Hello community, since a couple of days I'm desperately looking for working instructions for installing a custom recovery or at least a working root for Tab 4 10 Plus, but everything I found on the Web so far turned out to be either BS or fake (or both). Also none of the 1-click rooting apps like KingRoot, Framaroot etc. works with that Tab.

Can anybody here help with that?

Those 1-click rooting apps will function on fewer and fewer devices, and that's a good thing, because they work by exploiting security holes that shouldn't exist.

The traditional way to root is to install the root manager (e.g. SuperSU) via a custom recovery. That requires a custom recovery, of course, which in turn requires an unlocked bootloader (most modern Android devices will have a locked bootloader nowadays).

This is how you unlock the bootloader:

1. Open the Android Settings app, scroll to "About the tablet/phone" at the very bottom, tap it.
2. Find "Build Number" and tap it 7 times. That should unlock the Developer options.
3. Tap the back button to go back to the main screen of the Settings app.
4. Developer options should be near the bottom now, tap it.
5. In the Developer Options screen, activate "Enable OEM unlock" (if present) and also USB debugging (USB debugging enables ADB, the Android Debug Bridge, which can do some useful stuff).
6. Reboot the device to bootloader / fastboot mode.
   This can be done via ADB, by connecting the device to PC via USB, and then running the command "adb reboot bootloader" (adb is a command line utility which needs to be present on your PC. I won't go into detail how to install or use it, there are enough guides on the web).
7. After a few seconds, the device should reboot and launch the fastboot mode that is part of the bootloader. You can test if it worked by running the command "fastboot getvar all" (device still needs to be connected to PC via USB, and "fastboot" is another command line utility you need to have on PC). If the command outputs a bunch of text with details about the device, then it's working. Among the text should also be some info about the device's lock state, e.g. "(bootloader)    unlocked: no".
8. Finally, run the command "fastboot oem unlock" and follow the instructions on the device screen to unlock the bootloader. Be aware that this will erase your data partition for security reasons, i.e. all of your apps and media files will be wiped!
   Note: some manufacturers might slightly change the unlock command, e.g. add a device-specific security key that you first need to obtain from them ("fastboot oem unlock secret_key_here").

Once the bootloader is unlocked (or if it wasn't locked to begin with), you can launch a custom recovery via "fastboot boot img_file", with "img_file" being the filename of the custom recovery tailored to your device.

However, not all devices support the "fastboot boot" command. In those cases, you need to flash (install) the custom recovery via "fastboot flash recovery img_file", and then boot it before you reboot Android - because when Android starts, it'll normally automatically replace the foreign custom recovery with the original stock recovery.

The command "fastboot oem reboot-recovery" works on some devices (MediaTek), but not others. If it's not supported, there's probably some key combo you can hold to make the device boot the recovery instead of Android (e.g. the keys power+volume_up, or power+volume_down).

Once in the custom recovery, you can simply install the latest SuperSU zip, or the root manager of your choice, and your device should be rooted.

The main hurdle in all of this is getting a suitable custom recovery for your device. Someone has to build it first, but that can be tricky. If you're lucky, you might be able to use an existing custom recovery of a device that is very similar to yours (same chipset), but chances for that aren't good.

Thanks for the deatailed explanation. Unfortunately you're absolutely correct about that:

- most modern Android devices will have a locked bootloader nowadays

- The main hurdle in all of this is getting a suitable custom recovery for your device.

That's what I didn't find anywhere so far and I'm certainly not gonna risk to brick my new tab by trying some custom recovery which is tailored for a different device. Of course I'd prefer to have a custom recovery, but since it obviously is not yet available, I checked if I can at least root the tab 4 somehow. That's why I tryed those 1-click rooting apps.

So all I can do for now is to hope that somebody makes a custom recovery for the tab 4...

do I need a unlock code to OEM unlock the the bootloader?

where Can I download the USB drivers and factory stock rom for this device?

Hi there

I have tab 4 10 plus 4gb 64gb tb-704.

With china rom TB-X704n_Soooo38_170703_PRC.

How do I obtain international rom and install to device?

Any advice is appreciated.

Russell.

Hello,

Did you finally manage to flash a ROW / International ROM? I am facing the same issue. Bought a TAB4 10 from China and now am struggling to bring it to productive use.

Did you see/try this?:

https://forum.xda-developers.com/thinkpad-tablet/general/twrp-root-tab-4-plus-tb-x704l-f-tb-t3664407

Anyone tried/checked -

https://romprovider.com/2017/12/twrp-root-lenovo-tab-4-plus/

Hi:

I was able to root and was running fine with a Chinese tab 4 plus WIfi 10 model.  I had an issues with Gapps and restored the system image and boot partition to start over.  Now, I am stuck on boot at the Lenovo screen.  I can get into Lenovo recovery, as well as fastboot and can boot an image of twrp.  Any ideas on how to resolve this bootloop?  Can the firmware for the non CHinese model be used with this model?  I did locate that firmware.  Thanks