How to Install TWRP on the OnePlus 5 & the OnePlus 5T

If you want to use a custom ROM, kernel or any other modification, you’ll need to follow these steps to install TWRP on the OnePlus 5 or OnePlus 5T.

The stock recovery for the OnePlus 5, and Android in general, does come with a lot of different features. For your average user, there isn’t much else that one could want from the regular OnePlus 5 Recovery Mode. Us Android enthusiasts though, we want to do more with our phones and tablets so that is why we have custom recoveries like TWRP.

With a custom recovery installed, we can start using custom ROMs, kernels, and other types of mods. We need this different level of access to the storage partitions in order to install things like a custom ROM and a custom recovery.

The most popular custom recovery right now is TWRP so this is what I will be focusing on during today’s tutorial. This specific guide will walk you through completely installing it, so this will make changes to your Android install. This means that, unless you tell TWRP to stay as read only, then you will not be able to accept OTA updates from OnePlus.

Installing OTA updates will need to be done manually by flashing them in TWRP. I’ll be covering this in a future tutorial here on the website.

OnePlus 5 Install TWRP

1. Unlock the bootloader of the OnePlus 5
2. Download a root solution to the OnePlus 5 (Magisk or SuperSU)
3. Download TWRP for the OnePlus 5 to the PC (OnePlus 5 – OnePlus 5T)
4. rename the TWRP .IMG file to the following. . .
5. twrp.img
6. . . .then copy/move that to the same folder as your ADB/Fastboot tools
7. Boot the OnePlus 5 into Fastboot Mode
8. Launch a Command Prompt in the same folder as TWRP and ADB/Fastboot tools
9. Type the following into the Command Prompt. . .
10. fastboot flash recovery twrp.img
11. . . .then press Enter on the keyboard
12. Press the Volume Down button on the OnePlus 5 until the Recovery option is highlighted
13. Press the Power button to select this option
14. Wait for the OnePlus 5 to reboot into the TWRP main menu
15. Swipe the white arrows to the right to Allow Modifications
16. Tap the Install button at the top left
17. Browse to and tap on the Magisk for SuperSU .ZIP file (from Step 2)
18. Swipe the white arrows to the right to confirm the installation
19. Then tap the Reboot System button to boot back into the regular Android OS

Explanation

So what we’re doing here is replacing the stock recovery image with one that has been provided to us by the folks behind TWRP. This means, that instead of booting into the typical Recovery Mode that you’re used to on the OnePlus 5 or OnePlus 5T, you’ll now be booting into a custom recovery that is known as TWRP. This gives us the ability to do this such as create a full Nandroid backup (which I’ll explain in a future article), install mods, install custom ROMs/kernels, and more.

To start here, you’ll need to have the typical ADB and Fastboot stuff setup. You likely have already done this since you likely had to have manually unlocked the bootloader (assuming yours didn’t come unlocked when you bought it). So that should be good to go. After that, you will need to download the special TWRP .IMG file that was made for the OnePlus 5 (in Step 2). Go ahead and rename this to twrp.img and then move or copy it to the same folder your ADB/Fastboot tools are in.

Now we can boot the OnePlus 5 into Fastboot mode as we need to execute a Fastboot command in order to send this TWRP .IMG file over to our phone. Once the OnePlus 5 is in Fastboot Mode, you can then connect it to the PC with a USB cable (if you haven’t already) and then launch a Command Prompt in the same folder as your twrp.img/ADB/Fastboot files are in. Then you’ll want to execute the fastboot flash recovery twrp.img file as instructed in Step 9 of the guide above.

If you’re following along with the video, this should return two OKAY responses to tell you that everything went well. Now turn your attention back to the OnePlus 5 or OnePlus 5T and press the Volume Down button a couple of times until you see the Recovery option at the top. Press the Power button to select this option and you’ll see the OnePlus 5 reboot and take you into TWRP. Swipe the white arrows to the right to allow TWRP to modify the OnePlus 5.

Now, you’ll need to tap on the Install button at the top left and then browse to where you have the Magisk or SuperSU .ZIP file. We have to root the OnePlus 5 in order to make TWRP stick or else it will be replaced by the stock recovery when you reboot into Android. So tap the .ZIP file and swipe the white arrows to confirm the installation and root the device. From here, you can simply tap on the Reboot System button to boot back into Android.