Last Updated on July 19, 2022 by Mathew Diekhake

Although the LG Nexus 5X runs the latest and the greatest version of Android – the Android 6.0 Marshmallow – it still has the potential to be further customized with root-access.

If you are one of those early birds having this great phone of the year, you should definitely go ahead and root your phone to then be able to tinker around with the operating system. Once you have root, you can run root-requiring apps, flash a custom recovery, flash a custom ROM, and do many more things on your phone. And what’s more, all these things are often free for you to use.

LG Nexus 5X

So, here’s how you can go about rooting your LG Nexus 5X:

Files You Need

  1. The bootloader on your phone must be unlocked before you can do this tutorial. Follow our recovery tutorial to get your bootloader unlocked.
  2. You must have a custom recovery installed on your phone before you can root it. Please follow our how to install a custom recovery on the LG Nexus 5X tutorial to flash a custom recovery on your phone.
  3. This flashes SuperSU to achieve root access on your phone.
  4. Download SuperSU to your computer. Do NOT extract it, leave it as is.

Rooting the LG Nexus 5X

  1. Connect your phone to your computer using a USB cable. Your phone must be in data transfer mode so that it can receive files from your computer.
  2. Copy SuperSU .zip from your computer over to the internal SD card storage on your phone. Place the file in the root directory so that it is easily accessible in the later steps.
  3. When SuperSU .zip is copied, unplug your phone from your computer as you no longer need a computer to root your phone.
  4. Turn off your phone completely.
  5. Turn your phone back on in bootloader mode. To do that, hold down Volume DOWN and Power buttons together for a few seconds.
  6. When the bootloader menu shows up, select the option that says Recovery to get into the recovery mode on your phone.
  7. You should then reboot into the custom recovery mode on your phone. The following steps assume that you have flashed TWRP recovery on your phone.
  8. Once in recovery mode, select Install on the first screen.
  9. Navigate to where you copied the SuperSU .zip file and select it to be flashed on your phone.
  10. Tap on Swipe to Confirm Flash to confirm flashing.
  11. TWRP should begin flashing SuperSU on your phone.
  12. When it is done flashing SuperSU, reboot your phone by tapping Reboot followed by System.
  13. Your phone should boot-up in normal mode.
  14. You now have root access!

Cheers! Your LG Nexus 5X is now rooted and the same can be confirmed using Root Checker on your phone.

You now have an unlocked bootloader, a custom recovery, and root-access on your LG Nexus 5X. Well, that is all you need to be able to get the most out of your phone. Go ahead and install some root-requiring apps, flash a custom ROM, and do everything that you have always wanted to do with your phone!

While doing customizations to your phone, make sure that you do not overdo things or you will be in trouble. For instance, if you keep on trying new custom kernels despite knowing their disadvantages, you risk bricking your phone which then cannot be restored to the stock.

As long as you do things that you know are good for your phone, you are fine. So, go ahead and enjoy the newly found freedom on your phone.

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