How to Root the LG G5 (Video)

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How to Root the LG G5 (H850, European Version)

Download the Necessary Files:

  1. Download TWRP Recovery and save it to your desktop.
    TWRP Recovery (Download the latest version available)
  2. Download SuperSU and save it to your desktop.
    SuperSU

Unlocking the Bootloader on the LG G5 (European)

  1. Head to Menu > Settings > About phone > Software info on your device and tap on Build number for 7-8 times and it’ll say you’re a developer. It should unlock the developer menu for you.
    Unlock Developer Menu
  2. Head to Menu > Settings > Developer options and turn on USB debugging.
    LG G5 USB Debugging
  3. Head to Menu > Settings > Developer options and enable Enable OEM unlock.
  4. Connect 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 inside the adb folder on the C drive, that we got when doing the how to setup ADB tutorial linked in the Before You Begin above, and selecting Open command window here.
    Open CMD Window
  6. Type in the following command into the command prompt window and hit Enter:
    adb reboot bootloader
    LG G5 Reboot Bootloader
  7. Your device should reboot into bootloader mode.
  8. Type in the following command into the command prompt window and press Enter:
    fastboot oem device-id
  9. You’ll get a long string of text in the command prompt window. Copy it all excluding white spaces and <bootloader> parts to your clipboard.
  10. Head over to the LG’s Bootloader Unlocking website and follow the unlocking process and enter the long string of text when asked.
  11. They’ll send you the unlock file called unlock.bin to your email. Download it and save it to your desktop.
  12. Get back to the command prompt window and enter in the following command:
    fastboot flash unlock unlock.bin
  13. It’ll flash the unlock file on your device.
  14. When the file’s flashed, reboot your device using the following command:
    fastboot reboot
  15. Your device should reboot.

And there you go, your bootloader’s now unlocked.

Now that you have unlocked your bootloader, you can go ahead and flash a custom recovery and then immediately flash SuperSU to root the device. Here’s how to do that:

Flashing a Custom Recovery and Rooting the LG G5 (European)

  1. Plug in your device to your PC using a USB cable.
  2. Copy SuperSU .zip from your desktop over to the internal storage on your device. Place the file in the root directory so it’s easily accessible.
  3. When SuperSU is copied, unplug your device from your PC.
  4. Hold down Volume UP and Power buttons together on your device.
  5. Your device should reboot into bootloader mode.
  6. Plug in your device to your PC using a USB cable.
  7. 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.
    Open CMD Window
  8. Type 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.
    fastboot flash recovery twrp.img
  9. Wait for it to flash TWRP Recovery on your device.
  10. When it’s done flashing TWRP, use the following command to reboot into the recovery mode. Again, make sure to replace twrp.img with the original name of the TWRP image file.
    fastboot boot twrp.img
  11. Your device should reboot into TWRP Recovery.
  12. Tap on Install in the recovery menu.
    LG G5 Install
  13. Navigate to your internal storage and select SuperSU .zip to be installed on your device.
    Flash SuperSU
  14. Tap on Swipe to Confirm Flash to flash the file on your device.
    Confirm SuperSU Flash
  15. When it’s done flashing file, reboot your device by selecting Reboot followed by System from the recovery menu.
    Reboot System
  16. Your device should reboot.

And that’s all there is to gaining root on the European variant of the LG G5.

Conclusion

So that’s how you can gain root on T-Mobile and European variants of the LG G5. You now have a custom recovery that you can use to install a custom ROM on your device or check out the LG G5 ROMs section for ROMs if you already know how to flash them.

If you ever want to undo this, you can use David’s how to unroot the LG G5 tutorial.

Let us know how this procedure went for you in the comments below!

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  • Jason

    So I can’t do this root on a Sprint LG G5 even if its unlocked?

  • Ridwan Tella

    my device wont boot into bootloader when i hold down the power and volume up button

    • What device do you have and for what carrier?

      • Ridwan Tella

        Device- Lg g5
        Carrrier-Three (European version)

        • What step are you on exactly? If it’s bootloader mode you’re trying to get into use adb reboot bootloader command while plugged in and of you mean download mode you need to take out the battery first put it back in and hold volume up while plugging it in (no power button).

  • Matija Poleksic

    C:adb>fastboot flash unlock unlock.bin
    error: cannot load ‘unlock.bin’

    this is all I can get to ..

    • That means it is not in the right folder. Check here for someone who solved the issue for a different phone, otherwise, redo the tutorial and make sure you did everything EXACTLY. Good luck – https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1315947

      • Matija Poleksic

        its helps, and worked

        ! thanks so much!

        • Glad it worked and thanks for reporting back!

    • Matija Poleksic

      Hold down Volume UP and Power buttons together on your device.. don’t work for me 😕

  • Javid Dashti

    Hiya I’m having some trouble with step 10 on “Flashing a Custom Recovery and Rooting the LG G5 (European)”. I have no problem flashing the TWRP recovery on my device, but when I type “fastboot boot XXXX.img” in to cmd, it does not reboot and says
    “downloading ‘boot.img’…
    OKAY [ 0.726s]
    booting…
    FAILED (remote: unknown command)
    finished. total time: 0.750s”

    Can you help me??
    Thanks!

    • Javid Dashti

      It may be helpful to you if I mentioned that the volume UP and power button combo did not put my phone in to bootloader mode, so I did it manually when it was connected to my PC using adb reboot bootloader command. I am using an EE (european) LG 🙂

      • Terre Gravitationel

        i have the same problem how did you do pls….

      • Robert Lobo

        same here too. flashing works, but no chance to boot it. unknown command…

    • At what step do you see that command? You mean fastboot boot twrp.img? Are you typing that or actually typing XXXX?

      • Javid Dashti

        Thats right, at the fastboot boot twrp.img step. And no, I type “fastboot flash recovery twrp-3.1.0-0-h850”

        • Javid Dashti

          https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/010956bc56227dd78cdcbcc7175cac9d1e17bb08b021e5b29d7638916b6c0d11.jpg Once the recovery step has been completed, I type “fastboot boot twrp-3.1.0-0-h850.img” and in response it says “C:UsersJavidDesktop>fastboot boot twrp-3.1.0-0-h850.img
          downloading ‘boot.img’…
          OKAY [ 0.731s]
          booting…
          FAILED (remote: unknown command)
          finished. total time: 0.753s”

          And my device remains on the bootloader mode..

          • Rename the twrp file to twrp so you can type just twrp.img instead of the long name first. Then reflash it using the step before it then boot into it using the next command.

            If that doesn’t work try the other versions of the recovery (renaming each as you download it to twrp) and see if that works.

            Otherwise there isn’t much else I can do from here without physically being there. I’d recommend googling the error and phone model and see if anyone else had the issue and posted their solution.

          • Javid Dashti

            Hi again,
            I renamed the file, then retried the steps above as you explained, but the exact same issue has occurred 🙁
            Could it be that I’ve done an earlier step incorrectly? I’ve copied and pasted the BETA-SuperSU-v2.74-2-20160519174328.rar file in to my internal storage so I dont know what is causing the issue. Thanks again for all your help!! https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/49ce7ad87127c82ff0f6c96161f6cf14763d3fe05cc1eeb7e515f304d18ca66d.jpg

  • Paul Wilson

    Will this root process work for android 7.0?

  • Nocey Dorian

    My lg g5 model is F100L, its from korea, can u please tell me how to root this?

    • That is not a G5. It’s an Optimus Vu. You’d have to search for a rooting tutorial for that model.

  • Mike Tapper

    Now my phone is done for.., cant reconnect it to my pc, stopts in that werid 3 step screen.., need to Unlock the OEM, but i’m not eveing getting to my home screen..

      • Mike Tapper

        i’ve treid the reset that way, but still stuck at the thing that says i need to Unlock the OEM..

        • Sorry but you need to then do that using this tutorial there isn’t much else I can do for you without literally standing there with you. Just start over. Good luck.

          • Mike Tapper

            Thanks btw, after some trying and pushiong myself a bit more i got it working, but thanks for the help you could give as much as you could!

          • So glad you got it to work! Enjoy!