Unlock Bootloader & Root Huawei Mate 10, Mate 10 Lite & Mate 10 Pro

About a month ago, Huawei released its Mate 10 flagship series. The Mate series brought several smartphones. These phones included the Huawei Mate 10, Mate 10 Pro, Mate 10 Porsche Design and the Mate 10 Lite. All these phones have the same design, some of the hardware aspects are also the same. The Mate 10 is the standard variant, Mate 10 Pro is the one with a big screen, the Porsche Design is the Porsche Signature smartphone and the Mate 10 Lite is the one with less powerful hardware.

Huawei Mate 10 series is running quite well. All these phones have the 18:9 display ratio which is why these are attracting the users in masses. Huawei Mate 10 Lite and Mate 10 Pro have full HD screens and the Mate 10 has a QHD display. Mate 10 and Mate 10 Pro is powered by Kirin 970 CPU and the Mate 10 Lite is powered by Kirin 659 CPU.  The Mate 10 Lite is slightly more popular because of a very budget-friendly price. The Mate 10 and Mate 10 Pro run on Android Oreo and Mate 10 Lite runs on Android Nougat out of the box.

Unlocking the bootloader and rooting these phones

All these phones have been successfully unlocked (talking about the bootloader), blessed by a custom recovery and have been rooted as well. If you have managed to get one of these, it’s time for you to unlock their real potential. Unlocking bootloader of your phone is important since you need to install a custom recovery on it. Unlocking the bootloader will stop the OTA updates and it will also wipe your phone completely. If you are brave enough to take this very first step, the remaining steps to install a custom recovery and root the phone shouldn’t be a big deal to you.

Unlocking the bootloader of your Huawei Mate 10 means you no longer care about the warranty of your phone. The bootloader is responsible for checking the security of the system on your phone. If you unlock it, your phone will no longer check the system for any kind of modifications. The bootloader has the kernel code responsible for booting up your phone. This is the reason why smartphone manufacturers keep it locked by default. If you want to unlock the bootloader, you have to agree to the terms and conditions given by the smartphone manufacturer. Android enthusiasts who are used to flashing and rooting do not care much about the bootloader. If you are doing it for the very first time, it’s important to understand the pros and cons.

Without unlocking the bootloader, you cannot install a custom recovery on your phone which means you cannot root your phone either. If you have already made your mind to flash a custom recovery on your phone and root it, then let’s head towards the tutorial now. The TWRP recovery is still in the beta stage, so we will skip it for now. For now, we will only unlock the bootloader and root the phone. Here’s a comprehensive guide to unlock bootloader & Root Huawei Mate 10, Mate 10 Lite & Mate 10 Pro.

Unlock Bootloader & Root Huawei Mate 10, Mate 10 Lite & Mate 10 Pro

Precautions & Preparation

• This guide is intended for Huawei Mate 10 only. Do not try this method on any other device otherwise, you may result in bricking it.
• Make sure that your phone’s battery is charged up to 80% in order to avoid any power issues during the flashing process.
• Backup all of your important contacts, call logs, SMS messages and media content to stay on a safe end. Do not forget to create a backup since this process is supposed to wipe your phone completely.
• Enable USB debugging mode on your phone in developer options. To do so, go to settings > about device > tap build number for 7 times. You will have developer options in settings now. Open developer options > Enable USB debugging. If you have the “OEM Unlocking“ option, enable it as well.
• Use your original data cable to establish a connection between your phone and your PC.
• Follow this guide to the letter to avoid any mishap.

Disclaimer: The methods involved in flashing custom recoveries and rooting the device are highly custom. Rooting the device and flashing a custom recover is never recommended by a device manufacturer. In case something goes wrong, TechBeasts or the device manufacturers may not be held responsible. Make sure that you’re doing everything at your own risk.

Required downloads & installations

1. Download and install Huawei USB drivers.
2. Download and install Minimal ADB & Fastboot drivers.

How to Unlock Huawei Mate 10 Bootloader

1. Unlocking bootloader will wipe your device. Make sure that you’ve backed up everything before going ahead.
2. Install Huawei’s HiCare app on your phone and call the support in HiCare. Request them to get your bootloader unlock code. You will have to provide your email, IEMI and serial number.
3. Huawei will send you your bootloader unlock code through an email in a few days or in a few hours.
4. Make sure that you’ve downloaded and installed Minimal ADB & Fastboot drivers on your Windows PC or installed Mac ADB & Fastboot for Mac.
5. Connect your phone to your PC now.
6. Now open Minimal ADB & Fastboot.exe from your desktop. If you do not have this file on your desktop, then go to your Windows installation drive i.e. C drive > Program Files > Minimal ADB & Fastboot > Press and hold Shift Key + Right-click on an empty area with the open folder > click “Open command window here”.
7. Now in the command window enter the following commands one by one.

• adb reboot-bootloader

  This will reboot your Nvidia Shield in bootloader. Once booted up, issue the following command.

  fastboot devices

  This command will verify the connection of your device with your PC in fastboot mode.

• fastboot oem unlock (bootloaderunlockcodexxxxxxxxxxxx)

  This command will unlock the bootloader. As soon as you press the enter key after typing this command, you will get a message in your phone asking for the confirmation of bootloader unlocking. Use volume up & down keys to navigate through options and confirm unlocking.

Now that your phone’s bootloader has been unlocked, your phone will be completely wiped. You will have to enable USB Debugging and OEM Unlocking once again after your phone is completely set up. You can jump up to the next section to root your Mate 10 now.

• Huawei Mate 10 Lite users can use this guide: How to install TWRP Custom Recovery & Root Huawei Mate 10 Lite

How to Root Huawei Mate 10, Mate 10 Pro and Mate 10 Lite

1. Download and unzip FHMate10tool.
2. Connect your phone to your computer once again.
3. Open the Minimal ADB and Fastboot.exe command window.
4. In the command window enter the following command: adb reboot bootloader
5. This command will reboot your phone in the bootloader mode now.
6. Now you need to run the FHMate10Tool.exe file.
7. In the newly opened screen, you will find the options to root your phone. The first option is “Root your Mate 10”.
8. Type 1 now and press Enter.
9. You will find a few more on-screen instructions. Follow the procedure now and you will get your phone rooted.
10. Once your phone is rooted, it will reboot and all of the USERDATA will be completely erased. SuperSU will be installed on your phone.

So that’s how we rooted Huawei Mate 10, Mate 10 Pro and the Mate 10 Lite. In case you have got any queries, feel free to drop them in the comments section below.