Among all of the leaked and official operating systems, many of you that are new to BlackBerry may find yourself lost when trying to upgrade to the latest and greatest. Continue reading to learn how to upgrade your OS on your BlackBerry.

NOTE: Only attempt to upgrade your OS if you are comfortable doing so or know what you are doing. BBerryDog is not responsible for any damages to your phone in the process of upgrading your OS. Use all precautionary steps and back up all of your data before proceeding with the upgrade.

If you are are first time BlackBerry user and have never ventured into the world of Beta and leaked OS’s, I would first advise attempting to upgrade to an official OS. It’s much more safe and essentially an automated process. Another option available to those who are not comfortable with manually upgrading their OS is to perform a Wireless Update straight through the phone.

To upgrade your OS directly from the phone open up Options. Once Options is open, select Advanced Options, then scroll to the very bottom of the list where you will see and select Wireless Update. Follow the prompts and the process will complete itself. This is not always the best option for advanced users, but for someone who does not know how to restore a phone if the upgrade fails it is the safest route.

The next option is to do the automated upgrade to an official OS using Desktop Manager. If you plug your BlackBerry into a computer with Desktop Manager installed it automatically check for available OS upgrades for your specific device and carrier. If it does not automatically initiate the upgrade check, simply click on the Application Loader tab. In the Application Loader, you will see and option to upgrade and it will perform the check. Once the check is finished, Desktop Manager will prompt you to upgrade the OS to the official version or to cancel. If you choose upgrade Desktop Manager will proceed to create a backup of all of the data on the device, it will backup all of the third-party applications, it will wipe the device, and finally it will load the new OS files onto the device. This process can take anywhere from thirty minutes to two hours. If you are upgrading from OS 4.5 and below to OS 5.0, these upgrade usually take the longest. OS 4.6+ are more like OS 5.0 and the switch is a much faster process. Once the upgrade is finished Desktop Manager will restore the previously installed applications and user data, however, the application data will have been deleted and you will need to set up the applications once again.

The last option is to install a beta released OS, or a leaked OS. In order to do this, you will first need to locate a download link for the OS you are looking for. Be sure than the OS you are downloading matches the exact device you are attempting to upgrade. As for carrier, that part does not really matter, but you will need to delete a file after you install the downloaded OS. Once the OS download completes, open it. It will be a .exe file and should begin an installation. If you have any previous OS files installed for the specific device, you will need to uninstall them before installing another. When the installation has finished, you will need to locate the vendor.xml file for the OS. This can usually be found in you system’s Program Files in a directory similar to “C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Research In Motion\AppLoader”. When you plug your BlackBerry in, make sure your internet connection is off first. From this point, Desktop Manager will continue with the same process as before.

Installing beta builds and leaked OS’s can be risky. It is not bad to test them out and try out new things. Messing up your phone is unlikely but it is definitely a possibility. Only attempt to do this if you know what you are doing and know how to fix your phone if something does go wrong.

I’m sorry for a lack of screenshots, but I did not have the time to perform an update myself due to a lack of time. When I upgrade my OS, I will update this post with more screenshots. If you have any questions regarding upgrading your OS, email me at taylor[at]bberrydog[dot]com.