[Google Pixel 2 XL ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & Oth] Schroeder09:
Okay guys this is going down tomorrow! I would like to think I've done my homework. I want to walk through the steps outlined here in very stupid, obvious detail. I hope it might help some people anyway. Here's the homework I've done on top of the creeping and posting here:

1.)

watched android explained's "how to unlock the boot loader on the google pixel 2 xl" ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Pv63ykqnws&t=81s ). I am following this XDA How-to article to the "T" and will reference it throughout this post: https://www.xda-developers.com/how-to-unlock-bootloader-and-root-the-google-pixel-2-and-pixel-2-xl/

2.)

I now understand what the whole ADB thing is about ( I think). It's a download that allows your PC to recognize an adb command. I tried downloading the google direct minimal adb (https://dl.google.com/android/repository/platform-tools-latest-windows.zip). I also downloaded a minimal adb developed by you guys here at XDA here (https://androidfilehost.com/?w=file...c39a4a4cf215a052c5ca95aa4fdf1c1e41d7a0839b8fb). The one from XDA has a cmd-here.exe that seems to recognize the adb commands, but if I open the command window via windows button+R, that cmd window will NOT recognize the command. Neither will a powershell cmd window opened in the same file folder. When I press "shift" and then RMB in my file folder that has these documents and then open the power shell command window it says:

adb : The term 'adb' is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet, function, script file, or operable program. Check the

spelling of the name, or if a path was included, verify that the path is correct and try again.

At line:1 char:1

+ adb

+ ~~~

+ CategoryInfo : ObjectNotFound: (adb:String) [], CommandNotFoundException

+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : CommandNotFoundException

Suggestion [3,General]: The command adb was not found, but does exist in the current location. Windows PowerShell does not load commands from the current location by default.

If you trust this command, instead type: ".\adb".

See "get-help about_Command_Precedence" for more details.

PS C:\Users\Jordan&Morgan\Documents\Android (pixel 2 XL)\Minimal ADB and Fastboot>"

SOOOOOO, following its advice, I type in ".\adb" (no quotations of course), and it seems to work. Here is what is populated in powershell when I type ".\adb devices" when there are no devices attached.

PS C:\Users\Jordan&Morgan\Documents\Android (pixel 2 XL)\Minimal ADB and Fastboot> .\adb devices

List of devices attached

PS C:\Users\Jordan&Morgan\Documents\Android (pixel 2 XL)\Minimal ADB and Fastboot>

Does this look good and normal?

Will typing ".\adb" followed by the needed commands work just as well as typing ".adb"? It seems like my PC wants to see it typed this way.

3.)

Ok, here is another check to make sure that I have my ADB stuff in line and installed correctly. Following step 4 under "Install Fastboot and ADB" I typed "adb --version" and "fastboot --version" into a cmd window. The adb --version command gives me a ton of info, but the very first line says:

Android Debug Bridge version 1.0.36

Revision 0e9850346394-android

and the fastboot --version command yields this:

fastboot version 0e9850346394-android

Are these good version to use to root my 2XL?

4.)

continuing to follow the steps laid out here on XDA under "Root the Pixel 2/2 XL," first I install magisk to the phone right? Not the PC? next I download the boot image from the google website onto my computer. Someone a few posts ago suggest to download 8.0.0 for a google 2 XL. Now,

does this image have to be stored in the same folder as the adb files?

In my case this would be: C:\Users\Jordan&Morgan\Documents\Android (pixel 2 XL). Assuming I do put the boot image there, does the image get pushed to the device by typing

exactly

the following into the command window on my PC?:

adb push C:\Users\Jordan&Morgan\Documents\Android (pixel 2 XL) /sdcard/Download

I find it strange that an SD card is mentioned when the pixels don't have expandable storage. Is the phone on when the adb boot image is pushed to the file? I think it is given the instructions, but I want to clarify.

The rest of the steps for the magisk root don't really seem to make sense to me, but I can follow them even if I don't understand the black magic they're working. In fact pushing a factory image to the phone doesn't make sense. Isn't the image already on the phone? Why are we duplicating it to root? Also, the zipped folder is 1.6GB. Is this normal? It seems pretty big.

I know this is a long post, but if someone could read through this and answer my question point by point I would greatly appreciate it. I think it may help others browsing the internet and this thread.