Last Updated on February 25, 2024 by Mathew Diekhake

Mobile operating systems opened up a new world of installing applications in ways that we had never seen before from a desktop environment. You might not know it, but a desktop computer runs apps too, but we always just called them programs. Mobile App Stores changed the way we viewed apps forever and made them into icon-sized bits of joy sitting on the homepages of our mobile devices every time we turned them on and opened them up and instead of having to browse through websites to find the programs you wanted on a computer the mobile App Stores gave us one place to download almost anything we ever wanted.

For some people, it might not come as a surprise that rooting Android is all about what apps you can install because they understand that apps control just about everything that we do from our mobile operating systems. For other people, it can sound a bit funny and almost like a bit of a let down to find out that rooting Android only allows us to install more apps.

Apps might not sound like rooting Android is worthwhile, but it is important to remember that there are thousands of additional apps that we call root apps available from these App Stores just like Google Play. They are waiting to be installed on your devices, but it cannot happen unless you are in control of the root user account.

The root user account is something that is always there on Android, but the developers blocked it off because apps can be a security threat to the less advanced people using smartphone who have no idea what malware is and how to identify a bad download. To a root user, things are relatively straightforward: you either downloaded the right root app that many other people are downloading and are trusted or you did not. That is why it is always great to do your research on root apps before getting started with rooting the Android operating system. Once you are familiar with what the best root apps are and what the favorite root apps are, then you can install them too and not find any trouble.

The act of rooting the Android operating system alone does not create many problems because you do not just use the device as the root user all the time. Everything you downloaded doesn’t automatically get a free pass to become the root user. They need to prompt the SuperSU app which then prompts you and asks you if you want to grant that particular app the rooting permissions and this is your chance to deny anything that you do not trust and do not remember installing.

Notes:

  • Chainfire was running on the MMB29M.J510KKKU1APG2 firmware build number when he created the version of the CF-Auto-Root tool that is available in this guide. You do not need that same version running on your Samsung Galaxy J5 smartphone because him giving the information of what version he was running is not suggesting you need to be running on the same. He is giving the information so people can use it as an indicator if it ever becomes relevant at all.
  • There is an official CF-Auto-Root thread that has been set up by Chainfire over at the XDA-Developers web forum. You can use that thread to comment if you have a device that you want Chainfire to create a CF0-Auto-Root tool for if he has not created one already. The same thread is also where he requests that people leave messages letting him know if a current version of the CF-Auto-Root tool is not working. If you leave the recovery image file found in the firmware that you are running that is not working, he can then use that recovery image file to update the rooting file, so it starts working again.
  • You need to have the Samsung Galaxy J5 smartphone that comes with the SM-J510K model number to use this guide. If you try flashing the rooting file in this guide on any of the other model numbers, it bricks the device, and you need to install the stock ROM on it again to unbrick it. Those stock ROMs are usually available from the Sam Mobile website if you are ever in need of firmware.
  • You do need a computer that runs on versions of the Windows operating system if you are going to be using the Odin flashing tool which is what the CF-Auto-Root tool needs.

Download Samsung Galaxy J5 SM-J510K CF-Auto-Root and Drivers

How to Root Samsung Galaxy J5 SM-J510K on Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow Using CF-Auto-Root

  1. Unlock the Developer Options menu from the Android software on the Samsung Galaxy J5 smartphone so that you can enter it and make some changes to the settings that are running at the moment.
  2. Enable the USB Debugging Mode on the Samsung Galaxy J5 smartphone from the Developer Options menu that you just unlocked and then the Android software allow for you to make the changes you need when you try rooting the phone.
  3. Extract the rooting file to the Downloads folder, and then you get the flashing tool executable file and the rooting file that is flashable available from the Downloads folder.
  4. Run the Samsung USB Drivers on the computer; that way when you connect the Samsung Galaxy J5 smartphone to the computer the \odin flashing application can detect the device and flashing can occur.
  5. Boot the Samsung Galaxy J5 SM-J510K smartphone into the Download Mode and connect it to the computer with the USB cable.
  6. Run the Odin flashing application from the Downloads folder and wait for the flashing tool to open its user interface.
  7. Look for a blue or yellow color coming from the ID: COM port and an added message in the Log which is there to let you know the Samsung USB Drivers are working and it is ready for the flashing.
  8. Do not change anything from the Odin Options tab that is next to the Log entry because you want the default settings when the flashing is happening.
  9. Click on the AP button from the Odin user interface and then browse through to the Downloads folder where you did extract the rooting package before and then select the MDS5 rooting file that is there and it now shows up on the Odin user interface.
  10. When you can see the file extension of the rooting file appearing next to the AP button, click on the Start button for the rooting for the Samsung Galaxy J5 smartphone to begin.
  11. Read all of the notes that are now rolling down the display of the Samsung Galaxy J5 smartphone that Chainfire has programmed to let you know what is happening, so that way you know hat to expect during the rooting process.
  12. You know to look away when the last bit of text on the display of the smartphone says it is rebooting in ten seconds.
  13. Now focus on the Odin app on the computer and wait until it shows a pass message in a green box; that is when you know the rooting has finished, and you can unplug from the computer.

In conclusion, that is how to root the Samsung Galaxy J5 SM-J510K smartphone running on the Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow software updates by flashing the CF-Auto-Root tool. The CF-Auto-Root tool for the Android 6.0.1 is what Chainfire calls a systemless root, and it gets its name because the rooting method does not go through the system partition like it did before. There is no difference with what root applications can run and what root apps cannot run; all of the same root apps work as before. The difference is that by taking a factory reset, you are then fully unrooting it and need to follow the guide again. If you do not like that idea, do not worry because it seems like the systemless root version will not continue into the Android 7.0 Nougat as it was originally thought.

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