How to Root Motorola Google Nexus 6 (shamu) and Install TWRP Recovery 3.4.0

If you own a Motorola Google Nexus 6 and also want to root the device and flash the TWRP Recovery 3.4.0, then you are on the right page.

Nexus devices have been manufactured mostly by four manufacturers, which are LG, Huawei, HTC, and Motorola. The Nexus 6 has been made by Motorola. Motorola Google Nexus 6 boasts of a stunning 6-inch Quad-HD display, which is great for watching movies, playing games, and reading an e-book, as well as surfing the web. The larger screen provides more space to read the e-Books, docs, and watching movies or playing games. It has dual front-facing speakers, which delivers the quality sound, which makes the users immerse themselves in the videos and games.

There is a 13-megapixel camera, which features optical image stabilization, as well as HDR+. The 3200mAh battery provides the up to 24 hours backup on a single charge. It supports the quick charging with the Motorola Turbo Charger, which takes just 15 minutes to charge the device to use for 6 hours. The device launched with Android 5 Lollipop operating system, which can be upgraded to the Android 7.0 Nougat officially. It runs on a 2.7 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 Quad-core CPU, coupled with an Adreno 420GPU and 3GB of RAM. It has 32GB of internal storage, and also comes in a 64GB storage variant. The device weighs 184 grams and has a 5.96-inch AMOLED display with 1440×2560 pixels resolution with a 16:9 aspect ratio, and 493ppi pixels density. The device weighs 184 grams and supports Qi Wireless Charging.

If you are an Android Enthusiast and want to Root and Install TWRP recovery on your beloved, then you have landed on the right page. In the due course of the article, we will be guiding you through the process to root Nexus 6.

The TWRP features the material design, and attractive user interface (UI), and by following this guide you can install the latest TWRP for Nexus 6. You can download TWRP Recovery from the links provided in the pre-requisite section of this article. Kindly note that this is an official TWRP recovery and is only for Nexus 6 (Kindly confirm the model by going to Settings>About). The process given below is merely for rooting and installing TWRP on Nexus 6, do not try out this method on any other device.

If you want to unleash the full potential of the hardware of your Nexus 6, then rooting and flashing custom recovery like TWRP is the main concern. The Stock ROMs have often limited and unsupported features in the sense of Customization. When you have a rooted device and also flashed TWRP recovery, then you are free to install any Custom ROMs, Mods, Kernel, and Xposed, etc., as well as many apps that require root access to work properly. You can easily root the device with One Click Android Root Tool, with either via PC or through the APK, which is a quick process.

Brief Details and Advantage of TWRP Recovery

TWRP (Team Win Recovery Project) is an open-source, community development project. By flashing the TWRP, your device will be enabled to install any custom firmware, rooting your smartphone, mod zip files for customizations, Xposed Modules for customized features, one-click root and unroot processes. Apart from that, it allows you to take Full Nandroid Backup and restore it later, one-click image file flashing, remove bloatware, overclock and underclock. Using TWRP, one can easily clean Wipe, Cache, and Data after flashing any image file to reflect the changes and rectify minor errors due to cache.

For installing the TWRP, your Nexus 6 phone must have the Unlocked bootloader. That means you have to firstly unlock the bootloader to root your device as well doing any customization.

Prerequisite

Ensure to check your model number, which must be:

• Motorola Google Nexus 6 XT1100 (Codename: shamu)

Supported Firmware:

• Google Nexus 6 N8I11B Android 7.1.1 Nougat

You must have to ensure that prior to rooting your phone, you have read thoroughly the disclaimer and you agree to proceed further on your risk.

• Phone Should be Charged

Your phone must be 70% charged at least, else, it may lead to complications sometimes while experimenting. Why take the risk, try to charge it fully.

• Back-Up

If you are either going to root your phone or install a Custom ROM, it is a good habit to make a back up of your phone. Make a back up of all your media like images, videos and all on your PC and your contacts on Cloud.

• Enable USB Debugging

(Applicable only for PC method, Skip if you will use APK method)

You must enable the USB debugging option by going into Settings, Applications and Developer options.

Downloads For Rooting Nexus 6

Download Motorola USB Drivers here

Download Universal ADB Drivers here (If your PC have already drivers installed then skip this)

Download platform-tools/ SDK Tools package from Android SDK on PC from here. (Android command line tools> SDK Tools package)

Download TWRP Recovery for Nexus 6 from here:

TWRP Recovery 3.4.0-0 (Official TWRP Link)

Download SuperSU by Chainfire from here.

Make sure that you have downloaded the required files (link in the pre-requisite section of this article). Then, proceed to the steps.

Steps to Unlock Bootloader of Nexus 6

Note: If you have already unlocked bootloader, then skip these steps.

Step 1: First, you need to connect your Nexus 6 Device to the computer, in Fastboot Mode. You can reboot your device to fastboot using the command in ADB terminal:

adb reboot bootloader

Step 2: Now, open the Adb Terminal in PC, and then just enter this command:

fastboot oem unlock-go

Step 3: Then, issue this command:

fastboot oem unlock-go

At this stage, your device will be reboot automatically. Now, you can Root Nexus 6, as the bootloader of your device is already unlocked.

Steps to Flash/ Install TWRP 3.4.0 on Nexus 6

Step 1: Assuming you have already downloaded the platform-tools from Android SDK (SDK Manager) platform-tools on your PC. The platform-tools contains the required ADB and fastboot binaries.

Step 2: Make sure that the drivers are installed on your computer. Then, skip to the next step.

Note: If Developer Settings and USB Debugging settings are already enabled on your device, as suggested in the Prerequisite section, then simply skip Step 3 and Step 4, and follow Step 5 directly.

Step 3: Now, enable the developer settings on your Nexus 6 Device. To achieve the same, just navigate to the Settings -> About and then find the ‘Build Number ‘, and then tap on ‘Build Number’ for 7 times, this will enable the developer settings on your device.

Step 4: If you have USB Debugging already, then skip this step. If you have not, then open the Developer Options and then enable the USB debugging option.

Step 5: Now, open the command prompt in computer/ ADB Terminal, and simply type the command:

adb reboot bootloader

Step 6: Your device should have not entered into fastboot mode. Now copy the TWRP.img file downloaded in prerequisite section, to the same folder where ADB and fastboot binaries are located. Rename the file to ‘twrp.img’ and then enter this command:

fastboot flash recovery twrp.img

and then run this command, type:

fastboot reboot

Step 7 (Important): Some devices might not replace the custom recovery automatically during the first boot. You can search Google for key combinations to enter your device into recovery mode. After running the ‘fastboot reboot’ command, press and hold the proper key combination to enter the device into TWRP Mode. Once the device boots to TWRP mode, the TWRP will automatically patch the stock ROM, to prevent the chances of replacing TWRP with Stock Recovery.

After typing fastboot reboot, hold the key combo and boot to TWRP. Once TWRP is booted, TWRP will patch the stock ROM to prevent the stock ROM from replacing TWRP. If you don’t follow this step, you will have to repeat the install.

Procedure to Root Nexus 6/ Install SuperSU

Make sure that you have downloaded SuperSU (link in the pre-requisite section of this article). Then, proceed to the steps.

Step 1: Transfer the downloaded SuperSU.zip file to the internal storage / SD card of your Nexus 6 smartphone.

Step 2: Now, just boot into the recovery. From the TWRP interface, you can optionally backup the Stock ROM. Though, I would recommend to backup the Stock ROM. Because if in case process gets failed, you can flash the Stock ROM.

Step 3: Tap on Install ‘, and then navigate to the file ‘SuperSU.zip’ and swipe to confirm flash (located at the bottom of the screen). The flashing process of SuperSU has been started and will take a few seconds to complete.

Congratulations, now you have rooted Nexus 6 and also flashed the TWRP. Now, you can install the Xposed Framework, and customize your smartphone as per your preference. If you wish to verify, you may download and check the Root Status through the Root Checker app.