In this guide we’re going to talk about how to install TWRP recovery on Nexus 7 2013 tablet. Why install TWRP recovery? If you want to root your Nexus 7 2013 tablet, the first thing after unlocking the bootloader, is to install a custom recovery. There are two popular custom recoveries in Android world: ClockworkMod Recovery and TWRP Recovery. In this guide we’ll show you how to flash TWRP custom recovery on your Nexus 7 2013.

Nexus 7 2013 is the 2nd generation tablet under the Nexus 7 product line of Google. It’s manufactured by Asus in partnership with Google and it runs stock Android 4.3. Checkout Nexus 7 2013 Specs.

Prerequisites

• First of all, unlock bootloader of Nexus 7 2013.
• Enable USB debugging mode on your Nexus 7 2013, first you need to enable Developer Options: Settings >About tablet > and tap Build number 7 times. Now go back to Settings > Developer Options (right above ‘About tablet’) > USB Debugging > Tap Ok.

Follow the detailed step-by-step instructions below to install TWRP recovery on Nexus 7 2013 tablet.

How to Install TWRP Recovery on Nexus 7 2013

Step 1
Download the .zip file from one of these links: [Link 1] [Link 2] and extract it somewhere. it contains fastboot and adb files.

Step 2
Download the latest TWRP recovery image file for your Nexus 7 2013 model:
Nexus 7 2013 -WiFi or Nexus 7 2013 LTE
and move the .img file into to the folder where you’ve extracted the fastboot and adb files in step 1.

Step 3
Connect your device to your computer in USB debugging mode. Go to the folder where you’ve fastboot, adb and .img files. Hold down the Shift-key on your keyboard and right-click at any empty space inside the folder, and select ‘Open command window here’.

Step 4
Now type in the following command to put your Nexus 7 2013 in Fastboot mode:
adb reboot bootloader
Once your device is in bootloader mode, you’ll see Android robot and the first line at the bottom left corner would read FASTBOOT mode in red.

Step 5
Now Type in the following command to flash the TWRP recovery image file (replace the recovery.img with the actual name of the .img file):
fastboot flash recovery recovery.img
For example to flash the downloaded 2.6.0.0 TWRP, type in the following command:
fastboot flash recovery openrecovery-twrp-2.6.0.0-deb.img

This should start flashing the TWRP recovery showing progress in the CMD window itself. Now to boot your Nexus 7 2013 into TWRP recovery mode, press the Volume Up or Volume Down key until Recovery Mode option is displayed. Use the power button to select it and the device will reboot into the TWRP recovery Mode.

Troubleshooting

• If you see <waiting for device> message in the command prompt, then that means either your drivers are not installed properly of your device is not in USB debugging mode.
• To properly install the Nexus 7 2013 drivers, download the universal ADB/Fastboot drivers from Koush from here and install it. Windows 8 users must allow installation of unsigned drivers. Mac or Linux users need not to worry about the drivers.
• If you have some problem after to flash the recovery, and you stay stuck on during 5mn. You need to wipe data and factory reset on settings and normally all should be work perfectly after

This is the second guide of our Nexus 7 2013 series of articles. Here are links to the complete set:

1. How to unlock bootloader of Nexus 7 2013
2. How to install TWRP Recovery on Nexus 7 2013
3. How to root Nexus 7 2013