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How to Install Android 12 ROM on Pixel 2 XL

In this guide, we will show you the steps to install the Android 12 ROM onto your Pixel 2 XL device. The devices from the Silicon Valley giants have always managed to grab the attention of the masses (and no, it’s not just for the large notch that it had in its front!).  Getting a clean and stock OS experience, the fastest OS upgrades and a guaranteed 3 years of Android updates are just some of its noteworthy features. If we talk about the second iteration of Pixel devices, then they have launched with Android 8.0 Oreo out of the box.

But as of now, it has already run its course of three years of OS updates and Android 11 was the last build that it was officially been blessed with. But if you are ready to step into the custom development, then you could extend this time frame even further. At the time of writing, you could easily welcome the latest iteration of the OS build onto your device. And in this guide, we will show you how to do just that. Given here are the detailed steps to install the Android 12 ROM on Pixel 2 XL. Follow along.

What’s New in Android 12?

Just to recap, the Silicon Valley giants have introduced a plethora of new and interesting features in the twelfth iteration of the OS. These include the massive UI revamp thanks to the Material You design. Likewise, there’s a Wallpaper-based UX Theming that will pick up the major color from the wallpaper and theme it across various device components (such as the Notifications panel and Settings menu). Then there is an addition of the Privacy Dashboard as well.

android 12 wallpaper based themes

This will tell you the date and time when an app asked for the location, camera, and microphone permissions. Moreover, there are some new accessibility features as well. These include the likes of Camera Switch that allows you to take full control of your device via your facial gestures. And you could now welcome all these features onto your device. Given here are the detailed instructions to install Android 12 ROM on Google Pixel 2 XL.

How to Install Android 12 ROM on Pixel 2 XL

Install Android 12 ROM on pixel 2 xl

The below instructions are listed under separate sections for ease of understanding. Make sure to follow in the exact same sequence as mentioned. Droidwin and its members wouldn’t be held responsible in case of a thermonuclear war, your alarm doesn’t wake you up, or if anything happens to your device and data by performing the below steps.

STEP 1: Install Android SDK

install adb platform tools windows

First and foremost, you will have to install the Android SDK Platform Tools on your PC. This is the official ADB and Fastboot binary provided by Google and is the only recommended one. So download it and then extract it to any convenient location on your PC. Doing so will give you the platform-tools folder, which will be used throughout this guide.

STEP 2: Enable USB Debugging and OEM Unlocking

Next up, you will have to enable USB Debugging and OEM Unlocking on your device. The former will make your device recognizable by the PC in ADB mode. This will then allow you to boot your device to Fastboot Mode. On the other hand, OEM Unlocking is required to carry out the bootloader unlocking process.

install android 12 rom on pixel 2 xl

So head over to Settings > About Phone > Tap on Build Number 7 times > Go back to Settings > System > Advanced > Developer Options > Enable USB Debugging and OEM Unlocking.

STEP 3: Unlock Bootloader

Next up, you will also have to unlock the device’s bootloader. Do keep in mind that doing so will wipe off all the data from your device and could nullify its warranty as well. So if that’s all well and good, then please refer to our detailed guide on How to Unlock the Bootloader Of Google Pixel Devices.

install android 12 rom on pixel 2 xl

STEP 4: Download Android 12 ROM

Before you start off with the downloads, let’s make you aware of the features of the ROM, the underlying bugs as well as the screenshots.

Features

ProtonAOSP is a minimal Android fork (custom ROM) focused on UI/UX and performance, with a touch of privacy.

Bugs

  • Encryption​
  • Magisk causes bootloop [only on Gapps build]​
  • SELinux is Permissive​

Download ROM

There exist two different variants of this ROM- Vanilla, and GApps. The Vanilla build is free from all the Google Apps Services and Framework, thereby giving you a de-Googled ecosystem. On the other hand, the GApps variant gives you all the Google goodies. You may download the one that is in sync with your requirement.

STEP 5: Boot to Fastboot Mode

  1. Now connect your device to the PC via USB cable. Make sure USB Debugging is enabled.
  2. Then head over to the platform-tools folder, type in CMD in the address bar, and hit Enter. This will launch the Command Prompt.
    command-prompt-inside-adb
  3. Type in the following command in the CMD window to boot your device to Fastboot Mode
    adb reboot bootloader

    Install Android 12 ROM on pixel 2 xl

  4. To verify the Fastboot connection, type in the below command and you should get back the device ID.
    fastboot devices

STEP 6: Install Android 12 ROM on Pixel 2 XL

  1. To begin with, extract the downloaded ROM ZIP to any convenient location on your PC.
  2. Then double click on the flash-all.bat file and the ROM will be flashed onto your device.
    Install Android 12 ROM on pixel 2 xl
  3. Once that is done, open CMD inside the platform-tools folder.
  4. Then type in the below command to perform a factory reset (it will wipe all the data):
    fastboot -w
  5. Once that is done, you may now reboot the device to the newly installed OS via the following command:
    fastboot reboot

That’s it. These were the steps to install the Android 12 ROM onto the Google Pixel 2 XL device. If you have any queries concerning the aforementioned steps, do let us know in the comments. We will get back to you with a solution at the earliest.

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