How To Guide – Rooting Zenfone 9 with Magisk

I have no idea what I’m doing but I managed to install Magisk on zenfone 9 so take this guide with extreme caution. I am also not responsible for bricked phones, you have been warned. Also, MAKE SURE YOUR PHONE IS UPDATED TO THE LATEST FIRMWARE SO THE BOOT IMG YOU DOWNLOAD WILL BE THE SAME AS THE BOOT IMG ON YOUR CURRENT PHONE. ALSO SECURITY SECURITY DATA JUST IN CASE.

Step 1: Unlock Bootloader (this step is on your phone)
Asus zenfone 9 has a bootloader unlock provided by Asus which you can download from the link below. I won’t go into detail here as it’s pretty self-explanatory how to use it.

Step 2: Create a Boot.img (This step is on the PC)
Asus releases the firmware for the zenfone 9 on their website, but it’s in a format that’s not useful for our purposes, so you’ll need to convert it. I was able to do this using a software called OTA payload dumper (I have no involvement in this software and all credit goes to ssut and team). To use payload dumps you also need to download liblzma-5.dll using the link below. Finally, you need to download the Asus firmware from the same location as the unlock bootloader.

(Download Link for Payload-dumper-go (Payload-dumper-go)
(Liblzma-5.dll)
(Asus firmware)

Now that you have the downloaded files, you need to combine them into the same location.
First you will extract the payload-dumper-go file and end up with a folder with two files in it.
From there, drag in the Payload.bin file found in the ASUS firmware you downloaded.
Next, you’ll want to drag liblzma-5.dll into the same folder.
Rename payload-dumper-go_1.0.0_windows_amd64.exe to payload-dumper-go.exe

The end result should be four files that look something like this

Last step will be to run the exe using the command prompt with this command while in the file directory. (You can open a command prompt window in the file directory by typing cmd in the line at the top, the one that says This PC > Downloads > payload etc etc. What your screen says here may be slightly different)

Then run the below command
payload-dumper-go.exe payload.bin

Give the program some time to run and eventually it will spit out a folder of extracted files in the folder which is the boot.img we need.

Step 3: Change boot.img to have Magisk in it (Phone/PC)
First install apk Magisk file linked below. Once magik is installed we need the boot.img file that was created earlier. Move the file to your phone somewhere you can find it.
Now that you have Magisk APK installed on your phone and have boot.img on your phone, we need to put magisk in the boot.img file. The steps are included in the image below and yes, this image is from RootmeGuide.com. It will quickly spit out a modified boot.img file that says something involving magic in the name ending in .img. Rename this file to boot.img. Move this file back to your PC.

Step 4: Set up minimal adb/fastboot and set up PC
Extract Minimal_ADB_Fastboot and install the exe file, it should create a directory in C: Drive called ADB
Move the modified boot.img to the ADB folder specified above. Additionally, install the Asus driver to connect the phone. (Full credit to Xanker in the comments, I’m sorry I forgot to include this)

(Minimum ADB/Fastboot version I used)

(Asus Driver Xanker commented. Thanks again)

Step 5: Flash the modified boot.img on your phone
Put the phone in bootloader state by turning off the phone and then turn it on by pressing the volume up and power button at the same time.

Type in fastboot devices and you should see a device name pop up, if not something is not configured correctly.
The last step is to use the command fastboot flash boot boot.img
Restart your phone and the magic should be installed.

Note that Magisk APK needs to be reinstalled if you wipe the phone, but the hooks are still in boot.img for Magisk to work.