Last Updated on May 13, 2023 by Mathew Diekhake

When a person uses Android with root privileges, they are using the root user account. The root user account is nothing new to Android; it always exists in Linux and the Android operating system is based on the same Linux kernel. Being able to get in control of the root user account is important; without it, you wouldn’t be able to install any apps that you want, and you wouldn’t be able to uninstall any apps that you want. It’s critical that developers have access to the root user account.

Android and Linux both comes with a root directory which is the name given to the top level of the directory in the system. With access to the root directory, you can then access all files and run all commands. Without it, you cannot. Another way of looking at it is it has full write permissions over the root directory. In practical terms, it is the applications that often need to have these write permissions so they can do the things they need to do for them to be able to run.

Take the Titanium Backup application for example. Many apps help you backup a device and those who haven’t been introduced to rooting the Android operating system to get in control of the root user account will be happy to find out about apps like Helium that makes backing up application data easier. However, the Helium app is not close to competing with the Titanium Backup app for one reason: Titanium Backup has the extra power to be able to read all apps data thanks to having access to the root directory which is something the Helium app does not have access to at all.

Notes:

  • Chainfire had the MMB29K.A510KKKU1BPG2 firmware build number running on the Samsung Galaxy A5 SM-A510K smartphone when the version of the one-click rooting tool found in this guide was developed. It does not mean you need to flash the same firmware on your Galaxy A5 smartphone before using this guide. As long as you have any firmware running on the right Android version, then this rooting file should work for you.
  • You can submit the recovery image files to the firmware that is running on your device to the official CF-Auto-Root tool thread that is made by the developed over at the XDA-Developers forum and let him know your model number if you are flashing the rooting file and it is causing your device not to boot up after the flashing. It could mean that the rooting file needs updating and he needs the recovery image from the newer firmware that is having the problems before he can do anything,
  • You need to have the Samsung Galaxy A5 smartphone that comes with the SM-A510K model number to use this guide. If you try flashing the version of the rooting file that is available in this guide on any of the other model numbers that the Samsung Galaxy A5 smartphone comes in it will often get bricked because this rooting tool is only made to work for one model number each.
  • You need to have a computer that runs on one of the versions of the Windows operating system if you are to use this guide because the Windows operating system is the only operating system that can run the Odin flashing tool.

Download Samsung Galaxy A5 SM-A510K CF-Auto-Root and Drivers

How to Root Samsung Galaxy A5 SM-A510K on Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow Using CF-Auto-Root

  1. Unlock the Developer Options menu on the Samsung Galaxy A5 SM-A510K smartphone, so all of the unique options that are available for developers to use on Android become available to access the Settings.
  2. Enable the USB Debugging Mode on the Samsung Galaxy A5 SM-A510K smartphone so you can connect the smartphone to the computer with the USB cable and the Android operating system will then allow for the flashing of the rooting tool to help you get access to the root user account.
  3. Install the Samsung USB Drivers on the computer, so you can run the flashing tool and have it identify the device you want to connect to it.
  4. Extract the rooting file to the Downloads folder on the computer and then run the Odin flashing tool that then becomes available to you inside the Download folder.
  5. Boot the Samsung Galaxy A5 SM-A510K smartphone into its Download Mode that it comes with and then connect it to the computer with the USB cable that is used for charging the battery.
  6. Do not make changes to the default settings that is available from the Options tab in Odin.
  7. Click on the AP button and then browse through to the Downloads folder where you extracted the rooting file and click on the flashable version of the rooting file that is there to have it uploaded to the Odin application.
  8. Click on the Start button from Odin and then check the screen of the Galaxy A5 smartphone to see what it says about the rooting process so you know what is happening and what to expect.
  9. Wait for the screen of the Galaxy A5 smartphone to show that it is going to reboot in ten seconds and then check for the pass message from the Odin user interface.

In conclusion, that is how to root the Samsung Galaxy A5 SM-A510K smartphone running on the Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow software updates by flashing the SuperSU by Chainfire with the help of the CF-Auto-Root tool. The rooting tool has just had to install a modified cache and recovery to help get the SuperSU correctly installed so it grants the rooting permissions to the apps that need it, and it had removed the recovery and cache that it needed to install to get that done so your device is left the same way it was before the rooting started. The only difference is that you now have the SuperSU program available as an application from the app drawer.

The SuperSU being installed and enabled on the Samsung Galaxy A5 smartphone means that you can start installing any of the applications that are out there and available for your device. Well technically you always could do that, but not all of them would run. Now they all run and it is just up to you to grant the rooting permissions to the apps that are trustworthy and not to install any of the apps that are not. The SuperSU blocks root access by default to everything you install and it is only when you want to run an app that SuperSU then prompts you with a message on the displaying asking for your confirmation for that app. When you think of it like that, the security is no different to a computer. If you wanted to create an exception to run an application on a Windows operating system on a computer, then you could do that from the antivirus if it was blocking it. The SuperSU does block everything by default too, so nothing gets root access unless you confirm it when it gives you the chance to do so on display.

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