One of the advantages of owning the OnePlus 2 is that it is very easy to root and has a flourishing developer community surrounding it. The handset is almost as easy to root as a Nexus device, so if you are looking for a device to tinker around with, but don’t want to spend a fortune on, the OnePlus 2 is your best bet.
However, if you are new to the Android ecosystem, rooting an Android device can turn out to be an intimidating and complex experience. Worry not though, as below I have provided the detailed steps on how you can easily gain root access on your OnePlus 2.
Note: Before you proceed further, it is highly recommended that you create a backup of all your important data on the OnePlus 2. Rooting the handset requires you to unlock the bootloader first, which will wipe the internal storage of the device clean.
Step 1: Download all the files linked below on your PC.
- ADB/Fastboot: Windows | Mac
- Windows 7/8.1 drivers for OnePlus 2
- TWRP recovery (Rename to something simple like ”recovery.img” after downloading it)
- SuperSU
If you are using a Mac, extract the contents from the ADB/Fastboot ZIP file inside a new folder called ‘oneplus’ on your desktop.
For Windows, users simply need to follow the instructions shown on the screen to install the ADB/Fastboot files on their PC. When prompted, make sure to install the them system wide. There is no need to install the drivers from ADB/Fastboot installer, since you will be installing them separately. Once ADB/Fastboot is installed, proceed to install the drivers on your PC.
Step 2: On your OnePlus 2, head over to Settings -> About Phone and tap on ‘Build Number’ 7 times to enable the hidden ‘Developer Options’ menu. Then, go back to the Settings menu followed by Developer Options. Enable the ‘Allow OEM Unlock’ option from this menu. Also enable the ‘Advanced Reboot menu’ option.
Step 3: Now, long press the Power button to bring up the Power menu. Tap on Reboot and then select the ‘Bootloader’ option.
Unlocking the bootloader
Step 4: Connect the device to your PC and start a new Command prompt or Terminal window. Use the ‘cd’ command to navigate to the ‘oneplus‘ folder on your desktop. The below command should work for majority of the users:
cd/desktop/oneplus
Alternatively, you can simply drag ‘n’ drop the ‘oneplus’ folder to the Terminal or Command Prompt window as well.
Step 5: Run the following command to first make sure that the OnePlus 2 is being detected by your PC.
fastboot devices
Mac users will need to prefix a “./” before every Fastboot or ADB command you run. Therefore, the above command will look something like this for you:
./fastboot devices
If your device is detected, you will receive a valid response along with the device ID of the handset. If not, you will get a timed out error in which case you need to repeat Steps 1-4 mentioned above.
Step 6: Finally, unlock the bootloader of your OnePlus 2 by running the following command:
fastboot oem unlock
You’ll need to confirm the selection on your handset by pressing the Volume Up button. Your device will reboot during the process. Once done, your OnePlus 2 should automatically boot back into Android. If not, use the Volume buttons to highlight the ‘Start’ option and then confirm it by pressing the Power button. The first boot can take a significant amount of time so be patient.
Flashing TWRP recovery
Step 7: Transfer the SuperSU ZIP file to the internal storage of your OnePlus 2. Then repeat steps 2 and 3 from above to boot your the device back into Bootloader mode.
Step 8: Connect the device to your PC, and then execute the below command to install TWRP recovery on it.
fastboot flash recovery recovery.img
Step 9: You now need to boot your OnePlus 2 into TWRP recovery. You can either do that manually by selecting the ‘Recovery’ option from the bootloader menu or by executing the below command:
fastboot boot recovery.img
Step 10: After your OnePlus has booted into TWRP recovery, tap on ‘Install’ and then navigate and select the SuperSU zip file. Confirm your selection by swiping the arrow to the right.
Step 11: Once the SuperSU zip file has been installed, select the ‘Reboot system’ option. The first boot after installing the zip file will take notably longer, but this will be a one-off incident.
Make sure to open the SuperSU app once after your OnePlus 2 has boot back into Android to update its binary.
Now that you have successfully rooted your OnePlus 2, you can try out some amazingly powerful apps for Android that require root access to work. Make sure to check out our list of the top five root apps for Android.
