it enough to get Windows Phone in better competition with Android and iOS?
i do all the step like windows phone app studio login and install preview for dveloers app….but i could not take update
Can you be more specific? What happened exactly? Did you open a project in the app studio? Is the login you used for so studio the same as the one for the phone (it needs to be)? Etc.
I have the same issue. I went and started a project in app studio. I then downloaded the “Preview for Developers” application for my HTC 8XT. I successfully enabled it, then went to the updates for my phone and it downloaded the updates to 8.0.10521.155 and it has said that there are no more updates since. I am downloading the SDK in hopes that I may Developer Unlock my phone so that I can get the update.
You helped me a lot, thanks! WP8.1 developer preview is working great on my L520
Glad to hear! Thanks!
Works live a charm on my L1320, thanks buddy. Btw, I wanted to reinstall Asphalt 8 -driving game back on my phone, but it seems to me that I cant because 2 Gbytes free space in phone’s mem isnt enough and 1,5 on SD card doesnt make difference, “please free up space”. It’s a really really fun game, and I desperately want to have it back on my phone, since it stopped working after I got an update to the game. Do you have any idea why 1000 Mbytes game wont install on my L? Thanks in advance, please answer as soon as possible.
Haha, actually, never mind, I got my game issue solved. After installing the first WinPho 8.0.x update, I of course installed the second one, WinPho 8.1.x right away. After that, I got a new, third update, and after installing that, it seems that I got 500 Megabytes off of my phones own memory, funny right?
Anyway, thanks for saving my Thursday, much appreciate! Wooo Windows Phone 8.1!
You’re very welcome glad it worked!
Haha, actually, never mind, I got my game issue solved. After installing the first WinPho 8.0.x update, I of course installed the second one, WinPho 8.1.x right away. After that, I got a new, third update, and after installing that, it seems that I got 500 Megabytes off of my phones own memory, funny right?
Anyway, thanks for saving my Thursday, much appreciate!
I’d like to officially say that I just got the update on my HTC 8XT. I am so happy and its so amazing. Thank you HTC, Microsoft, and Sprint for finally getting it done. 😀