How to install Official TWRP Custom Recovery on OnePlus 5T

OnePlus 5T has been blessed by an official build of TWRP custom recovery. If you have managed to get your hands on this latest beast by the Chinese giant, it’s time to unleash its true power. The OnePlus 5T is equipped with top-of-the-line hardware and it runs on Android 7.1 Nougat out of the box. OnePlus 5T has the 18:9 display ratio which makes this phone join the edge-to-edge display brigade. OnePlus 5T’s custom development is in a full swing. There’s a plenty of mods and custom ROMs already out on this phone. To begin flashing all the goodies, you just need the latest build of TWRP recovery running on your phone.

An unofficial build of TWRP was available for this phone earlier. Just today, the official build landed in for this phone. There’s no need to flash an unofficial version when you have an official and fully working version of TWRP available for your phone. TWRP can give you a complete control over your phone. If you don’t already know about the advantages of a custom recovery like the TWRP, it’s important to know beforehand what you are going to get.

A custom recovery like the TWRP recovery gives you the options like backing up all partitions of your phone. It also allows users to backup and restores Nandroid. It’s possible to backup and restore EFS as well using a TWRP recovery. Users can flash individual partitions including Cache, Dalvik Cache, System, Data and internal/external storage. With the help of TWRP, you can also sideload custom ROMs, applications, and mods. Another use of TWRP custom recovery is the option to change the format of partitions on your phone. The most frequent use of a custom recovery is the flashing of SuperSU or Magisk to root the phone.

Installing TWRP on a phone like OnePlus 5T is a matter of a few minutes. There are a few compromises that you have to make. The very first thing is, it requires you to unlock the bootloader which means you will lose the warranty on your phone. Also, the installation of TWRP will turn off the OTA updates for your phone. You will have to update your phone manually if a new update comes up. While there are a few more cons like this, there definitely is a long list of pros as well. Android enthusiasts who frequently flash custom recoveries and ROMs find it no big deal to lose the warranty. If you are one of them, you should be comfortable with the process we are about to follow.

It’s time to put this discussion to an end and get back to the purpose of this guide. Let’s go through the comprehensive steps to install Official TWRP Custom Recovery on OnePlus 5T.

How to install Official TWRP Custom Recovery on OnePlus 5T

Things to take care of:

1. This guide is only for the OnePlus 5T. Do not try this on any other phone.
2. Backup your contacts, call logs, text messages and media content.
3. Enable USB Debugging mode on your phone. To do so, go to Settings > About Phone > Tap the build number for 7 times. Now get back to Settings > scroll down > open Developer Options > Enable USB Debugging now.
4. Enable OEM Unlocking on your phone. To do so, go to Settings > About Phone > scroll all the way down > Developer Options > Enable OEM Unlocking.
5. Enable Advanced Reboot. To do so, go to Settings > About Phone > scroll down and open Developer Options > Enable Advanced Reboot.
6. Unlock the bootloader of your OnePlus 5T.
7. Use original data cable to connect your OnePlus 5T to your computer.
8. Follow this guide carefully.

Required installations:

• Download and install Minimal ADB and Fastboot drivers on your computer.
• Also, download and install OnePlus USB drivers on your computer.
• Download Official TWRP Recovery.img file for OnePlus 5T. Rename the downloaded file to the only recovery.img for your ease.

Install TWRP custom recovery on OnePlus 5T

1. Open the Minimal ADB and Fastboot directory. The directory should be located in a location such as C:\Program Files (x86)\Minimal ADB and Fastboot.
2. Copy the TWRP Recovery.img file to the Minimal ADB and Fastboot directory now.
3. On your computer, open the Minimal ADB and Fastboot.exe from the desktop. This will open the command window.
4. Now press the power button on your phone, tap Reboot > Bootloader now. If the option is not appearing here for you, turn off your phone and then turn it on by pressing and holding Volume Up + Power button. This will boot your phone into the bootloader or fastboot mode.
5. Now connect your phone to your computer.
6. Now in the command window, enter the following commands one by one.
   1. fastboot devices
      1. This command will verify connection in the fastboot mode.
   2. fastboot flash recovery recovery.img
      1. This command will flash the TWRP custom recovery on your OnePlus 5T.
   3. fastboot boot recovery.img
      1. This command will reboot your phone into the newly installed TWRP recovery. Do not reboot your phone into the system directly from here. You need to root your phone before booting into the system. Here’s a guide to root the OnePlus 5T now.