You’re probably visiting this page because you’ve run into a drivers problem on your Nexus 7 while working with either adb, fastboot or just while connecting the device to PC for transferring files. It’s annoying to know that you’ve a drivers issue on your PC, and it gets even annoying when you can’t get it installed right.

Anyway, Google has been kind in providing USB drivers for all Nexus devices. And in most cases they work just fine. But however, it’s not an .exe file that a noob user could install without any help. So follow the guide below to get the proper drivers installed for your Nexus 7.

Note: The driver below would also work perfectly for following devices:

  • LG Nexus 4
  • LG Nexus 5
  • Asus Nexus 7
  • Asus Nexus 7 2013

Download driver

Download the Google USB Driver from this → link.

Once downloaded. Extract the downloaded “.zip” file to your computer and remember the folder location of extracted contents of the zip file.

Nexus 7 Driver installation

  1. Connect your Nexus 7 to the PC
  2. Open device manager on your PC
    1. Windows 7 & 8 users → search for Device Manager from Start (or Start screen) and click to open.
    2. Windows XP users → here’s how to.
  3. You will see list of all devices attached to your computer in the device manager. Just find Nexus 7 (it’ll most probably be in the Other devices list with a yellow exclamation mark) and Right-click and select Update Driver Software…
    Nexus 7 Driver Installation
  4. Select Browse my computer for driver software in the next window
    Nexus 7 Driver Update Manually
  5. Now click the Browse… button and select the folder where you extracted the downloaded Google USB Driver zip file (filename: latest_usb_driver_windows.zip). Do NOT select the zip file, select the folder where the contents of the zip file are extracted. And keep the Include subfolders box checked
    Select Google USB Drivers Folder
  6. During the installation (as a security check) Windows may ask your permission to install the drivers published by Google Inc. Click Install
    Install Nexus 7 Driver
  7. Once the installation is complete you’ll see a refreshed list of devices on the Device manager screen showing Nexus 7 driver installed successfully
    Nexus 7 Driver Installation Completed

Nexus 7 ADB and Bootloader drivers?

Well, the guide above is same for installation of Bootloader and ADB drivers as well. The Google USB Drivers file is universal. So if you’re running into Bootloader or ADB specific driver issues, just try the guide above and your computer would be fine. And make sure you connect your Nexus 7 in that particular mode to be able to install drivers for it.

For ADB driver

  1. First enable USB Debugging on your Nexus 7
  2. Now connect your Nexus 7 to your computer with a USB cable and follow then drivers installation guide above

For Bootloader/Fastboot driver

  1. Put your Nexus 7 in bootloader/fastboot mode:
    1. Switch off your Nexus 7
    2. Hold Volume Up Key + Volume Down Key and then press the Power button
    3. You’ll see a Android robot. And the first line on the bottom left corner would read FASTBOOT MODE in red
  2. Now connect your Nexus 7 to your computer with a USB cable and follow then drivers installation guide above

TROUBLESHOOTING TIPS!

It may happen that drivers get successfully installed on your computer, and yet you are unable to get your Nexus 5 connected to your computer. It can be easily resolved, follow the steps below:

  1. Connect your phone to computer with a USB cable and open Device manager on your computer
  2. Right click on the ‘Android Composite ADB Interface‘ entry and select uninstall
  3. In the uninstall pop-up that appears, tick ‘Delete the driver software for this device‘ checkbox and press the ‘Ok’ button.
  4. Disconnect your phone from your computer
  5. Disable USB debugging on your Nexus 7 from your phones Settings > Developer options > un-tick ‘USB debugging’ checkbox
  6. Put your phone in MTP mode
  7. Connect it back to your computer, and let the computer re-install drivers automatically. If it doesn’t re-installs driver, try toggling the ‘USB debugging’ option on your phone
  8. If it still fails to completely recognize your device in all three modes — MTP, ADB and Fastboot. Then try installing the drivers again following the guide above

Other tips:

  • Connect your device to other USB ports on the computer
  • Try different USB cables. The original cable that came with your device should work best, if not — try any other cable that’s new and of good quality
  • Reboot computer
  • Try on a different computer