[Microsoft Surface Duo Guides, News, & Discussion] eqbirvin:
Hello Friends,

Android 12L Section

Android 12L has finally been released for Duo 1 and the update makes this device what it should have been from the beginning (again...). But root is always nice.

Pre-requisites

Unlocked bootloader

adb/fastboot set up properly

understanding what adb/fastboot and basic commands using these tools

How to open a CMD/Powershell in a given location

Windows 10/11 (you can make this work for MacOS/Linux but that isn't what this guide is based on)

I do not know if this will for at&t version or not. I do not have the at&t model so I cannot verify.

Download this patched boot.img (link)

This is simply the Android 12L stock boot img patched with magisk 25.2, I just did the hard work for you because it is a pain in the butt to get payload unloader to work.

If you want to go the payload dumper yourself and make your own boot.img, see below.

Install Magisk Manager 25.2 which is the current stable/beta build (link)

either via adb or manually

Open Magisk Manager Once after installation and before moving to the next step

Boot into bootloader

either from cmd adb while the device is booted via adb command

adb reboot-bootloader

or from issuing a reboot from the power menu and holding volume down while rebooting

or from power off, hold the power button and volume down for 3 seconds

Boot the patched boot.img you downloaded by opening a CMD in the location of the downloaded patched boot and issuing this command

fastboot boot patched.156.boot.img

The device will boot into Android system

Open Magisk Manager > Click "Install" > "Direct Install"

Maigsk will install and reboot

Your device is rooted

Android 11 Section

Android 11 has finally been released for Duo 1 and the update makes this device what it should have been from the beginning. But root is always nice.

Luckily Android 11 has made rooting a bit easier as well.

Pre-requisites

Unlocked bootloader

adb/fastboot set up properly

understanding what adb/fastboot and basic commands using these tools

How to open a CMD/Powershell in a given location

Windows 10/11 (you can make this work for MacOS/Linux but that isn't what this guide is based on)

I do not know if this will for at&t version or not. I do not have the at&t model so I cannot verify.

Download this patched boot.img (link)

This is simply the Android 11 stock boot img patched with magisk 23, I just did the hard work for you because it is a pain in the butt to get payload unloader to work.

If you want to go the payload dumper yourself and make your own boot.img, see below.

Install Magisk Manager 23 which is the current stable/beta build (link)

either via adb or manually

Open Magisk Manager Once after installation and before moving to the next step

Boot into bootloader

either from cmd adb while the device is booted via adb command

adb reboot-bootloader

or from issuing a reboot from the power menu and holding volume down while rebooting

or from power off, hold the power button and volume down for 3 seconds

Boot the patched boot.img you downloaded by opening a CMD in the location of the downloaded patched boot and issuing this command

fastboot boot patched.156.boot.img

The device will boot into Android system

Open Magisk Manager > Click "Install" > "Direct Install"

Maigsk will install and reboot

Your device is rooted

Extraction of payload.bin from OTA.

If you want to extract the boot.img yourself and patch it yourself, download the payload.bin extractor from here. Acquire the OTA either via recovery images or capturing the OTA URL during an update (link).

Use the payload dumper to get the boot.img, install Magisk on your device and transfer the boot.img to it to patch that stock boot.img using Magisk. After that, you will have your own patched boot.img.

Proceed with step number 4.

A huge thank you to @NTchrist and @Perseu5 for pathfinding this all and their amazing guides, give those guys some thanks and kudos please!

https://xdaforums.com/t/unlocking-bootloader-magisk-attempt.4162051/

https://xdaforums.com/t/root-guide-updated.4266095/

https://xdaforums.com/t/android-11-ota-link-zip-file-img-files.4393341/