LG V20 is the second LG’s Flagship of year 2016. It has got amazing features and now you can root and install recovery on your V20 easily. It is a 5.7″ device with 4GB of RAM memory and Quad-Core processor. LG V20 is the most feature-packed smartphone of the year. With the recovery and root solution out now, you can take your Android Nougat experience on the V20 to an entire new level. Because after rooting you’ll be able to install all root specific apps like Greenify, Titanium Backup, Ad Blockers etc. With the TWRP recovery, you can now install Xposed Framework and flash custom ROMs to unleash the real power of your V20. But for now you can root H918 variant of the V20 only and also traditional flashing methods won’t work with the LG V20.
The entire rooting step by step process is given below, follow these steps carefully to root your V20 H918 on Android Nougat.
Before You Begin
1. Backup all the important data on your device as entire process involves multiple data wipes, so to keep your data safe you need to create backup.
2. Warning for Noobs because the process is highly custom and involves a risk of bricking your device.
3. Download and install LG USB drivers on your computer.
4. Also download and install Minimal ADB and Fastboot drivers on your PC.
5. After downloading the files copy to
C:\Program Files (x86)\Minimal ADB and Fastboot (By default)
6. Now next step is to unlock the bootloader of the LG V20.
Unlocking Bootloader
1. Go to Settings and Enable USB debugging mode under developer options.
Settings > about device > software info > tap the build number for 7 times to enable Developer Option and there enable USB debugging mode.
2. Also under developer options enable OEM unlocking.
3. Now connect your LG V20 to your PC (in PTP mode) and give it the permissions that it is asking on your phone for the ADB and Fastboot mode.
4. Next you need to open the command window on your PC.
Go to C:\Program Files (x86)\Minimal ADB and Fastboot > press and hold shift key + right click on an empty area within the folder > click on open command window here.
5. Now, enter the following commands in command window one by one.
adb reboot bootloader
your phone will reboot in bootloader mode, once it boots up, enter the next command
fastboot oem unlock
After entering above command bootloader will be unlocked and it will wipe your phone completely.
fastboot getvar all
You’ll see bootloader unlocked: yes.
fastboot reboot
Your device will reboot in normal mode. Bootloader is unlocked.
Test Running before Flashing actual recovery
1. Download all the recovery binaries from this LINK
2. After that copy the downloaded files to the Minimal ADB and Fastboot folder.
3. Now just like we did above open command window from the ADB and Fastboot folder.
4. Next Reboot into adb and fastboot mode once again and this time, Enter the following commands.
adb push dirtycow /data/local/tmp adb push recowvery-applypatch /data/local/tmp adb push recowvery-app_process64 /data/local/tmp adb push recowvery-run-as /data/local/tmp adb shell $ cd /data/local/tmp $ chmod 0777 * $ ./dirtycow /system/bin/applypatch recowvery-applypatch "<wait for completion>" $ ./dirtycow /system/bin/app_process64 recowvery-app_process64 "<wait for completion, your phone will look like it's crashing>" $ exit adb logcat -s recowvery "<wait for it to tell you it was successful>" "[CTRL+C]" adb shell reboot recovery "<wait for phone to boot up again, your recovery will be reflashed to stock>" adb shell $ getenforce "<it should say Permissive, adjust source and build for your device!>" $ cd /data/local/tmp $ ./dirtycow /system/bin/run-as recowvery-run-as $ run-as exec ./recowvery-applypatch boot "<wait for it to flash your boot image this time>" $ run-as su # "<play around in your somewhat limited root shell full of possibilities>" Do not restart your device at this point.
Final Flash TWRP and Root the LG V20
1. Download TWRP recovery.img file.
Copy this file to the Minimal ADB and Fastboot folder.
2. Download SuperSU.zip file.
And copy the zip file to Minimal ADB and Fastboot folder.
Make sure that you have followed all steps of the running recovery.
Now enter the following commands in command window once again.
adb push twrp-3.0.2-0-beta4-h918.img /sdcard/twrp.img adb shell $ run-as exec dd if=/sdcard/twrp.img of=/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/recovery "<wait for it to complete>" $ reboot recovery
As TWRP recovery now boots up, it will ask you whether you want to allow system modifications or not. Swipe yes to allow modifications.
Now connect USB OTG and mount the USB OTG. Tap Install > Locate the SuperSU.zip file and flash it.
After flashing SuperSU.zip file, get back to the main menu in TWRP recovery > tap the Wipe option > Format Data to disable encryption.
Thats it, reboot your device and your LG V20 is now rooted with TWRP installed. Facing any issues, reach us via comment box.