How to Root LeEco Le 2 and Install TWRP: Step by Step, Detailed Guide

           Le 2 is a great device with disruptive pricing. But do you know how you can make it even better? Well, rooting it would be the way. This way you will be able to gain system access on the phone and do a whole lot of customization and even install other ROMs like MIUI when they are available. However, the only catch is that rooting Le 2 is not as easy as rooting Le 1s with one click root. Things are a bit complicated, but if you follow this guide step by step, I am sure you will have no issues.

Note: I have tested these steps with the Indian retail unit running on Qualcomm Snapdragon 652, EUI 5.6 and Android M. If you have any doubts, please clarify them before proceeding.

The Prerequisites

There are a few things you needed to take care of and be aware of, prior to starting the process. So please go through them and make sure everything is in place before starting to root the Le 2.

1. All the data will be wiped from the Le 2 and that not only does that include the user settings, but also internal storage. So make sure you have backed up everything from your phone and stored it on your computer or cloud storage to restore later. You can also check out the Helium Backup app to back up apps along with their data without root access.

2. Disable any screen lock (PIN or Pattern) from your device. Please note that this step is very important and you must not ignore it.

3. Having done that, enable the Developer options on the phone and enable USB debugging so that you can interact with the device using the ADB command line. You will also have to enable OEM Unlocking to allow the boot loader to be unlocked using ADB.

4. Download ADB and Fastboot drivers  from this XDA page and install them on your computer. There is an easy guide and installation is a matter of simple yes or no choices, and once it’s installed, you will get system wide ADB and Fastboot.

5. Download and extract the file Le 2 Rooting and save it on a folder in desktop. Let’s name the folder ‘Le2 rooting’ so that it’s easier for me to reference it later in the article.

So those were the necessary prerequisites before you proceed with rooting. Also, just want to make things clear that after this, you are on your own. I have documented the steps that worked for me and will definitely work for you too if you follow it step-by-step. Still, if anything happens to your phone to as small as alarm not going on in the morning, you cannot blame us.

Part 1: Unlocking Bootloader and Installing Custom Recovery

Step 1: Plug in your Le 2 to your Windows computer and then fire up the command prompt from the Le2 Rooting folder by righ-clicking on the folder and holding the Shiftkey. At the same time, you might get an RSA security warning on your Android when you connect it to the computer with USB debugging. Allow all access here so that you are able to execute ADB commands from the command prompt.

Step 2: In the command prompt, type in the following commands to check if the ADB is able to communicate with the device and then to reboot the phone in Bootloader mode.

adb devices

adb reboot bootloader

You will see a similar result in your command prompt too.

Step 3: Having done that, it’s time to unlock the Bootloader. Execute the following commands one after another. Please note that this step will erase everything on your device.

fastboot oem unlock

fastboot oem unlock-go

Step 4: Now to install the custom recovery, type and execute the following command and hit enter.

fastboot flash recovery recovery.img

Note: We will have to also delete user data to bypass the device encryption. To do that, execute the command:

 fastboot format userdata

Having done all that, please do not reboot the phone or you will have to  clear the user data once more. Instead, press and hold the Power+Volume Up button to open up TWRP recovery.

Part 2: Rooting the Le 2

Step 1: When the TWRP recovery loads up, it’s highly likely that it loads in the Chinese language. So to change it to English, tap on the buttons shown in the screenshots that follow, choose English and save the settings.

  

Step 2: Once you understand the language, navigate back to the home screen and tap on Mount to mount the internal storage. On your computer, copy the super user file to internal memory that you extracted to the Le2 Root folder.

  

Step 3: Take a Nandroid backup of the stock ROM and make a backup of it on your computer so that you have a unmodified ROM if you ever need it.

Step 4: Now unplug the phone from the computer and select Install ZIP in TWRP. Select the SuperSU Zip file and wait for the process to complete.

Now it’s time to reboot your phone and it might take some time for the first boot. You will have to configure everything again and restore the backup to get going. You will see the SU icon and you can install root checker to be sure.

Conclusion

So that was how you can root Le 2 running on Snapdragon SoC. If you follow it step by step, I am sure will not have any hiccups. Still, if you have any doubt, please feel free to ask me in the comments section.