Installing TWRP on a LG v30

PLEASE NOTE *At the end of this process I did have a fully rooted phone, but I was unable to get TWRP to boot natively and somehow managed to break fastboot ability. I hope to resolve these issues in a future post. The idea of this post was to install TWRP, but the final result wasn’t a working TWRP recovery, but was successful in rooting. I’m more than confident this can be recovered.

Source I used.

What you need:

1. A windows computer with a USB port. (Very Common)
   1. If your copy of windows is 32 bit, edit the SetDev.bat script. (Step 1) Part 2.D
   2. A USB Cable. Ensure you are using a reliable USB cable (If computer isn’t picking up a device when your phone is plugged in, but you phone is charging you maybe using just a charge cable, again use a known good reliable USB cable).
2. Download US998 Nougat KDZ – US99810C_03_1216.kdz
   Download H933 Oreo KDZ – H93320H_00_OPEN_CA_OP_1123.kdz
   Download TWRP for LGv30
   Download Magisk
   Download Verity Force Encrypt Disabler
   Download JohnFawkes’s RCTD Remover
3. LG v30 with an Unlocked Bootloader

Technically you can go right to installing TWRP from unlocking the bootloader, but much like the source I followed Just taking extra step to make backups.

Step 0)  Unlock Bootloader

Step 1) Flash H933 Oreo KDZ – H93320H_00_OPEN_CA_OP_1123.kdz
If you already have a DUMP from H933 firmware, move to Step 3

1. Connect phone to patched LGUP
2. Select Partition DL, Select All, Yes
3. Load H933 KDZ
4. Start
5. Once Complete; Close LGUP and disconnect phone

You should have mobile data again however no TWRP and no root.

Step 2) DUMP partitions

1. Put phone into Download mode
2. Open LGUP
3. Select DUMP
4. Start, select all then select a folder for the files to be dumped to
5. Once Complete; Close LGUP and disconnect phone

This should take about an hour with all partitions selected. Only 9 are needed however, it may be useful in the future to have all of them.
The 9 that are needed are OP, modem, modemst1, modemst2, misc, persist, ftm, pstore, recovery.

Remove “_COMX” and add “.bin” to the 9 files.

Step 3) Flash US998 Nougat KDZ – US99810C_03_1216.kdz

1. Put phone into Download mode
2. Open LGUP
3. Select PARTITION DL
4. Load US998 Nougat KDZ – US99810C_03_1216.kdz

Start, Select All, Yes to partition changes window
When its done it will attempt to boot and you’ll get flashes of an image, perform Master Reset.

Step 4) Flash TWRP

Enable USB Debugging, USB Photo mode.

In Command Prompt ->

adb reboot bootloader

Once rebooted ->

fastboot flash recovery path/to/twrp.img

Once completed ->

fastboot boot twrp.img

Cancel on Password Request for data decrypt
Swipe to allow modifications
Wipe -> Format Data -> yes
Wipe -> Factory Reset
Reboot -> Recovery
Unplug the cable
Reboot -> Power Off

Step 5) Flash H933 Oreo KDZ – H93320H_00_OPEN_CA_OP_1123.kdz again.

1. Put phone into Download mode
2. Open LGUP
3. Select PARTITION DL
4. Load H933 Oreo KDZ – H93320H_00_OPEN_CA_OP_1123.kdz

Start, Select All, UNSELECT Recovery, Yes to partition changes window

Your phone should reboot to TWRP when finished.

Step 6) Fix Partitions
Swipe to allow modifications
Wipe -> Format Data -> yes
Wipe -> Factory Reset
Reboot -> Recovery
(Some Reason had to let Windows update install ADB drivers again)
Code:

adb push path\to\Magisk-v18.0.zip /sdcard/
adb push path\to\no-verity-opt-encrypt-6.0.zip /sdcard/
adb push path\to\lg-rctd-disabler-1.0.zip /sdcard/

then Install them in that order: On phone, in TWRP Install, each zip
If you copied the 9 .bin files then Advanced -> File Manager
Copy each .bin to /sdcard/
Otherwise
Code:

adb push path\to\OP.bin /sdcard/
adb push path\to\modem.bin /sdcard/
adb push path\to\modemst1.bin /sdcard/
adb push path\to\modemst2.bin /sdcard/
adb push path\to\misc.bin /sdcard/
adb push path\to\persist.bin /sdcard/
adb push path\to\ftm.bin /sdcard/
adb push path\to\recovery.bin /sdcard/
adb push path\to\pstore.bin /sdcard/

Command Prompt ->

adb shell
dd if=/sdcard/OP.bin of=/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/OP
dd if=/sdcard/modem.bin of=/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/modem
dd if=/sdcard/modemst1.bin of=/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/modemst1 
dd if=/sdcard/modemst2.bin of=/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/modemst2 
dd if=/sdcard/misc.bin of=/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/misc 
dd if=/sdcard/persist.bin of=/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/persist
dd if=/sdcard/ftm.bin of=/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/ftm
dd if=/sdcard/pstore.bin of=/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/pstore
dd if=/sdcard/recovery.bin of=/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/recovery

Unplug phone
Reboot -> Power Off
Power On
Should briefly see the same erasing circle from Master Reset

You should now have mobile data again.

Step 7) Clean Up

Get through setup screens
Enable ADB
Plug in
In Command Prompt ->

adb push path\to\twrp.img /sdcard/
adb shell
dd if=/sdcard/twrp.img of=/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/recovery

Install Magisk Manager (it always needed a reboot after installing manager app to finish installing)
STOP HERE if you want a stock H933 ROM with unlocked bootloader, custom recovery, and root

IF YOU WANT TO FLASH A PIE ROM go to Settings -> Network -> Mobile network -> Advanced -> Access point names
Take a screenshot or write down every filed for every APN there, make sure to copy the screenshots off the device or at least to an external SD card.

Well This is where this post ends. I did manage to root the phone, and I guess TWRP is on there somewhere, but I can’t boot into it at this moment. It seems any attempt to boot into fastboot, either via ADB commands or hardware button sequences all seem to have the phone boot into the normal Android. I can however get back into flash mode, and I guess I might have to go through a lot of this process again to get TWRP properly working. But I’ll leave that for a future post.