[Moto G 2014 LTE General] Wattsensi:
MOTO G 2014 LTE: THE 2018 ROOTING GUIDE

This is an updated guide on how to unlock and root the Moto G 2014 LTE mobile phone, codenamed Thea. This phone is a younger sibling from the Moto G 2014, codenamed Titan. The difference between the two is that the former has a better battery and the ability to connect to 4G LTE networks. The previous guide instructed users to flash an older TWRP version for Titan. This caused users to be unable to flash ROMs because of device mismatches. Also, TWRP 2.X doesn't work with Android 8.x ROMs and some obsolete TWRP builds have a bug that erases a WiFi binary blob making the device unable to connect after restoring a TWRP backup. This guide also involves wiping your internal storage, so make a backup of your important data!

DISCLAIMER: This will void your warranty, if you had any. Also, I am not responsible if your device's integrity is compromised.

(in english: if you brick it don't blame me)

Index:

Step 1: Unlock bootloader

Step 2: Flash TWRP

Step 3a: Root your stock ROM

Step 3b: Install a custom ROM

STEP 1: UNLOCK BOOTLOADER

This is the most important step to do if your Moto G 2014 LTE is in a stock state. Assuming you are on a Lollipop/Marshmallow stock firmware, go to Settings, then go to About phone. Then, click seven times on the "Build Number" item. You are going to enable the developer options. How do you know that you enabled them? You are going to get a toast saying that you are now a developer. Now go back, and you should find a new tab called "Developer options".

Go into developer options, toggle on the slider to enable them and scroll down until you find a slider that says "Enable OEM unlock". Also enable "USB debugging" so you can communicate with your phone through ADB. A working ADB/Fastboot connection is required for this part. Set up the drivers so you can use ADB with your phone. This goes beyond the scope of this guide.

Then, open a terminal and enter:

$ adb devices

You should get something like that:

ZQ8983745TZ device

If you get "unauthorized" instead of "device", or you don't get anything then you need to fix your drivers and/or allow access from your phone.

Once you have ADB working, go here. Follow the instructions and you should be mailed with your unlock code. Once you have the OEM unlock code in your possession, you can continue. Now, we're going to reboot into bootloader mode so we can actually change things in our device.

WARNING: Fastboot is a powerful tool, so don't go around messing with it if the procedure doesn't go right, because it can hard brick your device if you mess up.

Now, enter:

$ adb reboot bootloader

The phone will enter to it's bootloader menu. This will allow it to interact with Fastboot. Now, enter:

$ fastboot devices

You should get the same result than in ADB.

ZQC98798C fastboot

Now, you need a reliable USB cable and power supply, just to be safe.

WARNING: DO NOT interrupt any Fastboot commands. Just let them finish whatever you are doing with them.

Now, we are going to unlock the bootloader of the device. This involves losing all your personal data, so I hope that you moved everything that's important to an SD card. Enter, replacing "<code>" with your OEM unlock code that was emailed to you by Motorola:

$ fastboot oem unlock <code>

it will take a while and/or display some warnings, but it should wipe your data and unlock your device anyways. Now, enter:

$ fastboot reboot

Your bootloader is now unlocked.

STEP 2: FLASH TWRP

Now boot, enable USB debugging and ADB again. Reboot into bootloader mode again. It should show in the screen:

Device Status: [B]UNLOCKED[/B].

Now, go here and fetch the latest TWRP recovery image. It ends in .img.

After getting the .img, leave it in the same directory where you opened your terminal.

Replace "<my image>" with your TWRP image.

Enter:

$ fastboot flash recovery <my image>

After it finishes, go to your phone and select the "Recovery" option.

It should boot into TWRP.

NOTE: If you reboot to Android after flashing TWRP it will be overwritten with the default Android recovery and you will have to do the whole thing again unless you install a custom ROM so make sure that you have done everything that you wanted to do before leaving TWRP.

STEP 3a: ROOT YOUR STOCK ROM

Here you can download a SuperSU flashable ZIP. Put it in your phone and flash it with TWRP. Then, reboot.

STEP 3b: INSTALL A CUSTOM ROM

This, we just reached El Dorado.

Custom ROMs open you to a world of experimentation and possibilities and turn you into a flashaholic. I think everyone should try a custom ROM in a device that they don't use just to see how cool they can be.

First, you need to fetch any custom ROM that is located here, in the Android Development or Original Android Development section. Make sure that it is for the Moto G 2014 LTE/thea. Moto G 2014/titan or Moto G 2015/osprey ROMs WILL NOT WORK on this device and it's a stupid ass idea.

Now (optional), we're going to get our GApps package. GApps are mandatory if you want to use the Google Play Store, GMail and all the other Google related services. Go here and choose your OpenGapps package. The architecture must be "arm", and the package can be any, I recommend "pico" because it's the smallest one. Choose the Android version of the package according to the ROM you are going to install. (i.e. 7.1 for LineageOS 14.1) Now download it and put it into your SD card or internal storage.

Download the ROM and place it in your SD card or internal storage. Now, inside TWRP go into Wipe and do a Factory Reset.

Now, go back to the main menu, tap Install and choose your ROM's flashable ZIP. Swipe to flash. It will probably take a while. Afterwards, if you downloaded a GApps package flash it too. Now go to Reboot -> System.

You will boot your new custom ROM now.