How To Root The LG Nexus 4

October 27, 2015

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This guide will show you how to root the popular LG Nexus 4 phone from LG.

Disclaimer: FlexiSPY is not responsible for rooting the Android device in any way.  Before performing any of these steps make sure you back up your Android device completely.

Rooting is done entirely by you at your own risk.

What is needed to root the LG Nexus 4?

In order to root the LG Nexus 4you will need the following.

  • The LG Nexus 4 you want to root in your hand.
  • A PC.

Step 1 – Set up the Android SDK environment on your PC

Before you can run the rooting tools on your PC to root the Eye you must first set up the Android development environment correctly.

In order to use Fastboot to root the LG Nexus 4 you must have the Android SDK downloaded and installed on to your computer.

You can download the SDK from here.

Step 2 – Download the LG Nexus 4 custom recovery

In order to root the phone you simply download a root file to your PC which you can get here.  Once downloaded save it and extract it to an easy to access location on your PC such as the desktop.

Step 3 – Download SuperSU

Connect the LG Nexus 4 to your computer and download the SuperSU APK file from here and save it to your computer desktop.  Once saved on your computer, copy it to the connected device.

Step 4 – Boot the LG Nexus 4 into Fastboot mode

In order to run the root file you must boot the LG Nexus 4 in to bootloader mode which is done as follows:

  1. Make sure the LG Nexus 4 is turned off completely.
  2. Hold down the volume down key, volume up key and the power button until the phone starts up and you see green text and then connect it to your PC.

Step 5 – Flash the custom recovery to the LG Nexus 4

With the phone in Fastboot mode and it being connected to the PC do the following:

  • On your PC navigate to where you installed the Android SDK to from step 1 and go into the Platform-Tools folder where you will see exe.
  • Hold down the shift key and right-click in the window and choose Open Command Window Here
  • In the command window that appears type fastboot flash recovery openrecovery-twrp-2.6.0.0-mako.img and press Enter to flash the custom recovery file from step 2 to the device. When that has completed disconnect the device from your computer.

Step 6 – Root the LG Nexus 4

You now need to put the LG Nexus 4 in custom recovery mode.

  1. Make sure the LG Nexus 4 is turned off completely.
  2. Hold down the volume down key, volume up key and the power button until the phone starts up and you see start highlighted.
  3. Select Recovery from the list using the volume down key and press the power button to confirm.
  4. When the device boots in to recovery mode choose Install and browse to the SuperSU zip file you copied to the device in step 3.
  5. Once that has been flashed successfully restart the device.

You should now see SuperSU is installed as a new application which means that the LG Nexus 4 is now rooted.

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