Lumia 930 users can grab Windows Phone 8.1 Update 2 with Windows Insider app

By Daniel Rubino
last updated

Although the Lumia 930 was excluded from the Windows 10 preview today due to a scaling issue, users can get Windows Phone 8.1 Update 2.

Earlier, we reported that some users are seeing Update 2 on their phones and not getting Windows 10. Microsoft has started a thread in their support forums (opens in new tab) to try and figure out why. However, for Lumia 930 users, it looks like you can just upgrade to Update 2 and not get Windows 10.

Is that a good thing or bad? Update 2 is actually a very nice update with a new layout in Settings that is clearly more organized with jump lists and a search tool. There are also some other minor cosmetic changes, like the 'All apps' with the arrow near the bottom of the Start screen (before it was just an arrow).

Presumably, you will also get the new Bluetooth stack that supports Bluetooth keyboards. We demonstrated this new feature earlier this week on the new Lumia 640.

To get Update 2, all users need to do is download the Windows Insider app and sign up for the Fast Track. The phone will check for an update and download the new bits. Windows 10 will not be installed. The build number is 15116.

For Lumia Icon (Lumia 929) owners, this trick evidently does not work, as we could not get it to do anything on our in-house device.

Should you install this?

This is an unsupported update, and we cannot guarantee your phone will not suffer some unforeseen consequences. Please do this at your own risk and perform a backup first! We also do not know how long this 'trick' will last, so consider your options wisely!

Has this worked with any other phones like the HTC One? Let us know below in comments!

Thanks, Ryan S., and others for the tips!

Daniel Rubino
Daniel Rubino
Editor-in-chief

Daniel Rubino is the Editor-in-chief of Windows Central, head reviewer, podcast co-host, and analyst. He has been here covering Microsoft since 2007 when this site was called WMExperts (and later Windows Phone Central). His interests include Windows, Microsoft Surface, laptops, next-gen computing, and for some reason, watches. Before all this tech stuff, he worked on a Ph.D. in linguistics and ran the projectors at movie theaters, which has done absolutely nothing for his career.

482 Comments
  • It'd be really nice if the One was included in this roll out too.
  • I agree, that's the only thing I miss on HTC other than the camera- support.
  • My phone is already upgraded on windows 10 (old build) nd I check for new update my phone got fast ring configuration update not the new build update.........what I do now.....guys please help me...
  • Try switching to the slow ring then back to fast ring and see if that helps.
  • I try it .......its not helpful for me.......but thanx.......
  • If you're on Windows 10 right now, it is obvious that you cannot install Windows Phone 8.1 Update 2 using this method. You cannot `upgrade` to an older version of the OS. So the only sollution is to restore your phone using Lumia Recovery Tool to Windows Phone 8.1 and than try and check if the trick works for you... Good luck !
  • 1520 has been rolling out update 2, installing 10 now
  • Are you having problems changing your background image, and excessing pictures in picture hub?
  • Me too.. 1520
  • That might be because of excess pictures on the device.
  • Actually it did trigger build 14219 for me, guess that's still the latest for the M8 currently.
  • Yea, that's the current latest build.
  • This is a 60mb update. I got for my 1020, India.
  • Myne was 92 Mb Italy Vodafone
  • What happens if I turn the phone off during the gears spinning?
  • You break it.
  • yeah, dont do that!!!!. It took the better part of a days to get my phoneto get out of a annoying boot up loop.In which you need to use the Nokia Repair Tool to get it going again. your gonna need some patients and timing but it'll work, i had to do it but i was able to get it back to 8.0 and start all over again.
  • Too funny lmao.
  • Cool cool.
  • Commenting using the Dev Preview on my Lumia 1020.
  • Updated my 930 to update 2 without issues. The settings are much cleaner.
  • Did this with my 930 and 1520 after discovering it on the 920. Happy chap :)
  • Its on the 1520?
  • I have it on my 1520 right now!
  • Does it fix Bluetooth settings? So you can set a device to use for speech and another for music?
  • You can already do that. You just need to connect one of the devices (I think speech) first, then tap on the music-only one next.
  • Tried to do it on my 920 - didn't work. Ended up with WP10!!!
  • Mine does. Uninstalled Insider app and sticking to GDR2 for now lol
  • You might want to disable automatic updates. Uninstalling won't solve anything, because the app already modified your registry.
  • if you guys provisioned your phone for tp 10 but decided to stay on the gdr update, make sure you do a hard reset after you have gdr2 because if you dont u will eventually be forced to the tp10 update.
  • If you'd follow this guide you'll see how to stick with Update 2 http://wmpoweruser.com/windows-insider-app-delivers-windows-phone-8-1-up...
  • Didn't work on mine ;(
  • +930 Nice surprise for us from MS! :)
  • GDR2 has more loading screens for me on 925. The People app takes time to launch that it didn't on the previous version. But surprisingly most apps are loading just a tad faster now. Pretty sure now they're working on fixing the loading/resuming issues which is GREAT.
  • That's because your phone is using the CPU to reinstall some of the apps. Wait until all the apps finish installation then try to open it.
  • I waited for it to finish (and for the phone to cool down). There is a hint of a delay when loading the People app and I'm not just imaginging it. But overall, things like the weather app and whatsapp have had their loading time cut short, or maybe the animatations are a few miliseconds faster, who knows. It's perceptible though. The ability to pin individual settings pages as tiles is excellent.
  • Is it any faster seeming?
  • Indeed it is.
  • Just installed this on my 930, can defo see some performance improvement, especially in the browser. Loving the new setting as well, much nearer! A little bonus, you can name your phone in the about setting now :) ​ ​ ​ ​
  • how did u do it man? cz me i am trying but its not updating...plz help.  
  • I also got windows 8.1 update 2, but no sign of Windows 10, when i enter windows insider, it keeps restarting the phone ( Lumia 920 )
  • Same on my Lumia 1020
  • Sign into the insider app again then do the phone update. Should work then. :)
  • Exactly this. I did this on my sister's old Lumia 920. First it installed update 2, then after going into Insider, then phone update, Windows 10 was offered. Repeated the process on my own Lumia 920 to just install update 2 (my 920 is still my primary handset, not ready to plunge it into Windows 10's unsailed seas!)
  • Yes it will restart ...after restart then u check for the update .....you will get the update ...i was also having the same and got what i want ...happy owner of ur windows 10for l920...
  • I did check for updates, I tried 100 times, something is wrong. I uninstalled windows insider, then reinstalled, Still no result :(
  • Did you enroll the windows insider program again? Do the same steps. This did the 'trick' for me to receive W10 TP.
  • yesterday night, about 3 AM, i recieved windows 10 update, installed it. TBH, it's little laggy, so many resuming screen. then i rolled back to 8.1, the upgraded to update 2.... I recomend you not to install windows tech preview, just give it some time.
  • I don't think officially, the icon is getting win 10. Hence update 2. (this is speculation on my part due to Verizon EOL the device early)
  • Big deal. Ms stores still carrying it so its not really dead yet
  • Way to jump the gun, I'm gonna have to poke some holes in your tinfoil helmet though.   1) Any phone you sign into the windows insider app will download GDR 2 2) All phones will get 10, its excluded from this update because of a scaling bug.   See? No conspiracy, stop spreadiing BS ._.
  • 1) not the icon
  • 1) not true, still haven't gotten 8.1.2 on my One
  • Its not exactly EOLed - same with the 1020, end of life general means end of support AND end of manufacture.
  • Just plain wrong. People shouldn't make such statements when it is clear they are just making things up.
  • the 1020 is EOL but is getting 10, the icon can not get the gdr2 either at this point, that pretty big specualtion on your part.
  • This is completely untrue. The only reason why the Icon/930 do not have access to WP10 preview is because of a screen scaling issue with the preview. Both the Icon and 930 will get WP10. It is just not available for this round. I don't recall the specific window that Microsoft will continue to offer support for each device but I believe it is through 2016.
  • Is this update 2 comes to 534 plesssss.... . Give us that update.
  • Not 534 it is 535
  • There are some country variants like the 534D in Italy or many other
  • I got some kind of update on my Icon but my hopes were dashed
  • I got one as well but I didn't want to install it in case we weren't supposed to get it.
  • Well I'm gonna take the risk. I'll let ya know if the update works fine
  • I got one to and don't know what it is on my Icon.
  • Same.. Im about to check my girlfriends Icon OS version number
  • I had on offer in Insider L830 Threshold, suddenly, W10 TP. I do not want W10, only GDR2
  • Yeah, that's what I want too on my 1520...not sure how to swing that one :/
  • We need to update the named Threshold Flighting, maybe it was a mistake from Microsoft
  • Don't the updates normally come separately? Or is Microsoft bundling GDR2 with the W10TP update for everyone except for the 929/930?
  • Not really sure, TBH. I have to do today's update from an 8.1 device, not one with 10 already on it. I suppose you could intercept it if that is the case, I need to test.
  • I updated ​my 1520 to GDR2. Phone rebooted and I was offered to download TP, I just declined. Now running GDR2 smoothly I didn't allow automatic download in update settings ​
  • how to download the build, it keep saying no build for me
  • This same thing happened on my 925.
  • Dan, can you verify if an incept can be done just to get GDR2 without TP. 1020 att.
  • i provision my 1020 for the windows 10 tp. after it downloaded the gdr2 update and before the tp10 update i hard reset my phone, so now it has gdr2 with no intent of offering an update for windows 10.
  • my 830 also got the gdr2 update as part of the upgrade process to tp10, that phone was not previously provisioned for windows 10.
  • I just would like to know why Update 2 isn't available for Developers Preview Program yet?
  • Hey Dan, wanted to install W10 on a 920 but got update 2 so thought what the heck and tried my 930 and 1520. Lo and behold update 2 on both of them too and running great.
  • Try upgrading to GDR2 and then hard reseting the phone...
  • I just installed upd2 on my 930, thank you for the tip :) !!!
    Unfortunately wp10 bricked my L1520, I enter the unlock pin than it freezes :'(
  • U r the guy behind that video editor rit?
  • Try to take out the sim card
  • Had the same with my 830 PDF  too. MS are funny guys. After Insider app 'Fast Ring' I had 10TP ready for download without any option to decline it. Any attempts with Windows Insider gave me "update is pending. install it and come back". Ok, I  installed 10TP. Than, with LSRT reinstalled back 8.1. Than got to Windows Insider and there was only 'Fast Ring'. Not two options as usual. Checked 'Fast Ring' again, and got GDR2. Crazy ;-)    
  • What model of 830 do you have, I'm on ATT US model, I have not seen anyone on this model get grd2, when I did it the update bumped me to .341 but not grd2
  • RM-984_1045, Country Variant Russia. As I said, I was on the latest PFD version. With insider app I've got only 10TP without any other option. After LSRT I've got 8.1.1 and only after that GDR2.  Try LSRT. Check, what version it will offer. In my case it was 15063.  
  • Thank you
  • Check this guide http://wmpoweruser.com/windows-insider-app-delivers-windows-phone-8-1-up... ,I have Update 2 on my 1020
  • Updated my L930.. no issues so far. The device seems pretty stable