yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Google Pixel 2 XL Questions & Answers] Badger50:
I will try my best.

1. You have definitely unlocked_critical correct. If you haven't, you need to.

2. Have you downloaded SDK on your pc? You need this as well. You can find a link to it on Google's factory image page.

3. You have downloaded the latest factory image and unzipped it with the 7zip program.

4. Inside the SDK program, look for a file called platform tools.

5. You need to take the contents you extracted from the factory image, and place them in the platform tools folder. That includes: Radio, bootloader, the flash-all.bat file, and another large zip file that contains the boot, system, vendor and about 16 other things.

6. Put your phone into bootloader mode and plug it into the pc. Open a command prompt from the platform tools folder and type "fastboot devices" if your phone ID comes up, your good.

7. Double click the flash-all.bat file, and that should start the installation process. It will take a little while to install the OS, so be patient. If all goes well, your phone should automatically boot up.

8. I will try and find a link for all this installation stuff.

9. Good luck!

---------- Post added at 01:23 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:16 PM ----------

https://xdaforums.com/pixel-2-xl/how-to/guide-unlock-flash-root-pixel-2-xl-t3702418

Here is a link to instructions written by one of the best kernel developers out there. Read it carefully if what I gave you doesn't make sense.
[Google Pixel 2 XL Questions & Answers] equlizer:
Tried it this morning and when i go to root with magisk (followed every step) i get the white screen with the G and the bar scrolling
[Google Pixel 2 XL Questions & Answers] Badger50:
Did you ever get your phone to boot up on stock system?
[Google Pixel 2 XL Questions & Answers] equlizer:
Not sure how i did it but it seems to have reverted back to complete stock. Everything setup after but when it rebooted it said "this device cannot be trusted, hit the power button to continue" so i do and it seems to boot back into the phone. How do i get rid of that message?

Ive never had so many issues with a phone before.
[Google Pixel 2 XL Questions & Answers] tatico28:
How do i get rid of that message?

once you had the Bootloader unlocked in this phone it will display that message in every boot, there is no way to get rid of it at this moment.
[Google Pixel 2 XL Questions & Answers] Badger50:
A lot of trouble people have with these phones has to do with the A/B partitions, glitches in cables, sdk, PC's, ghosts in the machine, and users not taking the time to read and learn what to do. Anyway, glad you got it going. Your welcome.
[Google Pixel 2 XL Questions & Answers] equlizer:
Everything else worked except for the rooting with magisk. when it patches the image using manager 5.4.3 it says its downloading version 14.0 not 14.5. I go to flash the patched boot img then it just reboots to the white screen with the G and it hangs there till i shut it off.
[Google Pixel 2 XL Questions & Answers] Badger50:
Manually download 14.5 and flash it in twrp. Or, take the stock boot.img, place it on your phones internal storage, open magisk, hit install, and select patch boot (I think) Then take the patched_boot.img and flash that with fastboot. Either way should give you root.
[Google Pixel 2 XL Questions & Answers] equlizer:
I already said I patched it using the magisk I installed but when I flash it I get the G on the white screen. I can't even get twrp to stick. This was all using 8.1 but now I'm on 8.0. I guess I'll try again?
[Google Pixel 2 XL Questions & Answers] Badger50:
What twrp version are you using? So, you can fastboot the twrp-3.1.1-beta2-taimen-img but then are unable to flash the twrp.zip once you enter temporary twrp?
[Google Pixel 2 XL Questions & Answers] equlizer:
I just downloaded twrp 3.1.1 beta 2 taimen.img and the zip

how do i fastboot the img?

then from there do i flash magisk 14.5.zip then reboot and install magisk manager 5.4.3 then check for root?
[Google Pixel 2 XL Questions & Answers] Badger50:
Go to fastboot and type: fastboot boot twrp-3.1.1-beta2-taimen.img

That should immediately take you temporary twrp where you then flash the twrp.zip, and then flash your magisk zip. That should also install the magisk app as well.
[Google Pixel 2 XL Questions & Answers] equlizer:
it takes me to the screen where it says "this devices cannot be trusted" so i hit the power button then it just reboots into android 8.0. I appreciate all the help :)
[Google Pixel 2 XL Questions & Answers] Badger50:
What happens if you wait a little bit before you hit the power button? Does it still automatically reboot?
[Google Pixel 2 XL Questions & Answers] equlizer:
ill try again that way. But if this works i should have root correct?
[Google Pixel 2 XL Questions & Answers] Badger50:
You should if you get into temporary twrp and flash the twrp.zip and then the magisk.zip.
[Google Pixel 2 XL Questions & Answers] equlizer:
i left it and it rebooted to that screen again then shut down the phone. I turn it back on and its back to android os
[Google Pixel 2 XL Questions & Answers] Badger50:
Wow! My brother, I don't know what to tell you anymore. I saw earlier that your in Canada. I'm wondering if the phones sold there are like the EU's where you can't upgrade them for six months. I really don't know what else to tell you. Hopefully someone smarter that I can help you out further :eek:
[Google Pixel 2 XL Questions & Answers] equlizer:
I was able to get twrp on here temporarily using that skipsoft app before. Maybe i should try just that part again?
[Google Pixel 2 XL Questions & Answers] Badger50:
Heck, at this point...whataya got to loose! :eek:
[Google Pixel 2 XL Questions & Answers] equlizer:
This is what it says before flashing. I assume its saying it will temp flash twrp then install the zip for me? so then after just install magisk and profit?

EDIT: Just tried that too and same thing. I hit the power button to continue then it reboots to android os. I remember before when i first used this toolkit i did not see that warning message in red and it did go to the temp twrp.

Flashing custom recovery on the Google Pixel and Google Pixel XL devices is a bit

different. The boot and recovery images are both now in a single file [boot.img]

and the new google devices have 2 slots that can be switched between.

To make the custom recovery permanent a temp twrp recovery image needs to be booted

[to get in to twrp recovery] and then a recovery zip file needs flashing. The zip

file will inject twrp in to the current boot image in both slot_a and slot_b.

This will make the recovery permanent.

POSSIBLE PROBLEMS:

DO NOT restore DATA from alpha builds using an RC build. You will lose all data.

DO NOT use if you have multiple users [including a guest user].

If you have rooted before flashing custom recovery then root will be lost so you

will have to re-root. These bugs should hopefully be fixed in later builds.

You may have to sign the boot/recovery image after it has been patched for custom

recovery. This might not be required but newer builds on pixel devices may go in to

a boot loop if the image is not signed when needed.
[Google Pixel 2 XL Questions & Answers] Badger50:
Outa more curiosity, are your device drivers up to date. With phone plugged in and transfer files enabled, open device manage on your pc, and look for a yellow triangle by android device. Also, have you tried another cable? I know this sounds kinda silly and all, but what the heck, can't hurt to try :eek:
[Google Pixel 2 XL Questions & Answers] dyingearth:
That's normal response to the OS finding the bootloader unlocked.
[Google Pixel 2 XL Questions & Answers] equlizer:
Im using the latest ADB, magisk and 3.1.1 beta 2 twrp files. No yellow triangles anywhere. Different cable and usb port still no go.

Which slot should i be flashing in? Is there an active slot i should boot to or flash to? How do i check which one is active? Thx
[Google Pixel 2 XL Questions & Answers] Badger50:
It should automatically go to slot A. At least it did for me. I believe if you've taken ota's, then that should have went to slot B which would then be your active slot. I think that's the way it works.
[Google Pixel 2 XL Questions & Answers] equlizer:
I just wanted to make sure that you know im getting both of these.

https://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=74525204&postcount=16
[Google Pixel 2 XL Questions & Answers] Badger50:
The one on the right is normal because the bootloader is unlocked. The one on the left I've never seen before. I'm at a total loss of what to tell you anymore. It looks like you've done everything right, however, it still doesn't work. Makes no sense to me at all :rolleyes:
[Google Pixel 2 XL Questions & Answers] equlizer:
I fixed it!!!!!!!!!! If anyone gets the red triangle and its saying "your device is corrupt, hit power button to continue", flash the boot img from the rom you are currently on. That's it!!

I got twrp installed and magisk installed now.
[Google Pixel 2 XL Questions & Answers] Kenneth196:
Ignore
[Google Pixel 2 XL Questions & Answers] leathan:
I just want to add that if fastboot is in your $PATH (you did something like sudo install fastboot or another install) the flash-all script will fail. You need to make sure that the script is running fastboot from within the platform-tools directory, so if you had it in your env var $PATH like I did remove it, or edit the script and replace fastboot with ./fastboot. (which forces the script to run the current directories fastboot, and not resolve it from $PATH.)
[Google Pixel 2 XL Questions & Answers] Toejam1998:
Thank you had same problem I did not know what to do
[Google Pixel 2 XL Questions & Answers] umx:
i tried this and i am get this and still stuck '

https://imgur.com/a/vYpGr
[Google Pixel 2 XL Questions & Answers] Badger50:
Looks like you haven't unlocked critical.

fastboot flashing unlock_critical

Have you run that command in fastboot before??
[Google Pixel 2 XL Questions & Answers] umx:
ya i got it all booted back up and what not.. But now when i go into TRWp its asking for a password to decrypt and mount i never set that up.. do i need to start over from scratch again.
[Google Pixel 2 XL Questions & Answers] Badger50:
No. Boot up to your OS, then disable your fingerprint/pin/password lock screen security, then go back to twrp, and you should be good. The Google February update has somehow borked twrp's ability to decrypt data. This is the work around to get you into twrp so you can flash your mods and root.
[Google Pixel 2 XL Questions & Answers] umx:
cool thanks!!
[Google Pixel 2 XL Questions & Answers] asad_23:
hey, I was having the same problem but now my problem is worst.

I messed up installing twrp. and I couldn't flash the stock image, it kept giving me the error that image could not be created...

I tried to critical unlock it would display "command not found"

and now I cannot even get my pixel 2 to be listed in adb devices or do anything with adb and my phone.

any suggestion?
[Google Pixel 2 XL Questions & Answers] Badger50:
When you put your phone in bootloader mode, and you open a command prompt and you type in fastboot devices....do you see your phone ID# displayed?
[Google Pixel 2 XL Questions & Answers] asad_23:
Not anymore, it’s blank space. And when I try Fastboot reboot or any other command, it says no device found or no emulator, etc.

When I was tinkering with it yesterday till 6 a.m. I was getting other errors about “no image” . But then I turned the phone off and when I started everything up this morning, I can’t even get to the adb devices list.
[Google Pixel 2 XL Questions & Answers] Badger50:
Wow! What the heck happened?? Just to be for sure. You entered bootloader mode from the phone being off, and then holding the power and volume down button until the bootloader screen comes up????
[Google Pixel 2 XL Questions & Answers] asad_23:
yeah, thats how i enter bootloader, holding down volume down and power button (since adb is not working) but can't do anything else unless i can use adb or any other way i don't know of.

i botched the twrp install. i had it rooted, unlocked bootloader, but didnt follow the directions exactly for twrp. afterwards i was thinking oh thats too bad, i will just flash with a stock image and start over. but now i'm stuck
[Google Pixel 2 XL Questions & Answers] Badger50:
Gotchya. That's a bummer man! Have you tried the Dueces recovery script?? And just to make sure, but you had fastboot working before all this happened?? Sometimes it can be your USB cable or port giving you trouble as well
[Google Pixel 2 XL Questions & Answers] asad_23:
yeah up until yesterday my problem was getting an error like this:

Asads-MacBook:~ asad$ cd /Users/asad/Desktop/walleye-opm1.171019.021 ./flash-all.sh

Asads-MacBook:walleye-opm1.171019.021 asad$ ./flash-all.sh

target reported max download size of 536870912 bytes

sending 'bootloader_b' (38652 KB)...

OKAY [ 0.292s]

writing 'bootloader_b'...

(bootloader) Updating: partition:0 [MENTION=702555]0000[/MENTION]2000 sz=0000B000

(bootloader) Updating: partition:1 [MENTION=702555]0000[/MENTION]D000 sz=0000B000

.......

(bootloader) Updating: abl @0255A000 sz=00065000

OKAY [ 0.897s]

finished. total time: 1.189s

rebooting into bootloader...

OKAY [ 0.000s]

finished. total time: 0.000s

target reported max download size of 536870912 bytes

sending 'radio_b' (60428 KB)...

OKAY [ 0.431s]

writing 'radio_b'...

(bootloader) Updating: modem [MENTION=6558468]00001[/MENTION]000 sz=03B01000

OKAY [ 0.554s]

finished. total time: 0.985s

rebooting into bootloader...

OKAY [ 0.000s]

finished. total time: 0.000s

extracting android-info.txt (0 MB) to RAM...

extracting boot.img (32 MB) to disk... took 0.191s

target reported max download size of 536870912 bytes

archive does not contain 'boot.sig'

archive does not contain 'boot_other.img'

extracting dtbo.img (8 MB) to disk... took 0.029s

archive does not contain 'dtbo.sig'

archive does not contain 'dt.img'

archive does not contain 'recovery.img'

extracting system.img (1920 MB) to disk... took 11.459s

archive does not contain 'system.sig'

extracting system_other.img (568 MB) to disk... took 4.011s

archive does not contain 'system.sig'

extracting vbmeta.img (0 MB) to disk... took 0.000s

archive does not contain 'vbmeta.sig'

extracting vendor.img (345 MB) to disk... took 2.310s

archive does not contain 'vendor.sig'

archive does not contain 'vendor_other.img'

wiping userdata...

/usr/local/bin/mke2fs failed with status 1

error: Cannot generate image for userdata

i was trying to find a solution to that but now its the fastboot/adb issue.

yeah i tried different ports, different cables... but i got one step closer just now: instead of trying to run any adb command, i just put in the path to the stock image and run the flash all command and there was some change! thats where i got the data i just copied in this reply.
[Google Pixel 2 XL Questions & Answers] Badger50:
Ok bruh. Looks like the bootloader and radio flashed ok. And you do have the secondary zip from the factory image in your platform-tools or adb folder as well I assume?
[Google Pixel 2 XL Questions & Answers] asad_23:
hmmm.... no... i don't think i do. i downloaded the stock image and i have it on my desktop. am i suppose to be taking the zip file from it and putting it in platform-tools? or making a copy and putting it there?

this zip file right? image-walleye-opm1.171019.021.zip

---------- Post added at 10:02 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:50 PM ----------

whoah, i got a tip from another person and they said open the flash all script and remove the -w

and that made things move forward. i am finally on the startup screen. i havent tested the phone yet but this is much bigger step in the right direction!

thanks for your help! i will now try to do things again, and hopefully no more mess ups this time
[Google Pixel 2 XL Questions & Answers] rsnyc:
I realize this is a couple of months later but I don't see a final resolution to the issue in this post. I hope the previous people got their devices up and running but I'm running into this issue after trying to update to May's Pixel 2 XL update. At first I was getting the message that my phone was corrupt and it wouldn't boot up after running all the ADB and fastboot commands. Then I update my ADB and fastboot on my computer, ran the commands the way Squabbi recommends with the "--skip-reboot update" command after flashing the new bootloader and radio to both slots. I'm able to get thru all of that okay, boot into TWRP, flash TWRP and Magisk, boot to system and all I get is the white screen with the Google "G" and the status bar underneath. I've left it overnight and came back to the same screen hours later. Any help is greatly appreciated!!!
[Google Pixel 2 XL Questions & Answers] Badger50:
Were you able to boot into the updated OS before you flashed twrp and magisk?
[Google Pixel 2 XL Questions & Answers] rsnyc:
I didn't try to now that you mention it. I just went from flashing the update to TWRP and trying to get the TWRP installer going and Magisk.
[Google Pixel 2 XL Questions & Answers] Badger50:
Try that first. Then let us know :good:
[Google Pixel 2 XL Questions & Answers] rsnyc:
I just ran all of the fastboot commands again without flashing TWRP and Magisk and I'm back at the white screen again and it's been 30 minutes. I don't get it. I got no errors while running the commands.
[Google Pixel 2 XL Questions & Answers] Badger50:
Have you tried a hard restart with the power button?
[Google Pixel 2 XL Questions & Answers] rsnyc:
Yes sir.
[Google Pixel 2 XL Questions & Answers] Badger50:
Are you fastbooting this with or without the -w flag in the flash-all.bat script??
[Google Pixel 2 XL Questions & Answers] rsnyc:
No, I never ran a flash-all.bat script. I did the following exactly in the Powershell window:

1. .\fastboot.exe devices (to make sure my Pixel 2 XL is connected properly)

2. .\fastboot.exe flash bootloader bootloader-taimen-tmz12bb.img

3. .\fastboot.exe flash bootloader_other bootloader-taimen-tmz12bb

4. .\fastboot.exe reboot-bootloader (to reboot into new bootloader)

5. .\fastboot.exe flash radio radio-taimen-g8998-00202-1802061358.img

6. .\fastboot.exe flash radio_other radio-taimen-g8998-00202-1802061358.img

7. .\fastboot.exe --skip-reboot update image-taimen-opm2.171019.029.b1.zip

then I originally ran

8. .\fastboot.exe boot twrp-3.2.1-2-taimen.img (to finally flash TWRP and Magisk)

but I skipped step 8 after your suggestion and I still have the white screen and the phone not starting up.
[Google Pixel 2 XL Questions & Answers] Badger50:
I'm not a power shell user, so I'm afraid I can't help with that. However, it appears to me that your only fastbooting the radio and bootloader and none of the system files. If your using SDK/platform-tools, this is the method that I use every month to update without wiping data.
[Google Pixel 2 XL Questions & Answers] rsnyc:
Okay. Thank you. I'm going to try out and I'll get back you. I've just been using Powershell since I upgraded to Windows 10. I'll try opening a command window and trying your steps.
[Google Pixel 2 XL Questions & Answers] rsnyc:
---------- Post added at 03:14 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:53 AM ----------

[/COLOR]

Unfortunately, it didn't work for me. I tried it under just command prompt and not power shell.

The system cannot find the path specified.

target reported max download size of 536870912 bytes

sending 'bootloader_a' (36344 KB)...

OKAY [ 0.784s]

writing 'bootloader_a'...

OKAY [ 0.375s]

finished. total time: 1.159s

rebooting into bootloader...

OKAY [ 0.000s]

finished. total time: 0.016s

'ping' is not recognized as an internal or external command,

operable program or batch file.

target didn't report max-download-size

sending 'radio' (60412 KB)...

FAILED (command write failed (No error))

finished. total time: 0.016s

< waiting for any device >

rebooting into bootloader...

OKAY [ 0.026s]

finished. total time: 0.026s

'ping' is not recognized as an internal or external command,

operable program or batch file.

extracting android-info.txt (0 MB) to RAM...

extracting boot.img (40 MB) to disk... took 19.370s

target didn't report max-download-size

archive does not contain 'boot.sig'

extracting dtbo.img (8 MB) to disk... took 0.291s

archive does not contain 'dtbo.sig'

archive does not contain 'dt.img'

archive does not contain 'recovery.img'

extracting system.img (1937 MB) to disk... took 381.520s

archive does not contain 'system.sig'

extracting vbmeta.img (0 MB) to disk... took -0.000s

archive does not contain 'vbmeta.sig'

extracting vendor.img (346 MB) to disk... took 165.539s

archive does not contain 'vendor.sig'

wiping userdata...

Erase successful, but not automatically formatting.

Can't determine partition type.

FAILED (command write failed (No error))

--------------------------------------------

getvar:version-bootloader FAILED (command write failed (No error))

finished. total time: 0.016s

Press any key to exit...
[Google Pixel 2 XL Questions & Answers] Badger50:
Do you have all the files you extracted from the factory image in your platform-tools folder?? Also, have you updated your SDK/platform-tools? And, have you tried a different USB-A to USB-C cable?
[Google Pixel 2 XL Questions & Answers] rsnyc:
Yes to all of the above. I've always extracted everything in one folder (despite how cluttered it gets). I was originally using old platform tools and upgraded them from Google's website. And I changed my cords three times. I only have USB-A ports on my old laptop but I changed from USB 3 to USB 2 and tried three different cords. I don't get it yo.

Another weird thing I was running into was not being able to redownload the factory images from Google. It took a while to figure out but I finally found on the Pixel 2 XL forum that others were not getting past the "acknowledge" screen to get to download the images. I had to download it with Chrome incognito mode, thanks to someone mentioning it in the forum. I was thinking of starting fresh with new downloads and still... no success.
[Google Pixel 2 XL Questions & Answers] simplepinoi177:
Judging from what "returns" in your flashing process, some things aren't adding up. The "ping" always usually works for me, so it's weird that it isn't doing that with you -- I would only venture a guess that you might not have ALL the files necessary in your platform-tools folder. Also, the fact that it says that it couldn't "report your max-download-size" is troubling because it usually is always able to figure that out when I'm flashing. In addition, the fact that your vbmeta.img is virtually non-existant (even though the real .img is only 4KBs) and actually took negative time (-0.000s) leads me to believe that you may have an incomplete factory image. If you can check the Checksum (SHA-256) of your full factory .zip and compare it to make sure it is the same as f30863534452ad2a899d874c0bc31c95ff1595d1b3c558f9d5c805120a851bde (taken directly from Google Developers site) , to be sure you downloaded an exact unadulterated copy. Other than that, as long as you only have 6 files (you shouldn't have more than just these 6 files) from extracting the factory image in the same folder where your adb.exe and fastboot.exe is, I can't imagine how it's flashing the particular images/partitions badly or wrong...

Consider all this and check it out, at the very least it might point you in the right direction...hope this helps....
[Google Pixel 2 XL Questions & Answers] rsnyc:
Cool, I will. You definitely noticed a lot more than I have been able to understand. Thank you. I was wondering what's going on with the factory image. Being that I wasn't able to get to the page with the downloads from the Google Developers site, I was wondering if there was something wrong with those images and maybe Google needed to remove them and hopefully put up new ones... I don't know. But I will be trying to verify that the images are legit and starting over.