Last Updated on July 17, 2022 by Mathew Diekhake
Anyone who was around when the original iPhone was released and was into hacking back then would likely know about the word jailbreaking. Jailbreaking the operating system of Apple (known as iOS) was popular to do until the fruit company stepped up the security on Apple devices until the point where it is hardly done anymore at all. With Android things are thankfully different. Because Android is owned by the Mountain View company and Google love the bonus of being able to root, the people who use Android-based operating systems will likely get to continue on rooting device for a long time to come.
The owners of Android are a lot more willing to let people root the operating system because Android is not connected to any phone manufacturer. When we root an Android operating system that is running on the Samsung Galaxy S6 smartphone, we are opening up the doors to use a device without limitations. No restrictions mean we can choose to install anything we want. Conversely, we can opt to remove anything we want. Like you know, our devices always tend to come with an abundance of system apps from Samsung when talking about a Samsung device. These are apps that give Samsung the ability to make additional money from your face for a long time to come after they make the first money when you buy the device. By rooting the Android operating system (owned by Google), we are then able to remove those system apps — something that Samsung apparently would prefer we did not do. However, what about Google? Do you think they care? Google do not care if you remove the Samsung system apps, and that is why rooting will always be possible.
The difference is that Apple own and develop the iOS software that then runs on app Apple device whereas Android only developer software. The Google-owned but never manufactured range of Nexus smartphones and tablets are always some of the best devices out there to root too! While Google is technically the owner of Nexus, it is always another smartphone manufacturer who takes it in turns to make those devices. We recently saw the Google Nexus 6P developed by Huawei.
The CF-Auto-Root tool that is found in this guide is based on the MMB29K.G920SKSU3DPD3 firmware build number. Chainfire tells us that nobody has to be running that same firmware build number on the Samsung Galaxy S6 smartphone for this guide to work. He just gives that build number for S6 owners to check if they need to use it as an indicator once a day. There might be some Samsung devices that are not going to boot old images, and that is why he gives that information.
Files You Need
- Download the new CF-Auto-Root tool that roots the Korean S6 on Android 6.0.1 from here.
- Download the Samsung USB Drivers on the computer from here.
The following guide is made for the Korean Samsung Galaxy S6 smartphone that comes with the SM-G920S model number when it is running on the Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow software updates.
You must have a computer that is currently running a version of the Windows operating system to follow this guide or else the flashing tool that is involved will not flash the rooting exploit to your device, and it will not get rooted.
You must have the Korean Samsung Galaxy S6 smartphone that comes with the SM-G920S model number if you are to use this guide or else you will brick the device. The CF-Auto-Root tool is almost always model number specific. You can check the model number of your S6 smartphone and see if it matches up by tapping on the Settings icon from the S6 smartphone > About Device > Model Number.
The Samsung Galaxy S6 smartphone is very prone to future Android software updates that will upgrade the phone to newer versions of Android. The larger updates that jump up to a new number can sometimes to be large enough to bring a new bootloader with them. The new bootloaders can create a temporary problem with Chainfire’s CF-Auto-Root tool where they need updating by the developer Chainfire himself. Because there are so many Samsung smartphones and tablets covered by the CF-Auto-Root tool, he can’t keep up with these new software updates that cause the problems without your help. He requests people who experience a device that does not boot or a device that does not flash to submit the new recovery image file that is associated with the software update to the official CF-Auto-Root XDA-Developers forum so he can use that file to update the CF-Auto-Root tool so that it starts working again. Those changes that Chainfire makes will be automatically reflected in our guides so you can use these guides on our site and know that they are always as up to date as anything that Chainfire has prepared. The reason for that is because we link directly back to Chainfire’s official repository.
Rooting the Korean Samsung Galaxy S6 SM-G920S smartphone running on the Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow software updates
- Unlock the Developer Options menu found on the Samsung Galaxy S6 smartphone so you can enter the same and enable some of the options found inside.
- Turn on the USB Debugging Mode from the Developer Options menu that you just finished unlocking.
- Extract the rooting package to the desktop of the Microsoft Windows computer so you can see both the flashing tool and the rooting exploit files on the desktop.
- Run the Samsung USB Drivers n the Windows computer, so your device is ready to be connected and detected by the flashing tool when it is running on the Windows computer.
- Double-click on the Odin executable file that is on the desktop of the computer and wait for the flashing tool to open.
- Boot the Korean Samsung Galaxy S6 smartphone into the download mode and then connect it to the computer with the USB cable that you would usually use to charge the battery on the device.
- Wait for about five seconds for the USB drivers to start working and then check your device is added from the Odin user interface and the ID: COM lights up with a yellow or blue color.
- Do not change any of the default settings from the Odin user interface.
- Click the AP button from the Odin user interface and then browse the desktop of the computer for the rooting file that is always ending in the tar.md5 extension for the CF-Auto-Root tool.
- Click the Start button from the Odin user interface and then wait for the smartphone to get rooted.
- Look at the Samsung Galaxy S6 display and wait for some text that shows up on the screen stating that it is getting the SUperSU flashed, cleaning up the cache partition and then reflashing the stock recovery.
- Once the stock recovery is flashed, look at the Odin user interface on the computer once again and check that it gives you a new green box with the pass message available inside it.
In conclusion, that is how to root the Samsung Galaxy S6 SM-G920S smartphone when you have it running on the Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow software updates as it is operating at the time of writing this guide. The CF-Auto-Root tool should continue to support the Samsung Galaxy S6 model number as we head into future software updates, but Chainfire might need to update the files again which is why we create our guides for the specific software updates instead. That way you can find another guide for that version when your device is updated to the newer versions of Android and the CF-Auto-Root tool is confirmed as working on that version. Anyone wanting to prove that the Korean Samsung Galaxy S6 smartphone is in fact rooted can do that now by downloading one of the root checker applications from the Google Play Store and then open it up to check what it says. Feel free to agree to any updates and give the app what it asks for to get the job done.
Once you have used the root checker app to confirm that your S6 smartphone is rooted, you can start installing your root requiring applications or find out if there is a custom recovery image to be installed. Some of you might not have gotten the device rooted by using the guide above. If that is the case, you can try making sure that your device did, in fact, get into the recovery mode after the flashing was completed. Any device that didn’t will not be rooted properly according to the developer. You can fix that problem by holding down the hardware key combination for the stock recovery mode once the flashing has completed and it will manually get into the recovery mode instead. You should now find that was enough to get the SuperSU installed on the phone correctly.
Those who still do not have a rooted Korean Samsung Galaxy S6 smartphone can look into getting another version of the Odin flashing app and installing it on the computer to replace the current version that doesn’t seem to be working correctly for your device. The Odin app comes in a few versions, but only one of those versions is bundled in with your rooting scripts, so you can try one of the other numbered versions and see if that does the trick.