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How to root Nexus 5 on Android 5.1 Lollipop

androidpit nexus 5 bootloader 1
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Although the Nexus 5X is already turning heads, many smartphone users are holding tight to their original Nexus 5. And why not? It's a cracking handset that's now up and running with the latest version of Android, and rooting the Nexus 5 can push its possibilities even further. Find out how to root the Nexus 5 on Android 5.1 Lollipop below. 

androidpit nexus 5 bootloader 2
Get rooted on your Nexus 5 with Android 5.1 Lollipop. / © ANDROIDPIT

Note: This procedure wipes all data from your device, so make a backup before you get started. Also, as with all root-related processes, there are inherent risks involved. Make sure you understand and are happy with them before you proceed, as neither AndroidPIT nor I assume any responsibility for anything that happens as a result of you following the instructions below. 

This tutorial for rooting the Nexus 5 requires an unlocked bootloader running stock Android 5.1 Lollipop (build number LMY47D). Before you start, read up on how to unlock the Nexus 5 bootloader.

How to root Nexus 5 on Android 5.1 Lollipop

1. Make sure your phone has USB Debugging enabled in Developer Options. If you don't have this option in Settings already, go to Settings > About Phone and tap Build Number until the notification that Developer Options have been enabled pops up. Then back out a step and you'll see it at the bottom of your Settings menu.

2. Make sure you have the Nexus 5 USB Drivers installed on your PC (follow the instructions here if you don't).

3. Ensure your Nexus 5 battery is charged to at least 50 percent.

4. Open the ADB Tools folder on your PC. If you don't have it installed already, download ADB Tools here, extract the folders, go to adb-tools_driver > adb-tools_driver > adb-driver and run the 'UniversalAdvDriverSetup' install file.

andriodpit adb tools installer
Make sure ADB-Tools is installed on your computer. / © ANDROIDPIT

5. When the installation is finished, make sure that Fastboot is in the ADB Tools folder. If it isn't, download Fastboot for Windows at the link.

6. Download SuperSU v2.46 on your PC.

7. Copy the SuperSU zip file to the root directory of your Nexus 5. To do this, connect your Nexus 5 to your PC with a USB cable and copy the file to the place where all the root folders are, but don't actually place it in a folder. (Temporarily turn off USB Debugging if your PC doesn't recognize your Nexus 5 is connected.)

androidpit nexus 5 super su install
Drop SuperSU into the root directory of your Nexus 5.  / © ANDROIDPIT

8. Download ClockworkMod custom recovery to your PC and place it in the ADB Tools directory.

9. Restart your Nexus 5 in Fastboot. To do this, turn it off, then press and hold Power and Volume Down until you see the Fastboot menu. The phone should still be connected to the PC with the USB cable.

10. Open a Windows Explorer window and head to the ADB Tools folder.

androidpit nexus 5 root command prompt
This is the Command prompt window. / © ANDROIDPIT

11. In a blank space in the window, hold Shift and right click your mouse. Then click on Open Command Window Here.

12. Type in the following command:

fastboot flash recovery recovery-clockwork-touch-6.0.4.5-hammerhead.img

13. Use the volume keys to select Recovery Mode on your Nexus 5 and hit Power to enter it.

androidpit nexus 5 bootloader 1
This is Fastboot on the Nexus 5: hit Power to enter Recovery Mode. / © ANDROIDPIT

14. From CWM, use the volume keys to select 'install zip' and hit Power to confirm, then select 'choose zip from SD card'.

15. Locate the SuperSU zip you copied over earlier (it should appear at the bottom of the list in /sdcard/0/) and press power to confirm your selection, reconfirm and wait until you see the notification at the bottom of the screen that says 'Install from SD card complete'.

16. Back out to the main menu and reboot your Nexus 5. Make sure you tell your recovery to fix root.

17. The first boot may take a while (this is why you charged your battery) but don't freak out. Go have a cup of tea and just let the phone do its thing. Do NOT unplug your phone from your PC or winged monkeys will fly through the window and do all kinds of terrible things.

18. Once your Nexus 5 has rebooted, you'll be rooted and ready to roll with SuperSU installed. Install RootChecker from the Play Store to double check your root status and grant it superuser access. If you get a green confirmation message, you're all sorted.

19. If you get stuck in a bootloop (meaning after a long time your phone still hasn't booted up normally), you can switch it off, reboot into Fastboot, go to Recovery, wipe data, wipe the cache partition and reboot again. That should do the trick.

What's the first thing you're going to do with your rooted Nexus 5? Let us know in the comments.

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Kris Carlon

Kris Carlon
Senior Editor

Kris is a former AndroidPIT Editor who came to the team via a lengthy period spent traveling and relying on technology to keep him in touch with the outside world. He can usually be found juggling three phones at once and poring over G+ posts, Reddit and RSS feeds.

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47 comments
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  • Abhijit Roy 1
    Abhijit Roy May 26, 2016 Link to comment

    it stucked in bootloop..even i wiped data partition...


  • 6
    Antonio Caser Apr 21, 2016 Link to comment

    Very good. Thanks.


  • 1
    মৃত্তিকার ধূলিকণা Jan 22, 2016 Link to comment

    sir, I am using "Symphony Helio S1", MT6753, Mali- T720, Kernel V- 3.10.65, Android 5.1. I want to ROOT my device. But Every method has been failed. Just SupperSU.Zip is not tried yet. So, 1st i have to make a Custom Recovery.img. But how can i make custom recovery? plz help me someone. I have Stock ROM and Official Firmware


  • wu kerner 1
    wu kerner Jan 15, 2016 Link to comment

    it help me root my phone,thanks.
    nexus5 android5.1 lmy4u1


  • Manjunath koripalli 1
    Manjunath koripalli Dec 31, 2015 Link to comment

    root is unsuccessful.... help me to get it up.. i am using Nexus 5


  • Geeky Android Tips 1
    Geeky Android Tips Dec 17, 2015 Link to comment

    Hey guys I found a better Video


    youtu.be/elt8WoP0eGc


  • 9
    Oscar Rodriguez Murphy Nov 12, 2015 Link to comment

    How about samsung galaxy s5 metro pcs running lalipop 5.1.1 without a computer help me out root it


  • Khaossa 49
    Khaossa Sep 24, 2015 Link to comment

    Great article but I prefer Team Win's TWRP recovery to 8th step.

    https://dl.twrp.me/hammerhead/

    And don't forget change the name from cwm to twrp's img file name.


  • 7
    drkmgiri Sep 23, 2015 Link to comment

    Nexus 5 still great handset. Why to do all this. Thanks.


  • Zed Kay 3
    Zed Kay Sep 5, 2015 Link to comment

    Why screw urself with these many instructions...?? While you have nexus root toolkit!!

    Mohamed KhamisMarcus DickinsonMax Dell'Orco


  • shafee ul kabir (Fahim) 1
    shafee ul kabir (Fahim) Sep 1, 2015 Link to comment

    dude, awesome one as usual but it's not for noobs :V


  • Michael Hagood 2
    Michael Hagood Aug 10, 2015 Link to comment

    Terribly written. He kept saying Platform Tools, which I assumed to be the android-sdk -> platofrom-tools. But no, he meant abd-tools as per the screenshot. Terrible, uneasy to follow instructions.

    Khaossa


  • Nirmal Singh 1
    Nirmal Singh Jul 18, 2015 Link to comment

    Worst article ever written.. I don't know, how is this the first one on google search results. PS. I f*****d up all my settings :(


  • 1
    Christopher Doyon Jun 9, 2015 Link to comment

    Hi, I tried to root my phone but the only things that it is doing is trying to boot. I don't know if it's normal, but it has been doing this for 15 minutes now... Tell me where did I go wrong... Thank you !


  • 1
    Lucas Saldanha May 26, 2015 Link to comment

    Can I make it on android 5.1.1?


    • Khaossa 49
      Khaossa Sep 24, 2015 Link to comment

      Yes you can


  • 1
    Ali Alhaj May 23, 2015 Link to comment

    its a dump question but please does it work on z ultra gpe running 5.1


  • 1
    Jules Chabrier May 9, 2015 Link to comment

    Worked very well ! I'm on 5.1. And i'm french with a bad english skill you have no excuse ;)

    thanks a lot.


  • 1
    Taarush Jain May 4, 2015 Link to comment

    when in recovery mode, it says no command on my nexus


  • 2
    Maximilian Josephs Apr 18, 2015 Link to comment

    This is the worst written guide on the internet

    Jeffrey Toale (F7, Velocitor, Sundark)


  • 1
    Paravej Alam Apr 12, 2015 Link to comment

    WHEN I UPDATE MY NEXUS TO LOLLIPOP MY NEXUS DISPLAY IS OFF MANY TIME BUT PHONE IS ON HOW TO FIX IT


    • 1
      Noah Ginsburg May 31, 2015 Link to comment

      YOU MAY WANT TO TRY TURNING CAPS-LOCK OFF! IT MAKES YOU SEEM LIKE A MUCH MORE MATURE AND REASONABLE INDIVIDUAL!!!!!


  • 1
    cd1 Feb 19, 2015 Link to comment

    can I reflash the stock boot image after I've rooted the device? I guess I won't be getting future OTA updates if my kernel is different than the stock one, so I'd like to make sure of that.


  • 1
    Luiz Henrique Alegria Feb 9, 2015 Link to comment

    I know that the tutorial said that first boot may take ages, but already passed 2 hours. Is that normal? please don't be mad


  • 1
    Liggliluff Jan 20, 2015 Link to comment

    "fastboot flash boot boot.img" - is this an optional step to install a custom rom?
    Because I can't seem to find "boot.img" in the instructions.
    I was just looking for accessing root, and not install a custom rom.

    EDIT: Found it "Extract the zip file and put the boot.img in the ADB Tools folder."


  • 1
    Michelle Petit Jan 7, 2015 Link to comment

    None of the links on devfiles are working, they time out, at least as of right now.


  • 1
    Ruly Jan 2, 2015 Link to comment

    Avast is reporting malware


  • 2
    Zain Sadiq Dec 22, 2014 Link to comment

    how will i do this for android 5.0.1


    • Max Dell'Orco 1
      Max Dell'Orco Sep 23, 2015 Link to comment

      use Nexus Root Toolkit and dont bother about all this procedure.


  • pepperonas 23
    pepperonas Dec 21, 2014 Link to comment

    nice, worked like a charm! :) Thanks, great instruction. :)


    • 2
      Zain Sadiq Dec 22, 2014 Link to comment

      did you do this for android 5.0.1?


  • 2
    Dude Dec 8, 2014 Link to comment

    This isn't an exploit... the entire point of being able to unlock the bootloader is so that you can do whatever you want to the device. If google didn't include that, THEN we'd have to find an exploit.

    Mr. Smartphone


  • 3
    Haytham Adel Nov 22, 2014 Link to comment

    the 2end step is very important about the usb driver i had to know the hard way just unlocked mine yesterday .


  • 1
    Abhishek Sharma Nov 21, 2014 Link to comment

    Just flash a custom recovery & use SuperSu v2.27 Beta.


  • 5
    Stevan Nov 21, 2014 Link to comment

    Just follow instruktions from here :) , i did it in 5 minutes : Cheers!
    youtube/NZERqDx_MW4


    • 5
      Stevan Nov 21, 2014 Link to comment

      or type in Rootjunky.com in youtube and find the video how to root nexus 4,5,6,7,10 :)


  • 3
    Giulio Abramo Nov 20, 2014 Link to comment

    Nexus Root Toolkit: just press a couple of buttons and you're done in less than five minutes 👍

    magnificence


  • Zaid Siddiqui 8
    Zaid Siddiqui Nov 16, 2014 Link to comment

    Chainafire Auto Root! compatible with Android 5.0

    Czacha234kevintexas210


  • 1
    Duncan Blackman Nov 15, 2014 Link to comment

    weryu


  • 2
    Jimmy Setro Nov 15, 2014 Link to comment

    Try cf root. It worked for my nexus 5.

    Xposed framework doesn't work on android l


    • 1
      Louis Hartley Nov 15, 2014 Link to comment

      It dissent work on art (the new android runtime), he says that because he doesn't have much time at the moment we might have to wait for a port to art.


  • 2
    Joao Victor Monteiro Nov 15, 2014 Link to comment

    funciona no nexus 4

    Khaossa


    • Khaossa 49
      Khaossa Sep 24, 2015 Link to comment

      Con cualquier Nexus. / With all Nexus


  • 2
    Jimmy Setro Nov 14, 2014 Link to comment

    first thing I'll do after root is install xposed frame work. and wait for cm12


  • 3
    Shubham Khatri Nov 14, 2014 Link to comment

    not working


    • Kris Carlon 35
      Kris Carlon Nov 20, 2014 Link to comment

      Modified kernel added to the tutorial. Confirmed working now.


      • 1
        Ayush Kumar Jan 2, 2015 Link to comment

        Where is the link to the modified kernel ?and it is not working with giving things. It failed in the first step itself.

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