This guide will show you how to root the Sony Xperia Z2. The Z2 is one of the newest additions to the Sony Xperia family. Rooting the phone is a little more technical than most but this guide will take you step by step through what is needed to get the Sony Xperia Z2 rooted.
Disclaimer
Digital Endpoint is not responsible for rooting the Android device in any way. Before performing any of these steps make sure you back up your Android device completely.
What is needed to root the Sony Xperia Z2?
In order to root the Sony Xperia Z2 you will need the following.
This guide only works if the Sony Xperia Z2 firmware version is D6502 or D6503.To check the firmware version of the Sony Xperia Z2 before proceeding, on the phone, go to Settings > About Device and the device model will be listed.
Rooting is done entirely by you at your own risk.
Step 1 – Set up the Android SDK on your PC
Before you can run the rooting tools on your PC to root the Sony Xperia Z2 you must first set up the Android development environment correctly.
In order to use Fastboot to root the Sony Xperia Z2 you must have the Android SDK downloaded and installed on to your computer.
You read how to do that here.
Step 2 – Download the root files needed to root the Sony Xperia Z2
Before you can root the Sony Xperia Z2 you must first download the required files to root the phone that you will use on your PC. The files needed are the following:
Save all of these files in a convenient location on your computer.
Extract all the files to their own folder. Make sure you rename the CWM recovery file to boot.img.
Step 3 – Enable USB debugging on the Sony Xperia Z2
Now that you have downloaded the correct root files for the Sony Xperia Z2 you need to enable USB debugging on the phone itself so that it is recognised by your PC when you plug it in and thus it can be rooted.
To enable USB debugging go to Menu > Settings > Developer Options > USB Debugging and make sure the option is checked.
After you have done that plug the Sony Xperia Z2 in to your PC using the USB cable.
Step 4 – Root the Sony Xperia Z2
The final step is to root the Sony Xperia Z2. To do this you must open a command prompt window on your PC.
With a command prompt window open and the Sony Xperia Z2 connected to your PC type the following.
adb reboot bootloader
The Sony Xperia Z2 should restart in bootloader mode (make sure you have set up the Android SDK properly, in the command prompt window you have navigated to the folder where you installed the SDK files for ADB and the USB driver for the Sony Xperia Z2 has also been installed on your PC successfully).
With the Sony Xperia Z2 in bootloader mode, at the command prompt on your PC, type the following:
fastboot flash boot boot.img
The Clockworkmod custom recovery file you renamed in step 2 will be flashed to the phone. Once done, in the command prompt window, type the following:
fastboot reboot
The Sony Xperia Z2 will reboot.
Now that the custom recovery has been flashed to the phone you now need to copy the SuperSU zip file on to the phone.
To do that, with the phone having booted up normally and being connected to your PC and recognised by Windows, browse to the root of the Sony Xperia Z2 SD card (e.g. the Downloads folder) and copy the SuperSU zip file from step 2 to there.
You now need to reboot the Sony Xperia Z2 in to the CWM recovery mode.
To do this follow these steps.
Now that the Sony Xperia Z2 has rebooted you should now find the SuperSU application within the list of all installed applications which means that you have successfully rooted the Sony Xperia Z2 phone.