Last Updated on July 4, 2022 by Mathew Diekhake

The Sony Xperia X Performance is the successor to the Sony X phone that was launched sometime ago. While both the phones mentioned here are identical, the former one packs more power than the latter one. As the name implies, the X Performance brings with it more performance enhancing goodies like more processing power and a larger battery.

If you have got the phone in your hands, you would realize that it really is a phone worth having in your life. While the phone runs the latest Android 6.0 Marshmallow, you can root the phone and add tons of new features to it.

Before you root, you will need to unlock the bootloader on the phone. Unlocking bootloader is the first step towards rooting your phone, and the following guide shows how you can go about using the official method for unlocking the bootloader on the Sony Xperia X Performance.

So, go ahead and get your bootloader unlocked, folks:

Things You Should Know

  1. Unlocking the bootloader voids the warranty of the phone. Please only do this tutorial if you are sure you do not need the warranty.
  2. This should use the official method to unlock the bootloader on the phone.
  3. The bootloader unlocking process should remove all the data stored on your phone. So, please backup everything that you wish to preserve or it will be gone forever.
  4. This tutorial has been written keeping the Windows version of Fastboot in mind. If you are on Mac or Linux, the steps will slightly vary for you and you will need to install either ADB for Mac for ADB for Linux on your computer.
  5. If you are on Windows, download and install the Sony USB drivers on your computer. Without the drivers, your computer will not be able to recognize your phone.
  6. Your phone must have the support for unlocking the bootloader. To check if your phone is one of those that can be bootloader unlocked, open the dialer on your phone and dial *#*#7378423#*#* to access the service menu. From there, tap on Service info followed by Configuration and Root Status. Make sure the Bootloader Unlock Allowed says Yes or you will not be able to do the following tutorial.

Files You Need

  1. Download Fastboot and save it to your computer. You will use it to execute commands on your phone.

Unlocking the Bootloader on the Sony Xperia X Performance

  1. Extract files from Fastboot over to your computer by right-clicking on the Fastboot archive and selecting Extract here. It should make the files available to use.
  2. Head over to the official Sony Bootloader Unlock website and choose Xperia X from the dropdown menu for bootloader unlock and click Continue. Until the company makes Xperia X Performance available in the menu, you will need to select the Xperia X and that should not cause any issues in the process.
  3. Either log-in with your existing account or create a new account using your email address on the Sony website.
  4. Once you have done logging-in, you will be asked to input the IMEI number of your phone. You can find out the IMEI number of your phone by dialling *#06# from the dialpad on your phone. You will get a 15-digit code and that is your phone’s IMEI number. Type it on the Sony website and proceed further.
  5. As soon as you have submitted the IMEI number of your phone, you should see an unlock code on your screen. Copy it to your clipboard as you are going to use it to unlock the bootloader on your phone.
  6. On your phone, head to Menu->Settings->About 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.
  7. Head to Menu->Settings->Developer options on your phone and turn on USB debugging.
  8. Enable the Allow OEM Unlocking option by heading to Menu->Settings->Developer options on your phone and turning on that option.
  9. Plug in your phone to your computer using a suitable USB cable.
  10. Open a command prompt window in the Fastboot folder. To do that, open the folder, hold down Shift on your keyboard and right-click anywhere on the screen and select Open command window here.
  11. When the command prompt window opens, type in the following command and press Enter:
    adb reboot bootloader
  12. Your phone should reboot into the bootloader mode.
  13. With your phone in the bootloader mode, type in the following command into the command prompt window and press Enter:
    fastboot devices
  14. Ensure your phone appears in the list. In case it does not, it is probably a drivers’ issue and you will need to re-install the drivers on your computer to fix the issue.
  15. If your phone appears in the list, type in the following command into the command prompt window and press Enter. Make sure to replace KEY with the unlock code you have got from Sony.
    fastboot -i 0x0fce oem unlock KEY
  16. It should start unlocking bootloader on your phone.
  17. Allow the prompts on your phone so the bootloader can be unlocked.
  18. When Fastboot’s done unlocking bootloader, you need to reboot your phone. Use the following command in command prompt window to reboot your phone:
    fastboot reboot
  19. Your phone should reboot.

And you are all done. The bootloader on your Sony Xperia X Performance is now unlocked and you can now go ahead and install a custom recovery on your Xperia X Performance using our guide.

Your phone can now be flashed with a custom recovery and a custom ROM as the restrictions it had on it no longer exist.

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