Root How to ROOT the Moto E 2020 using Magisk

[Alexenferman]

Alexenferman is not responsible for any damages or bricks made to your device. Please do some research if you have any concerns about rooting, its features and downsides. You are choosing to make these modifications, you should blame yourself for any mistakes you make.
Rooting may require a factory reset, please backup your data. Rooting will void your device warrany. By rooting your device, you will not be able to install OTA updates on your phone.
US carrier specific devices such as Verizon and Sprint might not be bootloader unlockable, therefore, not rootable.

Video:

Due to the limited layout options of an AndroidForums thread, I have made an article on my website and a video about rooting this phone with images and better layout. You can follow my article here: https://www.alexenferman.com/articles/MotoE2020/root-moto-e-2020-magisk

If you wish to follow the tutorial on this thread, feel free to do so.

You will need:

• Platform Tools (Download from here)
• Motorola Drivers
• Windows or Linux PC
• Bootloader Unlocked Moto E 2020

Your phone must be bootloader unlocked. Rooting your phone and not unlocking the bootloader will result in a soft brick.

Download the latest Magisk Manager APK from Github
Install the APK file. Make sure to enable "Unknown Sources" in the Settings app

PATCHING THE BOOT IMAGE

To retrieve the boot image in order to patch it, you will need to download the stock ROM for your specific variant.
Download the ROM from your variant from here or here.
Make sure you download the correct version with the exact same build number, otherwise the touchscreen, fingerprint, Wifi, Bluetooth may not work and you will have to re-flash the correct boot image or even ROM to re-gain this functionallity.

To check which region is your device, go to Settings > About Phone > Software Channel.

After downloading, open the ROM zip file with an archive manager.
Extract the boot.img file only.
Transfer the boot.img file on your phone.

On your phone, open the Magisk app.
Select "Install" > "Install" > "Select and Patch a File"
Locate the boot image in the internal storage on your phone. Select the boot.img file.

Transfer the magisk_patched.img file on your computer.

ROOTING THE DEVICE

Boot the device into fastboot mode by holding the [Volume Down] and [Power] buttons.

Connect your phone to your PC.
On your PC, open a fastboot console window.
Type:

• fastboot devices

Your phone serial number should be displayed along with the word "fastboot" or "device" in the console.
Now, type the following commands:

• fastboot flash boot_a patched_boot.img
• fastboot flash boot_b patched_boot.img

Replace patched_boot.img with the path to your boot image we patched previously.
To reboot the device, type:

• fastboot reboot

Once the device rebooted, open the Magisk app.
If you see the "Magisk is installed" message, you have successfully rooted your device!
You are done!

 

[bcrichster]

Alexenferman is not responsible for any damages or bricks made to your device. Please do some research if you have any concerns about rooting, its features and downsides. You are choosing to make these modifications, you should blame yourself for any mistakes you make.

Rooting may require a factory reset, please backup your data. Rooting will void your device warrany. By rooting your device, you will not be able to install OTA updates on your phone.

US carrier specific devices such as Verizon and Sprint might not be bootloader unlockable, therefore, not rootable.

Due to the limited layout options of an AndroidForums thread, I have made an article on my website about rooting this phone with images and better layout. You can follow my article here: https://www.alexenferman.com/articles/MotoE2020/root-moto-e-2020-magisk

If you wish to follow the tutorial on this thread, feel free to do so.

You will need:

• Platform Tools (Download from here)
• Motorola Drivers
• Windows or Linux PC
• Bootloader Unlocked Moto E 2020

Your phone must be bootloader unlocked. Rooting your phone and not unlocking the bootloader will result in a soft brick.

Download the latest Magisk Manager APK from Github
Install the APK file. Make sure to enable "Unknown Sources" in the Settings app

PATCHING THE BOOT IMAGE

To retrieve the boot image in order to patch it, you will need to download the stock ROM for your specific variant.
Download the ROM from your variant from here.
To check which region is your device, go to Settings > About Phone > Software Channel.

After downloading, open the ROM zip file with an archive manager.
Extract the boot.img file only.
Transfer the boot.img file on your phone.

On your phone, open the Magisk app.
Select "Install" > "Install" > "Select and Patch a File"
Locate the boot image in the internal storage on your phone. Select the boot.img file.

Transfer the magisk_patched.img file on your computer.

ROOTING THE DEVICE

Boot the device into fastboot mode by holding the [Volume Down] and [Power] buttons.

Connect your phone to your PC.
On your PC, open a fastboot console window.
Type:

• fastboot devices

Your phone serial number should be displayed along with the word "fastboot" or "device" in the console.
Now, type the following commands:

• fastboot flash boot_a patched_boot.img
• fastboot flash boot_b patched_boot.img

Replace patched_boot.img with the path to your boot image we patched previously.
To reboot the device, type:

• fastboot reboot

Once the device rebooted, open the Magisk app.
If you see the "Magisk is installed" message, you have successfully rooted your device!
You are done!

Nice job but ROM link bad..

 

[TerryFrench]

Hi @Alexenferman,
First thanks for posting some steps and helping.

Now the steps you have had my phone stuck in a soft-brick mode. Somewhat of an infinite loop of "your bootlocker has been disabled (legal stuff, that's expected), boot will happen in 5 seconds, but then the boot was the same message.
recovery mode also failed to work / happen.

The recovery (in case anyone has the same issue) was using the Motorola (now on lenovo site) recovery app. "rescue and smart assistant", that downloads its own default from version and flashes it.

I tried the whole process twice, and had the same issue each time. So now I have a working phone with bootlocker unlocked, but no luck for the root.

Now boot.img is 32MB. 32,768KB, but the Magisk patched boot.img is 11,036KB. That makes me wonder if Magisk patched it well or not. (it seems to be successful, but the size is "odd").
In my case I suspect the patched boot.img is just invalid and therefore failed. I'm not sure how to check the image, so I can't verify, but I could provide the file.

Thanks!

 

[TerryFrench]

Also I compared the boot.img files from the ROM link you provided and the recovery one from motorola/lenovo tool and they are identical (before patching). So the downloaded ROM was fine. The patched from starts identically to the original one, so it could be an incorrect patch or truncated, but would otherwise seem "ok".

 

[Alexenferman]

Also I compared the boot.img files from the ROM link you provided and the recovery one from motorola/lenovo tool and they are identical (before patching). So the downloaded ROM was fine. The patched from starts identically to the original one, so it could be an incorrect patch or truncated, but would otherwise seem "ok".

Edit: Please see the solution below.

 

[Alexenferman]

Also I compared the boot.img files from the ROM link you provided and the recovery one from motorola/lenovo tool and they are identical (before patching). So the downloaded ROM was fine. The patched from starts identically to the original one, so it could be an incorrect patch or truncated, but would otherwise seem "ok".

Make sure you have the exact boot image for the exact version stated in the settings. To make sure you have the right one, got to https://t.me/s/motoupdatestracker and search for your exact version number. I updated my phone manually and the Touchscreen, Fingerprint, Wifi, Bluetooth stopped working, but I patched the new boot image from the new update using another phone (because I could not use the touchscreen), and it worked, now I have a working touchscreen again.