Not all Android-based smartphone and tablets require you to unlock the bootloader before rooting; however, you won’t get far with the Lenovo Vibe X3 ROW without unlocking the bootloader first. What’s more, anyone with the Vibe X3 who plans on installing a custom recovery will need to unlock the bootloader too!

These are the guidelines to unlock the bootloader on Lenovo Vibe X3 ROW smartphones:

REQUIREMENTS

• You must have the Lenovo Vibe X3 ROW device with the X3a40 model number to complete this guide. We recommend sourcing a new guide for any other model number.
• You must have a computer that is running either Windows 7 or Windows 10 operating systems to use the files in this guide.

BEFORE WE BEGIN

• Understand that by following the guide below to unlock the bootloader of the Lenovo Vibe X3 smartphone you are agreeing to void the warranty — that’s the Lenovo warranty. There are some mobile service providers who let you root a device, though. Check with your mobile service provider to see what they think if that warranty means a lot to you.
• Unlock the Developer Options menu by tapping on the Settings > About Phone > Tap on the Build Number until it counts you down with how many times are remaining until you are using the device as a developer.
• Enable the OEM unlocking from the Developer Options menu by tapping on the Settings > Developer Options > OEM Unlocking.
• Enable the USB Debugging Mode from the Developer Options menu by tapping on the Settings > Developer Options > USB Debugging Mode.
• Uninstall any other smartphone or tablets drivers that you might have on the same computer or else they might cause conflicts. There are reports of the Microsoft Emergency Driver (usually installed with Lumia devices) creating problems.

HOW TO UNLOCK BOOTLOADER ON LENOVO VIBE X3 ROW

1. Download the bootloader unlock for Windows 10 from here.
2. Download the bootloader unlock for Windows 7 from here.
3. Download the secure boot disabled boot images file from here.
4. Extract the BootloaderUnlock ZIP to a folder and make sure the complete path has no spaces.
5. Copy the boot.img file from the step one and two firmware zip files and paste it in BootloaderUnlock > ‘BootloaderUnlocker’ > ‘files’ folder.
6. Navigate to the Drivers+QFIL folder in the extracted BootloaderUnlock folder and run the ‘INSTALL_DRIVERS_&_QFIL.bat’  file.
7. Follow the on-screen instructions that pop up on the display after running the .bat file in the step above.
8. Run the ‘QFIL’ program you will find from the Start menu / Cortana.
9. Choose the  ‘Flat Build’ where it requests the build type.
10. Click on the ‘Browse’ button and ‘prog_emmc_firehose_8992_ddr.mbn’ file found in the ‘Modded_QFIL_Images’ folder in BootloaderUnlock folder.
11. Click on the ‘Load XML’ and select the ‘rawprogram0.xml’, followed by ‘patch0.xml’.

In conclusion, that’s how to unlock the bootloader on the Lenovo Vibe X3 ROW smartphone so you can check out how to root and install a custom recovery on the Lenovo Vibe X3 ROW device.

Anyone who is facing problems getting the QFil to work can head over to the official stock firmware flashing problems for the device and post a query.