How to Root the Huawei Honor 4C

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With an 8 core processor, 13MP camera, and dual-sim capabilities with a lower than normal price tag south of $200 the Huawei Honor 4C isn’t a bad option for someone looking for a budget phone with decent specs (and thanks to that dual-sim, especially if that someone is in Asia or other countries that use dual-sim a lot).

Besides the hardware though, Huawei, like most manufacturers, put on their own custom user interface over Android to differentiate their phones from the other Android phones on the market, and while this does add some features specific to the phone, it isn’t everyone’s cup of tea.

No worries though, if you’d like to remove the custom UI from the device, you actually can. While it is embedded in the system, we can root the Huawei Honor 4C and gain administrative rights to then flash different versions of the OS (aka custom ROMs). To do this, we’re going to actually request the help of Huawei themselves by asking them for a code to allow us to unlock their bootloader (thank you, Huawei for not being sticklers about us rooting our phones!) and then once that’s unlocked we can then flash an app to give us root access and go from there. Here’s how.

I. Before You Begin

1. This could void the warranty of your device. We won’t be held responsible for anything that happens from doing this tutorial so please proceed at your own risk.

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

3. You should have ADB drivers installed on your Windows PC.

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

How to Root the Huawei Honor 4C

Root the Huawei Honor 4C

To root the device, you’ll first get an unlock code from Huwei, use it to unlock the bootloader to then flash a custom recovery, and then flash root file to gain root-access on the device. Here’s how:

II. Downloading Required Files

1. Download Root Package and save it to your desktop.

Root Package

III. Requesting a Bootloader Unlock Code for the Huawei Honor 4C

1. Open your email program and compose a new email with the recipient being mobile@huawei.com.

2. Here’s the template that you can use to request an unlock code from Huawei:

Hello,
I would like to request an unlock code to unlock the bootloader on my Huawei Honor 4C.
Information:
Product: Huawei CHM-U01
SN: XXX
IMEI: XXX
Product Number: XXX
Thanks!

3. To find your SN (Serial number), head to Menu > Settings > About phone > Status and you will see it listed in there.

4. You can find out your IMEI number by dialling *#06# just like any other normal phone number on your device and it should tell you your IMEI number which is a 15 digit numeric code.

5. To find out your Product number, dial  *#*#1357946#*#* on your device and you will be able to see it on your screen.

After a day or two, you’ll receive an email from Huawei with an unlock code that you can use to unlock the bootloader on your device. Here’s how you can do that:

IV. Unlocking the Bootloader on the Huawei Honor 4C

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

2. Head to Menu > Settings > About phone on your device and tap on Build number for 7-8 times until it says you’re a developer. It’ll unlock the developer options menu for you.

3. Head to Menu > Settings > Developer options on your device and turn on USB debugging.

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

5. 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.

6. Type in the following command into the Command Prompt Window and press Enter:

adb reboot bootloader

7. Your device should reboot into bootloader mode.

8. When your device is in bootloader mode, type in the following command into the Command Prompt Window and press Enter. Make sure to replace KEY with the unlock code that you have received from Huawei.

fastboot oem unlock KEY

9. Wait for it to unlock the bootloader on your device.

10. When the bootloader is unlocked, reboot your device by issuing the following command:

fastboot reboot

11. Your device should reboot.

The bootloader on your Huawei Honor 4C is now unlocked, and here’s how you can flash a custom recovery on the device:

V. Flashing a Custom Recovery on the Huawei Honor 4C

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

2. Head to Menu > Settings > Developer options on your device and enable 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. Type in the following command into the Command Prompt Window and hit Enter:

adb reboot bootloader

6. Your device should reboot into bootloader mode.

7. Type in the following command and hit Enter:

fastboot flash recovery twrp.img

8. Wait for it to flash a custom recovery on your device.

9. When it’s done flashing a recovery, reboot your device using the following command:

fastboot reboot

10. Your device should reboot.

Great! You now have a custom recovery on your device, and here’s how you can go about rooting your device:

VI. Rooting the Huawei Honor 4C

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

2. Copy Root.zip from your desktop over to the internal SD card storage on your device.

3. When Root.zip is copied, disconnect your device from your PC.

4. Turn off your device.

5. Turn your device back on in recovery mode by holding down Volume UP, Volume DOWN, and Power buttons together.

6. Select Recovery from the options appearing on your screen.

7. You should now be in CWM Recovery mode.

8. Select install zip from sdcard followed by choose zip from sdcard.

9. Choose Root.zip to be installed on your device.

10. Confirm the prompt and wait for it to flash root.zip on your device.

11. When it’s done flashing, reboot your device by selecting reboot system now.

12. Your device should reboot.

You’re now rooted and have a custom recovery which will allow you to flash custom ROMs that you find. Be sure to check out my how to flash a custom ROM tutorial for more info on that and look for the device in my ROM repository if you already know how to flash them.

Hope that helped someone and let me know in the comments if it worked or if you had any issues!

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  • Anonymous

    Is it possible to unroot the device?

  • Muhammad Anas Jahan Zeb

    Hey there, I have unlocked my huawei honor 4c bootloader and tried to install cwm.Although I installed it correctly but it does not show up and is stuck on honor boot up logo.And yeah, I have 4c b310 v3.1,Android 5.1.1,Pakistani version

    • Hello,

      Well, it’s supposed to work correctly on your device. Can you please do one thing? Instead of the command “fastboot flash recovery recovery_cm.img”, can you please use the following command and see if that gets you into the recovery mode?

      fastboot boot recovery_cm.img

      Let us know. Thanks!

      • Muhammad Anas Jahan Zeb

        it worked…..thnks bro
        and yeah I tried to install xposed installer but my processor art isn’t compatible I think can you tell me how to solve this problem

        • Hi Muhammad,

          We’re glad it worked for you, thanks for posting your feedback!

          You should check out the compatibility list for Xposed and see if your device is one of the supported devices. That’s the best way to know if that’ll work for you or not.

          Hope that helps!

  • Maverick Gusmao

    Good morning , David Cogen , THAT Working serve no gear device 2 also ?

    • Good morning. Not sure what you are asking?

  • Adham El-Deeb

    how long it should take to flash the custom recovery?

    fastboot flash recovery recovery_cm.img
    …..
    …..
    writing ‘recovery’ …

    • Hi Adham,

      It shouldn’t take too long. A couple of minutes and you should be all set.

  • Jj

    what if i have 2 imei number?

  • Jj

    wat if i have 2 imei?

    • Hi Jj,

      How can you have two IMEI numbers on your Huawei Honor 4C?

      • ItsHashy

        The newest 4Cs have 2 IMEIs, and you have to take the first one.

    • Shhsjs

      Input 1st one

  • disqus_8l6IMyeNBa

    Hi,
    to begin with i’m sorry to ask about htc one mini in this discussion. i would like to post this for MAHESH MAKVANA. i’m unable to get my htc one mini verizon mobile to work. i tried doing recovery, clockwork mod, adb, fast boot etc but nothings working. can you confirm how to check whether my mobile is bricked ? It would be of immense help to me if you chat for few min. i have sent you an invitation in hangouts with email id sarathbathala@gmail.com.

    • Hi there,

      Thanks for reaching out to us for help!

      If your HTC One Mini from Verizon isn’t working or isn’t booting-up, the best thing that you can do to is flash the stock ROM on it. That should tell you whether your device is bricked or not. Flashing the recoveries and playing around ADB or Fastboot won’t help.

      You can search our site to find an unroot procedure for your device that should help you get your device back to the stock. If our site doesn’t have one, you can search the Google for the Stock RUU for your device and use any standard unrooting method to unroot your device. Your device should then work fine and in case it does not, it’s probably bricked!

      I hope that helps!

  • i OVERD

    Works excellent with my 4C phone. I`ve tried many rooting programs, but it was the only way that worked for me. Thank you very much!

  • Dannielle Von

    Hello, I’m stuck at entering in recovery mode. when I hold volume up + volume down + power, it only appears the logo. please help!

    • You need to keep them held down until you’re in the recovery mode. Thanks!

    • Nephrix

      Also, if you’re stuck there, by holding volume up button and power button together, you can get it to boot normally again.

  • Srilal Sachintha

    I need to delete a File in “.Android_Secured” folder in my internal storage.will rooting make that possible?

    • Hi Srilal,

      Yes, root access should let you delete any files that you want.

      Hope that helps!

  • Kaushal

    Hi..in my device..all data are stored in external sd card..my internal storage which is 3.65 gb shows as 158 mb free..I am unable to locate where and which file is taking so much space blocking my new app installs coz of no
    internal space..your help will be appreciated..thanks

    • Hi Kaushal,

      Most of the internal memory space is usually occupied by the apps that you’ve installed on your device. All of the apps that you install are located in the internal memory on your device and you may not be able to see their large files unless you root your device.

      So, in order to gain more internal storage, what you can do is uninstall the apps that you don’t use and also use an app junk files cleaner to clean up the leftovers of the uninstalled apps on your device.

      I hope that helps you!

  • Nephrix

    Hello there, I have several questions on how to correctly proceed in these steps :

    1. VI., part 2 -> Should I copy it to internal phone storage root directory or an SD card? Because to me as a begineer it’s not so clear to understand.
    2. VI., part 5 -> Let’s say I did copy it to phone root storage, followed all the step you provided up until number 5. Then I d/c the cable, turn of the phone, try to boot it in recovery mode. But 20 minutes have already passed and nothing but honor logo came up so far. Not even that command you told the other guy to use works, since it returns this :

    C:Users…Desktop>fastboot boot recovery_cm.img
    downloading ‘boot.img’…
    OKAY [ 0.235s]
    booting…
    FAILED (remote: Command not allowed)
    finished. total time: 0.239s

    *All the files are unpacked on desktop.

    I’m really confused as to why it doesn’t work 🙁

    • Hi Nephrix,

      I’m glad to answer your questions here:

      1. It isn’t really important where you place the file, what’s important here is that you should easily be able to find the file when the time comes to flash it using a custom recovery. What could be the best directory to place the file than the root directory?

      2. Did you successfully unlock the bootloader? Do you have required drivers installed on your PC?

      Thanks!

      • Nephrix

        1. I understand, stupid me, didn’t see that in next step you navigate to that file anyway.

        2. Yes, everything prior to phase VI. went alright. When I reboot the phone into the bootloader mode, it even says the device is unlocked. Any suggestions?

      • Nephrix

        Hey Mahesh, could you please get back to my question? I’d really appreciate your help here.

        • Hi Nephrix,

          Sorry for the late response!

          Well, it seems everything went well for you except for booting into the recovery mode. For that, I can recommend you to use the command “adb reboot recovery” and see if that gets you into the recovery mode.

          Let me know. Thanks!

          • Nephrix

            I’ve just tried it, same results. Unresponsive glowing “honor” logo and booting forever again. Can’t think of anything that I might have done wrong as I closely followed you guys’ instructions.

  • Rajat Yadav

    i am unable to flash custom rom on honor 4c using twrp recovey
    error ocurred during flash rom

    error updater binary in zip..///.
    plzzzzzz help me

    • Hi Rajat,

      Seems it’s the issue of the custom ROM that you’re trying to flash. Are sure you sure the ROM isn’t corrupted and is a working one?

      Try flashing another ROM downloaded from a good source and see if that gets flashed.

      Thanks!

  • Kaushal Mittal

    Hi. I have upgraded my phone to Android 6.0 and my internal memory is full with just <200 MB space left despite moving all the allowed apps from internal 2 SD card. I know that by uninstalling few unneeded apps, i can gain some space but, that would not solve my problem. I would like to know if we can unlock and root the stock and then delete unneeded files like .APK setup files from internal storage which could save a huge space. Is that possible.

    Internal Storage shows "Apps occupying 2.51GB" and "System Data occupying 0.89GB" space. I have no idea as to how such space is occupied. I just want to free up space so that i can install few required apps.

    Your suggestions in solving my problem will be much appreciated.

    Thanks & Regards,
    Kaushal

    • Hi Kaushal,

      Yes, once you’ve rooted your device, you should be able to remove any of the system files you want from your device (including the APK files you’ve mentioned here in your comment). Root just lets you delete anything you want but be cautious while doing so as you may accidentally end-up deleting a required system file and that should cause issues on your device.

      Hope that helps!

      • Kaushal Mittal

        Hi Mahesh,

        Thanks for your kind suggestion. Just wanted to know the steps for unlocking/rooting with Stock. I mean i don’t want to go for custom rom, the purpose is to just delete the .apk files. If you have any idea if these files are safe to delete then just let me know. Also, if any other files that are safe to be deleted then please highlight it.

        Thanks a lot 🙂

  • Abu Zar

    Hi! I’ve got Honor 4C (Android 5.1.1) If I root my device, can I install Marshmallow ROM on it? Has anyone tried rooting like this?

    • You can only install a Marshmallow ROM on your device if one is available. A ROM based on Marshmallow must first exist.

  • Abu Zar

    my Honor 4c can’t load on recovery mode (as shown above “5. Turn your device back on in recovery mode by holding down Volume UP, Volume DOWN, and Power buttons together.”) It is showing just Honor logo and script Powered by Android. Even if I hard reset in the settings or by pressing volume and power keys, none of them worked. What can it be?

  • yo

    Hello, is it possible to root my device without installing a custom rom?

    • Yes, it’s possible and that’s how things actually work. You don’t need to install a custom ROM to be able to root your device. Rooting can be done without a custom ROM.

      Hope that helps!

      • yo

        sure it helped,i followed the process and i have been waiting for about 3 days for the bootloader unlock code.
        do you think that i should wait some more days before sending another e-mail? thanks!

        • Glad it helped!

          Yes, wait a couple more days and see if you get a code. If you still don’t get the code, then send another email to them.

          Thanks!

          • yo

            *Update* I sent a second email and finally got the instructions on how to get my unlock code.
            i unlocked the booloader and flashed the custom recovery.
            BUT, when i try to boot in recovery mode it’s stuck in the first screen which says “honor …powered by android”
            any ideas here? i have followed instructions correctly. thanks 🙂

          • You’re supposed to get into the recovery mode. If you still can’t get into it, use the ADB command “adb reboot recovery” and your device should reboot into recovery.

            Hope that helps!

  • Habeel Ansari

    Is this method bootloop proof. I mean i don’t want to get my phone bootllooped

    • It should’t bootloop your device. It’ll just root and that’s it. Thanks!

  • Dee

    Hi,

    It’s my first time trying to root my phone, and I’ve already installed the ADB drivers on my PC. However I am now stuck on getting the code from Huawei. I emailed them requesting for the code, but instead of giving the code to me right away, they gave me instructions on how to download it from their site. Unfortunately, part of the steps to getting the unlock code is logging in my Huawei ID on my phone for 14 consecutive days. Is this normal? ‘Cause I kind of assumed that they were just going to email me the code.

    Does this mean that I have to wait two weeks just to rot my phone?

    • Hi Dee,

      Usually they get back to you with an unlock code in a week’s time. If it’s taking longer than that, you can send them a follow-up email and ask if they could now send you the code.

      An unlock code is a must if you wish to do the above procedure because you won’t be able to flash a custom recovery on your device if your bootloader isn’t unlocked, and unlocking the bootloader requires an unlock code.

      I’m sure they’ll provide you the code if you just send them a follow-up email.

      Hope this helps!

      • Dee

        Hi Mahesh,

        Thanks for the reply! I did send them a follow up email last night, and all he did was ask again for the details I had already given in my previous email, and then a local email support sent me a message asking for the same details again. Their email support is frustratingly redundant, and they still haven’t given me the code.

        I’m sorry, I know it’s their fault, and that there’s no use complaining about it here. I just wanted to rant lol. Anyway, all I can do now is to wait for them to finally send me tge code.

        Thanks again!

        • Hi Dee,

          Yes, I understand but sometimes they take a little longer to release the code. But don’t worry, just stay in touch with them and they should give you the code.

          Thanks!

      • Dee

        UPDATE: I’ve just successfully rooted my device thanks to this article! I just have a question though. Since my phone is now rooted, that means I could finally delete all the excess files/data left over from uninstalled files, right? Would doing this be safe, and how do I go about doing this?

        Thanks again!

        • Hi Dee,

          That’s awesome! We’re glad we could help you root your device!

          If you’re talking about the stock apps, then you can have them removed using this guide – https://theunlockr.com/2013/06/16/how-to-remove-bloatware-from-your-android-device-video/

          And if you mean the files that are left behind after you’ve uninstalled the apps, then you may try searching Play Store to find such an app that can do that.

          Thanks!

          • Dee

            I actually meant the latter. Again, thanks for all the help!

          • Hi Dee,

            Ah, sorry.

            As I said, you can always search the Play Store to find whatever that you’re looking for, and since you’re rooted, all those apps should work fine on your device.

            Thanks!

  • deepak pandey

    hi I have done everything beside that last part….it was not opening anything in recovery mode so after flashing recovery I used kingroot to root it.. but now i am unable to flash a custom rom as he recoverymode is not opening

    • Hi Deepak,

      The last section tells how you can use the installed recovery to flash the root file.

      Can you not boot into the recovery mode?

  • sadeeq hambali

    HI Mahesh Makvana I WAS JUST WONDERING IF I COULD USE THE ABOVE STEPS TO ROOT MY HUAWEI HONOR 4A DEVICE.

    • Hi Sadeeq,

      I’m afraid this procedure won’t work for the Huawei Honor 4A and I do NOT suggest you to try this on your phone as it may brick the phone.

      Thanks!

  • Imran Md

    Hello Mahesh Makvana. Could you please let me know how to remove CWM recovery on my honor 4c.
    Thank you

    • Hi Imran,

      To remove the CWM Recovery, either you need to flash the stock ROM or you need to flash the stock recovery for your device.

      Hope that helps!

      • Imran Md

        Thank you very much for your reply Mahesh Makvana.
        I tried to follow your steps to root my Honor 4C. Every thing was fine but i was unable to go to CWM Recovery mode. I tried by pressing and holding Volume up, down and Power button. Nothing happened. I could see Honor Logo only. I even Tried to reboot it from ADB command Promt with the command “adb reboot recovery”. But no use. Please Help me.
        Thank you for your time..

        • Should take some practice to get it working. Since the flash a custom recovery procedure has gone well for you, you should be able to reboot into the custom recovery mode.

  • Imran Md

    I have been waiting for your reply here. If you don’t know the solution, why don’t you put the same here…
    Wast of my time.

  • Saman Kumara Eltsn

    Good job all work Huawei 4C CHM-U01 RooT

  • basiiiit

    I can’t download required file it shows page not found please help

  • Kalim Ullah

    i cant download root,zip file
    it says page not found
    please help

  • Zatchie

    HI Sir I am trying to put my phone to recovery mode but its seems that the custom recovery is not responding I am stuck in the logo of honor please help me

    • Hello,

      If you can’t get your device into the recovery mode using the buttons, then use the command “adb reboot recovery” and it’ll reboot your device directly into the recovery mode.

      Thanks!

      • Zatchie

        Hi Sir Mahesh Makvana
        I already flashed the custom recovery but it seems to not work because it is stuck on the logo of huawei.

        • Where does the command “adb reboot recovery” get you to? Did you try this command?

  • MI FKR

    After last process ,I mean after press reboot button my phone doesn’t start. Please help.It just appear logo and again shutdown.