After you have unlocked the bootloader on your Huawei P9 Plus, you will probably want to install a custom recovery and root your phone. As you already know, the process of flashing a custom recovery is not that difficult if you just have an unlocked bootloader.

Once you have installed a custom recovery on your phone, you can then use the recovery to flash SuperSU, which will help you gain root on the phone. That way, you will have a custom recovery along with root access on your phone and that is the very thing that you need to be able to play around with the custom Android stuff.

This is what you need to get TWRP Recovery installed on the Huawei P9 Plus smartphone and then get root access to it.

Details You Should Know

  1. You must have unlocked the bootloader on your phone before you can do this tutorial. If you have not done so yet, please head to our how to unlock the bootloader on the Huawei P9 Plus tutorial and do so first. Then, return here and continue.
  2. This tutorial uses the Windows version of Fastboot to flash a custom recovery. If you happen to use a computer that runs either Mac or Linux, you will need to install ADB for Mac or ADB for Linux on your computer.
  3. You should have ADB USB drivers installed on your Windows computer. Install the drivers if they are not already installed.
  4. The guide should flash a custom recovery called TWRP on your Huawei P9 Plus phone.
  5. The guide will flash SuperSU to gain root access on the Huawei P9 Plus phone.
  6. You should only try this on a Huawei P9 Plus. Doing this on any other phone will brick the phone.

Files You Need

  1. Download Fastboot and save it to your computer. It will be used to send commands to your phone.
  2. Download TWRP Recovery for Huawei P9 Plus and save it to your computer. It is the custom recovery that will be flashed on your phone.
  3. Download SuperSU and save it to your computer. It will help you root your phone.

Installing a Custom Recovery on the Huawei P9 Plus

  1. First off, extract files from Fastboot over to your computer by right-clicking on the Fastboot archive and selecting Extract here. The extracted files can now be used.
  2. Head to Menu->Settings->About phone on your phone and tap on Build number for 7-8 times and it will say you are a developer. It means it has unlocked the developer menu on your phone.
  3. Head to the developer menu at Menu->Settings->Developer options and turn on the option that says USB debugging.
  4. Once USB debugging is enabled on your Huawei P9 Plus phone, connect your phone to your computer using a suitable USB cable.
  5. Copy TWRP Recovery .img over to the folder where you have extracted Fastboot files. It is the folder where fastboot.exe exists.
  6. Open a command prompt window in the Fastboot folder by opening the folder, holding down the Shift key on the keyboard, 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 press Enter:
    adb devices
  8. Ensure your phone appears in the list. If it does not, reinstall the drivers and restart your computer.
  9. If your phone appears in the list, go ahead and type in the following command into the command prompt window and press Enter:
    adb reboot bootloader
  10. Your Huawei P9 Plus phone should reboot into the bootloader mode, and that is where you can flash a custom recovery on your phone.
  11. Enter in the following command into the command prompt window and press Enter:
    fastboot devices
  12. Make sure your phone appears in the list which indicates your phone is recognized in the bootloader mode by your computer.
  13. Next up, type in the following command into the command prompt window and hit Enter. In the following command, replace twrp.img with the actual name of the recovery image you have downloaded:
    fastboot flash recovery twrp.img
  14. It will start flashing TWRP Recovery on the Huawei P9 Plus phone. Wait for it to do that.
  15. When it’s done flashing TWRP Recovery, you need to reboot your phone which can be done using the following command:
    fastboot reboot
  16. Your phone should reboot.

Cheers, you have successfully flashed a custom recovery on your Huawei P9 Plus and your phone is now all set to be rooted.

Here’s how to do that:

Rooting the Huawei P9 Plus

  1. Plug in your phone to your computer using a compatible USB cable.
  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 it is easily accessible.
  3. When SuperSU is copied, unplug your phone from your computer.
  4. Turn off your Huawei P9 Plus phone entirely using the Power button.
  5. When your phone has completely turned off, hold down Volume UP and Power buttons together on the phone.
  6. Your Huawei P9 Plus phone should reboot into the recovery mode.
  7. When TWRP Recovery launches, tap on the option that says Install. The option allows you to install a file on your phone.
  8. Navigate to the internal SD card storage on your phone and find and select SuperSU .zip to be installed on your phone.
  9. Tap on Swipe to Confirm Flash to confirm the flashing of SuperSU.
  10. Wait for TWRP Recovery to flash SuperSU on your phone.
  11. When it’s done flashing SuperSU, reboot your phone by selecting Reboot followed by System from the recovery menu.
  12. Your Huawei P9 Plus phone should reboot.

You are all set.

Your Huawei P9 Plus should now be rooted, and you can confirm the same for yourself by downloading and installing Root Checker on your phone.

So, that was all you had to do to be able to enjoy custom developments, such as custom ROMs and custom kernels, on your phone. Now that you have all the tools on your phone go ahead and get some custom things running on your phone. And, if you lack ideas, check out our post that gives some ideas on what can be done with a rooted phone.

Let us know if this worked for you!

You might also be interested in:

Have something to say? You can contribute to this tech article by leaving a comment below.

Take Into Account:

Team Win often release several TWRP Recovery files for a particular device. They always recommend installing the latest version of TWRP available to avoid compatibility issues. If you have updated the firmware on the device recently and the most recent version of TWRP is not working, then try downgrading the firmware and trying again.

Some custom ROMs that are newer might not be compatible with older versions of TWRP Recovery. You can fix that issue by updating to the latest version of TWRP also.

You can visit the official Team Win Recovery Project home page and scroll down the list to find your device to get the most recent version if the version available in this guide is not working for your device.