If you’re having trouble updating to iOS 5 right now (generally resulting in an Internal Error popup), you are not alone. It seems that the problem is actually due to an overwhelming number of phones downloading, updating, and pinging Apple’s servers.
Don’t fret. The easy solution is to keep trying to update. Lucky for you, there’s a more expedient way to do it. Unfortunately, I’m at work right now, so I can only write this how-to for those of you running OS X.
1. Download iOS 5 (presumably you already have or you wouldn’t be here.)
2. Locate the .ipsw file. More than likely, this will be located in a hidden folder. The way to get into it is to click on your desktop, select the Go menu, and then click Go to Folder.
3. In the Go to Folder box, type in ~/Library/iTunes/iPhone Software Updates/ and press return.
4. Copy the .ipsw for iOS 5 to another folder (your desktop, perhaps).
5. In iTunes, click on your iDevice, and hold option while clicking “Restore.”
6. Click the .ipsw file you just downloaded.
7. Repeat until it works. It may take upward of 15 tries.
Of course, if you’re the patient type, you could probably just wait until tomorrow and I’m sure the issue will resolve itself. I’m not the patient type.
Mandatory Legal Disclaimer: on the off-chance that this deletes all your phone content or bricks your phone, I’m not responsible. You’re doing this at your own risk.
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{ 49 comments… read them below or add one }
I am on the 15th try…Thanks!
This is pointless… moving the update to the desktop doesn’t do anything.
iTunes has your update downloaded and stores… the problem is that contact with the server is failing.
You can try the above all you want and it won’t help at all … or make things worse. It’s just exactly the same as clicking restore in iTunes.
The only way using the Option + Click on restore is ever useful is when your installing an update or downgrading to an update that you got from somewhere other than iTunes.
Stop wasting peoples time with this…..
it says the firmware file is not compatable! Help! I already downloaded it!
I love you, I love you I love you, have I mentioned I love you? My phone was dead, in recovery mode and I tried this and it worked on the FIRST try! woot woot, you rock, good karma and all that jazzz
James, I do not know what you’re talking about. I tried the regular update process all day, one try of this and it worked like a charm. I’m now at iOS5 and restoring my data from backup…. I’d say i tried the normal method at least 10 times…
25 fois et rien.
Worked great. Thanks a lot.
I need a fix for Windows 7, boooo
I rarely ever comment on things but gotta give a big ‘F you’ to commenter ‘James’ – I tried this and it worked first time – the official route failed 5 times.
Moving the .ipsw seems to circumvent the Backup process, considerably speeding up the cycle of attempts. The internet is full of know-it-all assholes, and I’m glad James was proven wrong.
thanks for the info! works for me on the 2nd try :)
@James, moving to the desktop is necessary for OS X folks because the folder is invisible and you can’t get to the directory from the file selector. The point of this work-around is to bypass the mandatory backup that runs everytime you rerun the update. And you’re wrong about the ipsw — if you just normally click restore, it’ll restore to factory defaults without applying an upgrade.
@Corbin, weird. Did you download from the internet or directly from iTunes?
@John, Je suis desole :\ 12 foix pour moi. Bonne chance.
@Sherry, the process is going to be similar in Windows 7. It’s just a matter of finding out where the .ipsw is saved and I believe it’s control + click on “Restore” to load custom firmware.
Glad folks are having some success. Cheers.
I can’t seem to follow this: HELP>>>
5. In iTunes, click on your iDevice, and hold option while clicking “Restore.”
:(…..so wanted it to work as i’ve tried to update on both my 3gs and my iPad numerous times. unfortunately, it just wiped my iPhone. fingers crossed that when it is restored (in about an hour), it’ll be with iOS5.
@clint, so look at iTunes. under “DEVICES” on the left, click on your iPhone, which will pull up the Summary tab for your phone.
Under “Version,” I’m referring to the button named “Restore.”
@katrina, Good luck. It’s really just a matter of getting lucky when pinging the Apple server, I think.
After clicking “Restore”, should it contact the iPhone software update server? Mine is still contacting.
clint, yup, it will. What this method gains you is that it won’t do the otherwise mandatory backup when you click “Update.” Bypassing that, you can run about 10 tries in the time it’d take you to do 1 full backup and 1 update attempt. Basically you’re just hoping to get lucky when it pings.
hi, it asked me about being sure restoring to factory settings. then, it downloaded again the software. i think this isn’t the correct way.
@clint, are you on a Mac? Holding Option while clicking Restore will let you select that .ipsw file to upgrade to iOS 5.
i’m using Windows 7. What is the equivalent for “holding option” in windows.
got it. its ‘shift’ + restore. :D
now i am, unfortunately, without an iPhone – couldn’t restore mine due to same error message :(
iOS 5 is now wonderfully working on my iPhone. Thanks bro!
Pretty simple Q…
Will this wipe my photos/music/data from my phone? I don’t have these sync’d w/ iPhoto etc.
Thanks.
@Ryan, If you’ve backed up your iPhone, you should be able to restore everything.
Thanks Josh!!
Thanks! Been trying to resolve this problem all night but followed your instructions and restored from a backup afterwards and now everything works great.
after 2 tries giving me the network error message i disabled my antivirus tried again and everything installed perfect on my iPad 1.
Can you tell me where i can find .ipsw, because i could not find it? and i do not know how to go the ~/Library/iTunes/iPhone Software Updates/ and press return.? Please I need your help
one more thing, my iTunes can not connect my iPhone. how can i fix this too?
Thanks
This actually worked great !, My ios5 update was stuck in the “backing up” stage and this updated the first time, appreciate it very much, at least someone knows what they’re talking about.
itunes freezes now when i plug in my iphone…. any advice
I downloaded the new iOS 5 (I have an iPhone 4), everything worked well until it started to “restore” (so it did a backup, installed new OS (?), restarted and then started to restore)…it basically seems stalled in the same spot for the past 2 hours. I’m not getting an error though. What am I supposed to do now? So is the new OS installed, but the restore is problematic? Or is everything goofed up? GAH!
(forgot to add that I DO have the latest iTunes if that makes any difference)
I have a factory unlocked iPhone 4 but I’m being told that my firmware is not compatible, does anyone have a fix for this?
So i did everything mentioned above, yet it still says firmware isn’t compatible. It’s become so frustrating. Any idea to how deal with this?
Yes, my itunes is updated. Yes, i did the ctrl+restore/update.
shift+restore/update i mean.
Ok I’m pulling my hair out when I’m updating I get an error code -5000 wtf is that I’ve disabled all security and restarted tried over 50 times keeps giving me that error not good with comp knowledge someone out there has to know I’ve searched all sites and no help
One more thing it says I can update with error but I’ll lose all data not sure I wanna do that
Hi! Joshua, I have updated to latest itunes and downloaded the .ipsw file but when I try to install itunes says the firmware file is not compatible.
I have a 3gs iphone. Is this happening to others trying? can you help?
Thanks
Hi I am from uae. got a iphone from U.S. Got it unlocked by gevey sim. downlaoded ios5 without checking anything. now sim card not working on gevey sim and my phone is dead. now only can use as iphone only. can u help plz…. is this ipsw file work on this as well???
i mean only can use as ipod only. plz plz plz help….
Anyone get error 1 when restoring? ANy fix for that?!
Same issue here having -5000 error code while Update to iOS 5.01 from iOS 4.3.5
Even using restore, I got 3194 error code. WTF?
Downloaded the latest .ipsw also cannot work.
Anyone can help?
Wow, great blog post.Really thank you! Want more.
Fabulous. Worked perfectly on my 3GS (I’m on Mac) after my irritating, waste of time attempt the Apple way. It was a scary moment, though, when it says it’ll wipe your phone. Might help to explain this a bit more clearly for the squeamish and provide a more detailed picture of what they can expect:
You do the restore with the option key to locate your .ipsw file as directed. You get the scary warning about the phone being wiped. Take a deep breath and click okay. When that “restore” (which isn’t really a restore at all) finishes, you’ll automatically get a window that says your phone has been synced with the computer already and do you want to restore from the back-up, which you do. That’s when you get all your backed-up data back (photos, contacts, all the stuff that doesn’t live in iTunes or isn’t synced), so make sure you do a back-up prior to the option-restore process. Note that the restore from the back-up is a long process. It restores from the back-up, then restarts your phone, and then you wait for it to show up in iTunes, and then it syncs and on and on, but it worked for me on the first try, despite some long waits and anxious moments. You may also want to transfer your purchases from your phone prior to updating/restoring.
Spoke just a tiny bit too soon. Everything is there EXCEPT my sent emails, trash, and drafts, and my inbox completely downloaded again, meaning emails I’d already trashed were in my inbox, “unread.” Would love to know how I can get those back the way they were, or how I could have avoided this. Not a huge problem, but why is this the only thing that’s not the way it was?
im using windows 7 and i copy the ipsw file to my desktop. when i tried the “5. In iTunes, click on your iDevice, and hold option while clicking “Restore.”” i cant find the idevice on itunes. please help!
THANK YOU THANK YOU THAN YOU.
After encountering a -50 error that all information will be deleted, only to find out that nothing went correct and the iphone was still asked to be set up (also SIM lock was active… ) After copying the file to an external drive in my case and usign that one to do a Restore ( with Alt/option ) after 2 hours of working on the 5.01 restore backup file, it finally got there. ONLY DOING THIS TRICK ONCE. I had to do some iphone set up, apple log in at that time I checked the OS version ( 5.01), also on my macbook air and than it started synching the email and apps. All my 111 apps came back including email accounts.
Is started early in the afternoon doing endless retries, but with this trick, it worked straight away! Be aware: my photo’s and video, startuppicture and background as well as my Notes were erased ! Fortunately most of it was synced to my ipad or saved/imported with aperture to a external HDD. So backup everything outside the itunes if you want to make sure you have access to your private info. By the way the local saved files from my app Phone Drive were still available as well as those in “Ftp on the Go” !
Additional info:
After 55 updates I checked my apps.
-My WhatsApp had to be set up again. All setings gone. All history chats gone. All my contact became favourites ?:(
-Dropbox forgot login /password … :(
-1Password App remembered everything. OK
MobileVoip forgot login settings :(
Twitter: All accounts gone. :(
My alarm clock settings gone :(
My weather preferences gone :(
All my incoming SMS messages. gone :(
Agenda. OK
NU App needed setup.
Outdoor Navigation ( GPSTUNER ). OK
IOD Calculator jr. OK
Tweetdeck. OK ( ..after twitter setup..? )
Sap Notes. OK
LinkedIn. OK
Facebook. login :(
Skype. login. :(
..
Anyone figured out what the reason is why some remember and some don’t. Is it because of the updates that were done after upgrading the OS?
Interesting justification. I like to make out the print Martha
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