[Sony Xperia XZ Guides, News, & Discussion] munificent:
OK, I have got to the point now of having a rooted XZ on Nougat 7.0 and I will share what **I** did to get there in case it is helpful to others. Disclaimer: this is only my own personal experience. I'm not a developer or anything like that, and your mileage may vary. I may well be wrong, etc, etc. So, here's how it went for me.

First of all, this whole process sapped my will to live. It took a day and a half of playing around in deep, dangerous waters. If you are not comfortable doing that, don't bother with this process. It is complicated and technical and there were some worrying moments.

Before going through any of the below you will need to unlock your bootloader via Sony. It voids your warranty. This is your last chance to back out and preserve your phone as Sony want it to be. BE SURE.

Right then. First thing to note is that YOU DO NOT HAVE TO DOWNGRADE YOUR PHONE'S OS TO ROOT THE DEVICE. I did all of this from Nougat 7.0. Now, that said, I also could not be arsed to keep a backup of my TA partition and other correct things to do. You should do those things if you have the patience for it. For me, from a position of a potentially dead handset, I had nothing to lose so I just went ahead without it. You shouldn't. You're on your own for doing that part as I didn't bother.

Next up, make 100% sure you have good working ADB and Fastboot for the device. I didn't mess around here and went to a download of the FULL Android Studio. That is a lot of data and undoubtedly overkill. On the other hand, it works.

The folder you need is in a long and hidden folder chain (if you are on Windows like me):

users>[name]>appdata>local>android>sdk>platform-tools

You can verify that your ADB is up and working by opening a command prompt in that folder (SHIFT-right click, Open Command Window Here) and typing adb devices. If all is well, you should see a confirmation for your phone based on (I think) it's IMEI number.

You can verify fastboot by putting the phone in fastboot mode (power OFF, then hold Vol Up and plug in USB cable. If you've done it right, you see a blue light on the device) then from the command prompt you can type fastboot devices and verify a response.

Done all that? Well done, as it took me hours to figure it all out the roundabout way.

Next you need the latest TWRP Recovery file (https://eu.dl.twrp.me/kagura/). You will need to flash this from fastboot. Follow whatever official instructions are given to you. They might change.

Once you have flashed this, you need to boot the phone into recovery mode. To do this, hold the Vol Down button and power until the phone vibrates for a short spell, then release the power button but keep holding Vol Down.

Do you see TWRP? If so, well done. You are closing in! If not, you did not have unlocked bootloader, correct adb and fastboot drivers or ou did not install TWRP correctly. Identify which you did wrong and fix it. Then carry on.

Next is to get the Androplus Kernel (https://kernel.andro.plus/tone2.html). DO NOT SKIP THIS PART. I skipped this part and it cost me *hours* of frustration. You will need this kernel installed to root your phone. At least, I did. Check which version you need, don't just blindly take the latest version. I did that and guess what? Not happy times... Get the correct version for your installed OS. Also verify that it is in fact supported. If it isn't supported, no root for you. Wait until it is and turn off automatic updates on your handset.

Flashed that kernel successfully? Good. You should be able to check by enabling developer options and checking your kernel. If it says androplus, have a cookie.

Now, FINALLY, you can root your device. Check here (https://xdaforums.com/apps/supersu) for the latest version that WORKS WITH YOUR OS and get that onto your SD card. Flash it from TWRP. You should *not* see any red lines telling you there are problems. It should all be white text in the TWRP command shell. If you have done that correctly, your phone will now be rooted.

Sweet mercy, what a day and a half that was. Many cups of tea died to bring you this information (and I *still* have not worked around to putting Existenz 6 on the phone).