How to Root the LG G4 (T-Mobile) (Updated 06/30/16)

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LG’s latest leather-clad flagship phone, the LG G4, is a great device all on its own. From a sexy leather back, to a large crisp screen, serious low-aperture lens, eight-core processor, and more; it definitely has the makings of a badass flagship phone.

But, despite all this awesome hardware, there are those of us that aren’t quite fans of the software that it comes pre-installed on top of it.

That’s where rooting comes in. Rooting, aka the gaining of administrative rights on an Android device, allows you to change the software on a device like the LG G4 as you see fit. From simple things like removing some of the pre-installed apps (who uses the manufacturer’s music apps?!) to free up storage space and even speed up the device by stopping unnecessary processes; to more complicated stuff like replacing the entire OS with a custom ROM and maybe even putting pure Android on the device or change the UI skin entirely.

Rooting is the first step to this new found freedom though, and, thanks to T-Mobile’s lax attitude towards rooting in general (unlike AT&T, those bastards), it’s not too hard to root the LG G4 on T-Mobile’s network. Here’s how.

UPDATE 06/30/16: The author updated the recovery portion of this tutorial as the old method seemed to stop working based on your comments. Try it not though and let us know if it works!

I. Before You Begin

1. This should void the warranty of your device. We won’t be held responsible if you end-up with a damaged device after doing the following procedure. Do it at your own risk.

2. You need to have a Windows based PC to do this procedure.

3. Download and install LG USB drivers on your PC, if they aren’t already installed.

4. This only works for the T-Mobile variant of the LG G4 with model number – H811. If this is not yours, please don’t go ahead as you’ll brick your device.

5. This should also flash a custom recovery on your device.

6. This should wipe the data stored on your device. So, please backup everything that you wish to keep.

How to Root the LG G4 (T-Mobile)

Root-LG-G4-T-Mobile

You’ll first unlock the bootloader, flash a custom recovery, and then flash SuperSU to root the device. Here’s how it’s all done:

II. Downloading Required Files

1. Download TWRP Recovery and save it to your desktop.

TWRP Recovery (Download the file with .img extension)

2. Download SuperSU and save it to your desktop.

SuperSU

3. Download Fastboot and save it to your deskotp.

Fastboot

III. Enabling the OEM Unlocked Option

1. Head to Menu > Settings > About phone on your device and tap on Build number until it says you’re a developer.

2. When it says you’re a developer, head back to Settings and tap on Developer options. Tap on Enable OEM Unlock to enable the option.

3. Hit Yes when the prompt appears and your device should reboot.

4. You’re done.

You’ve successfully enabled the option that is required to root your device.

IV. Unlocking the Bootloader on the LG G4 (T-Mobile)

1. Extract files from Fastboot over to your desktop by right-clicking on it and selecting Extract here.

2. Turn on USB debugging on your device by heading to Menu > Settings > Developer options > USB debugging.

3. Plug in your device to your PC using a USB cable.

4. Open a command prompt window on your desktop by holding down Shift and right-clicking anywhere on the screen and selecting Open command window here.

5. When the command prompt window opens, type in the following command and hit Enter:

adb reboot bootloader

6. Your device should reboot into bootloader mode.

7. Now, type in the following command and hit Enter:

fastboot oem unlock

8. Follow the on-screen instructions to unlock the bootloader on your device.

9. The bootloader should now be unlocked.

Now that the bootloader’s unlocked, here’s how you can flash a custom recovery on your device to then obtain root access:

V. Flashing a Custom Recovery on the LG G4 (T-Mobile)

1. Head to Menu > Settings > About phone on your device and tap on Build number for 7-8 times and it’ll say you’re a developer.

2. Head to Menu > Settings > Developer options and turn on USB debugging.

3. Plug in your device to your PC using a USB cable.

4. Launch a command prompt window on your desktop by holding down Shift and right-clicking anywhere on the screen and selecting Open command window here.

5. Type in the following command into the command prompt window and hit Enter:

adb reboot bootloader

6. It’ll reboot your device into the bootloader mode.

7. When the device enters bootloader mode, enter in the following command into the command prompt window and press Enter. Make sure to replace twrp.img with the actual name of the recovery image you have downloaded to your PC:

fastboot flash recovery twrp.img

8. It’ll flash the recovery on your device.

9. When it’s done flashing the recovery, reboot your device by typing in the following command into the command prompt window:

fastboot reboot

10. Your device should reboot.

And the custom recovery is now up and running on your device. Here’s how to use it to root your device:

VI. Rooting the LG G4 (T-Mobile)

1. Connect your device to your PC using a USB cable.

2. Copy SuperSU from your desktop over to the internal storage on your device.

3. When SuperSU is copied, unplug your device from your PC.

4. Turn off your device.

5. Pull the battery out of your device.

6. Put the battery back in your device.

7. Hold down Volume DOWN and Power buttons together to reboot your device into recovery mode.

8. When recovery mode launches, tap on Install.

9. Select SuperSU .zip to be installed on your device.

10. Tap on Swipe to Confirm Flash to allow the recovery mode to flash SuperSU on your device.

11. Wait for it to flash SuperSU on your device.

12. When it’s done flashing SuperSU, reboot your device by selecting Reboot followed by System.

13. You’re now fully rooted!

Not only are you now rooted and able to start removing that annoying bloatware we mentioned, but you also have a custom recovery image which will allow you to perform backups of the entire OS (handy) and even flash new versions of the OS by loading a custom ROM.

Enjoy and let us know if you have any issues!

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  • fallendaemon

    Ran the entire process as listed and nothing seems to have been pushed over. Phone went into download mode with windows command mode saying done pull battery and restart, yet nothing was downloaded in the download screen, just said 0% and nothing happened. one note, when checking the OEM box it just said enabled and nothing like a restart happened, but after manually restarting it continued to say enabled and checked.

    • Did you try and run the program as an administrator?

      • fallendaemon

        Yes, and it gets as far as opening the command window, warning… Press any key to continue, then the program starts to run and the dos window just closes without further adue. Note, I am running all devices/computer with malwarebytes turned off. Am running win 8.1 pro. When I ran downloaded drivers from uiur page, the phone had me reinstall drivers from plugin of USB to device. Am including pics of attempted install with pic of phone after completion of program. Note, you can’t see it in the pic, but in the box below the 0% line is User B54 within the box. Thanks again for uiur time here… Jeff.

        • OK so that image is what happens after you click the Double-click on CLICK-HERE-LG-G4-H811-UNLOCK-TWRP.bat? It looks like bootloader mode which makes sense for it to get into in order to flash the recovery but not sure why it’s stuck. Might be that it doesn’t have the fastboot drivers installed properly and so it can’t see the device once it boots into that mode and so can’t continue (fastboot drivers are different than the regular ADB drivers.
          Try and do this, while it’s plugged in and on that software update screen, open the Search charm on the computer and search for device manager. Open that and look to see if there is an ! anywhere (that would indicate drivers are not installed for something that is attached). You can then right click whatever has the ! and click update drivers and then choose the LG drivers from the list and see if there is a fastboot or ADB one in there and select it and see if that works. Then you might have to start over to get it to run again. Let me know and put screenshots of anything that gets stuck so I can help further!

          • Tulsaguy

            David Cogen, Wanted to thank you for posting these instructions on rooting my T-Mobile LG G4 H811. I am having the exact same issues as fallendaemon posted above. And I did have the explanation mark on my device manager just as you suspected. I tried to manually update the only two available drivers given to me, but I never saw any options as a fastboot driver or an ADB driver. The LG USB drivers appear to be faulty, as far as I can determine. Any other recommendations? Thanks again.

          • Have you been able to actually get this to work? Mine seems to be stuck at 0%

          • I’ve got the exact same problem:

            deamon started sucessfully
            Starting adb server
            waiting for device
            Device detected!
            Pushing files…
            4297 KB/s (41943040 bytes in 9.530s)
            Rebooting
            Looking for LG serial port

            Note: Phone Reboots to Firmware Update Screen

            Phone found at COM6!
            Rebooting into Download mode..
            Waiting for device
            Phone found at COM6
            Starting flash TWRP
            TWRP flashed! Unplug and pull battery!

            That’s it… Phone displays “progress banner that says 0% and nothing happens”

          • Hi John,

            It seems the tool successfully flashed the recovery on your device.

            Could you please reboot your device into the recovery mode and see if you’ve got TWRP?

            Let us know. Thanks!

    • Jerry Kindall

      If you look at the batch file, it prints out the message saying to pull your battery BEFORE it issues the command to flash the recovery! If you actually pulled the battery when it says to, it will probably have started flashing the recovery, and and it could leave your recovery in a half-flashed state. I don’t think that would brick your phone but it’s… not good. I recommend against using this script and instead learn how to do it manually.

  • Ricky

    Before step IV – 2, they left out the important factor that you must have enabled USB debugging on your G4. Without that enabled, the ADB files will not execute.

  • KEVIN SOLOMON

    Has anyone ever actually gotten this method to work? My phone does all the same things described below by all the other users. It finishes stuck at 0%, and TRWP is not flashed. i have tried to get this to work for weeks. I am very computer literate, and have rooted 9 phones in the past, and cannot find any method online to root the H811 or install TRWP. Does the boot-loader need to be unlocked? (I mean truly unlocked, not the enable unlock option in developer options). Does this work for Andriod 6.0 Marshmallow, which is what I have? Are their any resolutions to the issue of the stalled recovery that sticks at 0%?

  • Edenburgh

    This was so beyond useless it’s scary. More trouble than it is worth!

  • Edenburgh

    Guess thats what I get for trying out a guide on the internet. Seemed pretty straightforward, anyway.

  • Ken Blevins

    Thinking about trying this method. After downloading twrp and put it on your desktop you don’t say to move it to internal or sd storage. I’ve tried other methods and phone fails id check, but I know twrp needs to be on either storage.
    Thanks

    • You flash it from the computer to the phone using fastboot so it doesn’t go on the storage (internal or sdcard).

      • Ken Blevins

        Thanks for your fast reply.
        So it will direct you when to move it or it automatically finds it? Also, if I’m having issues like others are having. When do I back out? When I get the 0%? Just remove battery to do so? Thanks so much

        • Hi Ken,

          TWRP Recovery has to be in the folder where fastboot.exe is located.

          So, when you type the command – “fastboot flash recovery twrp.img”, you tell it to flash the recovery to your phone that is in the folder where fastboot.exe exists.

          Here’s what the command does:
          fastboot flash recovery twrp.img

          fastboot – it calls fastboot.exe to perform a task
          flash – it tells what task to be done, in this case it tells to flash something
          recovery – it tells what to be flashed, in this case it tells to flash recovery (so the “something” I said above means recovery)
          twrp.img – it’s the name of the recovery image you have downloaded.

          Let me know if you’ve further questions. Thanks!

          • Ken Blevins

            Thanks for your help.
            Trying three different ways of rooting. I’m getting nowhere. I am a novice so going deeper into command window is a bit scary for me.
            Your way, I type adb reboot bootloader, I don’t get the bootloader screen on the phone, but the command window shows:
            C:UsersKenDesktopfastbootfastboot>
            That command jsut isn’t anywhere to find in anybodys directions. Another way tells me twrp flashed, unpug and pull battery. Then when I try to boot recovery, It’s suppose to say “fatory data reset”, the phone just turns on normally.
            Might try the paid style, one click.
            I like this stuff, I’m just not anygood at it.
            Thanks

          • Hi Ken,

            It seems the only issue you have is that you aren’t able to get ADB to work with your device.

            It’s actually damn simple. Plug in your device to your PC with USB debugging enabled, open the folder where fastboot.exe and adb.exe exist, hold down Shift on your keyboard and right-click anywhere on the screen and select Open command window here. When the command prompt opens, type in “adb devices” (without quotes) and hit Enter. You should see your device’s model number in the command prompt window.

            If you do see the model number, you can run the other commands given in the above procedure. If you don’t see the model number, there’s an issue with the drivers you’ve installed on your PC. Re-install them and reboot your PC and you should be good to go.

            I hope this helps you!

          • Ken Blevins

            Hi Mahesh,
            When I try the other root method with the 4gb file from xda I see the model number.
            When I use your method the command window opens directly to this
            c:usersKenDesktopfastbootfastboot>
            I can’t get it back to what it should star out with
            c:usersKenDesktoplg g4root>

  • shakim hutton

    Is there any way i can do this without loosing all of my data

  • Arezki Yamani

    adb reboot bootloader : error device offline ????

    • Seems your PC didn’t recognize your device. Please re-install the phone drivers and reboot your PC and then see if it works.

      Thanks!

  • Walrus

    Has anyone got this to work? I have a t mobile lg g4 (h811 20o) on 6.0 Android. I’ve tried the old method and it didn’t work for me, but I see it’s been updated as of June 2016. Thanks!

    • Hi Walrus,

      This should work for you but since you’re on Android 6.0 you’ll need to use this version of SuperSU instead – http://forum.xda-developers.com/apps/supersu/stable-2016-09-01supersu-v2-78-release-t3452703

      Thanks!

      • Walrus

        Thank You Mahesh! My phone does not reboot when I enable or disable OEM unlock, any idea why and do you think this will effect the rooting process. Samsungs were so easy to root before I had this LG, I rooted my Vibrant, S2, S4, and Note 2 with no problems. This one has been a pain. I had it rooted, and I tried and tried to stop the auto system update with titanium backup but was unsuccessful, so it ultimately updated to marshmallow and I lost root. I mainly want root to free up unused space and to run viper4android which I was having problems with compatibility in my previous root on this G4. I had awesome player unlocked but still no luck. So here I am, thanks for your help Mahesh!

        • Hi Walrus,

          Well, it is a must to enable the OEM unlock option to then be able to unlock the bootloader. If your phone doesn’t reboot after enabling the OEM unlock option, then I think there’s an issue with your phone. Enabling or disabling the OEM unlock option shouldn’t break other features of the phone.

          You should get in touch with your phone’s manufacturer to see if they have a solution to your issue.

          Thanks!

      • Walrus

        ADB tells me I am offline. I tried revoking all past device authorizations and re-enabling with no luck. WTF?

        • Honestly that adb offline can be a real pain. Check device manager for any exclamation points while the device is plugged in indicating it can’t find drivers and check out this video for more help with drivers – https://theunlockr.com/2009/10/06/how-to-set-up-adb-usb-drivers-for-android-devices/

          • Walrus

            Thanks David! I have already unistalled drivers and reinstalled with no luck. The device is recognized but offline? I’ll check out the video.

          • Walrus

            I’ve tried several methods with no love, I get a USB connection message on my phone in MTP mode that just says “Allow this computer to access your phone data?” which I can cancel or allow, but I never see an RSA Fingerprint Key to confirm which I saw when I first rooted the device before the marshmallow update occurred. I tried deleting the file and the .pub file in the C: drive but it still doesn’t generate one. I am stumped.

      • Donovan Hayes

        Ah! Please update this in the guide. The guide is incredibly useful, but I could not figure out why I didn’t have root privileges, and it was because I didn’t have the most up-to-date Super SU Zip file!

  • Chris

    I have a t-mobile lg g4 (h811 20p). Everything works, but after adb reboot bootloader, I can’t get “fastboot oem unlock” to work. It shows “*Welcome to Fastboot Mode for bootloader unlock :” My computer recognizes it as a Kedacom USB Device using the Android Bootloader Interface in Device Manager. I tried seeing if it recognizes my device by typing “fastboot devices” but it pops up with nothing. How can I get this to work?

    • Sean McLaughlin

      Exact same issue I’m having. I’ve tried updating the Kedacom driver (Windows 10), reinstalling the LG drivers, and everything else I can find, but Fastboot still won’t see the device. ADB works fine.

      • Hi Sean,

        If “fastboot devices” doesn’t show your device in the list, then it means your computer hasn’t recognized your device in fastboot mode. What you can do now is turn off your phone and then turn it back on in fastboot mode using the physical buttons. See if it works then.

        Thanks!

  • Indigo79

    I have a t-mobile lg g4 (h811 20p) as well.. I have the bootloader unlocked. My problem comes at flashing the recovery. I get :

    target reported max download size of 536870912 bytes
    sending ‘recovery’ (33448 KB)…
    OKAY [ 0.954s]
    writing ‘recovery’…
    FAILED (remote: unknown command)
    finished. total time: 0.973s

    Im not sure where to go from here

    • Indigo79

      I also tried doing the temp boot, and it freezes my phone.

      downloading ‘boot.img’…
      OKAY [ 0.953s]
      booting…
      OKAY [ 0.037s]
      finished. total time: 0.994s

      • What temp boot did you do?

        • Indigo79

          I actually downloaded a newer twrp than I had and used it and it worked fine. But I just booted temp into recovery and did the flashing in there. fastboot boot twrp.img

          • Did you try “fastboot flash recovery twrp.img”?

          • Indigo79

            Yea, thats where it kept freezing on me. Thats why I just did the “fastboot boot twrp.img” to boot right into recovery and then flashed it from there. Worked great that way for me.

          • Glad that worked for you. Booting into recovery (without flashing it) also works.

  • hussain

    I am unable to “enable oem unlock” option, I tap on it, it asks for my password and then nothing happens. Can somebody please help me. thanks

    • Can you post a screenshot of it asking for the password?

  • Hawk

    MULTIPLE PROBLEMS WITH THIS ARTICLE!!!

    1. DO NOT download this version of SuperSU!! It is outdated and will not work on newer phones! (provided you have a newer phone)
    2. ADB is also out dated! Download the newer version otherwise it will hang.
    3. fastboot flash recovery twrp.img will NOT work!! Use the command “fastboot boot twrp.img”

    if you get ADB devices not showing anything. Verify your drives in Device Manager. Try switching USB ports. Try a different cable.
    if you get “fastboot waiting for devices”, verify you have your ADB drivers installed. Go to Device Manager and see if there is an error.

    Vote me up if this was useful to you!!

  • Muzzamil Hussain

    hey! when i get into bootloader mode and tried to unlock the oem.. IT says WAITING FOR DEVICE… and nothing happens 🙁 pleaze help me OUT…!!!

  • Kicoohh

    does this work on the 20v?