How to root Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P running on Android O!!

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The developer preview of Android O was launched by Google last week. Well, it will not be called Android O for sure. Google is yet to divulge its true name. Some names that people are anticipating include Ox-tongue Pastry, Ontbijtkoek, Oliebol, Ozark Pudding, Oatmeal Cookie, Orelletes, and what not.

But on a serious note, upon the developer preview launch, our fellow developers dived in to gain root access. But guess what? SuperSU zip and Magisk both were not able to gain root access in Android O.

But on March 23, 2017, Chainfire, the creator of SuperSU posted a tweet claiming that he was able to achieve a basic root on Android O. Apparently, there were still some issues as per the tweet. It is understood that this is only the first iteration of the developer preview version and the subsequent updates would bring more changes with it. There was a speculation that it could break root functionality of the device altogether. Also, it was very possible that Google would be making some serious system-wide changes to deny root access and this speculation seemed highly probable. But voila! Chainfire released the root (SuperSU 2.79 SR4) for Nexus 5X and 6P devices running on Android O developer preview version.

This Android version would be bringing a plethora of changes. There is a big possibility that most of the apps would misbehave and fail to gain root access in this first iteration of release. The way accessing root works has entirely changed. As per the Android Soul, Chainfire says that the inability to gain access has been eliminated by the recent release of SuperSU, but the changes to be introduced further in Android O and the tightened SELinux policy on Android O can cause some concerns.

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The developer preview version of Android O root has currently been tested only on the Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P mobile phones. This, to some extent, means that the Nexus Player and Pixel C tablet should theoretically also support the same. But for the Pixel and Pixel XL devices, rooting Android O will not possible as of now. This is due to the A/B partition layout on the Pixel and Pixel XL devices. Android Soul reported that Chainfire believes he should be able to fix this issue with Pixel devices with some more time and effort. Way to go Chainfire!

In case of apps, Chainfire says that just because an app can gain root access, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it’ll work. While Android O still seems very similar to Nougat, there are numerous things that have changed or will change. The syntax of few commands have changed. Chainfire gave the example of ‘ps‘ which ca now changed to ‘ps -A‘. Moreover, the SELinux rules have been tightened as well, and this always has the possibility of breaking root apps. Moreover, he further went on to say that if an app is not working, it necessarily does not mean that the SuperSU solution he designed is broken. Well, point noted Chainfire!

Meanwhile, you can download the SuperSu 2.79 SR4 version.

[button type=”3d” color=”Green” target=”” link=”http://downloadmirror.co/Vvz/SuperSU-v2.79-SR4-20170323220017-ODP1-5X-6P.zip”]Download the SuperSu 2.79 SR4 version[/button]

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Table of Contents

1 How to Root Android O on Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P

How to Root Android O on Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P

Now, getting on with the main purpose of the article: how to finally root Android O. Since it has only been tried, and that too successfully, with Nexus 5X and 6P, we will be able to provide the solution for that only.

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Now, before you gain root access, you need to make sure that TWRP custom recovery is installed in the concerned Nexus device. If not, follow the steps provided below:

The user is required to get the TWRP recovery .img file compatible with their Android device. Then save the same to a separate folder on the PC.
Install ADB and Fastboot on the PC being used.
Enable USB debugging on the concerned Android device:
- Open the Settings tab on the Android device.
- Go to the About phone tab and tap seven times on the Build number. This activity enables or activates Developer options.
- Users can go back to Settings and check the Developer options there and open the same.
- Then tick on the USB Debugging checkbox.
Now, open the folder where the TWRP Recovery .img file is saved, as mentioned above.
Then, open the command window inside the folder. You can accomplish that by “Shift + Right click” on any empty white space inside the folder. After that select “Open command window here” from the menu.
Next, connect the Android device to the PC. Remember the command window that we opened a little while ago? Well, type the following to boot the Android device into the bootloader or fastboot mode:

ADB reboot bootloader

Authorize the USB debugging on the device if prompted.
Once the Android device boots into bootloader mode, launch the following command into command window to flash the TWRP recovery .img file:

Fastboot flash recovery twrp.img

Modify the twrp.img with the name of the desired TWRP recovery .img file. You can even change the TWRP recovery filename to twrp.img and use the command above.
Lastly, when the TWRP is successfully flashed on the device, type the following command to reboot your device:

Fastboot reboot

The next steps here are to install SuperSU latest version to get root access to Android O. Here are the steps:

You will be required to download and transfer the SuperSU 2.79 SR4 zip file from the download link, provided above, to the concerned device’s storage.
Then, boot the device into TWRP custom recovery.
You then tap on ‘Install’ and select the SuperSU zip file that you transferred to your device previously.
After selecting the .zip file, ‘Swipe’ to ‘Confirm Flash’ on the bottom of the screen and begin the flashing process.
Once SuperSU is flashed, you will see a ‘Reboot System’ option. Just select that.

And that’s it! You are done and dusted. Go on and enjoy the root access while it lasts. Who knows what changes might come with the next updated version of Android O.