[Sony Xperia X Performance Guides, News, & Discussi] nickcaper:
To root your Sony X Performance phone ( I have the F8132 ) You must do this procedure till maybe in the future there is another method.

Unlock bootloader on Xperia X Performance

1) download the ADB-drivers utility here that you will need to install the drivers which enable flashmode to work on your pc. You will also need the Sony Performance X driver so your computer will connect to it properly here

2) Go here to download Android Studio Software which allows you to pen a cmd line and program the phone in flashmode. To save you lots of time and trouble, again, my instructions are much better and help you navigate to the places you need to be so this goes well. Disregard the Sony instructions because you will most likely ask yourself many questions and will not find answers.You will need to properly install the Android studio software to get it working the way you need. Upon install, check off Android SDK and Android Virtual Device. Click next. It takes a while to install. Open the software after it has been installed. It will tell you " No Android SDK found. Click next. Click next again to install the two prechecked updates which are Android SDK Platform and API25" ANdroid 7.1.1 (Nougat). Then click finished to start the install of those 2 updates. It will download files from the internet. This will take a while. Click inish when its done downloading. At the welcome window of Android Studio click on the "configure" button. Choose SDK Manager. There will be 3 tabs at the upper midline of the window. Choose the "SDK Tools" tab. Check off "Google USB Driver and Google Web Driver. Usually these drivers will not work to get your phone in fastboot mode. This is why I have instructed you to install the Flashtool-

drivers utility. Nonetheless, click on these and click on apply. Click accept the click next to download and install this update. Click finish after it has installed then click ok to close the software.

3) On your device, turn on USB debugging and turn on OEM Unlocking by going to Settings, then about phone. Go all the way down to build version and tap on it about 7 times. This will unlock Developer Options menu. To go into Developer Options once it is unlocked goto Settings, then Developer options . This menu is where you must turn on usb debugging and OEM Unlocking to proceed with the procedure.

4) After you have turned on usb debugging, turn your phone off. After its turned off, hold the volume down button while plugging the phone into your pc. Your computer should install drivers that will enable Flashmode.

5)Go here to have Sony give you the unlock code. Input your email address to get the code emailed to you with instructions. It takes just a minute to get the unlock code. DO NOT attempt

to unlock your bootloader with some other method. Odds are its a scam or virus or both and you will be screwed. Follow the steps to get the unlock code by putting in your IMEI

then you are suggested to follow my steps to unlock the bootloader. Keep the Sony page open for reference because once it is closed, you will have to redo the email process and

IMEI process again to get the same code. Youre unlock code never changes.

6) goto the file location C:\Users\PC-User\AppData\Local\Android\sdk\platform-tools where you will open a cmd prompt you must open a cmd prompt in only this folder to make this work. to do so , once in that specific folder

hold down your right mouse button and clock on the shift key then release the mouse button. This will open a pop up window where you can choose to " open command window here"

7) when the cmd window opens, copy and paste this "fastboot devices" directly AFTER the ">" symbol and paste it in the command line with no spaces. It should look lik this.

.........C:\Users\PC-User\AppData\Local\Android\sdk\platform-tools>fastboot devices.........

8)press enter button, your computer should respond in the cmd line with something that looks like this

......CB512A697c fastboot.......

This lets you know that your phone is in the correct mode and ready to be programmed.

9) to unlock your bootloader you then copy and paste directly the cmd code Sony gives you from there website "fastboot -i 0x0fce oem unlock 0XXXXXXXXXXXX" . It will look like this C:\Users\PC-User\AppData\Local\Android\sdk\platform-tools>fastboot -i 0x0fce oem unlock 0xxxxxxxx... The 0xxxx's are YOUR SPECIFIC Unlock code given to you by Sony. DO NOT get this from another other website or software otherwise you will probably be infected with some kind of virus of worse on your phone or computer.

10) press enter to intiate bootloader unlock procedure

11) once bootloader unlock is successful you will see the cmd line spell out this "OKAY [ 1.165s] finished. time: 1.168s" The seconds mean nothing. You do want it to say OKAY!

12) reboot the phone and you will see an annoying warning that cant be undone, which says " your device has been unlocked and cant be trusted" No big deal but very annoying. The phone will work but you will see this everytime you reboot the phone.

13) It takes a while, several minutes, maybe 5, to have the phone bootup. When it does, you will see everything is in a weird language. You need to choose which language you want. to know which menu you must choose, just click on the very first down pointing arrow in the middle of the screen. A menu pops up and you can then choose the language you want. After choosing a language clock ok. Youre done!

Instructions to install TWRP so you can backup and restore your phone here