Basic requirements

  1. Make sure your computer has working adb and fastboot. Setup instructions can be found here.
  2. Enable USB debugging on your device.

Unlocking the bootloader

  1. Visit Huawei’s official unlocking website, you’ll be asked to login first.
  2. Follow the instructions and get your unlock password.
  3. Connect your device to your PC via USB.
  4. On the computer, open a command prompt (on Windows) or terminal (on Linux or macOS) window, and type: 
    adb reboot bootloader

    You can also boot into fastboot mode via a key combination:

    • With the device powered off, hold Volume Down + Power. Keep holding buttons until the “Honor” logo appears, then release all buttons.
  5. Once the device is in fastboot mode, verify your PC finds it by typing: 
    fastboot devices
  6. Now type the following command to unlock the bootloader: 
    fastboot oem unlock ****************

    Replace ****** with the 16-digit unique unlock password that was obtained in step 2.

  7. Wait for the bootloader unlocking process to complete. Once finished, your device will reboot to system and will be restored to factory settings. If an incorrect password is entered, a message will be displayed and your device will also reboot to system.
  8. Since the device resets completely, you will need to re-enable USB debugging to continue.
  9. To check the bootloader lock status, reboot the device to fastboot mode (repeating steps 3 and 4) and type: 
    fastboot oem get-bootinfo

    The message Bootloader Lock State: LOCKED indicates that the bootloader is still locked. Perform the unlocking procedure again and check that the password was entered correctly. On the other hand, the message Bootloader Lock State: UNLOCKED indicates that the bootloader has been unlocked. You can now install third-party firmware.

Installing a custom recovery using fastboot

  1. Download a custom recovery - you can download TWRP. Simply download the latest recovery file, named something like twrp-x.x.x-x-kiwi.img.

  2. Connect your device to your PC via USB.
  3. On the computer, open a command prompt (on Windows) or terminal (on Linux or macOS) window, and type: 
    adb reboot bootloader

    You can also boot into fastboot mode via a key combination:

    • With the device powered off, hold Volume Down + Power. Keep holding buttons until the “Honor” logo appears, then release all buttons.
  4. Once the device is in fastboot mode, verify your PC finds it by typing: 
    fastboot devices
  5. Flash recovery onto your device: 
    fastboot flash recovery twrp-x.x.x-x-kiwi.img
  6. Now reboot into recovery to verify the installation:
    • With the device powered off, hold Volume Up + Power. Keep holding buttons until the “Honor” logo appears, then release all buttons.

Installing LineageOS from recovery

  1. Download the LineageOS install package that you’d like to install or build the package yourself.

    • Optionally, download 3rd party application packages such as Google Apps (use the arm64 architecture)
  2. If you aren’t already in recovery, reboot into recovery:
    • With the device powered off, hold Volume Up + Power. Keep holding buttons until the “Honor” logo appears, then release all buttons.
  3. (Optional, but recommended): Select the Backup button to create a backup. Make sure to create the backup in the external sdcard or copy it into your computer, since the internal storage will be formatted.
  4. Select Wipe, then Format Data and continue with the formatting process. This will remove encryption and also delete all files stored in the internal storage.

  5. Select Wipe and then Advanced Wipe.

  6. Select Cache and System partitions to be wiped and then Swipe to Wipe.

  7. Place the LineageOS .zip package, as well as any other .zip packages on the root of /sdcard:
    • Using adb: adb push filename.zip /sdcard/
    • You can use any method you are comfortable with. adb is universal across all devices, and works both in Android and recovery mode, providing USB debugging is enabled.
  8. Go back to return to main menu, then select Install.
  9. Navigate to /sdcard, and select the LineageOS .zip package.

  10. Follow the on-screen prompts to install the package.

  11. (Optional): Install any additional packages using the same method.

  12. (Optional): Root the device by installing the LineageOS su add-on (use the arm64 package) or using any other method you prefer.
  13. Once installation has finished, return to the main menu, select Reboot, and then System.

Get assistance

If you have any questions or get stuck on any of the steps, feel free to ask on our subreddit or in #LineageOS on freenode.