Need some help - Google Pixel 3 XL Questions & Answers

I have been into the Android scene since the original Samsung Galaxy S. I couldn't even tell you how many phones I had since then but I was always big into rooting and flashing more ROMs than healthy. I lost the ability to get endless company phones and ended up with locked bootloader phones for a few years. One day I saw a friend with the Pixel 2 and I got the itch again. I got the Pixel 3XL and unlocked the bootloader and rooted it immediately. At the time I didn't realize how much different the process was as far as updating and installing ROMs than it used to be on my older phones like my beloved Nexus phones. Basically I'm paranoid about doing anything because the process sounds extremely complicated to me. Maybe I'm just getting older. I build server and storage solutions every day but this is foreign to me. Sorry for all the rambling. Basically I'm rooted and still on the November 2019 build. I'm starting to get OTA update prompts a lot but I just ignore them. I just really want to update the easiest way and hopefully be able to do more going forward. Thanks for any help anyone can provide.

Download latest factory image. Extract the boot.img from it and save to your phone. Open magisk manager and patch that boot.img. Save /download/magisk_patched.img to your computer. Disable or remove any magisk modules that you might have running. In bootloader run the flash-all.bat, after editing to remove -w, and boot into system. Reboot to bootloader and run "fastboot flash boot --slot all magisk_patched.img" and you should be good to go. Make sure to back everything up before hand just in case something does wrong. I use a mix of titanium backup, sms backup/restore, export contacts, and manually saving files. There are other ways, but this is what I am comfortable with.

pside15 said:
I have been into the Android scene since the original Samsung Galaxy S. I couldn't even tell you how many phones I had since then but I was always big into rooting and flashing more ROMs than healthy. I lost the ability to get endless company phones and ended up with locked bootloader phones for a few years. One day I saw a friend with the Pixel 2 and I got the itch again. I got the Pixel 3XL and unlocked the bootloader and rooted it immediately. At the time I didn't realize how much different the process was as far as updating and installing ROMs than it used to be on my older phones like my beloved Nexus phones. Basically I'm paranoid about doing anything because the process sounds extremely complicated to me. Maybe I'm just getting older. I build server and storage solutions every day but this is foreign to me. Sorry for all the rambling. Basically I'm rooted and still on the November 2019 build. I'm starting to get OTA update prompts a lot but I just ignore them. I just really want to update the easiest way and hopefully be able to do more going forward. Thanks for any help anyone can provide.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here ya go... https://forum.xda-developers.com/pixel-3-xl/how-to/guide-pixel-3-xl-android-10-0-q-t3964117

Google offers their own flashing update tool. You can find it here, https://pixelrepair.withgoogle.com/carrier_selection.

Thanks for all the replies guys. Will all these methods keep by bootloader unlocked and phone rooted? I definitely want those as they are now. Going to look a lot closer into the kernel and ROM situation. Also, is it safe to go from 9 to 10 without wiping? I'd obviously rather not wipe but if it might cause issues then I'd go with the wipe.
I know it's an old phone but I miss my old HTC Desire HD. So much awesome development for that phone. Released with Froyo and eventually got functioning Marshmallow builds. That phone and my Nexus 4 are probably my favorites of the countless phones I've had over the years. Anyway, thanks again for the replies. Gonna get this thing updated tomorrow.

pside15 said:
Thanks for all the replies guys. Will all these methods keep by bootloader unlocked and phone rooted? I definitely want those as they are now. Going to look a lot closer into the kernel and ROM situation. Also, is it safe to go from 9 to 10 without wiping? I'd obviously rather not wipe but if it might cause issues then I'd go with the wipe.
I know it's an old phone but I miss my old HTC Desire HD. So much awesome development for that phone. Released with Froyo and eventually got functioning Marshmallow builds. That phone and my Nexus 4 are probably my favorites of the countless phones I've had over the years. Anyway, thanks again for the replies. Gonna get this thing updated tomorrow.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You will need to wipe data on the upgrade to 10.
You will need to root again after the update. Bootloader will remain unlocked.
Once you have rooted, there is a method to take an OTA, and stay rooted. A description of the procedure is in the forums somewhere.
Again, I would recommend to follow the guide posted by Homeboy76. It will comprehensibly explain all the steps you need to achieve root,update etc. With links to downloads.
Gone are the days of flashing with just your phone. My first rooting experience was with an HTC Amaze. Then an S4 Samsung.
Good luck..
Edit: I stand corrected on data wipe when going to 10. I perhaps was overly cautious, and followed other recommendations.

pside15 said:
Thanks for all the replies guys. Will all these methods keep by bootloader unlocked and phone rooted? I definitely want those as they are now. Going to look a lot closer into the kernel and ROM situation. Also, is it safe to go from 9 to 10 without wiping? I'd obviously rather not wipe but if it might cause issues then I'd go with the wipe.
I know it's an old phone but I miss my old HTC Desire HD. So much awesome development for that phone. Released with Froyo and eventually got functioning Marshmallow builds. That phone and my Nexus 4 are probably my favorites of the countless phones I've had over the years. Anyway, thanks again for the replies. Gonna get this thing updated tomorrow.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You do not need to wipe data to update to 10. It is perfectly safe, we all did it. And so did all the people with locked bootloaders. You only have to wipe going down. Up is fine.
---------- Post added at 10:53 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:51 PM ----------
And here is the link to take an ota without losing root.
https://topjohnwu.github.io/Magisk/tutorials.html#ota-installation).

Anyone tried Google's flashing update tool?

Homeboy76 said:
Anyone tried this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just a heads up, your link is broken. Looks like the period at the end of the sentence accidentally got included in the hyperlink. The one in spotmark's post works. https://pixelrepair.withgoogle.com/carrier_selection

sliding_billy said:
Just a heads up, your link is broken. Looks like the period at the end of the sentence accidentally got included in the hyperlink. The one in spotmark's post works. https://pixelrepair.withgoogle.com/carrier_selection
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's working now

Homeboy76 said:
The link is in spotmark's quote: How can it be my link?
When I click it it works.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's only if you click the link from your post. You copied the . into the link. It comes up with 'Not Found
The requested URL was not found on the server. If you entered the URL manually please check your spelling and try again.
Look closely at the hyperlink highlighting, and you'll see the . at the end.

sliding_billy said:
It's only if you click the link from your post. You copied the . into the link. It comes up with 'Not Found
The requested URL was not found on the server. If you entered the URL manually please check your spelling and try again.
Look closely at the hyperlink highlighting, and you'll see the . at the end.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's working now

Homeboy76 said:
Read the edited post above yours.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not kidding, it is still not clicking without the . included. When you look at spotmark's post, the dot is black. Yours is blue and part of the hyperlink. I tried it in two browsers.

sliding_billy said:
Not kidding, it is still not clicking without the . included. When you look at spotmark's post, the dot is black. Yours is blue and part of the hyperlink. I tried it in two browsers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
@sliding_billy
It's working now

Homeboy76 said:
@sliding_billy
It's working now
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Winner, winner. Even better when you can't see the link.

Related

[rom] basic stock rom

Here's a basic stock rom in case you need it sometime
the only modifications made are the su and flash_image binaries are included and ro.secure has been turned to 0 so you can adb remount.
How to flash download the rom from here
Place rom on sdcard
wipe data and all else
then flash rom
reboot and do what you need to do
Cool, you never know when you might need this.
Thank you! Appreciated.
Sent from my VM670 using XDA App
Asadullah said:
Here's a basic stock rom in case you need it sometime
the only modifications made are the su and flash_image binaries are included and ro.secure has been turned to 0 so you can adb remount.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How is this comparable to the rom listed here?
bit ly backslash fBEJnU
I want to have a known working recovery before I make any more changes to my phone. I am not exactly a newbie to this stuff (I have a Pandigital Novel that has been rooted and hacked into a nice tablet) but this is taking things to a whole new level for me and I need my phone. So I'm a bit nervous.
Of course I really wish I'd asked around some before I got to work on removing some of the stuff on it already (mostly known junkware from Virgin Mobile and stupid stuff like weblinks pretending to be native apps) after rooting it with superoneclick and installing root explorer. I need to know if your rom or the one I linked to will be able to allow me to roll back to a default installation that I can revert to if there are any issues down the road. Can you help me?
I apologize if this isn't the right place for this question. Thank you for the many mods I have seen you do already. I look forward to trying them once I have a fallback plan.
--bornagainpenguin
PS: I am a new user here so not allowed to post links. I hope you got the idea of where I was trying to point you to.
bornagainpenguin said:
How is this comparable to the rom listed here?
....................................................................................................
PS: I am a new user here so not allowed to post links. I hope you got the idea of where I was trying to point you to.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not actually sure what your talking about but I've posted this on three different sites so far. I do that for the guys that don't go to other forums. There probably isn't any difference in the roms.
Asadullah said:
I'm not actually sure what your talking about but I've posted this on three different sites so far. I do that for the guys that don't go to other forums. There probably isn't any difference in the roms.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm talking about the one by takehull posted on sdx-developers here.
Yours is not exactly stock since you added su and flash_image binaries--or does that really not matter?
Thanks for the reply.
--bornagainpenguin
PS: I appreciate that you try to post your work as far and wide as possible, it made it easier for me to find it.
PPS: Which forum is best to follw for work relating to the LG Optimus V?
For the record, I like it as is.
Saves me the trouble of having to root all over again.
Sent from my VM670 using XDA App
I'm not sure exactly how his is different since I didn't build it. I'm gonna guess and say his probably doesn't have the binaries in it, I'm not sure exactly how his is different since I didn't build it. I'm gonna guess and say that his doesn't have the binaries in it. I don't know. Honestly the only way to know for sure that it's stock rom is to get someone that hasn't rooted yet flash the recovery and get a backup of system. I've been waiting for someone like that to come along but ... It hasn't happened yet.
I won't tell you which forums to watch but I'm partial to xda cuz I been on here since my first android phone and it doesn't have those flash ads that pop up cover your entire screen until you click the x.
Asadullah said:
I'm not sure exactly how his is different since I didn't build it. I'm gonna guess and say that his doesn't have the binaries in it. I don't know.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well upon further re-reading the other thread I saw this posted:
takehull said:
The only modifications this has are the two binaries that you put into /system/bin when you root. You can remove them by using Superoneclick Root and selecting "unroot."
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My only excuse is that it was late when I found the thread and I wasn't reading clearly. Going by that statement his rom and your rom basically seem to be the same things.
Asadullah said:
Honestly the only way to know for sure that it's stock rom is to get someone that hasn't rooted yet flash the recovery and get a backup of system. I've been waiting for someone like that to come along but ... It hasn't happened yet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Forgive my ignorance, but isn't rooting actually a requirement of obtaining the backup? Or did I misread the instructions somewhere? It'd be nice if someone at Virgin Mobile were to leak the complete rom somewhere so people had a fall back option besides trying to return the phone as bricked. (If that's even possible?)
Asadullah said:
I won't tell you which forums to watch but I'm partial to xda cuz I been on here since my first android phone and it doesn't have those flash ads that pop up cover your entire screen until you click the x.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds like a good reason to pick a forum. Not sure if I'm a member of any places that do that since I run with adblock and noscript enabled most of the time.
Any chance you could link me to written instructions on how to flash the rom you have here? I know you have video tutorials but those are harder to follow for me because I am hard of hearing. Music I can do because it is "beautiful noise" and I can usually find some lyrics to get the words of. Your video HOWTOs are not good for me because I have to strain to hear what is being said.
Thanks again for your time and patience in replying to me.
--bornagainpenguin
Thanks. Dude above me, there is a rom flashing tutorial at prepaidandroids.net. We will help you out there. Its a site that specializes in on the Optimus v itself.
(Optimus V - Contracts Suck)
Thanks for posting this. It just came in handy when I was changing my virgin phone number. Part of the process is dialing ##841446# to bring up the activation menu, but the ## prefix on CM7 does not work, apparently only a stock ROM can do that.
Any way to put it on a phone friendly site? No matter what browser I use on my phone it will not download from google docs.
Sent from my VM670 using Tapatalk
THANKS, this worked perfectly.
It's pretty much as described, a stock Opt V rom, with Super User already set up and installed.
Titanium worked on it no problem as well.
thanks a ton man! i needed to flash back to stock to get my 3G working again. if you flash a custom rom while youre between payments, you know, during down time, you may need to flash back to stock and run the activation app next time you put service on your phone.
worked like a charm. i thought my 3G was broken. im doing a happy dance now!
Anyway I can get a link to the stock rom with all the bloatware removed but not rooted?
DarkLG said:
Anyway I can get a link to the stock rom with all the bloatware removed but not rooted?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tell me what you consider bloatware and ill make it for you.
tvall said:
Tell me what you consider bloatware and ill make it for you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well those apps that come preinstalled like the virgin radio and such .If you could add in the newest market,g+,music I would greatly appreciate it
DarkLG said:
Well those apps that come preinstalled like the virgin radio and such .If you could add in the newest market,g+,music I would greatly appreciate it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Zipping, will flash and test then upload.
Its just de-bloated. Nothing added (yet)
http://db.tt/fsvq1JB6
Haven't tested yet. I'm lazy
tvall said:
Zipping, will flash and test then upload.
Its just de-bloated. Nothing added (yet)
http://db.tt/fsvq1JB6
Haven't tested yet. I'm lazy
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
haha let me know normally I would do it myself the whole making and adding but everything java and android based don't woprk o my pc :/
ES file explorer is a great way to remove bloat from your phone

Rooting without exploding the device? Have not had an HTC in a long time.

Just ordered my HTC 10, excited...and nervous as I've not had a new device (like long term) in... like over 1.5 years. :S I'm mainly hoping the microSD card slot likes my 128GB U1 x633 card so I can finally have enough space for all my vinyl rips, and then I hope the DAC is as good as they say.
So anyway, I've been reading all of this stuff about rooting and loosing the radio connection and something about the data encryption breaking everything O.O!!! Holy crap. I just wanna root it, find a good rom and dev to support and enjoy it. This is what I do on my current daily driver, my old OPO. I've been trying to look around, search, and read to make sure that I avoid all of these issues mentioned but so far I've not found a concrete explanation of why said issues happen. Not new to rooting/flashing at all, but HTC devices always seemed to of been touchy when it came to custom stuff, and I don't want to explode this thing. My main problem is that I've been away from HTC for.... well since early 2014.
My current knowledge of android stuffz tells me to:
1) Unlock Bootloader via ADB
2) Flash TWRP/Other Customer Recovery
3) Find sweet rom, flash and spend hours customizing
4) Flash xposed and go crazy with modules until the phone explodes and then scale it back to a realistic level
5) Enjoy Phone
6) Cake
HOWEVER... I remember HTC devices having a bit more complication due to things like... RUU and firmware.. I don't even remember what RUU means lol... But I remember when I had my M8 I was always fighting these dang firmware issues. While I ended up with a fantastic experience, I remember fighting for almost 2 months or so to get it to behave. Battery was out of control, phone was crashing, camera exploding. Oh man it sucked, but finally someone really cool was like... "Yo dude I had these issues, this is what you have to do with HTC stuff" , and after a full hour of flashing shiz I had the phone running smoothly and behaving correctly. Something about... you had to flash each level of the firmware and then reboot and...something. Like you couldn't just skip to the latest firmware? I don't remember exactly.
So anyway, the main question I have is. Could someone either
A.) Point me in the direction of a post or something to study to understand what to do and not do. I've searched but not really found anything solid. Something for folks who've been off the HTC scene for a while.
B.) If there isn't really a single post on this, perhaps if someone doesn't mind explaining this (even pm is fine) to me so I don't explord this expensive mofo and cry.
C.) Give me a hug, because I am nervous about having a new device O.O , it's been so long and I'm so used to Cm13 and xposed and all that jazz. I is be scared.
I would be grateful to any and all help/support.
Anyway, thanks in advanced guys and gals. :3
Locklear308 said:
Just ordered my HTC 10, excited...and nervous as I've not had a new device (like long term) in... like over 1.5 years. :S I'm mainly hoping the microSD card slot likes my 128GB U1 x633 card so I can finally have enough space for all my vinyl rips, and then I hope the DAC is as good as they say.
So anyway, I've been reading all of this stuff about rooting and loosing the radio connection and something about the data encryption breaking everything O.O!!! Holy crap. I just wanna root it, find a good rom and dev to support and enjoy it. This is what I do on my current daily driver, my old OPO. I've been trying to look around, search, and read to make sure that I avoid all of these issues mentioned but so far I've not found a concrete explanation of why said issues happen. Not new to rooting/flashing at all, but HTC devices always seemed to of been touchy when it came to custom stuff, and I don't want to explode this thing. My main problem is that I've been away from HTC for.... well since early 2014.
My current knowledge of android stuffz tells me to:
1) Unlock Bootloader via ADB
2) Flash TWRP/Other Customer Recovery
3) Find sweet rom, flash and spend hours customizing
4) Flash xposed and go crazy with modules until the phone explodes and then scale it back to a realistic level
5) Enjoy Phone
6) Cake
HOWEVER... I remember HTC devices having a bit more complication due to things like... RUU and firmware.. I don't even remember what RUU means lol... But I remember when I had my M8 I was always fighting these dang firmware issues. While I ended up with a fantastic experience, I remember fighting for almost 2 months or so to get it to behave. Battery was out of control, phone was crashing, camera exploding. Oh man it sucked, but finally someone really cool was like... "Yo dude I had these issues, this is what you have to do with HTC stuff" , and after a full hour of flashing shiz I had the phone running smoothly and behaving correctly. Something about... you had to flash each level of the firmware and then reboot and...something. Like you couldn't just skip to the latest firmware? I don't remember exactly.
So anyway, the main question I have is. Could someone either
A.) Point me in the direction of a post or something to study to understand what to do and not do. I've searched but not really found anything solid. Something for folks who've been off the HTC scene for a while.
B.) If there isn't really a single post on this, perhaps if someone doesn't mind explaining this (even pm is fine) to me so I don't explord this expensive mofo and cry.
C.) Give me a hug, because I am nervous about having a new device O.O , it's been so long and I'm so used to Cm13 and xposed and all that jazz. I is be scared.
I would be grateful to any and all help/support.
Anyway, thanks in advanced guys and gals. :3
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was in the same boat haven't owed an HTC since the Fuze running Windows lol and have been a loyal Samsung user since the S1 so the whole adb fastboot thing was a little overwhelming. I followed the guide in the forum and had a few hiccups but overall went pretty smooth. Adb is definitely not as user friendly as Odin on a Sammy device but not to difficult. My only tips would be make sure you have all the latest drivers, twrp, and adb installed. It seems pretty hard to permanently brick a device these days from my experience so I wouldn't worry to much. As far as the radio not working, as long as you keep your device encrypted you won't lose your radio. I'm sure the devs will find a fix for this soon enough. Enjoy your new 10!
Edit: I'm using a lexar 128gb 633x U1 micro sd and all is well. Worked with adoptable storage also but felt a little sluggish so I went back to using it as external storage.
AndroiderM said:
I was in the same boat haven't owed an HTC since the Fuze running Windows lol and have been a loyal Samsung user since the S1 so the whole adb fastboot thing was a little overwhelming. I followed the guide in the forum and had a few hiccups but overall went pretty smooth. Adb is definitely not as user friendly as Odin on a Sammy device but not to difficult. My only tips would be make sure you have all the latest drivers, twrp, and adb installed. It seems pretty hard to permanently brick a device these days from my experience so I wouldn't worry to much. As far as the radio not working, as long as you keep your device encrypted you won't lose your radio. I'm sure the devs will find a fix for this soon enough. Enjoy your new 10!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well I am comfortable in adb :3 so that's not a worry. So un-enecrypting it is just an option, and I should just avoid it for now? What is the advantage of un-encrypting it?
What guide did you use? Also, what about all this firmware and ruu stuff?
Sorry for so many questions... Lol this thing wasn't cheap and I am nervous , BTW what setup do you have? Root? ROM?
Thanks for replying :3
Locklear308 said:
Well I am comfortable in adb :3 so that's not a worry. So un-enecrypting it is just an option, and I should just avoid it for now? What is the advantage of un-encrypting it?
What guide did you use? Also, what about all this firmware and ruu stuff?
Sorry for so many questions... Lol this thing wasn't cheap and I am nervous , BTW what setup do you have? Root? ROM?
Thanks for replying :3
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://forum.xda-developers.com/htc-10/how-to/guide-root-optionally-s-off-radio-t3373025
From what I understand unencrypting breaks the radio. With it unencrypted you would get slightly better performance and boot times I think. I would definitely avoid it for now. I'm currently using twrp with Viper 10 rom. I've also used leedroid and still trying to find which one I prefer. I've only had my 10 for 3 days lol so I haven't found my sweet setup just yet. I left s-on for now as I don't really need it off.
No idea about the firmware and ruu stuff. I made a backup of stock rom before I started flashing. I'm pretty sure there is or will be a repo with factory firmware, radios, etc. I don't know what ruu stands for either lol.
---------- Post added at 06:56 AM ---------- Previous post was at 06:51 AM ----------
Did you get carrier or unlocked version
AndroiderM said:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/htc-10/how-to/guide-root-optionally-s-off-radio-t3373025
From what I understand unencrypting breaks the radio. With it unencrypted you would get slightly better performance and boot times I think. I would definitely avoid it for now. I'm currently using twrp with Viper 10 rom. I've also used leedroid and still trying to find which one I prefer. I've only had my 10 for 3 days lol so I haven't found my sweet setup just yet. I left s-on for now as I don't really need it off.
No idea about the firmware and ruu stuff. I made a backup of stock rom before I started flashing. I'm pretty sure there is or will be a repo with factory firmware, radios, etc. I don't know what ruu stands for either lol.
---------- Post added at 06:56 AM ---------- Previous post was at 06:51 AM ----------
Did you get carrier or unlocked version
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unlocked, at least that's what the guy on Swappa marked it as. *fingers crossed*
Got it for 510. One scratch on the metal
Alright so I will back things up and avoid the radio breaking stuff. I will check that link, thanks man
Locklear308 said:
Unlocked, at least that's what the guy on Swappa marked it as. *fingers crossed*
Got it for 510. One scratch on the metal
Alright so I will back things up and avoid the radio breaking stuff. I will check that link, thanks man
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No problem, mine has two scratches on metal too lol but guy gave me $200 and unlocked htc 10 w uh oh protection and original receipt for my s7e at&t branded locked bootloader ?. Was a no brainer for me
Locklear308 said:
Just ordered my HTC 10, excited...and nervous as I've not had a new device (like long term) in... like over 1.5 years. :S I'm mainly hoping the microSD card slot likes my 128GB U1 x633 card so I can finally have enough space for all my vinyl rips, and then I hope the DAC is as good as they say.
So anyway, I've been reading all of this stuff about rooting and loosing the radio connection and something about the data encryption breaking everything O.O!!! Holy crap. I just wanna root it, find a good rom and dev to support and enjoy it. This is what I do on my current daily driver, my old OPO. I've been trying to look around, search, and read to make sure that I avoid all of these issues mentioned but so far I've not found a concrete explanation of why said issues happen. Not new to rooting/flashing at all, but HTC devices always seemed to of been touchy when it came to custom stuff, and I don't want to explode this thing. My main problem is that I've been away from HTC for.... well since early 2014.
My current knowledge of android stuffz tells me to:
1) Unlock Bootloader via ADB
2) Flash TWRP/Other Customer Recovery
3) Find sweet rom, flash and spend hours customizing
4) Flash xposed and go crazy with modules until the phone explodes and then scale it back to a realistic level
5) Enjoy Phone
6) Cake
HOWEVER... I remember HTC devices having a bit more complication due to things like... RUU and firmware.. I don't even remember what RUU means lol... But I remember when I had my M8 I was always fighting these dang firmware issues. While I ended up with a fantastic experience, I remember fighting for almost 2 months or so to get it to behave. Battery was out of control, phone was crashing, camera exploding. Oh man it sucked, but finally someone really cool was like... "Yo dude I had these issues, this is what you have to do with HTC stuff" , and after a full hour of flashing shiz I had the phone running smoothly and behaving correctly. Something about... you had to flash each level of the firmware and then reboot and...something. Like you couldn't just skip to the latest firmware? I don't remember exactly.
So anyway, the main question I have is. Could someone either
A.) Point me in the direction of a post or something to study to understand what to do and not do. I've searched but not really found anything solid. Something for folks who've been off the HTC scene for a while.
B.) If there isn't really a single post on this, perhaps if someone doesn't mind explaining this (even pm is fine) to me so I don't explord this expensive mofo and cry.
C.) Give me a hug, because I am nervous about having a new device O.O , it's been so long and I'm so used to Cm13 and xposed and all that jazz. I is be scared.
I would be grateful to any and all help/support.
Anyway, thanks in advanced guys and gals. :3
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm on my third htc10. Exploded last two after rooting haha. Really not hard mate. Just read the guides provided and ask any questions you need. Most ppl on XDA will be helpful, and some will reply like me lol.
BTW, simple answer, unlock phone via HTC Dev, then flash Viper. Done.
purple patch said:
I'm on my third htc10. Exploded last two after rooting haha. Really not hard mate. Just read the guides provided and ask any questions you need. Most ppl on XDA will be helpful, and some will reply like me lol.
BTW, simple answer, unlock phone via HTC Dev, then flash Viper. Done.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Alright neato, so do I need to ensure I let it download any and all OTA's for the firmware before doing anything? Is s-off safe to get as well in regards to the issues I referred to in my OP above?
And his is this viper? Does it allow things like settings similar to cm and also allow for xposed?
Thanks for replying man, I feel more comfortable now as it sounds like there isn't anything crazy required to safely root this thing . Phew!!
Locklear308 said:
Alright neato, so do I need to ensure I let it download any and all OTA's for the firmware before doing anything? Is s-off safe to get as well in regards to the issues I referred to in my OP above?
And his is this viper? Does it allow things like settings similar to cm and also allow for xposed?
Thanks for replying man, I feel more comfortable now as it sounds like there isn't anything crazy required to safely root this thing . Phew!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I got an M9 for my wife not that long ago and just had my 10 show up today and gonna root. Just do like the other dude said. Find a guide that says how to use HTC dev to unlock the bootloader. You can't just enter a command in adb like "unlock bootloader" and have it work. Go to the HTC dev website, make an account, pick your device and it walks you through the steps of unlocking the bootloader. That's really the only semi-difficult part IMO. Then proceed as normal. Download twrp, make a stock nand, download ROM, su binaries, kernel, etc. etc. go to recovery and flash. I'm sure there's a couple other steps in their but that's the basics.
As for Viper, it tends to come with so many mods built in, I'd personally be kind of reluctant to use xposed with it to to much modifying. It's a great ROM, but so is leedroid You can try each and see what you like, but if you want to more safely use xposed I'd personally go with leedroid.
DroidIt! said:
I got an M9 for my wife not that long ago and just had my 10 show up today and gonna root. Just do like the other dude said. Find a guide that says how to use HTC dev to unlock the bootloader. You can't just enter a command in adb like "unlock bootloader" and have it work. Go to the HTC dev website, make an account, pick your device and it walks you through the steps of unlocking the bootloader. That's really the only semi-difficult part IMO. Then proceed as normal. Download twrp, make a stock nand, download ROM, su binaries, kernel, etc. etc. go to recovery and flash. I'm sure there's a couple other steps in their but that's the basics.
As for Viper, it tends to come with so many mods built in, I'd personally be kind of reluctant to use xposed with it to to much modifying. It's a great ROM, but so is leedroid You can try each and see what you like, but if you want to more safely use xposed I'd personally go with leedroid.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh right, I do remember about the whole HTC dev website thing. I was mainly just concerned with the firmware issues and stuff that I had before.
Is there any kind of limitations for reasons not to upgrade to the highest available firmware? Something like, maybe the highest one can't be rooted yet or something like that. I just want to make sure that I don't shoot myself in the foot haha.
Thank you all for your help
Locklear308 said:
Oh right, I do remember about the whole HTC dev website thing. I was mainly just concerned with the firmware issues and stuff that I had before.
Is there any kind of limitations for reasons not to upgrade to the highest available firmware? Something like, maybe the highest one can't be rooted yet or something like that. I just want to make sure that I don't shoot myself in the foot haha.
Thank you all for your help
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey, I'm not sure about firmware not being able to be rooted but the best way to go about it (what I did anyway) is to unlock the phone via htcdev.com, flash a custom recovery (Latest TWRP which has also worked around the encryption stuff?) and then back up everything other than the data partition. That way, no matter what you do, you always have something to revert back to. The reason for not backing up data is due to the encryption. From my understanding, restoring an encrypted data partition would break things. Once you have the phone unlocked and recovery sorted, you are free to flash viper etc. and root the phone using SuperSU. I'm sure you are aware unlocked devices are quite easy to root so whatever you flash will most likely be on latest firmware, already rooted.
As for installing OTAs etc., you need unmodified system and recovery which is where the backups kick in. Simply back up your data on an SD card (pictures etc. not the actual partition) and restore the system-image and recovery. This should reset the phone although I'm not sure if it'll wipe anything and allow you to do OTA updates. Alternatively, get the latest firmware for your device from htcdev (again, not sure if they have firmware on there) and use that instead.
If any of the information above is incorrect or missing steps, someone feel free to correct me.

Automatic OTA after depixel8, TWRP, and root?

On Friday (1/6) I opened my freshly purchased pixel XL and was happy to see it was still on 7.1. Given the status of many of the how to threads for the XL (Op not fully updated), I struggled to unlock the bootloader. I left the SIM card in and activated the phone. I even punched in my wifi password and got to the "checking for updates screen" before I started to read everything. I eventually got through it an unlocked the bootloader, slapped TWRP on it and flashed root. So far so good...
Then I started to read through the pain of updating manually to 7.1.1. No thanks. Kind of annoyed, I went about my merry way and just decided I'd hassle through it when something really important mandated it.
Fast forward to today, I noticed a bunch of apps had updated over night and something just seemed odd. So I checked the phone build number and it was updated to 7.1.1. Horrified, I installed quickboot and rebooted to recovery without issue, including SuperSU providing it root....whew!
My question - How did I get the OTA without losing TWRP and root? From what I've read, if you side load the OTA updates, you have to flash it again. I'm on the latest TWRP (RC1) and I've updated SuperSU binaries the easy way.
EDIT- By the way, this is the Verizon version (can't beat $15/m no trade in).
Because sideloading an OTA is a different update. You took the incremental OTA, which is a lot smaller and doesn't include installing to partitions that will break root. When you sideload the OTA, it's a "full OTA" and includes much more.
I would strongly suggest you disable automatic system updates and only manually update from here on out. It's far more risky taking incremental OTA's while rooted and modified than sideloading an OTA yourself when you can control it and flash everything you need to not bootloop.
Consider yourself lucky that you took it and didn't bootloop. But you are even more lucky that you got a 7.1 from Verizon! Nice.
xnatex21 said:
On Friday (1/6) I opened my freshly purchased pixel XL and was happy to see it was still on 7.1. Given the status of many of the how to threads for the XL (Op not fully updated), I struggled to unlock the bootloader. I left the SIM card in and activated the phone. I even punched in my wifi password and got to the "checking for updates screen" before I started to read everything. I eventually got through it an unlocked the bootloader, slapped TWRP on it and flashed root. So far so good...
Then I started to read through the pain of updating manually to 7.1.1. No thanks. Kind of annoyed, I went about my merry way and just decided I'd hassle through it when something really important mandated it.
Fast forward to today, I noticed a bunch of apps had updated over night and something just seemed odd. So I checked the phone build number and it was updated to 7.1.1. Horrified, I installed quickboot and rebooted to recovery without issue, including SuperSU providing it root....whew!
My question - How did I get the OTA without losing TWRP and root? From what I've read, if you side load the OTA updates, you have to flash it again. I'm on the latest TWRP (RC1) and I've updated SuperSU binaries the easy way.
EDIT- By the way, this is the Verizon version (can't beat $15/m no trade in).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What pain of updating to 7.1.1.
xnatex21 said:
On Friday (1/6) I opened my freshly purchased pixel XL and was happy to see it was still on 7.1. Given the status of many of the how to threads for the XL (Op not fully updated), I struggled to unlock the bootloader. I left the SIM card in and activated the phone. I even punched in my wifi password and got to the "checking for updates screen" before I started to read everything. I eventually got through it an unlocked the bootloader, slapped TWRP on it and flashed root. So far so good...
Then I started to read through the pain of updating manually to 7.1.1. No thanks. Kind of annoyed, I went about my merry way and just decided I'd hassle through it when something really important mandated it.
Fast forward to today, I noticed a bunch of apps had updated over night and something just seemed odd. So I checked the phone build number and it was updated to 7.1.1. Horrified, I installed quickboot and rebooted to recovery without issue, including SuperSU providing it root....whew!
My question - How did I get the OTA without losing TWRP and root? From what I've read, if you side load the OTA updates, you have to flash it again. I'm on the latest TWRP (RC1) and I've updated SuperSU binaries the easy way.
EDIT- By the way, this is the Verizon version (can't beat $15/m no trade in).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I bought the verizon version a while back, unlocked the bootloader. Here is the thing now, when you unlock the bootloader, you'll be good. You can download the google factory images, and flash your phone to the latest version, then you can reflash twrp and super su again. You'll not use the ability to add TWRP everytime because restoring or flashing the images, vendor, even stock recovery does not lock the bootloader. You can also have a custom rom for a piece of mind flashed, I am currently on pure-nexus, which is great and stable for me. I understand if you want to stay fully stock. Did I make any sense to you?
toknitup420 said:
What pain of updating to 7.1.1.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly. It doesn't get much easier than double clicking a flashall.bat.
toknitup420 said:
What pain of updating to 7.1.1.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
spotmark said:
Exactly. It doesn't get much easier than double clicking a flashall.bat.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess I'm just used to downloading a rom and gapps on my phone, clicking reboot to recovery, wipe/flash/wipe (or just dirty flash). Involving a PC, downloading the latest twrp, supersu, rom and whatever the tool of the day, is a pain comparatively...not to mention having to read pages and pages of threads because the OP isn't up to date and one step that is buried is critical. I understand this may come across as ungrateful. It isn't meant that way. I appreciate the many thankless hours people are putting into this. But from a user point of view, jumping through the hoops and risking bricking a $800 phone because the steps aren't short and simple, doesn't have the same value as when it is easy.
xnatex21 said:
I guess I'm just used to downloading a rom and gapps on my phone, clicking reboot to recovery, wipe/flash/wipe (or just dirty flash). Involving a PC, downloading the latest twrp, supersu, rom and whatever the tool of the day, is a pain comparatively...not to mention having to read pages and pages of threads because the OP isn't up to date and one step that is buried is critical. I understand this may come across as ungrateful. It isn't meant that way. I appreciate the many thankless hours people are putting into this. But from a user point of view, jumping through the hoops and risking bricking a $800 phone because the steps aren't short and simple, doesn't have the same value as when it is easy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It will change. This phone is very different, it's not as open during the boot process as it used to be. Going to take some time to pull it all together. You won't brick it. You may soft brick it but a factory image and flashall.bat will pretty much always save you.
xnatex21 said:
I guess I'm just used to downloading a rom and gapps on my phone, clicking reboot to recovery, wipe/flash/wipe (or just dirty flash). Involving a PC, downloading the latest twrp, supersu, rom and whatever the tool of the day, is a pain comparatively...not to mention having to read pages and pages of threads because the OP isn't up to date and one step that is buried is critical. I understand this may come across as ungrateful. It isn't meant that way. I appreciate the many thankless hours people are putting into this. But from a user point of view, jumping through the hoops and risking bricking a $800 phone because the steps aren't short and simple, doesn't have the same value as when it is easy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Pixels are a little trickier than Nexus devices of the past in terms of flashing stuff, but you'd almost have to TRY to brick the phone. As long as you keep your bootloader always unlocked, you will always have a way to restore it.
In the future, if you keep your stock recovery, you can sideload OTA's through ADB by downloading the OTA from the Google site, and then using adb sideload ota.zip inside recovery with sideload selected. Alternatively, you can download the entire factory image for the new version, use Notepad to edit the flash-all.bat to remove "-w" from the file - it's in the middle of a flash command - and it will prevent it from wiping your device. But it will wipe out all your system modifications, if you made any.
I hit a "no command" recovery bootloop once when I tried manually updating, and didn't think I'd be able to get out of it because even flash-all.bat was not working (insufficient space error) for no good reason, and no article online has the proper new manual fastboot flash commands for Nougat devices using seamless updates. I think I know the commands now, but the SkipSoft Unified Toolkit is a GREAT tool (simplifies a lot of modification processes for a lot of devices) and automatically flashed the entire factory image for me, fixing the device.
xnatex21 said:
I guess I'm just used to downloading a rom and gapps on my phone, clicking reboot to recovery, wipe/flash/wipe (or just dirty flash). Involving a PC, downloading the latest twrp, supersu, rom and whatever the tool of the day, is a pain comparatively...not to mention having to read pages and pages of threads because the OP isn't up to date and one step that is buried is critical. I understand this may come across as ungrateful. It isn't meant that way. I appreciate the many thankless hours people are putting into this. But from a user point of view, jumping through the hoops and risking bricking a $800 phone because the steps aren't short and simple, doesn't have the same value as when it is easy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Updating this phone is easy as hell. You sound like someone who isn't willing to put in the effort to learn how to properly do this stuff. Using fastboot is extremely easy. To sit there and say jump through hoops is ridiculous. You won't brick you're 800$ device if you know what you're doing. And there's plenty of guides out there on how to use fastboot that a complete noob can understand. This stuff isnt meant to be short and simple. Don't modify you're device if you don't want to learn how to properly do it.
toknitup420 said:
Updating this phone is easy as hell. You sound like someone who isn't willing to put in the effort to learn how to properly do this stuff. Using fastboot is extremely easy. To sit there and say jump through hoops is ridiculous. You won't brick you're 800$ device if you know what you're doing. And there's plenty of guides out there on how to use fastboot that a complete noob can understand. This stuff isnt meant to be short and simple. Don't modify you're device if you don't want to learn how to properly do it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nice troll or you didn't read and understand what I wrote. Maybe typing it again will help you, the "noob" at comprehension. Looking at your username, I'm probably wasting my time though.
It's not easy compared to download, wipe, flash, wipe. Are you really questioning this?
The guides on XDA are riddled with one off steps buried pages into the thread. I know people are working on this in their spare time so updating a guide is grunt work compared to coding and compiling. But for someone who just got the phone and can't even set it up for fear of losing the ability to unlock their bootloader without reading every page of every thread, it's a bit much.
Did anyone make me do any of this? Of course not. But thanks for your permission to not do it going forward.
To everyone else who replied in this thread respectfully, thank you.
xnatex21 said:
Nice troll or you didn't read and understand what I wrote. Maybe typing it again will help you, the "noob" at comprehension. Looking at your username, I'm probably wasting my time though.
It's not easy compared to download, wipe, flash, wipe. Are you really questioning this?
The guides on XDA are riddled with one off steps buried pages into the thread. I know people are working on this in their spare time so updating a guide is grunt work compared to coding and compiling. But for someone who just got the phone and can't even set it up for fear of losing the ability to unlock their bootloader without reading every page of every thread, it's a bit much.
Did anyone make me do any of this? Of course not. But thanks for your permission to not do it going forward.
To everyone else who replied in this thread respectfully, thank you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Troll? Seriously? Because you're a lazy user who doesn't want to put in the time and effort to properly mod you're device. Can't wait to see you're thread about help I'm soft bricked and don't know what to do. I only wanted you to take the time to learn everything so you don't mess up you're phone. But apparently you think it's too much of a pain. Enjoy you're future bricked phone.
Sadly this is what it's like on many xda threads.
One must read hundreds or in many cases thousands of posts to find out what could have been summed up on the op's original message with a simple 1-10 steps.
And if you call anyone out on it you get the backlash that you received in this thread. It's just the way it is here. Some nice helpful folks and many that just look for a fight.
This thread turned into a mess. All anyone with a Verizon model needs to know is that if you are on 7.1 you can unlock your bootloader. If you are already on 7.1.1 you can't unlock your bootloader and likely will never be able to.
Once you unlocked it you have nothing to worry about. It will ONLY get locked again if you yourself lock it via fastboot with the appropriate command. If you are not rooted and do not have twrp installed you will still get OTA notifications and be able to install just like you normally would. Your bootloader being unlocked has nothing to do with OTA updates.
I do agree with the previous post though. There's no denying that the pixel is different so things aren't as simple and we have some extra steps in order to keep root and twrp and also install updates. To whoever responded to him saying he was lazy is just looking for drama. Ignore it
rfranken said:
Sadly this is what it's like on many xda threads.
One must read hundreds or in many cases thousands of posts to find out what could have been summed up on the op's original message with a simple 1-10 steps.
And if you call anyone out on it you get the backlash that you received in this thread. It's just the way it is here. Some nice helpful folks and many that just look for a fight.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what's sad is you guys feel you shouldn't have to read like the people who has been around for years when there was no one to ask. Just should ask and get spoon feed help I just don't get it. I can build kernels from source Roms I do mad mods to my personal setup how did I learn by spending weeks of my time reading and learning. Guess I should have just come here begging for help instead right? And @toknitup420 works we me he can do pretty much everything I can do and people wonder why we don't post our work on XDA cause of users like in this thread. It's a shame entitled users are ruining XDA or users that think their entitled.
---------- Post added at 10:28 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:26 PM ----------
xnatex21 said:
Nice troll or you didn't read and understand what I wrote. Maybe typing it again will help you, the "noob" at comprehension. Looking at your username, I'm probably wasting my time though.
It's not easy compared to download, wipe, flash, wipe. Are you really questioning this?
The guides on XDA are riddled with one off steps buried pages into the thread. I know people are working on this in their spare time so updating a guide is grunt work compared to coding and compiling. But for someone who just got the phone and can't even set it up for fear of losing the ability to unlock their bootloader without reading every page of every thread, it's a bit much.
Did anyone make me do any of this? Of course not. But thanks for your permission to not do it going forward.
To everyone else who replied in this thread respectfully, thank you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
By his username WTH does that mean? Smh
He has 420 in his username. Google it if you don't know the reference. Or do we need to "spoon feed" it to you?
Tigerstown said:
what's sad is you guys feel you shouldn't have to read like the people who has been around for years when there was no one to ask. Just should ask and get spoon feed help I just don't get it. I can build kernels from source Roms I do mad mods to my personal setup how did I learn by spending weeks of my time reading and learning. Guess I should have just come here begging for help instead right? And @toknitup420 works we me he can do pretty much everything I can do and people wonder why we don't post our work on XDA cause of users like in this thread. It's a shame entitled users are ruining XDA or users that think their entitled.
---------- Post added at 10:28 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:26 PM ----------
By his username WTH does that mean? Smh
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First off why don't you read before you make a post like this. Nothing bad or disrespectful was posted. The other person was simply talking about the pixel being more complicated then other devices and stuff like that. It was no indication of him being too lazy to read threads. Then your "boy" felt the need to comment and start useless drama twisting the other guys words. You sit here and say "this is why I left XDA" yet you are the one who just went out of your way to continue the pointless drama that started because neither you nor your friend can read. YOU and YOUR post are the reason people get fed up with this place. You are contributing to drama your friend started on a forum for a device you clearly don't even own. Didn't you say you left XDA? So why are you posting here? I'm sure you're "mad skills" would be more useful somewhere else. Seriously grow up and at least read and know the story before you comment.
aholeinthewor1d said:
First off why don't you read before you make a post like this. Nothing bad or disrespectful was posted. The other person was simply talking about the pixel being more complicated then other devices and stuff like that. It was no indication of him being too lazy to read threads. Then your "boy" felt the need to comment and start useless drama twisting the other guys words. You sit here and say "this is why I left XDA" yet you are the one who just went out of your way to continue the pointless drama that started because neither you nor your friend can read. YOU and YOUR post are the reason people get fed up with this place. You are contributing to drama your friend started on a forum for a device you clearly don't even own. Didn't you say you left XDA? So why are you posting here? I'm sure you're "mad skills" would be more useful somewhere else. Seriously grow up and at least read and know the story before you comment.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
when did I say I left XDA? Your right I can't read get a clue I wonder how I program CNC machines everyday when I can't read. I didn't read the post I replied clearly.
---------- Post added at 01:05 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:02 AM ----------
rfranken said:
He has 420 in his username. Google it if you don't know the reference. Or do we need to "spoon feed" it to you?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah spoon feed it to me please!! Google it your funny I'm a grown man I partake in it myself as it's legal..Once again I still don't see the point of why his username has anything to do with it. You sound very butt hurt are you a snowflake?
Tigerstown said:
when did I say I left XDA? Your right I can't read get a clue I wonder how I program CNC machines everyday when I can't read. I didn't read the post I replied clearly.
---------- Post added at 01:05 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:02 AM ----------
Yeah spoon feed it to me please!! Google it your funny I'm a grown man I partake in it myself as it's legal..Once again I still don't see the point of why his username has anything to do with it. You sound very butt hurt are you a snowflake?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Notice how every post you feel the need to try and brag? We just met you and we already know you build kernels, do "mad mods" to your phone, and you program CNC machines.. You both were looking for drama where the was none is the bottom line. So why not end it
aholeinthewor1d said:
First off why don't you read before you make a post like this. Nothing bad or disrespectful was posted. The other person was simply talking about the pixel being more complicated then other devices and stuff like that. It was no indication of him being too lazy to read threads. Then your "boy" felt the need to comment and start useless drama twisting the other guys words. You sit here and say "this is why I left XDA" yet you are the one who just went out of your way to continue the pointless drama that started because neither you nor your friend can read. YOU and YOUR post are the reason people get fed up with this place. You are contributing to drama your friend started on a forum for a device you clearly don't even own. Didn't you say you left XDA? So why are you posting here? I'm sure you're "mad skills" would be more useful somewhere else. Seriously grow up and at least read and know the story before you comment.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wait I clearly don't own a pixel XL that's too funny you don't even know me yet you know what phone I own... I left XDA you said but I'm the one that can't read wow
This isn't a pixel XL :good:

Debating on rooting my Pixel 2XL, looking for seasoned android user's advice.

Hi all,
I am possibly interested in rooting my device. I have been rooting/rom'ing since back on my HTC Hero forever ago. Made a brief trip to iOS, and got into jailbreaking, but always missed the Android atmosphere. I am having issues with the battery on my device, and have debated factory resetting the device, and came across the forums about rooting.
I would just run a stock rom, with root, to be able to use Gravity box and Xposed. I am not super familiar with terminal/command line, so that part worries me a bit.
Anyone that is rooted, how does your device's battery last? Any major issues you notice? I use my camera for pictures of my family everyday, and don't want to risk anything that could compromise this feature.
Thanks in advance
Rooting doesn't hinder or damage or affect your battery directly
If you have enough reasons to root just root
I have plenty reasons to root that's why i did
Cheers ?
Sent from my Google Pixel 2 XL using XDA Labs
I've had lots of Android phones and tablets over the years, and every one was rooted at some point. Imo, rooting is not as critical as it used to be. Back in the early days of Android, rooting was the only way to get certain features that were later incorporated into Android. As Android matured, rooting became less important unless you needed a specific function or app. Rooting is still required for stuff like Titanium Backup, AdAway, Viper4Android, etc, because those need access to system-level files, which is impossible without root permissions.
Ask yourself what do you plan to do with root access? If you have a specific need for root, then go for it. Obviously you are not new to the game, and the procedure for rooting Pixel 2 is brain-dead simple compared to what you did for HTC Hero. However, if you don't have a specific need or plan, then it is not worth messing with imo. The Pixel 2 is an absolute beast out of the box. Root tweaks won't get you significantly better performance. I am rooted and use Sysconfig patcher (a Magisk module) to allow doze for Google Play Services for a very small gain in battery life. But I wouldn't root just for that. Monthly updates are a little more hassle if you are rooted, but if you get that far then you should be able to flash updates too.
AwkwardUberHero said:
Hi all,
I am possibly interested in rooting my device. I have been rooting/rom'ing since back on my HTC Hero forever ago. Made a brief trip to iOS, and got into jailbreaking, but always missed the Android atmosphere. I am having issues with the battery on my device, and have debated factory resetting the device, and came across the forums about rooting.
I would just run a stock rom, with root, to be able to use Gravity box and Xposed. I am not super familiar with terminal/command line, so that part worries me a bit.
Anyone that is rooted, how does your device's battery last? Any major issues you notice? I use my camera for pictures of my family everyday, and don't want to risk anything that could compromise this feature.
Thanks in advance
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I too am a stock rom + root user. My battery life is outstanding for my usage patterns, usually 8-12 hours of SOT. As far as rooting, only you can answer that. Personally, I love it!! I like using dark themes, AdAway, TiBu, and the ability to use custom kernel tweaks. Having said all that, I haven't noticed any decrease in performance with day to day usage that you would likely use. So, if you ask me....root that sucker! ????
Badger50 said:
I too am a stock rom + root user. My battery life is outstanding for my usage patterns, usually 8-12 hours of SOT. As far as rooting, only you can answer that. Personally, I love it!! I like using dark themes, AdAway, TiBu, and the ability to use custom kernel tweaks. Having said all that, I haven't noticed any decrease in performance with day to day usage that you would likely use. So, if you ask me....root that sucker!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Seeing your input on this, Badger, makes me want to do it. Granted, not having rooted in over four years or so, I feel like I am missing a wealth of knowledge on this subject. I may give it a shot later today and see what happens. The only thing that worries me is installing the updates that come out each month. Do you do those monthly?
AwkwardUberHero said:
Seeing your input on this, Badger, makes me want to do it. Granted, not having rooted in over four years or so, I feel like I am missing a wealth of knowledge on this subject. I may give it a shot later today and see what happens. The only thing that worries me is installing the updates that come out each month. Do you do those monthly?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh I absolutely do the monthly updates using fastboot to install the factory images. It's actually very easy once you get the hang of it. You can look over my personal guide if you'd like so you have an idea of what to do :good:
Here's some more info for you to read as well :good:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/pixel-2-xl/how-to/guide-unlock-flash-root-pixel-2-xl-t3702418
Badger50 said:
Oh I absolutely do the monthly updates using fastboot to install the factory images. It's actually very easy once you get the hang of it. You can look over my personal guide if you'd like so you have an idea of what to do :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you really need to remove the lock screen password? I flashed the OTA (using this method: https://forum.xda-developers.com/pixel-2-xl/how-to/how-to-applying-monthly-security-t3750234), and I had no issue entering the PIN from within TWRP (twrp-3.2.1-2).
And don't forget that rooting is a XDA rush!
uofirob said:
Do you really need to remove the lock screen password? I flashed the OTA (using this method: https://forum.xda-developers.com/pixel-2-xl/how-to/how-to-applying-monthly-security-t3750234), and I had no issue entering the PIN from within TWRP (twrp-3.2.1-2).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just my personal preference really. I just don't take chances with twrp if I don't have to :good:
sublimaze said:
rooting Pixel 2 is brain-dead simple compared to what you did for HTC Hero.
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Click to collapse
I never rooted my Hero but did completely unlock my HTC 4G LTE(S-off???). Dear lord was that a nightmare. I think back then it actually required a tool(Dirty Racoon???), only certain ROM's would boot on certain bootloaders, etc. I don't miss those days lol.
AndrasLOHF said:
I never rooted my Hero but did completely unlock my HTC 4G LTE(S-off???). Dear lord was that a nightmare. I think back then it actually required a tool(Dirty Racoon???). I don't miss those days.
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I did root the HTC Hermes (win5) which was a trip!
AwkwardUberHero said:
Seeing your input on this, Badger, makes me want to do it. Granted, not having rooted in over four years or so, I feel like I am missing a wealth of knowledge on this subject. I may give it a shot later today and see what happens. The only thing that worries me is installing the updates that come out each month. Do you do those monthly?
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While the 2 XL is a great phone even without root, I think there is just too much fun, experimenting, and customization to miss if not rooted. But this is a personal choice and you have to decide if you really want a specific battery icon, or any other custom feature.
You been given links to some steps and guides which are very good references. Since you said it's been four years since you rooted, I'm throwing in my guide as well
I am not a technical kinda guy, and sometimes the little details are what trip me up, so I crafted this initially for myself needing to be reminded of each step.
It is very detailed, step by step with tips and links and everything needed in one place. It certainly isn't the final authority for sure, but I've used it dozen and dozens of times with no issues. You can always default to the guide or other references if something isn't clear.
Take the plunge, I think you'll be very glad you did. In my opinion, root makes a great device an excellent device
@Az Biker @Badger50 I will be trying this on a Mac. Anyone happen to have steps for a Mac?
Thanks again for everything!
Mac instructions are in the op of the thread badger posted#7
galaxys said:
Mac instructions are in the op of the thread badger posted#7
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Thanks! Totally overlooked that.
Badger50 said:
Oh I absolutely do the monthly updates using fastboot to install the factory images. It's actually very easy once you get the hang of it. You can look over my personal guide if you'd like so you have an idea of what to do :good:
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Hey badger, thanks for these steps. Debating on trying this tomorrow. Do you have the actual rooting directions as well for a Mac? Tried looking in YouTube but could only find windows.
Thanks again in advance.
AwkwardUberHero said:
Hey badger, thanks for these steps. Debating on trying this tomorrow. Do you have the actual rooting directions as well for a Mac? Tried looking in YouTube but could only find windows.
Thanks again in advance.
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First you'll need to enable developer options by tapping on the build number 7 times in settings/system/about phone. Then enable OEM unlocking and USB debugging. You'll need adb/sdk installed on your Mac, then you'll need to unlock your bootloader with the follow fastboot commands..
fastboot flashing unlock....
And
fastboot flashing unlock_critical...
You have to have magisk 16.3 and the twrp installer zip in your internal storage.
Then you'll need to fastboot the twrp.img with the Mac specific prefix command (which I don't know), but the command is...fastboot boot twrpxxxx.img
That'll boot you into twrp, then hit install, and navigate to where your twrp installer and magisk zips are. Flash twrp, followed by magisk, reboot, and you should be rooted.
Badger50 said:
First you'll need to enable developer options by tapping on the build number 7 times in settings/system/about phone. Then enable OEM unlocking and USB debugging. You'll need adb/sdk installed on your Mac, then you'll need to unlock your bootloader with the follow fastboot commands..
fastboot flashing unlock....
And
fastboot flashing unlock_critical...
You have to have magisk 16.3 and the twrp installer zip in your internal storage.
Then you'll need to fastboot the twrp.img with the Mac specific prefix command (which I don't know), but the command is...fastboot boot twrpxxxx.img
That'll boot you into twrp, then hit install, and navigate to where your twrp installer and magisk zips are. Flash twrp, followed by magisk, reboot, and you should be rooted.
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Awesome. Thank you. I was messing with adb a bit today, enabling immersive mode and what not. I think that I can follow these steps.

Updating question

Ok, I start this off with the fact that this is my first phone with the whole slot A&B thing. I've done a ton of reading but it's still very confusing to me. I'm very confused on what exactly to do when it comes to updates. I'm stock rooted with TWRP installed on slot A. I'm also on the December build. I would like to update but I don't know what the easiest way to go about it is to be honest. I feel like an idiot but I guess that's because I'm really old school when it comes to this stuff. My rooting/roming goes back to the Samsung Captivate and countless other phones up until it got to be too much of a hassle to get a phone from a carrier that could be messed with. Now that I have rambled on, I thought it would be different getting a Pixel but this whole slot thing has me all confused. I basically want to stay stock rooted for now and possibly try a kernel down the line but I'm very happy with stock for now. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
pside15 said:
Ok, I start this off with the fact that this is my first phone with the whole slot A&B thing. I've done a ton of reading but it's still very confusing to me. I'm very confused on what exactly to do when it comes to updates. I'm stock rooted with TWRP installed on slot A. I'm also on the December build. I would like to update but I don't know what the easiest way to go about it is to be honest. I feel like an idiot but I guess that's because I'm really old school when it comes to this stuff. My rooting/roming goes back to the Samsung Captivate and countless other phones up until it got to be too much of a hassle to get a phone from a carrier that could be messed with. Now that I have rambled on, I thought it would be different getting a Pixel but this whole slot thing has me all confused. I basically want to stay stock rooted for now and possibly try a kernel down the line but I'm very happy with stock for now. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
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@Homeboy76 will get you squared away :good:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/pi...-android-9-0-pie-unlock-t3857195/post77944292
Badger50 said:
@Homeboy76 will get you squared away :good:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/pi...-android-9-0-pie-unlock-t3857195/post77944292
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Thanks for the reply. I've read throughout that thread numerous times and I still can't determine the easiest way to update my phone and the necessary steps to take to get there. I just want to be stock rooted like I am now but don't know what steps to take to get there. Like do I need to unroot first, relock bootloader? I'm sure all those answers are in that thread but I'm probably just too dense to see them. I haven't really had a solid rooted phone in like 3 years so I'm used to things being done way different. Some times I miss my old HTC Inspire/Desire HD. There was so much development for that phone and it was all very straightforward.
pside15 said:
Thanks for the reply. I've read throughout that thread numerous times and I still can't determine the easiest way to update my phone and the necessary steps to take to get there. I just want to be stock rooted like I am now but don't know what steps to take to get there. Like do I need to unroot first, relock bootloader? I'm sure all those answers are in that thread but I'm probably just too dense to see them. I haven't really had a solid rooted phone in like 3 years so I'm used to things being done way different. Some times I miss my old HTC Inspire/Desire HD. There was so much development for that phone and it was all very straightforward.
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This guide is how I update the monthly security patches. It is predicated on the notion that you have the latest platform-tools (28.0.1) and that your computer and phone are communicating well. It doesn't not require you to switch slots, and it will not wipe your data, and, you do not have to unroot before you begin. Happy flashing, and good luck
And never ever ever relock the bootloader! :crying:
Badger50 said:
This guide is how I update the monthly security patches. It is predicated on the notion that you have the latest platform-tools (28.0.1) and that your computer and phone are communicating well. It doesn't not require you to switch slots, and it will not wipe your data, and, you do not have to unroot before you begin. Happy flashing, and good luck
And never ever ever relock the bootloader! :crying:
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Click to collapse
Awesome, thank you very much for that. Yeah, I figured that about the bootloader. Does it matter if I have TWRP installed? That's the one main confusing thing to me. How you can have TWRP installed or not installed. I'm used to absolutely having to have TWRP or some other kind of custom recovery installed. But like I said it's been quite a while since I was really able to root/ROM a phone. I was basically forced to move to AT&T and opted for the Active line of Galaxy phones since I have little kids plus even the phones that were rootable and such seemed like more of a hassle than it was worth. The last phone I had that had some good development was probably the LG G3 on T-MOBILE. For some reason the T-MOBILE version had an unlocked bootloader or could be unlocked, don't remember exactly. But then a coworker got a Pixel 2XL and I got the itch again, not knowing how much had really changed though. Ok, I think I've rambled on enough now. Thanks again for the help.
pside15 said:
Awesome, thank you very much for that. Yeah, I figured that about the bootloader. Does it matter if I have TWRP installed? That's the one main confusing thing to me. How you can have TWRP installed or not installed. I'm used to absolutely having to have TWRP or some other kind of custom recovery installed. But like I said it's been quite a while since I was really able to root/ROM a phone. I was basically forced to move to AT&T and opted for the Active line of Galaxy phones since I have little kids plus even the phones that were rootable and such seemed like more of a hassle than it was worth. The last phone I had that had some good development was probably the LG G3 on T-MOBILE. For some reason the T-MOBILE version had an unlocked bootloader or could be unlocked, don't remember exactly. But then a coworker got a Pixel 2XL and I got the itch again, not knowing how much had really changed though. Ok, I think I've rambled on enough now. Thanks again for the help.
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Doesn't matter if you have twrp installed or not. When you fastboot the update, it'll wipe it out anyway :good:

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