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How to Root the Nexus 6

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Google’s new Nexus 6 is a powerful flagship smartphone full of impressive specs and features. It runs pure stock Android 5.0 Lollipop and has a massive display. The device is already excellent out of the box, but for those who’d like to root the Nexus 6, here’s how.

Even though the Nexus 6 is packed full of features and options, many users still love to root their device for additional functionality or control. Just like jailbreaking an iPhone, many Android users root to gain additional control over their device. I rooted my Nexus 6 to disable encryption, but to each his own.

Read: Nexus 6 Review

Rooting Android is a process that allows smartphone and tablet owners to have additional control or “Root Access” of the Android operating system. Which is usually done so owners can get around carrier or manufacturer limitations (like hotspot blocks) removing third party apps and bloatware, installing custom roms, themes or icon packs, or to alter settings to each users own desire.

That all being said, being a Nexus device root and unlocking the bootloader is extremely easy, so lets get it done.

Nexus-mac

Before we get started it’s worth mentioning that unless you’ve already unlocked the bootloader on your Nexus 6, rooting it will require the user to wipe all data. As in, wipe the phone completely to the stock state and erase all user data, apps, and information. It is rather easy to restore it all, so if you’d like to root, we’ll explain just how easy it is below.

First you’ll have to access the developer options menu which is hidden in settings. Below is a guide to enabling this on the Nexus 9, and the same rules apply for the Nexus 6 and all android smartphones or tablets.

Read: How to Enable Developer Options on the Nexus 9 (or Nexus 6)

Once you’ve enabled developer options you’ll have to head into that option in settings and turn on the “Enable OEM Unlock” switch. This is the first step, and once done you can then proceed below.

Nexus6-unlock

Again, as a reminder, OEM Unlock will unlock your bootloader and erase all data on your smartphone so proceed with caution and back up anything of importance.

Instructions

Now that you’re aware of what is going on and have prepared your smartphone to be unlocked and rooted, one simple file is all you need to download to get all of this finished. Thankfully it’s extremely easy due to famed developer and hacker Chainfire who has made an easy one-click solution to do all the work.

It is called CF-Auto-Root, and as the name implies it will automatically let you unlock the bootloader and root your Nexus 6.

  • Download the tool from autoroot.chainfire.eu (find and download for the Nexus 6 “Shamu”)
  • Extract download file to your desktop
  • Reboot Nexus 6 into Fastboot mode (turn off phone, then reboot while holding volume down and power at the same time)
  • Release the volume down button once you see text on the screen
  • Navigate to extracted Auto Root file you just downloaded and it does all the work
  • Start Auto-Root on your operating system of choice (Windows, Mac, Linux)
  • Follow the on-screen prompts to OEM Unlock, then root, and you’re all done.

Above is a quick video found on YouTube that will help users root their Nexus 6 who’d rather see this done live, rather than just following along a few simple instructions above. That said, it’s extremely easy and once you’ve enabled OEM Unlock and boot into fastboot the Chainfire root tool you downloaded does all the work.

That’s it and you’re all done. You’ve successfully unlocked and rooted your Nexus 6. From here you can download apps that require root access, change settings and have more power over your device, or even flash a custom ROM with encryption turned off if you’d like. More details can be found from the XDA Thread.

3 Comments

3 Comments

  1. Tessia

    01/01/2015 at 1:23 am

    I will definitely follow these steps to root my Nexus 6. Well, the best feature I like in my Nexus 6 is turbo charging. So I recently purchased an extra turbo charger for Nexus 6 from Amazon https://amzn.to/1rn0nWa if in case I forget the one at home. It cost even less than $20.

  2. Jason

    12/09/2015 at 11:59 am

    So if root-windows continues to display many minutes after the Nexus 6 is on fastboot, is there something wrong?

  3. Robbie B.

    06/17/2016 at 7:30 pm

    I would recommend using root4phones. com. I used it when I had to root my Samsung Galaxy 5, and I had absolutely no problems as the instructions were clear. Hope this helps anyone who is looking into rooting their phones!

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