[Guide][How-To] Root Android 8 Oreo - Pixel (XL) + SafetyNet Pass

[eqbirvin]

This is how to root with SuperSU and includes flashing SuperSU Hide for Android O

Requirements:
Unlocked BootLoader
Latest fastbook/adb drivers (https://xdaforums.com/android/software/guide-how-to-set-fastboot-adb-to-wide-t3591240)
Android O image (https://developer.android.com/about/versions/o/download.html#top)
SuperSU 2.82 SR3 (https://xdaforums.com/apps/supersu/2014-09-02-supersu-v2-05-t2868133)
Modded Version of the TWRP that works for Pixel/XL DP4/O (https://xdaforums.com/pixel/development/mod-twrp-recovery-pixel-android-o-dp4-t3651896)
If you want SuperSU Hide for safety net passing (as of (8/21/2017 this is working) for Android Pay, Pokemon GO, Snapchat download SuperSU Lite from here (https://xdaforums.com/apps/supersu/suhide-lite-t3653855)

The How to part

1. Flash the Android O factory image on your device
2. Let the divice boot and go through setup and i advise you set a lockscreen method (Pin, Pattern, Password whatever you want but this will allow TWRP to decrypt your data more consistently) then reboot to bootloader
3. boot into the TWRP linked above
4. Go to "Wipe" select "Advanced wipe" check just "internal storage" and swipe to wipe
5. your device's internal storage should now be accessible via your PC/Mac/Linux so copy of the linked SuperSU SR3 we downloaded from above
6. Back to TWRP and the device, flash the SuperSU you copied over
7. let it finish then swipe to reboot to system (do not install the TWRP installer app it asks you to install before the reboot)
8. let the system boot up and check to make sure supersu is there
9. reboot back to bootloader and boot into the TWRP
10. Enter your lockscreen login (Pattern will show up if you used a pattern otherwise type in you password or pin when it asked for password)
11. copy the supersu hide lite from your PC/Mac/Linux to the internal storage of the device
12. flash it in twrp then swipe to reboot to system
13. Finally when it boots you should have supersu and SUHide installed!

Few Notes:
-It is very important to know that we are not flashing TWRP to our system when in fastboot/bootloader. If you're coming from an older device or just new to the Pixel in general this will be kinda weird to you I'm sure. The reason we do no do this is (long story short) A/B partition devices like the Pixel's are a whole new ball game and there is still development being done to get traditional methods of installing aftermarket recoveries working. But till then we have to boot into things so the change is temporary and does not alter the device's recovery partition.

-How SuperSU Hide works is pretty self explanatory but if you're like me, the whole safety net thing is annoying and i haven't felt like reading about it. So using the "suhide" app you now have, you want to make sure root is hidden from the apps that watch for it and stop themselves from running is they see root (Snapchat, Android Pay and Pokemon GO are all examples of these apps)
the "About" tab in the "suhide" app is very helpful


Old instructions for Android O DPs

Early reports say boot-to-root (the method covered here) works for DP4

Rooting DP1-4 is very easy.
Make sure bootloader is unlocked
Make sure Fastboot/adb drivers are fully up to date. (Follow this guide to make sure: https://xdaforums.com/android/software/guide-how-to-set-fastboot-adb-to-wide-t3591240 )
Download dp1-3 (https://developer.android.com/preview/download.html)
Download SuperSU 2.82 SR 1 for Pixel (or pixel xl) (https://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=72686197&postcount=10481) [Updated to new fixed version that repaird system mounting issue]

• Just flash Dev Preview like normal
• boot into system and setup android
• Reboot to bootloader
• Exact the downloaded supersu
• Reboot to bootloader
• open a cmd in the extracted supersu location and type

fastboot boot boot-to-root.img

it will take about 7 minutes to boot but when it does you should have root

Original Instructions for rooting DP1
So after a few weeks of being without root on Android O for the Pixel user Sachi315 discovered how to get root on O by installing 7.1.2 on one slot and android O on the other. This allows Android O to fully boot after installing SuperSU. I wont go into the details of how it works because thus far its all speculation on my part and hopefully someone out there who knows more about these new partitions could better explain it. But for now I'm just going to show you how to do it.

Requirements

+Download 7.1.2 for your Pixel (XL)
-----N2G47E (https://developers.google.com/android/images)
+Download Android O for your Pixel (XL)
-----(https://developer.android.com/preview/download.html)
+SuperSU RS4 2.79 Extra Delay
-----(https://download.chainfire.eu/1024/...-SR4-20170323220017-ODP1-5X-6P-ExtraDelay.zip)
+TWRP RC1 bootable image & RC2 Flashable zip
-----For Pixel (https://dl.twrp.me/sailfish/)
-----For Pixel XL (https://dl.twrp.me/marlin/)
+Backup everything on you device, it will be purged
-----Make sure you have the latest fastboot binaries (I HIGHLY recomend you set this up manually. How to do so can be found in my tutorial here)
+Unlocked bootloader

To make sure you have the latest fastboot binaries press the windows key and type cmd. In the command line type "fastboot" This should return you get. Showing all the available fastboot commands including the new "--slot" commands. If this list has the options --set-active[=<slot>], --slot <slot> listed towards the bottom then you're all ready to move on. (see screenshot for list of other commands you should see)
​

Editing the flash-all.bat from your downloaded 7.1.2 and android o factory images
-Extract both to your working folder
-Find the "flash-all.bat" in the extracted 7.1.2 (N2G47E) right click and select "Edit"
-At this point we are going to clean the flash all up a bit. Its not a necessity but if you don't add some much needed line breaks it can get messy and confusing.
-Below i have a screen shot of what mine looks like cleaned up. Just press enter in the places i did. *Adding the line breaks does NOT mess with the code at all*
-----Toward the end of the commands you will see i added '--skip-reboot" between "update" and "image-sailfish-n2g47e.zip" This command makes it to where the device will not restart after the flash-all is finished. It is important you add this in the same place.

​

-Now that we have this cleaned up, go ahead and save it really quick before we start adding to it.
-We are going to add a few "--slot" commands to it so it only installs to one slot. Below you can see what mine looks like after i added the commands. Match yours to mine (highlighted by red boxes)
-If you are on marlin, your image and zip names will be different but it's the same principal

​

-after you add what i have above, save the flash-all.bat and close out of it.

Now we move over to the android o dev preview
-Open the extracted dev preview and right click on its flash-all.bat. Select "Edit"
-We are basically doing the exact same thing in this one BUT instead of the new commands being "slot _a" they will be "slot _b" (See below for the difference and we are still adding the "--skip-reboot" command)

​

-Once your changes have been made in this flash-all.bat, save and close out.

Flashing the Images
Go ahead and get your Pixel into bootloader mode and plug it in.
before we start flashing we are going to clean the device up. This step will erase everything on the device.
Go into command prompt and type:

fastboot --slot _a -w

let it finish its thing then type

fastboot --slot _b -w

Device is cleaned. Now staying in bootloader type

fastboot --set-active=_b

then

fastboot reboot-bootloader

Now close out of this command prompt and run the flash-all.bat from the android o dev preview folder.
Let it do its thing and after its done, it should be left in bootloader.
now run the flash-all.bat from the 7.1.2 image folder you have.
Same thing; let it run its course and finish up.
Now you should be still in bootloader.
type in cmd

fastboot --set-active=_a

now type

fastboot reboot-bootloader

when it comes back up look at the phone and make sure is says the slot is "a" if it does, you're good to move on!

Installing TWRP and Root
From here; boot into TWRP (RC1)
-Make sure youre in slot A by going to "Reboot" then looking at the bottom (It should be slot A at this point, if its not something wasnt done correctly in the above steps)
+At this point i had the issue that my pixel would show up under "This PC" in explorer and was recognized by adb BUT none of the internal storage could be interacted with via my PC (this includes adb commands) so i couldnt get TWRP RC2 or SuperSU SR4 2.79 Extra Delay on the device to be flashed.
-To fix this: got to wipe>advanced wipe>check internal storage ONLY then wipe this partition.
-Unplug your phone and plug it back in and Windows Explorer should be able to work with the internal storage now.
-Now transfer TWRP RC2 and SuperSU sr4 2.79 Extra Delay to your Pixel
-From TWRP on your device, flash just TWRP RC2 for now. After it is installed, switch to slot b in TWRP. Then reboot to recovery.
-When TWRP comes back up, check to make sure youre in slot B still.
-If you are, now flash SuperSU SR4 2.79 Extra Delay.
-Now reboot.
-It should boot into android o, walk through setup and make sure supersu is installed.
-If it is, Congratulations you have rooted android O on your Pixel!

This method has was discovered by @Sachi315 (here)
Make sure you give him tons of thanks for getting the method up and running!
Im storing this here for my own sake testing wise please ignore https://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=72604085&postcount=10323

Off Topic is welcome as long as its still Pixel/Root/TWRP/Development/Questions but back and forth bickering will be and should be reported.

 

[Queentus]

finally, thx for this guide! will give it a try and feedback. BTW, can I share this guide with my native language? source url and your ID will be declaimed, of course.

 

[y2grae]

can it be done on a locked BL?
like EE (uk) or Verizon?

 

[bobby janow]

can it be done on a locked BL?
like EE (uk) or Verizon?

Nope, nor would you want to.

 

[eqbirvin]

finally, thx for this guide! will give it a try and feedback. BTW, can I share this guide with my native language? source url and your ID will be declaimed, of course.

As long as credit is given, by all means!!!

 

[awakenedwithin]

Nope, nor would you want to.

Why is that? Just curious.

 

[eqbirvin]

Nope, nor would you want to.

Why is that? Just curious.

Yes I too am curious

 

[bobby janow]

Why is that? Just curious.

Because with a locked bootloader there are no means to recover if you screw something up. I mean none other than return the device and plead for mercy. If you want to play around, and I certainly do with my 5x, then make sure the bl is unlocked or that you can fastboot and unlock it if needed. The EE and Verizon models cannot be unlocked. I have one.

 

[eqbirvin]

Because with a locked bootloader there are no means to recover if you screw something up. I mean none other than return the device and plead for mercy. If you want to play around, and I certainly do with my 5x, then make sure the bl is unlocked or that you can fastboot and unlock it if needed. The EE and Verizon models cannot be unlocked. I have one.

Oh I miss understood what you were trying to say.
Right. I should probably put unlocked bt as a requirement

 

[bobby janow]

Oh I miss understood what you were trying to say.
Right. I should probably put unlocked bt as a requirement

You can, sure. But hopefully your walk through is read before attempting to do this and it clearly states to boot into TWRP. That's impossible with a locked bootloader.

 

[awakenedwithin]

Because with a locked bootloader there are no means to recover if you screw something up. I mean none other than return the device and plead for mercy. If you want to play around, and I certainly do with my 5x, then make sure the bl is unlocked or that you can fastboot and unlock it if needed. The EE and Verizon models cannot be unlocked. I have one.

Thank you for the reply!

 

[rachanta]

Thanks for this. I just got a sailfish this evening. I should be trying this out tomorrow. :good:

 

[mikeprius]

sheesh.....becoming harder and harder to root now.....yikes

 

[eqbirvin]

sheesh.....becoming harder and harder to root now.....yikes

Dev previews are always a bear at first, I do hope this doesn't become the norm though. Pixel doesn't make it any easier haha

 

[rachanta]

Thanks

@eqbirvin
I successfully rooted my new sailfish with o preview following your instructions. :highfive:
One place I got stuck was not knowing that there is no recovery partition in Pixel. I tried
fastboot flash recovery twrp-3.0.2-0-RC1-fastboot-sailfish.img and obviously failed.
A little bit of searching led me to the right command
fastboot flash boot twrp-3.0.2-0-RC1-fastboot-sailfish.img

Thank you for decoding the rather cryptic post https://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=71865004&postcount=1266 from @Sachi315 and creating a step-by-step process that works. :good::good::good:

 

[bobby janow]

Is that fastboot boot twrp or fastboot flash boot twrp?

Sent from my Pixel using XDA-Developers Legacy app

 

[eqbirvin]

Is that fastboot boot twrp or fastboot flash boot twrp?

Boot TWRP.img, flash doesn't work on pixels

 

[mikeprius]

Do you always let the phone boot up normally after stock, then go into bootloader and boot TWRP, the flash the TWRP zip ?

Afterwards, do you reboot TWRP into recovery again then stock, or just flash the .zip of TWRP then go right into stock ?

The process for this has been more confusing than the Nexus b/c there are slots a and b.

 

[bobby janow]

Boot TWRP.img, flash doesn't work on pixels

That's what I thought. Just correcting the above post is all.

 

[eqbirvin]

Do you always let the phone boot up normally after stock, then go into bootloader and boot TWRP, the flash the TWRP zip ?

Afterwards, do you reboot TWRP into recovery again then stock, or just flash the .zip of TWRP then go right into stock ?

The process for this has been more confusing than the Nexus b/c there are slots a and b.

Don't boot into system after 7.1.2 flash or Android O flash. Just boot into TWRP, flash the TWRP rc2 (after dealing with internal storage issue) change to slot b (while still in TWRP) then reboot to recovery and make sure you are in slot b again. Finally flash SuperSU package.

Ugh I know. I love the pixel but is slot/partition change is a headache haha