The blog & portfolio of Matthew J. Rogers

Installing OS 4.1

NOTE: OS 4.1 IS NOW OFFICIALLY AVAILABLE FROM ALL CARRIERS. YOU SHOULD NO LONGER NEED THE METHOD BELOW. JUST DOWNLOAD AND INSTALL OS 4.1 THE OFFICIAL WAY. IF YOU NEED MORE HELP, VISIT BLACKBERRYFORUMS.COM.

Since Blackberry OS 4.1 isn’t officially out yet for all models from all carriers, there’s a couple tricks required to get OS 4.1 on your Berry. Why would you want OS 4.1? So you can use custom themes!

Prerequisites

  • Windows (I’m doing this on XP)
  • Blackberry Desktop Software 4.1 installed
  • Blackberry mini-USB cable
  • The ability to go 1 hour or more without your device (if you choose to back up your data)
  • The OS 4.1 software appropriate for your device; select the appropriate download link from this thread on BlackBerryForums.com

Installation instructions

  1. Extract the OS software you downloaded by double-clicking on the file. Make sure Blackberry Desktop Manager is closed at this point.
  2. **NOTE** This step is no longer required now that official 4.1 software is available from all carriers. If you were to download software for a carrier OTHER than the one you use, you would have to follow this step. ** Click on Start -> Search and search your main drive (usually C:) for “vendor.xml” (without the quotes). When it is found, click on it and press delete.
  3. Start up Blackberry Desktop Manager and connect your Blackberry via the USB cable. It should detect that software updates are available; go ahead and continue. At this point it’s pretty self-explanatory. The only thing you’ll have to consider is whether or not to have it back up and then restore your data. If you choose to do this, the whole process can take a very long time, depending on how much is on your device. If you do not, your Blackberry will not have any data such as emails, notes, contacts, etc on it when the process is finished.
  4. When the upgrade is complete, the Blackberry will reboot and the Desktop Manager will indicate it is finished. At this point you can install the Plazmic Theme Reader and go on to using customized themes!
Updated on December 7, 2006

29 comments

  • Sina February 9th, 2006 at 12:03 am

    I have installed the OS 4.1 its the greates thing ever happend to my 7290 however i have problem with desktop manager which doesn’t let me to synchronize my contacts for some reason

  • Sina February 16th, 2006 at 4:34 am

    well if anybody is interested, i fixed the problem by editing the register key in my computer

  • george February 17th, 2006 at 7:07 am

    I followed your directions but am still not able to load 4.1 it is on my desktop software but that doesnt detect updates being available, am i doing something wrong?

  • sharmon March 10th, 2006 at 2:48 pm

    If I install this OS to my blackberry will it delete my applications?

  • John March 15th, 2006 at 8:24 am

    Does anyone have the OS 4.1 upgrade for the 7290? I downloaded Desktop Manager v4.1 however when I follow the above link that says “OS 4.1 software appropriate for your device: 7290/7100″ and choose 7290, I only see Chinese upgrades. There is no Multilanguage or English.

    If I choose 7100, it has Multilanguage. Will this work for the 7290?

    Thanks in advance.

  • Matthew March 15th, 2006 at 2:34 pm

    @george: You might have to manually add it like you would other applications…otherwise, you might have downloded the wrong version.

    @sharmon: No, the installer attempts to backup your applications and restore them after the upgrade is complete. Sometimes this doesn’t work though, so you should be prepared for the possibility of reinstalling your apps. I had to.

    @John: That’s OK that it says Chinese, that’s the one I used. It doesn’t affect your BB in any way, there’s no Chinese characters or anything! It knows to install in English. I’m going to update this guide soon, though, because I think there’s other distributions of 4.1 for the 7290 now. No, the 7100 version will not work for you.

  • James March 21st, 2006 at 11:22 am

    I have a 7250 Telus BB (Canada) If I upgrade to the 4.1 OS will if affect anything with the telus network?

  • Hashim April 1st, 2006 at 9:14 pm

    Hey.

    Great website first of all. I updated my OS so that under Device Software in About, Desktop Manager, it says an installed device is OS 4.1.0.256 for the Blackberry 7100 series wireless devices.

    however on my 7100t under settings, about, it says that my wireless handheld is v3.8.0.128.

    How can i tell if i have installed the OS correctly? I followed the steps to install and know i dled the correct version. however, i still cannot get to see my installed themes which require plazmic reader. (i can see the themes and reader under Settings, Applications) but am unable to access them under Settings, Theme.

    THanks for all your help!

  • Matthew April 1st, 2006 at 9:38 pm

    Hashim–

    It would appear that your device was not actually upgraded to OS 4.1. It is difficult to say what might have gone wrong without seeing your setup. I would suggest running the OS 4.1 executable file you downloaded for your device again. Also, see if you can set the OS 4.1 entry that appears in your application loader to uninstall, and then reinstall it. You might want to ask around on BlackBerryForums.com about this issue, the good folks there would likely have more suggestions.

  • Dave April 7th, 2006 at 2:09 pm

    Hi, I have a 7290 I installed the desktop 4.1 with no issues. I than tried to install the handheld 4.1 both version 4.1.200 and 4.1.300 and it still showed up as 4.0 for some reason. I than used a software program to completley wipe out the handheld and started fresh with the 4.1 install on the handheld…when completed it AGAIN showed up as 4.0. I downloaded it from where you directed us to go. It gives me no errors and appears to install but when its done it says 4.0…..HELP any ideas?

  • Snark April 7th, 2006 at 3:43 pm

    What happens if im on an enterprise server??

    Will backup/restore remember that or will i have to re-register with the enterprise server?

  • Andy April 19th, 2006 at 9:40 am

    4.1 was downloaded on a 7250 and it removed the ability to view attachments. I have been informed that Verizon has not released 4.1 and does not expect to for another 30 days. Just an FYI to fellow Verizon users. Does anyone know how to remove it from the device?

  • Brian April 20th, 2006 at 6:00 pm

    Will the 7100g 4.1 OS download work for my 4100t phone? If not, is there a 4.1 release for the 7100t?

  • brian April 20th, 2006 at 11:36 pm

    when i installed it, i didn’t have my browser icons anymore and couldn’t find a way to restore them.

  • Matt April 24th, 2006 at 1:41 pm

    This is a reply to James (March 21st) asking about the upgrade for TELUS users (7520 model).
    I just completed the upgrade to OS4.1 and the blackberry seems to be working even better than before.
    Just make sure to follow the instructions listed above and you are golden!
    The themes and rings are amazing, I am now a re-addicted crack berry user!

  • Matthew May 5th, 2006 at 12:30 am

    Brian: I am not familiar enough with the 7100 series, but I’m pretty sure the guts are the same. If you’re missing browser icons, try resending your service books from the BWC.

  • Earlene June 2nd, 2006 at 1:34 am

    I installed the OS 4.1 and my handheld still says OS 4.0. I still cannot use my themes. I’ve re-installed 3 times to no avail. The device manager is null and void. By the way, this is on the 7100g. Can someone help?

  • Damien June 3rd, 2006 at 5:30 am

    I have a 7230 I can only get OS 4.0.x
    I can not seem to get the theme to appear anywhere?
    It loads the app to the device and shows up in “About” but not in themes.
    Any help would be GREATLY appeciated

  • Matthew June 3rd, 2006 at 8:39 am

    Earlene: I would recommend checking out BlackBerryforums.com for help getting 4.1 installed. The people there are very helpful.

    Damien: I’m pretty sure the 7230 can’t have OS 4.1 installed because 4.1 can only run on devices with 32+ MB of RAM, and the 7230 only has 16 MB (I think). So if you can’t get 4.1 installed, you can’t use custom themes.

  • Damien June 3rd, 2006 at 10:39 am

    Thanks Matthew. Will wait till work gets me a 7100 then.
    Thanks for the info.

    Good work with the theme though

  • Markus July 1st, 2007 at 3:15 am

    I’m completely new at this and i have a BB 7250 and it’s boring the crap out of me because I cant do much with it. I want to install OS 4.1 and I currently have 4.0.2.29. I Really want a theme installed. The BLISS looks great but i don’t know exactly what file is the OS 4.1. I have desktop software 4.1 for the app loader. Uh! sorry, I’m Completely lost. Help Please

  • fly October 18th, 2007 at 2:41 am

    Hey guys, I downloaded this BlackBerry Desktop Software v4.2 SP2 (Multilanguage) is OS included Japanese version?

    thanx…

  • Cory January 28th, 2008 at 7:35 am

    This theme is awesome! Keep up the BRILLIANT work!!! And Designs!

  • Amed March 14th, 2008 at 2:47 pm

    hello!
    please someone show me the link to download the OS 4.1 for may blackberry pearl 8100?
    thanks for the help!

  • jjackson September 13th, 2008 at 3:58 pm

    Im trying to download the bphone aplication and its not letting me do it.

  • João December 31st, 2008 at 2:57 pm

    hi.i tried to install a 8100 theme in a 7290 and it crashed.This is the only thing in the monitor:

    Device error: 400
    reset

    i already installed OS 4.1 but i can´t find any apllications in the folder….somebody help me please?
    Thanks

  • budi benjamin April 24th, 2009 at 4:39 am

    please help me..
    i got error 400 in my blackberry 7100g
    thank

  • SURYA July 8th, 2009 at 3:50 pm

    THAKS FOR THE SOLUTION AND NOW MY BB IS HEALTY AGAIN .

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