All Things GS6: Rooting / Flashing / Unrooting / Odin / Firmware

[AlphaTango414]

Since there isnt much at all posted on here about all these subjects, I figured I'd take the liberty to make this thread to help anyone looking for the info all in one place. I will try my best to keep everything up to date as I can. Please feel free to suggest, add, or inform me of any new updates as they come along.

Basic Info ​

Hard Reset (Simulated Battery Pull)
Hold volume up, volume down, home, and power button together till device resets.

Recovery Mode
Power device off. Hold volume up, home, and power buttons together till device boots.
Here you can:
-wipe data/factory reset
-wipe cache partition

Download Mode (Odin Mode)
Power device off. Hold volume down, home, and power button. Hit volume up at blue screen to go into download mode. Down will reset the device.
Here it will tell you your phones:
-Current Binary Status
-System Status
-Reactivation Lock Status
-KNOX Warranty Void Status

Settings>System>About Device
Here you will find your phone's :
Model Number
Android Verison
Baseband Verison
Build Number
And few other things.

Enabling Developer Options
Click on Build Number tab 7 times in the About Device setting.

Helpful Threads and Links
My More Detailed All Things GS6 Thread
Maximize Battery Life
Full Device Backup with Android SDK
Hardware Replacement Parts


You came to the conclusion, you want to root your device. You're in luck, we have Ping Pong Root for the GS6 if you are still on 5.0.2. 5.1.1 users will not be able to use this root method.

**5.0.2 Rooting**​

Ping Pong Root​

Please make sure to visit idler1984's xda thread Here to read the most up todate info and all risk associated with rooting your phone via ping pong root.

Supported Builds
Samsung Galaxy S6 with following ROM versions:
G9200ZCU1AOD5
G9200ZHU1AOD3
G9200ZHU1AOD9
G920R4TYU1AOD3
G920IDVU1AOD1
G920FXXU1AOCV
G920PVPU1AOCF
G920TUVU1AOCG
G920VVRU1AOC3
G920FXXU1AOBN
G920FXXU1AODG
G9209KEU1AOCI
G9209KEU1AODA
G9208ZMU1AOD5
G9208ZMU1AOCI
G920FXXU1AOD9
G920AUCU1AOCE
G920FXXU1AODE
G9200ZCU1AOD9
G920W8VLU1AOCG
G920FXXU1AOD4
G920R4TYU1AOCB
***new*** Use Download Data!
G920FXXU1AOCY
G920IDVU1AOC4
G920FXXU1AODI
G9209KEU1AOD5
G920IDVU1AOBQ
G9208ZTU1AOD9
G920FXXU1AOE3
G920IDVU1AOE3
G920FXXU1AOD8
G920FXXU1AOE4
G920AUCU1AOE2
G920T1UVU1AOCH
G9208ZTU1AOCI
G920IDVU1AOC6
G920IDVU1AOD3
G920FXXU1AOCZ
G920AZTUU1AOD1
G9200ZHU1AOE4
G9200ZCU1AOE4
G920KKKU1AODC
G920IDVU1AOE4
G920LKLU1AODC
G920SKSU1AODC
G920IDVU1BOE2
G9208ZTU1AOE4
G920PVPU1AOE2
G920W8VLU1AOE1
G920VVRU1AOE2
SC04GOMU1AOE1


1. If you already have Kinguser installed please:
a. Open Kinguser, go to Settings -> Root authorization setting -> Remove Root permission. Click to remove root permission
b. Uninstall Kinguser

2. Download pingpongroot_.apk. Install & open it.

3. It will automatically install SuperSU 2.46 for you. Follow the instructions on screen. You may need to enable unknown source for this step.
a. Once install is finished, click “Open" and run it once to "activate" it. It will prompt an error message (unless you already rooted) and exit automatically, bring you back to PingPong root.

4. Click "Download Data" button to update device data if you have Internet connection.

5. Open it and click "Get Root!" button

6. If prompted for app permissions, allow them and continue. If it reboots, just retry.

7. Once finished, please make sure to reboot.

8. You can uninstall PingPong root app once finished.


Credits
Vulnerability: memeda, wushi
Original idea of exploit: memeda
Exploit: idl3r, Qoobee

Special thanks to:
Kingroot team (@Kingxteam) for help testing and great root manager


MAKE SURE YOU DO NOT HAVE REACTIVATION LOCK ENABLED. YOU WILL GET STUCK IN A BOOTLOOP WITH REACTIVATION LOCK WHEN TRYING TO BOOT INTO A CUSTOM RECOVERY. YOU WILL HAVE TO REFLASH YOUR PHONE BACK TO 100% STOCK UNROOTED. PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU KNOW YOUR SAMSUNG ACCOUNT LOGIN AND PASSWORD. YOU WILL HAVE TO ENTER IT BEFORE YOU CAN GET BACK INTO THE PHONE DURING SETUP
_____________________________________________________________________________________

FlashFire​

FlashFire Beta is like the next generation of Mobile ODIN. It will be used to flash files to your device.

FlashFire XDA Thread Here

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Rom​

XDA Rom Thread

VZW Stock Rooted
VZW Clean Rom

At&t Stock Rooted
At&t Clean Rom

Credit: Scottsrom.com


______________________________________________________________________________________

**5.1.1 Lollipop Only**​

​

​

S6 UniKernel​

​

​

For Galaxy S6 920 F / I / S / K / L / W8​

THIS WILL TRIP KNOX​

Flashing Via Odin

Download Following Files
Latest Odin Version
UniKernel v8 0002 for Odin

Using Odin

Install Odin and open program on your PC.

Boot your phone into download/Odin Mode (Press Vol Up at Blue Screen)

Now with your phone in download mode, plug your phone up to the PC via usb cable.
-You will see a message within Odin that your phone has been detected.

Click on the AP Tab within Odin. Navigate and select the UniKernel v8 0002.tar file you downloaded a few moments ago. There is no reason to make any other adjustments or change in settings within Odin. Doing so can and almost certainly cause problems.

Click on the Start button to start flashing the tar file to your device. If it flashed propertly you will be rewareded with a green PASS notification. If you get a red FAIL notification, please review the steps above and make sure your phone is supported.

With the successful flash your phone will automatically reboot. You should now have root access. Look for the SuperSU app within your app drawer.

You can download a root checker app via Google Play.


____________________________________________________________________________________

G920T (T-Mobile) Root
Does Not Trip Knox​

Please Note: Failure to follow the exact process as detailed in the guide below will result in a tripped Knox Counter

Download needed files below:
Latest Odin
G290T sboot.bin
G920T AOU Kernel
TWRP Custom Recovery
SuperSU v2.49

Move the SuperSU.zip file to your device.

Boot Odin on your PC.

Boot your phone into download mode.

Now with your phone in download mode, plug your phone up to the PC via usb cable. You will see an "Added" message within Odin that your phone has been detected.

Click on the BL Tab within Odin. Navigate and select the sboot.bin file you downloaded above. There is no reason to make any other adjustments or change in settings within Odin. Doing so can and almost certainly cause problems.

Click on the Start button to start flashing the tar file to your device. If it flashed propertly you will be rewareded with a green PASS notification. If you get a red FAIL notification, please review the steps above and make sure your phone is supported.

Your device will reboot once a successful flash has been made. Disconnect device from PC. Close Odin on PC.

Boot back into download mode on your phone. Open Odin back up on your PC. Reconnect your device to your PC via usb.

Click on the AP tab. Navigate to the AOU Kernel.tar file you downloaded above.

Click on the Start button to start flashing the tar file to your device. If it flashed propertly you will be rewareded with a green PASS notification.
Your device will reboot once a successful flash has been made. Disconnect device from PC. Close Odin on PC.

Click on the AP tab. Navigate to the TWRP recover.tar file you downloaded above.

Click on the Start button to start flashing the tar file to your device. If it flashed propertly you will be rewareded with a green PASS notification.
Your device will reboot once a successful flash has been made. Disconnect device from PC. Close Odin on PC.

Now turn off your device and boot into recovery. You will now boot into TWRP custom recovery. Once you are in TWRP recovery, you need to flash the SuperSU.zip file you downloaded and moved to your device above.

Reboot device. You should now have root access. Look for the SuperSU app within your app drawer.

You can download a root checker app via Google Play.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Unrooting / Stock Reflash Using ODIN
[sub]You can use Odin to fix a bricked device also![/sub]​

Download Samsung Driver here

Download Odin: XDA Thread Here

Download Stock Firmware: (You will need to know your model number)

XDA Download Thread (Has At&t firmware listed, other two links does not.)
SamMobile Firmware Downloads
GS6Root.HighOnAndroid Downloads

From WonderHowTo
Step 1: Boot Your Phone into Download Mode
To begin, you'll need to boot your phone into Download Mode so that Odin can access your system partitions. From a powered-off state, press and hold the volume down, home, and power buttons simultaneously. At this point, you'll see a warning message—but like it says, just press the volume up button to enter Download Mode. At this point, just connect your phone to your PC with a USB data cable, then the rest of the work will be done on the Windows side of things.

Step 2: Install the Samsung USB Drivers on Your Computer
From your Windows computer, start by downloading the Samsung USB Drivers. Once the file is saved to your PC, simply launch it, then follow the prompts for installation.

Step 3: Install Odin on Your Computer
Next, you'll need to download Odin itself. The latest version can be found at this link, and all you need to do here is extract the contents of the ZIP into a folder you can access easily.

Step 4: Download Your Stock Firmware File
Finally, you'll need to grab a copy of the stock firmware for your particular variant of the Galaxy S6. Start by heading to one of the links above to download your firmware. If you're unsure of your exact model number, refer to the user manual that came with your device, or look under the "About device" menu in Settings.

Step 5: Open Up Odin on Your Computer
At this point, you're ready to flash the stock firmware on your Galaxy S6. To begin, right-click the Odin3-v3.10.6.exe file, then choose "Run as administrator."

Step 6: Select Your Firmware File
From here, leave all of the options selected exactly as they are, then click the "AP" button near the center of the window. At this point, a file browser menu will pop up, so use this to select the firmware file that you extracted from the ZIP in Step 4.

Step 7: Flash the Factory Firmware
After selecting the firmware file, keep an eye out on the "Log" tab near the bottom-left corner of Odin. When it says "Leave CS," you're ready to flash the firmware. Click the "Start" button at the bottom of the screen to begin.

At this point, Odin will get to work on flashing the stock firmware. The process will take around 10 minutes, but when it's done, the box in the top-left corner of Odin will read "Pass," and your phone should automatically reboot. If it doesn't reboot, press and hold the volume down and power buttons on your phone to manually restart the device. At this point, you can disconnect your phone from your PC.

This first boot will take a lot longer than it normally does, even as much as 10 minutes. But when you get back up, your phone will be 100% stock from a software standpoint—but keep in mind that nothing can reset a tripped KNOX counter, so you may still see a "Custom" status if that's the case. If you experience any minor glitches after restoring the stock firmware, simply reboot into recovery mode and perform a factory reset.

 

[Jordan Frazier]

if you can get it back into download mode, then look for the knox code and if it changes from 0 to 1 or says 0x10000 instead od 0x0000 or anything changes besides 0 (0x000) your phone has identified that the system was faulted by the flash and therefore your warranty is now void because the knox security system has changed from the original setting. If it says custom most likely it has detected as well that the system was flipped but because you said it still says samsung official they may let it slide. But im not sure what that means i believe is that the phone is an official samsung and that the flash was an official samsung code but it wasnt the original code on the phone. Sometimes a flash on the phone will change the imei so that could mean why the phone is now custom, More than likely though the repair person will have to flash your system anyway and if that doesnt work then your motherboard isnt being read by NAND and you probably need a replacement, i have been up solving mine and calling eveyr technincian store, repair person, and customer service since my phone did what yours did about 3am this morning. Ive got no sleep had about 3break downs and sadly i think it needs to just be professionally checked. My NAND keeps getting a write fail and nothing is passing over to my phone. i can still get into the recovery mode to perform factory resets and cache wipes but it says dm-veridity verification failed and even after multiple factory resets and cache wipes and accidentally hitting the adb button it has led me no where but a continous boot. My phone is only 12days old. Samsung will cover it because i didnt knock my warranty or show evident of any faulting with the OS. The phone had done a update to a new firmware and once that finished i did a factory reset from the phone settings and when i went back to wipe the cache the phone shut down and since then hasnt been able to go past the logo SAMSUNG GALAXY s6 screen powered by android. So as upset and dissastisfied as i am with the phone, i definately appreciate all the youtube videos, forums, repair technicians, and customer service advice i got today. I have definately learned more than i needed to know lol and downloaded about every type of odin available and both firmwares for the lollipop 5.1.1. for samsung galaxy and the original 5.02 the 5.02 got the farthest in download until it shut down because of the written fail and then again because of COM port, but the other one didnt even get past system configuration so i guess something needs to be looked at immediately. If you know anything please do respond back to this message before i send mine off thanks a bunch lovelies

my phone is a samgun galaxy s6 with model SM-G290P (sprint), i was originally on android 5.02 i guess but i got the phone activated in stores so when it was given to me from the moment i had it i was on 5.1.1. , i also noticed that my phone goes through odin mode easily but wont connect to the computer i have installed the smart switch, uninstalled after it failed to work with kies, i have installed the mobile drive individually and it picked it up on odin but wont pick it up on smart switch. I do know that if i can locate my s/n number then i can just plug it into smart switch to do the factory flash but i cant locate the s/n number being my phone is turned off. i tried the DEC,HEX AKA IMEI, ICC ID, RS UNDER THE BARCODE, AND none of these codes seem to be a valid s/n number. if someone could assist me with that i would be TREMENDOUSLY GREATFULLLLL!!! ALSO BEFORE i could just click my power button once and the phone would come on now i have to slightly hold it a few second for it to even show the logo.i have also noticed that if i charge my phone the phone loops otherwise if i go to download and cancel and then power on the device manually then it shows the logo once and then shuts off. so hurt you guys!

ALSO WHEN MY PHONE IS OFF I CAN SEE THE BATTERY IS CHARGING RIGHT NOW IT IS AT 82%, sorry for the caps i was typing and reading the phone. On the recovery mode update using ADB is disabled apparently and so is the option to update using external storage the apply update from cache is deprecated too and also when i started having a problem when i hit the power button home button and the volume up it showed the little android man died now it shows he is ok and up right like normal but the dm-verity verification failed still , I AM ABLE TO SEE EVERY LOG IVE RECREATED IN RECOVERY UP UNTILT EH VERY FIRST CACEH WIPE I DID THE DAY AFTER I RECIEVED THE PHONE. IS THERE A WAY I CAN TAKE THE IMAGE OR INFO FROM THIS TO REFLASH THE PHONE MAYBE?!!?!?

 

[Jordan Frazier]

<ID:0/005> Added!!
<OSM> Enter CS for MD5..
<OSM> Check MD5.. Do not unplug the cable..
<OSM> Please wait..
<OSM> G920PVPU1AOCF_G920PSPT1AOCF_G920PVPU1AOCF_HOME.tar.md5 is valid.
<OSM> Checking MD5 finished Sucessfully..
<OSM> Leave CS..
<ID:0/005> Odin engine v(ID:3.1005)..
<ID:0/005> File analysis..
<ID:0/005> SetupConnection..
<ID:0/005> Initialzation..
<ID:0/005> Get PIT for mapping..
<ID:0/005> Firmware update start..
<ID:0/005> SingleDownload.
<ID:0/005> sboot.bin
<ID:0/005> NAND Write Start!!
<ID:0/005> FAIL!
<ID:0/005>
<ID:0/005> Complete(Write) operation failed.
<OSM> All threads completed. (succeed 0,failed 1)



this is what the first odin read, now it reads this after i hit the reset button :
<OSM> Enter CS for MD5..
<OSM> Check MD5.. Do not unplug the cable..
<OSM> Please wait..
<OSM> G920PVPU1AOCF_G920PSPT1AOCF_G920PVPU1AOCF_HOME.tar.md5 is valid.
<OSM> Checking MD5 finished Sucessfully..
<OSM> Leave CS..
<ID:0/005> Added!!
<ID:0/005> Odin engine v(ID:3.1005)..
<ID:0/005> File analysis..
<ID:0/005> SetupConnection..
<ID:0/005> Can't open the serial(COM) port.
<OSM> All threads completed. (succeed 0 / failed 1)
<ID:0/005> Removed!!

my phone reads:
ODIN MODE
PRODUCT NAME: SM-GN20P
CURRENT BINARY: SAMSUNG OFFICIAL
SYSTEM STATUS: OFFICIAL
FAP LOCK:OFF
SECURE DOWNLOAD:ENABLED
KNOX WARRANTY VOID: 0 (0X0000)
AP SWREV: B:2 K:2 S:2


i downloaded samsung switch to get the samsung driver as well as downloaded it from a here Factory Reset & Reinstall Stock Firmware on Galaxy S6 When it Freezes or Stuck in Bootloop - techtrickz that took me to the official developer.samsung.com website. i got my firmware stock from here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s6/general/stock-firmware-official-stock-firmware-t3086387 which when i clicked on sprint version led me to here Download stock firmware for Galaxy S6 Sprint SM-G920P and then put it into the ap tab when in odin and i downloaded the odin v.3.10.06 from this website which says it is the latest odin. i also downloaded 3.09 and 3..07 but neither would finish odin but would freeze for long periods of time and just shut down the latest odin gave me a full update and finish to if it passed or failed.

i also tried this site for a firmware G920PVPU2BOF7 Sprint Galaxy S6 Lollipop 5.1.1 Stock Firmware (SM-G920P) | GalaxyS6EdgeUpdate and this site gave me odin
Galaxy S6 Stock Firmware | GalaxyS6EdgeUpdate
Odin3 v3.10.6 for Galaxy S6 & Galaxy S6 Edge | GalaxyS6EdgeUpdate
How to safely unroot Samsung Galaxy S6 & Edge, restore back to stock and able to get software update | GalaxyS6EdgeUpdate
SO i reentered my phone into the computer to do another odin flash and it says:
:'(
<ID:0/005> Added!!
<OSM> Enter CS for MD5..
<OSM> Check MD5.. Do not unplug the cable..
<OSM> Please wait..
<OSM> G920PVPU1AOCF_G920PSPT1AOCF_G920PVPU1AOCF_HOME.tar.md5 is valid.
<OSM> Checking MD5 finished Sucessfully..
<OSM> Leave CS..
<ID:0/005> Odin engine v(ID:3.1005)..
<ID:0/005> File analysis..
<ID:0/005> SetupConnection..
<ID:0/005> Initialzation..
<ID:0/005> Get PIT for mapping..
<ID:0/005> Firmware update start..
<ID:0/005> SingleDownload.
<ID:0/005> sboot.bin
<ID:0/005> NAND Write Start!!
<ID:0/005> FAIL!
<ID:0/005>
<ID:0/005> Complete(Write) operation failed.
<OSM> All threads completed. (succeed 0 / failed 1)

this phone only has its original charger and im using this usb i was using my toshiba laptop but after 4tries with odin that did a bluescreen crash and was trying to update windows 10 but actually erased my operating system so now i need a hardrive for that too! :'( and with the phone i have let it died and charged it but no luck. i dont know whats suppose to happen with the hardreset i tried it and the bootloop continued. i can get into recovery mode i have factory reset and cache wiped 2 and for an hour let it bootloop to see if something would change but no change whatssoever ...do you think i should just send it back? it is only

 

[AlphaTango414]

Today is my long and busy day at work so I'll read through this later when I get a chance. Sorry I'm of no help at the moment.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk

 

[AlphaTango414]

Ok a quick look, it seems you have downloaded 5.0.2 firmware and trying to flash it to a phone that was already updated 5.1.1 which you can not do. You can not down grade after updating. This is why it keeps failing. Try downloading this Firmware and flashing it with Odin. The link will be the 5.1.1 firmware that should flash to your phone with no problem.

 

[AlphaTango414]

My More Detailed All Things GS6 Thread

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk

 

[Patrick Ober]

Thank you so much for such important information.

 

[AlphaTango414]

Np, glad to see it helping people in need.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk

 

[pederZen]

When you get into odin mode press home instead of vol+!
There you will see 2 barcodes, under one of them is your serial nr., that you can use with kies recovery rescue.
Be advised device name is case sensitive.

 

[Joseph Jison]

SM-G920T bootloop/bricked. Only have ODIN mode

Was streaming some music when my phone decided to shut down. I thought it was out of battery since it was low so I plugged into the charger. Now it only boots up to the Samsung logo and nothing else. I cannot access recovery, only Odin (download mode). I set it to download mode and tried the emergency recovery on Smart Switcher. No luck still boot loop. I then tried to flash the stock firmware via Odin 3.10.7 and still no luck. I was on G920TUVU3DOI1. I bought the phone pre owned on Swappa and the previous owner assured me it was not rooted or tampered with in any way. My system status reads Custom though. Knox is not tripped. Would attempting to flash via Odin have given me the custom status? Samsung store here won't touch the phone since it says Custom for system status. Since I wasn't planning on rooting this phone until after the warranty period I did not do any of the options in developer mode. So now I have FRP lock to contend with. It blocks me from installing a custom recovery. Does any one have any other suggestions I can try?

Thanks in advance!

 

[AlphaTango414]

Make sure you have the latest T-Mobile firmware downloaded.

Follow directions to flash via Odin. If it fails, let me know where it fails at.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk

 

[shaned2411]

keeps failing right after nand write. and i have the latest 5.1.1 firmware from tmobile for my samsung s6:'''-\:-\:-\ also on my phone it says boot loader blocked by frp

 

[AlphaTango414]

Were you rooted on 5.0.2 and trying to update to 5.1.1 by chance?

If you can still boot the phone, , I think all you need to do is turn off reactivation lock via Samsung account.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk

 

[AlphaTango414]

keeps failing right after nand write. and i have the latest 5.1.1 firmware from tmobile for my samsung s6:'''-\:-\:-\ also on my phone it says boot loader blocked by frp

Update?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk

 

[AlphaTango414]

I'll be working on updating this thread over the next few days.

 

[elight33]

Thanks for maintaining this thread. I recently rooted and found there was so little information out there about rooting an S6 (compared to when I rooted by S3 years ago). I also found that, once I found the right information, it was incredibly easy. The difficult things were:

1. Doing a nandroid backup before flashing a custom ROM. Since there's no external SD slot, I ended up buying a USB OTG cable and plugging in a flash drive. It also took a while to figure out that TWRP can't read NTFS, so I had to re-format the flash drive with FAT32.

2. There aren't a lot of ROMs available for the S6. I ended up starting with XstroLite, before realizing that it doesn't support T-Mobile wi-fi calling. I then switch to Atrium, which has been working great, except that the developer has since stopped development and moved on to other phones.

3. Using Titanium Backup to backup my apps (important: WITHOUT data) saved so much time. I used the feature to create a .zip file, which I could then flash in recovery (after booting up for the first time and installing Titanium) to save time. Backing up the settings for some other apps, like Nova Launcher, also saved a ton of time. SMS Backup & Restore was also easy to use (but if you're using Textra, you'll need to reinstall it after you restore).

4. Even after installing a slimmed-down ROM, you may still need to use Titanium to freeze/uninstall some apps that can't be uninstalled through the launcher (such as certain Google and Samsung apps).

5. BetterBatteryStats, WakelockDetector and especially Greenify have been amazing. Even if you only root without installing a custom ROM, these apps will greatly improve your battery life. I could never really get Greenify working to its full potential before rooting.

Before root and custom ROM, I would come home from work with 20-25% battery left. Now, I come home with 60-70%. My resting battery drain (screen off) used to be at least 3%/hour, and now I'd estimate it's 1% or less. The phone has got significantly faster and more responsive.

I just hope there continues to be some ROM development for this phone. It seems like once they announced the Nexus 6P, everyone moved on pretty quickly.

 

[AlphaTango414]

Great info! Thanks for posting.

 

[Zak08]

I'm having a very similar situation, this began after a software update from samsung. were you able to find a solution?

 

[TheWeatherfreak1]

Root failed, could not boot. Flashing stock firmware failed and still stuck in bootloop, is there a way that everything to be in working condition. I'll wipe the device if I need to.

 

[AlphaTango414]

Make sure you are using the right firmware. What variant of S6 do you have?