Last Updated on July 19, 2022 by Mathew Diekhake

Rooting and installing a custom recovery on the ZTE Mustang means you can begin installing the rooted apps from the Google Play Store and new ROMs on your device. Another popular feature from the new custom recovery is taking the NANDroid backup option. The NANDroid backup is most popular for people in between flashing new ROMs since they must wipe all data between flashing ROMs. However, it’s also really useful for anybody who is looking to make backing up a device easier.

Another advantage of having root and recovery is you can install the NANDroid Manager app on your device which requires root access. Now you can restore individual partitions at a time after performing a complete backup using the NANDroid Backup feature from the CWM recovery.

ZTE Mustang

Files You Need

  1. Download the CWM recovery from this XDA Developers thread. The link is in the first post.
  2. Download the SuperSU from this page.
  3. You must have ADB and Fastboot set up on your computer before you can complete this guide.
  4. Rooting your ZTE Mustang will void the warranty of the device. You can unroot and that same warranty will start working again.

Rooting the ZTE Mustang (Z998)

  1. Make sure you have the Developer Options enabled by heading to the Menu > Settings > About Device > tap the build number until the Developer Options is unlocked.
  2. Now enable the USB Debugging Mode by heading to the Menu > Settings > Developer Options > USB Debugging Mode.
  3. Connect the ZTE Mustang to the computer and transfer the SuperSU (zipped) over to the root of the SD card.
  4. Transfer the CWM recovery file over to the same folder as ADB and Fastboot.
  5. From within the same folder as ADB, hold the Shift key and right-click the mouse to bring up a new menu.
  6. Choose to open a new command prompt window from that new menu.
  7. Type the command: fastboot boot z998-cwm-recovery.img
  8. Look on the display and choose to enter the recovery mode on your device. You’ll need to scroll through the menu using the
  9. Once loaded, tap the navigate to the ‘Install’ option and upload the SuperSU file from the SD card.

That’s all.

Confirm you want to install that SuperSU file and then navigate back to the main recovery menu and choose the option to reboot your system.