Many ZTE smartphones can be rooted by using a one-click rooting application such as iRoot or KingRoot. However, things are a bit different with the ZTE Blade X9 smartphone, and it requires a more traditional method of installing a custom recovery and SuperSU. While it undoubtedly needs more work this way that using any one-click rooting application, it is also a more rewarding way of going about rooting the Blade X9 smartphone. Moreover, what I mean by that is that there are many people out there who almost feel ashamed of rooting a device using a one-click rooting tool. These people are usually the Android enthusiasts among you, and they take pride in the fact that they did things properly. You can now be one of those people too and join in on some of that achievement and know you mastered the same methods as those who are the elite hackers in the world.

These are the instructions to root ZTE Blade X9 running the Android 5.1 Lollipop using a custom recovery and Chainfire’s SuperSU:

REQUIREMENTS

• You should only follow this guide using the ZTE Blade X9 smartphone. Also, note that the Blade X9 comes with a secondary name: the ZTE V5 Pro smartphone. The guide is intended for use with both of those names which are the same device.

BEFORE WE BEGIN

• Unlock the hidden Developer Options menu on the ZTE Blade X9 smartphone by tapping on the Settings > About Device > Build Number a few times and then continue tapping until it says you are a developer. That number is usually around 7 or 8 times.

HOW TO ROOT ZTE BLADE X9 RUNNING ANDROID 5.1 LOLLIPOP

1. Download and install the ADB and Fastboot on your Windows computer so you can use it during the guide to issue some ADB commands from the command prompt window.
2. Download the updated SuperSU version from here.
3. Download the TWRP Recovery from here.
4. Extract the custom recovery to the desktop of the computer by first having it on the desktop and then right-clicking the recovery and choosing the “extract here” from the menu.
5. Open the folder where you have the ADB and copy the TWRP file over so they are both sitting in the same directory.
6. Connect the ZTE Blade X9 smartphone to the computer with the USB cable.
7. Copy the SuperSU zip file to the root of the internal storage SD card. (The root of the X9’s internal storage SD card means keeping the file at the topmost folder and not in one of the subfolders).
8. From within your ADB and TWRP folder, hold the Shift key and right-click in the folder where there is the white background and choose to “open a new command window here” from the menu.
9. Type the command “fastboot oem unlock”.
10. Type the command “fastboot flash recovery recovery.img” to flash your recovery.
11. Type the command “fastboot reboot” and then hold the hardware button combination for recovery mode as soon as you see the smartphone reboot.
12. Choose the “Install” button from the TWRP menu and browse the SD card for the SuperSU zip file.
13. Follow the instructions to complete the installation of the SuperSU and then choose the option to reboot the system from the main recovery menu.

In conclusion, that is how to install a custom recovery and then root the ZTE Blade X9 smartphone a.k.a the ZTE V5 Pro. You can head over to the Google Play Store and install the root checker application to double-check that everything went as planned.