How to Unlock and Root the Elephone U Pro

The Elephone U Pro is an upper-range budget phablet that packs a Snapdragon 660 octa-core SoC,  with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage. It uses a stock Android Oreo OS. Spec wise, its very comparable to a Xiaomi Note 3, which the price point reflects.

In this guide, we will show you how to unlock the Elephone U Pro bootloader, and root it using Magisk. It is a bit complicated because traditional method for locking and unlocking the bootloader is only possible on the 20180227 base firmware, but it has no fastboot commands. Later updates introduced fastboot commands, but removed the bootloader unlocking.

Thus, we have a few steps to perform – read through this guide very carefully, and comment if you have any issues. Warning: Unlocking your bootloader will factory reset the device, erasing all your user data. Backup all important data before proceeding!

Requirements

1. First download the, QFIL FlashTools, and the QFIL flashable ZIP.
2. Extract the QFIL flashable zip to your desktop, and reboot your Elephone U Pro into EDL mode. You can do this either via ADB, or by the hardware buttons.
3. For getting into EDL mode via ADB, launch an ADB terminal on your computer (hold shift + right click inside your main ADB folder and choose ‘Open a Command Window Here’).
4. In the ADB terminal, type ‘adb shell’ followed by ‘reboot edl’
5. For the hardware keys method, you must connect your Elephone U Pro to your PC via USB, then hold Vol Up + Vol Down + Power at the same time, until the device reboots into EDL Mode.
6. Once your device is in EDL mode, go inside the extracted QFIL folder, and launch the QFIL Flashtools program.

7. In QFIL FlashTools, browse to the extracted QFIL flashable folder, and add the necessary files (firehose, raw_unparse.xml, patch0.xml)  to the “Select Build: Content XML” field. Set the “Select Build Type” to Flat Build.
8. Now allow it to flash to your device, and when it’s done, disconnect your USB cable and allow the device to reboot to the Android system.
9. When you’re in the Android system, enable USB Debugging and OEM Unlock via Developer Options. To enable Developer Options, go to Settings > System > About > tap Build Number 7 times.
10. After you have enabled OEM Unlock and USB Debugging, reboot to the bootloader mode (hold Power + Vol. Down together until the LED flashes green, then release Power while continuing to hold Vol. Down).
11. When you are in Bootloader Mode, you can reconnect the USB cable and launch a new ADB terminal on your computer.
12. In the ADB terminal, type: fastboot flashing unlock
13. Your device will go through the unlock process, which includes factory reset. When its done, it will boot to the Android system, and you can go through the Android setup wizard.

Root the Elephone U Pro

1. Download the TWRP .zip and extract it. There will be a file named “TWRP_Elephone_U_Pro.img”, rename it to “recovery.img” and place it in your main ADB pathway (in the same folder as ADB.exe!)
2. Download the Magisk .zip and copy it over to your Elephone U Pro’s external storage.
3. Launch an ADB terminal on your computer, and type the following command: fastboot reboot
4. If that command doesn’t work, manually reboot your device into recovery mode using the hardware keys (Vol. Up + Power)
5. Once you are in recovery mode, type into ADB: fastboot flash recovery recovery.img
6. This will flash the TWRP recovery onto your Elephone U Pro. Now you can type fastboot reboot to launch your device into the freshly installed TWRP.
7. Once you’re in TWRP, do not allow modifications when prompted.
8. Go to Install > SD Card > Magisk.zip, and swipe to flash it.
9. You can now reboot your Elephone U Pro, and install the Magisk Manager app, which should confirm your root status.

The post How to Unlock and Root the Elephone U Pro appeared first on Appuals.com.