[Shield Android TV General] Osndok:
NOTICE:

Several users have reported issues downgrading from v7.2.x, so it might require some additional experimentation to downgrade from that version.

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Missing your screenshot or twitch streaming functionality? Hate the new launcher layout w/ its tiny one row of icons and its numerous rows of psychologically-aggressive suggestion imposition?

Well, now you can stop cursing at Nvidia, because they provided a way (albiet, a highly technical and mostly-undocumented way), to load any version of their OS that you choose.

I've seen others wanting to downgrade (including myself), so I've collected the relevant steps which I used to successfully revert to an earlier version. This guide assumes a bit of technical working knowledge, so I apologize if you are one of the 'normal' people that Nvidia has bulldozed over...

All the usual "don't blame me for bricked devices" caveats apply.... please be careful, know what each step does! research each step!

Best of luck...

0 - prereqs

make sure your PC & nvidia shield are both plugged into a UPS, b/c a power failure during a flashing operation is not very pleasant.

make sure you have (or do get) the adb & fastboot binaries ("commands") for your computer

make sure that you get all your userdata off the device, because it will be erased by this process

1 - using a web browser

register for an nvidia developer account (which you will have an opportunity to do if you attempt the next step)

download the 6.3 'developer os' rom for your particular model

https: //developer.nvidia.com/shield-developer-os-images (sorry, noob filter won't allow the real/clickable url)​

NB: The 6.3 developer rom for the 2017 console is missing the userdata.img, there are currently no reports (on this thread) if a different userimage (pre-6.3 or for the 2015 version) works on the 2017 console (testers welcome!).

NB: if the cost of being identified as a developer offends you (i.e. yielding a name, company, email, etc), then you can probably dig up a link to the roms in the comments or elsewhere on the xda forums.

2 - on the device

enable developer mode by clicking the 'build' entry in settings->info

enable usb debugging in settings->developer-options

plug it into your computer using the usb port furthest from the hdmi port

3 - in a terminal

unzip the downloaded rom & cd into the resulting directory

edit the 'flash-all.sh' script to add the following line just before the final reboot:

fastboot flash userdata userdata.img​

#(this will add even more wall-time to the flashing process, but will clobber the already-erased newer 7.0 user partition data with the old)

adb reboot bootloader

fastboot oem unlock && ./flash-all.sh

NB: Now confirm your willingness to lose all your data. On the 2015 'pro' version of the console, this is accomplished by pressing (or holding) the nvidia logo 'button'... AND WILL TAKE NEARLY TWO HOURS. Others use the x/y/a/b buttons on the game controller connected to the usb port nearest to the hdmi port.

[... time passes ...]

NB: the 7.0 to 6.3 was a clean backstep for me, but if you are going between other versions, I can see that this script might stall in the middle if the device does not come back up with adb services available... in which case you will need to enter fastboot manually using a hardware method.

4 - Break TegraOTA

You have now flushed the correct version onto your device, but we can't complete the setup process... if you were to try, the final step would immediately and automatically start downloading & applying the latest (7.0) experience update! Therefore, we must neuter the updater itself.

Still in the terminal:

adb root

adb remount

adb shell

# now these commands are run in the adb shell (technically on the phone through the PC terminal)

# the first path was the right one for me, but I'm putting here all the paths known to me in case you are using a different version

rm -rf /system/priv-app/TegraOTA

rm -rf /system/app/TegraOTA

rm -rf /system/app/TegraOTA.apk

sync

reboot

5 - you should now be able to setup and pain-stakingly reconfigure your nvidia shield to the way it was before you blindly trusted an OEM update without doing extensive research beforehand.

PS: if you fear that netflix or amazon-video will at some point stop working because of this process, you might wish to "fastboot oem lock" the device (knowing that an unlock will erase your user-data, but having the developer rom means you can always get root access via adb).

I hope you find this useful.