OnePlus 5T was a sort of a mess when it launched in November 2017. The device was extremely powerful, had an awesome screen, good cameras and excellent build quality but was plagued by numerous bugs. As a result it failed to be as big a success as OnePlus had hoped it would be. Fast forward a year and we see that OnePlus had ironed out all of the major problems with its device, cameras were improved even further and software updates were more frequent than ever. It became the device that it should have been right from the get go. OnePlus even provides unlockable bootloaders so anyone can root the OnePlus 5T.

Now more than 2 years after its release, the device is slated to receive Android 9.0 Pie in the coming months. And developers are hard at work making custom roms based on the latest version 9 of Android.But no matter how awesome a rom is some of us still crave that pure Android feel that Google used to offer on its Nexus line of devices. Fortunately for us OnePlus lets us unlock the bootloader of its devices allowing us to flash custom recoveries and roms.

So let us do exactly that. This guide shows you how to root the OnePlus 5T and bring that simple, sweet and uncluttered Android Pie to your device by flashing AOSP (Android Open Source Project).

Warning

Rooting and unlocking the bootloader are modifications that the device manufacturer didn’t intended. And as such these carry certain risks which involve unstable operation, partially working software or in some extreme cases the device getting bricked. So root your device at your own risk. 

Prerequisites

• Download and install adb on your PC
• Get twrp
• Download Magisk
• Download AOSP

Step 1. Unlocking the bootloader

To root the OnePlus 5T you need to unlock the bootloader first.

• Go to Settings > About> Build Number and tap on it 7/8 times to enable Developer Options menu.
• After enabling it, go to the main settings menu and locate the Developer Options menu and enable OEM unlock. Also enable USB debugging
• Next up, download adb on your computer from the link given above and extract the zip file to the desktop or where you prefer
• Now, connect your phone to your PC using a compatible USB cable.
• Go to the folder where you extracted adb and on any blank area hold down shift and press right-click then open powershell here
•  After opeing the powershell / command shell type adb devices
• A message should pop up on your device asking for permission, grant it and run the above command again
• Now power off your phone. Hold down the power button and volume up to boot into the bootloader
• In the powershell type: fastboot oem unlock and hit enter
• Restart your device and your OnePlus 5T should be unlocked

Step 2. Installing TWRP

To  root the OnePlus 5T, you also need to install a custom recovery like TWRP.

• Download the TWRP image file from the link given above and place it in the folder where you extracted adb
• Enable USB debugging on your device and connect it to your PC
• Open up the powershell like you did before and type: fastboot flash recovery twrp-3.2.3-0-dumpling.img and hit enter
• Once the recovery is flashed, disconnect your phone and reboot

Step 3. Installing Magisk

If you want to install Magisk on your device than follow these steps, SuperSU can be installed the same way.

• Move your downloaded Magisk zip file into your phone’s internal storage
• Boot your phone into recovery mode by pressing and holding down power button and volume down simultaneously until you boot into recovery
• From within the TWRP recovery, tap in Install and locate the Magisk zip file that you moved to your device
• Once located tap on install and swipe to confirm
• Magisk will be installed. You have now become successful to root the OnePlus 5T. If you want to reboot to system, go back to the main menu and tap on reboot > system

Step 4. Flashing AOSP

Here comes the most interesting part, actually flashing the AOSP on the OnePlus 5T.  Ready? Follow me

• Download the latest build from the link given above
• Place that zip file into your phone’s internal storage
• Reboot into recovery just like the previous step
• Before actually flashing the ROM, Wipe the delvik cache from inside the recovery
• Once done, tap on install and locate the zip file in your phone’s storage and tap on install
• Wait until the ROM flashes
• After it is done flashing, go back to the main recovery menu and tap reboot > system
• The first boot may take upto 15-20 minutes so be patient

There you have it. You have now successfully installed AOSP Android 9.0 Pie on your OnePlus 5T. Enjoy the nexus like experience and don’t forget to tell us about it in the comments down below!