How to Root the Sony Xperia Z2

Rooting is the process of gaining administrative rights on your Android device.  Once we root our Android device, we can then make changes to it to customize it well beyond what it normally can do.

Once you have root access on your Sony Xperia Z2, you’ll be able to:

• Remove apps that were preinstalled by your carrier/manufacturer from your device.
• Free up storage space (because of the above benefit).
• Increase battery life (apps that might have been running constantly can be removed).
• Increase performance (after removing apps that are always running, the device will be less bogged down and run smoother).
• Update to a new version of Android (by flashing a custom recovery/ROM, see the end of this procedure for more info on that).
• Tons of other customizations when you use your new found administrative rights to flash a custom ROM (again, see the end of this procedure for more info on that).

Interested? Here’s how to root your Sony Xperia Z2:

I. Before You Begin

1. This will void the warranty of your device. However, you can reinstate the warranty by unrooting your device if there’s any unrooting procedure available.

2. You must have unlocked your bootloader. If you haven’t done so yet, please head to the guide over here and get your bootloader unlocked first.

3. This should only work on stock Android 4.4.2 (17.1.A.2.55 – v02 AND 17.1.A.2.36 – v01).

4. This only works on Windows based PCs.

II. Downloading Required Files

1. Download Fastboot and save it to your Desktop.

Fastboot

2. Download CWM Recovery and save it to your Desktop.

CWM Recovery (Download link’s given in the first post)

3. Download SuperSU .zip and save it to your Desktop.

SuperSU (Download link’s available in the second post)

III. Flashing a Custom Recovery on the Sony Xperia Z2

1. Extract files from Fastboot by right-clicking on it and selecting Extract here.

2. Right-click on CWM Recovery Image and select Rename and enter boot.img as the new name.

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

4. Plug in your device to your PC via USB cable.

5. Launch a Command Prompt Window on your Desktop. To do that, simply hold down Shift and right-click on any blank area on your screen and select Open command window here.

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

adb reboot bootloader

7. Your device should reboot into bootloader mode.

8. Now type in following command into the Command Prompt Window:

fastboot flash boot boot.img

9. It should flash the CWM Recovery Image on your device.

10. Once done, issue the following command:

fastboot reboot

11. You’re all done!

IV. Rooting the Sony Xperia Z2

1. Connect your device to your PC via USB cable.

2. Copy the SuperSU .zip file from your Desktop over to the root of your SD card.

3. Once the file’s been copied, unplug your device from your PC.

4. Turn OFF your device.

5. Turn it back on by holding down Volume Up and Power buttons together.

6. You should now be in recovery mode.

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

8. Choose the SuperSU .zip file you copied earlier to be flashed on your device.

9. It should start flashing the file on your device, shouldn’t take too long to finish.

10. Once it’s been flashed, reboot your device by selecting reboot system now.

11. You’re now rooted!

All set! Now, you can head to our How to Flash a Custom ROM procedure for the Sony Xperia Z2 to open up a whole new world of customizations for your Android device!

By the way, don’t be scared, you can always put your device back to stock by heading to our Rooting How To’s section, finding your device, and doing the How to Unroot listed for it there.