[Google Pixel 6a] TechX1991:
EDIT: July 19, 2023

THIS POST IS FAIRLY OUTDATED. WAS WRITTEN RIGHT AFTER THE 6A RELEASED WHEN THERE WAS AN ISSUE WITH BOOTLOADER UNLOCKING. Will update post when I get time with newer instructions.

Also, if your device was purchased as a carrier sold device (verizon, Orange, metro, tmobile, etc.) you more than likely cannot unlock your bootloader. Carrier sold devices are black listed from bootloader unlocking. There's currently no way around this.

Rooting the Pixel 6a is just about as easy as any other factory unlocked pixel, but because so many people have had issues with unlocking their bootloaders, I figured I'd post my exact personal steps I took when a Pixel 6a came into my tech shop to be rooted, and I discovered the current bug with Rooting

What You'll Need:

- June 2022 Firmware OTA Update Installed at least: Do this on device. Do Not download the OTA update from google's firmware website.

- ADB/Fastboot/Google Drivers for Windows: I use this to install- ADB 15sec Installer

- Magisk Manager APK: Github - Magisk Github Releases

- Firmware Matching Currently Installed: Google FW page - Google Official Firmware Downloads - you need this for the boot.img file

- A Windows Computer

- A USB-C cable to connect to your phone to the computer

OEM Unlock Bug

With early units sold by Google, they're shipping with a bug where OEM Unlock stays grayed out. Here's the only way I got around this issue

1.) Log out of any Google Account on the device

2.) Connect to Wifi, check for updates without your sim card in the device. There is a bug where it will potentially download the update for your carrier sim

3.) At minimum, you should get the June 2022 security patch update. Run the update and remember which update it is for when you download the firmware to get boot.img

4.) When the update is finished, Factory Reset your device either from settings or Android recovery

5.) Go through Android setup without sim card in, and don't connect to wifi, finish setup without logging into a google account or anything

6.) When setup is done, connect to wifi and put your sim back in.

7.) Pay attention in your notifications for "Preparing your Device" notification.

8.) When that notification pops up, enable Developer options (tap build number a bunch of times)

9.) OEM Unlock should be possible to enable now. Also enable USB Debugging

Pre-Root Setup

1.) Install Magisk Manager from Github

2.) Use 7zip (or any other ZIP opening program) to extract the boot.img from your firmware download from google

-- the boot.img is inside another zip file that's in the download from google. very easy to get

3.) Put the Boot.img on your phones internal storage

4.) Open Magisk Manager, and select your Boot.img from internal storage. Patch the boot.img to make it a rooted boot.img

5.) With your phone connected to the computer, move the magisk_patched.img from sdcard/downloads to your computer

6.) If USB debugging is properly enabled, now you can open CMD and reboot to bootloader with

adb reboot bootloader

Unlocking the bootloader

1.) With the device connected, OEM Unlock enabled, and booted to bootloader, you can unlock the bootloader with the following command

fastboot flashing unlock

-- If nothing changes on your phone screen, use Device Manager to make sure the device is recognized via google drivers: vid here on that - Quick Fastboot Drivers Install Tutorial

2.) On your phone, use the volume keys to select Unlock Bootloader, then hit the power button, device should reboot back to bootloader

3.) flash the boot partition with the magisk patched boot.img

fastboot flash boot magisk_patched.img

4.) Now you can reboot back into your device and you should be rooted!

fastboot reboot

Congrats! Now you're bootloader unlocked and rooted! GrapheneOS is already available if you want a degoogled rom, haven't seen another rom pop up yet

all done from there

updating your device when rooted

I do not have a pixel 6a specifically for this right now to confirm this will work, but on every other device with OTA's, this has been my process.

1.) Download your OTA using the system update part of Settings

2.) When it pops up and is ready to restart to finish installing the update, DO NOT CLICK RESTART IN SETTINGS/SYSTEM UPDATE

3.) Go to Magisk Manager, and select Install next to Magisk

4.) Select "Install to Inactive Slot (After OTA)

5.) When its done patching the boot partition, hit restart in Magisk

Your OTA Update is now rooted