Last Updated on July 17, 2022 by Mathew Diekhake
For our Samsung smartphones like the Samsung Galaxy S6 smartphone to come with us with maximum security, we need our phone carrier networks and Android to lock the Android operating system down. There is another advantage to locking the Android operating system down and that is it stops us from being able to remove the system apps that our phone carrier networks wants us to be trapped into using. They will not force you to click on any apps or use any services, but make no mistake: they are there, and they are hoping you click on them. These additional services are what is required for the brands to continue to make money from your faces after you already purchased the device for a large sum of money. That’s a lot of extra wealth that is falling into the hands of these companies after they already profit and arm and a leg from the initial sale.
In our opinion, these phone carrier networks and manufacturers should not be allowed to force you into having to keep an app; they should be able to be removed just like any other app you installed from the Google Play Store. However, that law probably will not change anytime soon for obvious reasons. We can get around having those system apps on your smartphones from Samsung and every other manufacturer or carrier network though and we do it by rooting the Android operating system that is running on the device.
By rooting the Android operating system on smartphones, tablets and phablets we are officially going to be using the device without any limitations. That means you can install any app that you want, and you can remove any app that you want. You just need to be aware of the potential dangers of removing things that could not be deleted. The way we remove things from the operating system is by installing the Titanium Backup app. Now the way in which Titanium is laid out is either by the alphabetical order or by showing you the size of the files. What it does not do is automatically let you know which apps that you can or cannot remove without bricking your device. Nobody knows exactly why they don’t but to this day (during 2016) we still do not have an app that does it better than the way Titanium Backup does it. That means you can potentially uninstall an app that you needed if you didn’t know any better and by doing that your device is now bricked. What Titanium hopes you do is pay for the paid version which allows you to freeze an app, check out the effects and then unfreeze it if the effect was a negative one. Throwing away a few dollars is the best thing you can do at this stage if you are somebody who doesn’t have the necessary knowledge. And don’t be arrogant about it like I was and assume that you can easily tell what is a requirement and what isn’t. I have bricked my phone, and I thought there was nothing I took a risk on apart from removing the Knox security files which are what I think might have caused my problems though I’m still not too sure to this day.
The new CF-Auto-Root tool that is associated with this guide was made based on the MMB29K.G920LKLU3DPB2 firmware build number which we know is part of a wider Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow software update that rolled out to some regions. It doesn’t matter if your handset was in the area that found that update arriving over the air or not because you do not need to be running the same firmware build number on your Samsung Galaxy S6 smartphone for this guide to work. All you need to do is know that some of the Samsung smartphones like the Galaxy S6 phone will not boot old images. It’s for those ties that Chainfire gives you the information on the build number so you can see a rough period that the rooting guide was made.
Files You Need
- Download the new CF-Auto-Root tool for the SM-G920L version of the Samsung Galaxy S6 smartphone when you have it running on the Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow software updates from here.
- Download the Samsung USB Drivers on your Windows computer from here.
You must have the Samsung Galaxy S6 smartphone that comes with the SM-G920L model number before you can use this guide. The reasons are being that there are CF-Auto-Root tools available for each model number. They are not the same files you see for different guides. The files are almost always only given for each model number unless otherwise advised by an expert. Chainfire states clearly that flashing the wrong file on your smartphone can brick a device permanently, so you need to double-check you have the right model number. Do that now by tapping on the Menu > Settings > About Device > Model Number.
There will be some more software updates based on Android versions that roll out for the Samsung Galaxy S6 smartphone because it is one of the flagship smartphones for the Sammy name, and it is still relatively new. When one of those future updates is a large update, it might bring a new bootloader wit them. A new bootloader can break the CF-Auto-Root tool from working until Chainfire updates the files with the new recovery image. Those updates are always automatically reflected in our guides because we always link directly back to the official CF-Auto-Root page. All people need to to is submit the new recovery image found in the new firmware files online from sites like Sam Mobile when they become available, and Chainfire–who is the developer of the CF-Auto-Root tool–will then see your messages and update the files, so they work again. All you need to do is submit the file to the CF-Auto-Root tool thread found on the XDA-Developers forum. For the brief times in between when Chainfire hasn’t updated the files yet, and a new bootloader is present in the software updates people are running, the phone might not boot up after flashing the CF-Auto-Root tool. Those issues can always be fixed.
Rooting the Samsung Galaxy S6 SM-G920L smartphone running on the Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow software updates
- Unlock the Developer Options menu on your Samsung Galaxy S6 smartphone so you can enable the USB Debugging that your device needs to be able to connect to the computer.
- Turn on the USB Debugging Mode from the Developer Options menu that you just unlocked.
- Extract the CF-Auto-Root file to the desktop of the computer so you can see the rooting file that you will use and the flashing tool file.
- Double-click the mouse on the Odin executable file to open up your flashing tool and leave the user interface of that tool open on your desktop.
- Run the Samsung USB Drivers on the computer so that your device can connect and be detected by the flashing tool.
- Turn off the Samsung Galaxy S6 smartphone and reboot it in the download mode.
- Connect the Samsung Galaxy S6 smartphone to the computer with the USB cable that you would usually use to charge the battery on the device.
- Give it some seconds and then check out the Odin user interface for a yellow or blue color coming from the ID: COM port as well as it to show an added message which is all letting you now that you have the Samsung drivers working.
- Leave all the default settings the same way you had them after first opening up the flashing tool.
- Click the AP button and browse the desktop fo the rooting file that is ending n the tar.md5 file extension and then upload it to here.
- Click the Start button.
- Check the display of the Samsung Galaxy S6 smartphone for some text that will roll down the screen saying that your device is getting the SuperSU flashed, cleaning up the cache and then flashing the stock recovery.
- Once you see that on the phone, check out the Odin user interface on the computer for the pass message inside a new green box that wasn’t there before.
In conclusion, that is how to root the Samsung Galaxy S6 smartphone with the SM-G920L model number when you have it running on the Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow software updates by using the newer version of the CF-Auto-Root tool that is made by Chainfire. Feel free to install one of the root check applications that is out there from any of the app stores like the Google Play Store. You will find free versions such as the basic root checker app to give you everything you need to check if the guide above worked on your Samsung Galaxy S6 smartphone is in fact rooted. Once you have checked the root status, feel free to open your Google Play Store application once again and start browsing for your root apps like the Titanium Backup app for those of you who are interested in getting rid of some of those Samsung default apps.
Moreover, anyone stuck can install any of the older Odin flashing applications and try again. There are occasions when some people do not get the Odin 3.10 to work, and for those times, you can install one of the other versions that are out there for you to use anytime you want to. We have all the other versions like the Odin 3.09 and the Odin 3.07 available to download and install from our Odin downloads page.
Furthermore, the developer of the CF-Auto-Root tool states that one of the most common reasons for the file not flashing properly will be because the device did not automatically get into the recovery mode after the flashing like it was supposed to. You can fix all of those times by pressing the hardware buttons manually for recovery mode from the device once the flashing completes. Doing things manually should give you the same result which is a Samsung Galaxy S6 smartphone that is rooted properly.