Last Updated on September 7, 2024 by Mathew Diekhake

Stock ROM on an Android phone is not supposed to provide the user with everything that he or she wants. In order to customize your phone the truly your way, you need to root it and install a custom recovery on it.

If you happen to have a Motorola Moto X Force running on Marshmallow, you can have it flashed with a custom recovery which then helps you root your phone. Once that is done, you can then begin your journey to customize your phone the way you want; no restrictions at all.

If that sounds good to you and you wish to do that, here’s how to first install TWRP Recovery on your Moto X Force and then root your phone:

Files You Need

  1. The bootloader on your phone must be unlocked before you can install a custom recovery on it. If you have not done so yet, please do so now.
  2. This should flash a custom recovery called TWRP on your Moto X Force.
  3. This procedure has been written keeping the Windows version of Fastboot in mind. If you are on Linux or Mac, the steps will slightly vary.
  4. Ensure that the Motorola USB drivers are installed on your Windows computer. Install them if they are not already.
  5. Download TWRP Recovery to your computer. It is the recovery that will be flashed on your phone.
  6. Download Fastboot to your computer. It should help you flash the recovery on your phone.
  7. You should only try this on a Motorola Moto X Force with the model number XT1580.

Installing a Custom Recovery on the Motorola Moto X Force Running on Marshmallow

  1. Unzip files from Fastboot over to your computer by right-clicking on it and selecting Extract here. That should make the files available for your use.
  2. Unlock the developer menu on your phone by heading to Menu->Settings->About phone and tapping on Build number for 7-8 times and it will say you are a developer.
  3. Head to the newly unlocked menu at Menu->Settings->Developer options and turn on USB debugging.
  4. Plug in your phone to your computer using a suitable USB cable.
  5. Copy TWRP Recovery over to the Fastboot folder.
  6. Launch a command prompt window in the fastboot folder by opening the folder, holding down Shift on the keyboard and right-clicking anywhere on the screen and selecting Open command window here.
  7. When the command prompt window opens, type in the following command and hit Enter.
    adb reboot bootloader
  8. It should reboot your phone into bootloader mode.
  9. When your phone enters the bootloader mode, issue the following command using command prompt window:
    fastboot devices
  10. Make sure your device appears in the command prompt window. If it does not, check the drivers.
  11. Now, 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 TWRP Recovery image that you have downloaded to your computer.
    fastboot flash recovery twrp.img
  12. Wait for Fastboot to flash TWRP on your phone.
  13. When Fastboot’s done flashing TWRP, reboot your phone using the following command:
    fastboot reboot
  14. Your phone should reboot.
  15. You are all done!

You have successfully installed TWRP Recovery on your Motorola Moto X Force running Marshmallow and you can now reboot into the recovery mode either using bootloader mode or using the adb reboot recovery command.

Now that your phone has a custom recovery, head over to our how to root the Motorola Moto X Force tutorial and root your phone. That way you will allow your phone to be installed with the so-called root-requiring apps that let you further customize your phone.

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