[Nothing Phone 2] Sh@kya:
So, I Wanted To RMA My Phone And Wanted To Factory Reset It To STOCK State For Them To Pick It Up. (They Sant Me The Wrong Variant But I Had Not Checked Before I Unlocked It)

As I Didn't Find A Comprehensive Guide Here On The Method To Do That, I Am Posting The Steps I Took To Return The Phone To Its "STOCK" State.

WARNING :- THIS WILL ERASE EVERYTHING IN YOUR PHONE, So Take A Backup Of Any Relevant DATA Before Proceeding.

Pre Requisites :-

==========

-- My Phone Was Working And Not Bricked / In Crash Dump Mode.

-- I Was Running "Nothing OS V2.5.2 (Android 14)" With An Unlocked Bootloader + Magisk.

-- I Had "Orange Fox" Recovery Installed And Working Correctly.

-- I Used This Driver, If It Is Not Working For You (In Windows), You Can Try The Linux Method I Posted Here.

-- I Used The "USB C - C" Cable That Came With The Phone, To Do All These Steps.

Instructions :-

=========

>>>> Flashing The STOCK ROM <<<<

---------------------------------------------

-- Factory Reset The Phone From Within Your Installed OS (ROM).

====> It Should Be Under "Settings >> System"

-- Once Phone Boots Up Again (DO NOT DO THE INITIAL SETUP) >> Reboot Into "Recovery" Mode.

====> Power Off The Phone, Then Hold Volume + And Power To Boot Into Recovery Mode.

-- "Format" DATA Partition For Both Slots [A, B] From Within Orange Fox Recovery

====> So, While In "Slot A" Within Recovery, (Check The Active Slot By Going Into Recovery Reboot Menu)

====> Format DATA >> Reboot To Recovery >> Change To Slot B >> Reboot To Recovery >> Format DATA >> Reboot To Recovery >> Change To Slot A >> Reboot To Recovery

====> FOLLOW ABOVE STEP EXACTLY !!. At The END, You Should Be On "Slot A" With Only A "Fox" Folder Showing On The "Recovery File Manager".

=+=> NOTE : If Your Existing ROM Was Flashed To "Slot B", Then The Stock ROM Will Flash To "Slot A", So If That Is The Case For You, Then Just Replace "Slot A" & "Slot B" For The Above Step. In This Case, At The End Of The Above Step, "You Should Be On "Slot B" With Only A "Fox" Folder Showing On The "Recovery File Manager"."

-- Now REBOOT The Phone (Reboot To System) While In "Slot A", Wait Until It Boots Back Into OS. Now Power OFF The Phone Normally And Reboot Back To Recovery [While Powered OFF >> Hold Volume + & Power]

====> This Step Is Needed To Ensure That A New "Data/Media" Partition Is Created Successfully.

====> This Time When You Reboot To Recovery, The File Manager Should Show All Relevant "Android" Folders.

-- Download The Stock ROM [NothingOS 2.0.1 - 2307092003 {All Regions / 2.0.1 (FULL)}] From The Following Link Here On XDA :

====> https://xdaforums.com/t/nothing-phone-2-official-ota-zip-full-incremental.4604803/

-- Rename The Downloaded ROM ".zip" To Anything Short (I Named It "fullota").

-- Copy It To Your Phone's "Internal SD" ROOT From PC.

-- Flash The ROM With Orange Fox Recovery.

====>It Should Show As Flashing To "(Inactive) Slot B"

-- After Flashing Is Completed, Disconnect The Phone From PC & Reboot Phone To "System".

-- The Stock Recovery Should Show Up Asking To Factory Reset The Device, DO IT.

====> Select Using The Volume Keys And Confirm Selection With Power Button.

====> If The Phone BOOTLOOPs, Hard Power OFF The Phone (Press And Hold POWER), Then Hold Volume - & Power To Boot Into "Bootloader" >> Reboot To Recovery (Should BOOT Into Stock Recovery),

====> Hard Power OFF The Phone >> Boot The Phone Again.

====> The Phone Will Boot Cycle A Few Times, But It Will Eventually Show Up.

====> Select "Factory Reset Data" Using "Volume Keys" & Confirm It By Pressing "Power".

====> The Phone Should Now Boot Back Into The Stock ROM.

>>>> Re-Lock The BOOTLOADER <<<<

-----------------------------------------------

-- (Continuing From Above) Once Booted Into OS, DO NOT DO ANYTHING & Power OFF The Phone Normally.

-- Boot Into BOOTLOADER (Fastboot) Mode By Holding Volume - & Power.

-- Connect The Phone To PC, Open Command Prompt (Windows) Or Terminal (Linux).

-- Check Fastboot Connectivity With The Command :-

fastboot devices <-- Or --> sudo fastboot devices

====> If It Returns A Response With A Device ID, You Are Good To Go.

-- Re-lock The Bootloader With The Command :-

fastboot flashing lock <-- Or --> sudo fastboot flashing lock

====> There Would Be A Prompt On The Phone Screen.

====> Select Using The Volume Keys And Confirm Selection With Power Button.

-- The Phone Should Now Automatically Reboot, Erase Itself And Boot Into The Stock ROM.

====> The Screen With The "Orange Exclamation Mark" Should Now be Gone.

==========>> Congratulations, You Now Have The Phone In Its "Stock / Factory" State. <<==========

-- To Check Weather The Bootloader Is Locked, After The Phone Boots, Power OFF The Phone And Reboot Into Bootloader (Hold Volume - & Power).

====> The "Device State" Should Show "Locked".