So, I received the notification that Android 4.4.4 is available for Moto G. In India? Wow… That is fast. But, no… it is not available for everyone. It is actually a SOAK test for the people who participated in Motorola Survey to help developer. Randomly some IMEI were selected and update was pushed. So, people… Chill there is nothing wrong with your phone. It’s just a developer preview and may contain bugs.

Unroot Moto G KitKat and Relock Bootloader

Now, for this update to complete your phone must not be rooted, unlocked, any files modded, replaced even not frozen. All of these checks are done by this new firmware. If you did any single thing from above then the update will fail. Mostly with message “error” and a dead android. So, your only option is to unroot, relock bootloader and return to Stock 4.4.2 KitKat. Let’s start,

Requirements:

1. Moto G USB drivers.
2. Minimal ADB
3.  Motorola mfastboot (Use File menu –> Download to get the zip file)
4. 4.4.2 KitKat Stock firmware as per your region. Indian Dual SIM (Model XT1033) – Direct Link

Preparation:

First of all, install Moto G USB drivers and connect your phone. I prefer all driver installations beforehand so that nothing pops-up in mid of flashing process. Make sure you also complete ADB flash driver installation by rebooting phone in Flash (mfastboot mode).

Open your phone settings and scroll down to ‘About phone’ at bottom. Then again scroll down to reach ‘Build Number’. Tap on this ‘Build Number’ 5-7 times and after an announcement your phone will also get developer option. Go back once and you will see ‘Developer Option’ above ‘About Phone’ option.

Enter the Developer options and Turn it on. Then scroll to USB Debugging and select it. You will receive a warning, which is ok.

To put Moto G in Flash mode: Switch off phone. Then hold Power and Down button together for 3-5 seconds and release both. You will land in Fastboot mode (Flash). Your system will recognize new device and install more drivers.

Now, extract the minimal ADB at desktop or place you like. Then in same folder extract the mfastboot zip file. Finally, extract the firmware file in same folder. So, the final structure will be something as shown,

Process:

Switch off the phone and enter the Fastboot as explained above. Connect your data cable to phone and PC. The Fastboot mode will recognize it and will announce that the phone is now connected and is being charged.

Select option Run from Start Menu and type ‘cmd’ and press enter to get to MS-DOS mode. There are other ways also. Anyone of those is fine.

From command prompt, navigate to folder where you extracted all above files. You can use ‘cd’ command to change folders. Just find out the device connected and everything is working. Pass below command at command prompt and press enter,

mfastboot devices

or

fastboot devices

Note: You may be asked to confirm the PC USB Debugging request by phone as shown, answer with ‘Always Allow’.

Now, supposing that you are in correct folder location at command prompt, run these commands one by one in same order as given,

mfastboot.exe oem lock begin mfastboot devices

mfastboot.exe flash partition gpt.bin
mfastboot.exe flash motoboot motoboot.img
mfastboot.exe flash logo logo.bin
mfastboot.exe flash boot boot.img
mfastboot.exe flash recovery recovery.img
mfastboot.exe flash system system.img_sparsechunk.0
mfastboot.exe flash system system.img_sparsechunk.1
mfastboot.exe flash system system.img_sparsechunk.2
mfastboot.exe flash modem NON-HLOS.bin
mfastboot.exe erase modemst1 
mfastboot.exe erase modemst2 
mfastboot.exe flash fsg fsg.mbn
mfastboot.exe erase cache 
mfastboot.exe erase userdata

mfastboot.exe oem lock

mfastboot.exe reboot

After the OEM lock command phone will show that it is locked. Sometimes, you may not be able to pass-on the next reboot command as the phone will not respond and hang on ‘Locked’ message. So, just restart the phone by holding power button for 6-7 seconds and start it again. Nothing to worry.

Your phone may show original ‘Booloader Unlocked’ start-up animation as it was there when you first unlocked the bootloader. There is nothing to worry. This is just some bug (or you patched the screen last time) and your phone is relocked.

Now, if you have also received the KitKat 4.4.4 Update notification for Moto G, you can move ahead with update.