How To Guide Asus ROG phone 5: unlock bootloader and root guide

[m8822]

Asus rog phone 5 guide

note: you follow this guide on your own responsibility. also You should note that unlocking via the official Asus app will void warranty and blacklist the device for future otas.

bootloader unlock:
! note that unlocking the bootloader will erase the phone, back up your data before starting !
- install asus unlock application from asus website (direct link)
- open the app, scroll to the bottom accept the user agreement
-scroll to the bottom, click on agree. enter your pin
- your phone should now reboot and you should see the warning message indicating that you have unlocked bootloader

! now if you don't see the warning screen and your phone was not formatted, this means this unlock method didn't work and you should seek other methods !

updating to the latest ww firmware
- download the latest firmware zip from asus website (direct link) to Version WW-18.0830.2101.86.
-move the .zip file to your main storage directory.
the phone should detect the update file, if it doesn't reboot your device and it should detect it.

after updating, set up your device, then install magisk app (download link)

extract the boot.img from the above software downloaded from asus, using payload dumper (google it).

then copy the extracted boot.img to your phone.
install magisk.
open magisk
click install.
choose patch boot.img
once the patch is completed, copy the patched boot.img to you pc
for further info, magisk patching guide
on your PC you need to install your device drivers, and ADB & fastboot. and enable usb debugging on your device

flashing patched boot image
- open adb, approve the request on your device
- enter the command

adb devices

you should see your device and authorized. if not find a guide how to access your device
-next reboot to bootloader using the command

adb reboot bootloader

- in bootloader flash the boot.img from above using the following command

fastboot flash boot boot.img

where boot image should be the address to the location of your boot image.
if you boot image is on your D:/ drive and in a folder called rootstuff.
your command should look like this.

fastboot flash boot D:\rootstuff\boot.img

once you flash the patched boot.img, reboot your phone.
open magisk app, check your root status you should be rooted.

congratulations

 

[Psych0t1c20]

Check pm's.

 

[sabnack]

- open the app, scroll to the bottom accept the user agreement
-scroll to the bottom, click on agree. enter your pin
- your phone should now reboot and you should see the warning message indicating that you have unlocked bootloader

hello and thank you very much for the detailed guide.
i was ready to do all that, i always unlock and root my devices so i'm savvy just enough to try, or so i thought.
after using asus unlock tool and rebooting, my phone ended up showing the indicated warning message but proceeded in a bootloop which is not generally a great problem, you can always flash partitions with fastboot !
But in my case the phone doesn't get recognised by "fastboot devices" command in bootloader mode nor in fastbootd (yes i have the latest adb & fastboot package installed with the latest platform tools)
so now i've got a very espensive and fancy paper holder.
if any of you encountered the same problem or maybe knows a way to get the device to be recognised by my pc I'll be very happy to donate for your trouble.
i already downloaded the latest firmware and extracted it with payload_dumper.py.
thank you very much to any of you who will take time to look into my issue.

 

[sabnack]

also may i suggest adding a step to your guide ?
before flashing boot.img it might be a good idea to try it first using

Fastboot boot boot.img

i've had problems in the past with some bad patched boot.img images and this may be a way to avoid problems.
sorry if this sound patronising. just wanted to help

 

[hilary trump]

also may i suggest adding a step to your guide ?
before flashing boot.img it might be a good idea to try it first using

Fastboot boot boot.img

i've had problems in the past with some bad patched boot.img images and this may be a way to avoid problems.
sorry if this sound patronising. just wanted to help

Thanks, is your currently rooted now? I tried module "Fullscreen/Immersive Gesture" to hide the annoying,ugly gesture indicator (thank Apple & Google for great idea). All worked except gesture swipe up from bottom to open desktop. Do you know any module to hide that pill

 

[sabnack]

Do you know any module to hide that pill

I'm sorry i don't know but i will gladly look into that issue as soon as i can boot my phone, currently i'm stuck in a bootlop and my phone doesn't get recognised. i put all my hopes in the unbrick tool at this point, whenever it will be out.
I will let you know

 

[m8822]

Thanks, is your currently rooted now? I tried module "Fullscreen/Immersive Gesture" to hide the annoying,ugly gesture indicator (thank Apple & Google for great idea). All worked except gesture swipe up from bottom to open desktop. Do you know any module to hide that pill

the root guide worked on another rog 5, however mine is completely nricked and i myslef is waaiting for unbrick tools

 

[sorankira]

hello and thank you very much for the detailed guide.
i was ready to do all that, i always unlock and root my devices so i'm savvy just enough to try, or so i thought.
after using asus unlock tool and rebooting, my phone ended up showing the indicated warning message but proceeded in a bootloop which is not generally a great problem, you can always flash partitions with fastboot !
But in my case the phone doesn't get recognised by "fastboot devices" command in bootloader mode nor in fastbootd (yes i have the latest adb & fastboot package installed with the latest platform tools)
so now i've got a very espensive and fancy paper holder.
if any of you encountered the same problem or maybe knows a way to get the device to be recognised by my pc I'll be very happy to donate for your trouble.
i already downloaded the latest firmware and extracted it with payload_dumper.py.
thank you very much to any of you who will take time to look into my issue.

Connect your phone with the side port it will work.

 

[sabnack]

Connect your phone with the side port it will work.

yes it did work, i flashed every partition and now i'm locked again, recovery doesn't work, could you please dump yours and post it ? hope i'm not asking too much.

EDIT: nevermind i finally solved it, i flashed a raw img of the system, it works now, thanks for your time

 

[sorankira]

Asus rog phone 5 guide

note: you follow this guide on your own responsibility. also You should note that unlocking via the official Asus app will void warranty and blacklist the device for future otas.

bootloader unlock:
! note that unlocking the bootloader will erase the phone, back up your data before starting !
- install asus unlock application from asus website (direct link)
- open the app, scroll to the bottom accept the user agreement
-scroll to the bottom, click on agree. enter your pin
- your phone should now reboot and you should see the warning message indicating that you have unlocked bootloader

! now if you don't see the warning screen and your phone was not formatted, this means this unlock method didn't work and you should seek other methods !

updating to the latest ww firmware
- download the latest firmware zip from asus website (direct link) to Version WW-18.0830.2101.86.
-move the .zip file to your main storage directory.
the phone should detect the update file, if it doesn't reboot your device and it should detect it.

after updating, set up your device, then install magisk app (download link)

extract the boot.img from the above software downloaded from asus, using payload dumper (google it).

then copy the extracted boot.img to your phone.
install magisk.
open magisk
click install.
choose patch boot.img
once the patch is completed, copy the patched boot.img to you pc
for further info, magisk patching guide
on your PC you need to install your device drivers, and ADB & fastboot. and enable usb debugging on your device

flashing patched boot image
- open adb, approve the request on your device
- enter the command

adb devices

you should see your device and authorized. if not find a guide how to access your device
-next reboot to bootloader using the command

adb reboot bootloader

- in bootloader flash the boot.img from above using the following command

fastboot flash boot boot.img

where boot image should be the address to the location of your boot image.
if you boot image is on your D:/ drive and in a folder called rootstuff.
your command should look like this.

fastboot flash boot D:\rootstuff\boot.img

once you flash the patched boot.img, reboot your phone.
open magisk app, check your root status you should be rooted.

congratulations

Mine causes bootloop

 

[m8822]

Mine causes bootloop

What ? Why!

what happened? Did you get this after unlocking the bootloader or after boot.img?

My troubkeshooting will consiste of flashing raw, but i am not sure if that will lock your bootloader

 

[sabnack]

Mine causes bootloop

can you enter recovery and fastbootd ? if you only get access to bootloader, flashing a raw image does work !
then you can apply ota update zips from booted android and subsequently patch boot.img extracted from payload.bin from the ota update.
worked for me and i thought i bricked my device. let us know if we can do something to help.

 

[sorankira]

can you enter recovery and fastbootd ? if you only get access to bootloader, flashing a raw image does work !
then you can apply ota update zips from booted android and subsequently patch boot.img extracted from payload.bin from the ota update.
worked for me and i thought i bricked my device. let us know if we can do something to help.

I fixed the bootloop but without root access

 

[sabnack]

I fixed the bootloop but without root access

i believe you already have version WW-18.0830.2101.86 for WW only ( i just checked, i believe it was you who posted it here ). you can use this guide to extract boot.img from the payload.bin from the "UL-ASUS_I005_1-ASUS-18.0830.2101.81-1.1.64-user.zip" then if you continue by following the guide at the top of this thread you will be rooted in 15 minutes at most.

 

[sorankira]

i believe you already have version WW-18.0830.2101.86 for WW only ( i just checked, i believe it was you who posted it here ). you can use this guide to extract boot.img from the payload.bin from the "UL-ASUS_I005_1-ASUS-18.0830.2101.81-1.1.64-user.zip" then if you continue by following the guide at the top of this thread you will be rooted in 15 minutes at most.

Yes i used this method, and causes bootloop sadly.

 

[sabnack]

Yes i used this method, and causes bootloop sadly.

oh ! dammit it's weird... you could try to patch the boot image with another phone.
or maybe the update file isn't right for your phone. i don't get it

 

[Handeman707]

Somebody successfully succeeded with the bootloader & Rooting this Asus ROG 5 phone?

 

[miguel.jackass]

my experience rooting was as follows:
I bought the rog phone 5 I005DA in china, in which the store changed the rom CN to WW version WW-18.0830.2101.86 and blocked the bootloader.

When my hands arrived I updated the firmware to WW-18.0840.2103.26 (the last one available).
I followed all the steps in this post and I was successful with root.

(Attention, extract the boot.img from the firmware that you currently have installed on the phone)

 

[m8822]

my experience rooting was as follows:
I bought the rog phone 5 I005DA in china, in which the store changed the rom CN to WW version WW-18.0830.2101.86 and blocked the bootloader.

When my hands arrived I updated the firmware to WW-18.0840.2103.26 (the last one available).
I followed all the steps in this post and I was successful with root.

(Attention, extract the boot.img from the firmware that you currently have installed on the phone)

how did you open the bootloader? using asus app?

because it did not work before i rooted i was on 2101.86 at the time. i tried goind down to 2100.95 also did not work.

i had to rent a guy to do it via edl. which he is not sharing the method because he wants to make money

 

[miguel.jackass]

how did you open the bootloader? using asus app?

because it did not work before i rooted i was on 2101.86 at the time. i tried goind down to 2100.95 also did not work.

i had to rent a guy to do it via edl. which he is not sharing the method because he wants to make money

I updated the firmware to the latest official version, extract the boot.img from the last official firmware, and installed the official unlock tool from the ASUS website, I just had to follow the tutorial.