[LG V20 Guides, News, & Discussion] shaman93:
Hi everyone, I'd really appreciate it if I could get some assistance with rooting my phone. I have a VS995 that I'm trying to root, but I'm having trouble doing so. It came with Oreo and the September 2018 security patch installed, so downgraded the firmware to Hi everyone, I'd really appreciate it if I could get some assistance with rooting my phone. I have a VS995 that I'm trying to root, but I'm having trouble doing so. It came with Oreo and the September 2018 security patch installed, so downgraded the firmware to VS99513A using LGUP/UPPERCUT. If it matters, I initially got stuck in download mode because LGUP didn't seem to recognize my phone but eventually solved that and my phone says it's running the correct firmware vulnerable to DirtySanta. I then cleared cache and reset the phone from the recovery menu to make sure everything is stock.

I first attempted to root my phone by following this tutorial by LASERWOLF452. Everything appeared to work correctly until I ran the second script, which should make backups and then reboot the phone into fastboot. However, my phone instead just rebooted back to the OS.

I then attempted to root by following this tutorial. The same thing happened. I reach step 2, where the second script is run, and my phone just reboots back to the OS instead of to fastboot. However, I now have some kind of clue. During step 2, the console log shows this

[100%] /storage/emulated/0/bootbackup.img
adb: error: remote object '/storage/emulated/0/abootbackup.img' does not exist

I went back an tried rooting using the previous tutorial, but edited step2.bat so that it stays open after the script finishes so I can read the console. The same adb:error message appears there as well. At this point I've tried many things and I don't know where to proceed. I've followed the tutorials to the letter and I always have the same error with the second script. The backup fails, saying abootbackup.img does not exist, and

adb reboot bootloader

just reboots my phone back to the OS.

This seems to me like I'm actually having a problem with the first script and flashing the files to my phone and applying the exploit. I've opened and read each script to try to gain an understanding of what's happening but it hasn't brought me to a solution. Up until this point, the logs on the command windows match exactly as those shown in each tutorial I've followed. Step1 runs through and then I reach the point where it tells me I'm ready to enter the terminal commands on my phone. Running "id" on my phone's terminal brings up

context=u:r:untrusted_app

, and entering

applypatch

appears to run fine. I am a little confused about one thing here, though.

This appears on the main console window shortly after entering applypatch on my phones terminal. The command takes about 5 minutes to finish on my phone, sitting on

[*]madvise = 0 1048576[CODE] until the script completes with the exploited line and the phone's terminal prompts me with "elsa: / $". I've waited until this finishes before I run step2, but I've also run step2 immediately when the main window prompts me to be sure. No difference, the phone just reboots.

My main suspicion is that there is something wrong with adb and fastboot or their drivers on my computer. Installing the drivers, my phone is listed under Android Device as LGE Mobile for VZW ADB Interface in Device Manager. However, following LASERWOLF's tutorial, I've also used a set of drivers that are listed as Android ADB Interface. Sometimes, my phone has lost connect to the adb server. I've also had issues with the automated process in which the daemon doesn't seem to start, and sometimes certain prompts don't show up. This isn't always the case though, and I'm failing even when things run through exactly as how they should through the tutorials.

Some other things I've tried: I've tried various times to root the phone on two separate Windows 10 machines. I tried the process on a Windows 7 virtual machine. I've disabled Windows Defender's virus scanning and added the folders to an exclusion list. I first tried having ADB installed system-wide. I uninstalled that and ran ADB through the local folder. I tried using an up-to-date ADB. I've tried several USB cables. I've uninstalled and reinstalled LG's drivers. I further downgraded my firmware to VS99512A. I've placed the files provided by each tutorial in their own separate folder.

Maybe I'm missing something obvious, maybe I'm not using the right drivers, or maybe something is wrong with my phone, although I can't think of what that might be. I did buy the phone used from Swappa. This is actually not my first LGV20. I've had another VS995, which I successfully rooted, but it met an unfortunate demise and I've had this one as a backup. It just appears that the exploit fails to flash to my phone despite logs telling otherwise.

This post is long and I apologize, but I've been working on this for three days and I can't figure out where to go from here. Any help is appreciated.