Last Updated on May 13, 2023 by Mathew Diekhake

In the Samsung Galaxy Tab A SM-P550’s world, you can’t do much without any apps. Apps make the mobile operating system usable and allow you to manage your life, your device, play games and give the operating system additional features that it wasn’t born to have or change the style or UI of an existing feature.

In Android’s world, there are two different types of apps you can choose from: root apps and regular apps. The regular apps are the apps that you can install anytime you want. They don’t require any special permissions for you to be able to install them. The root apps are the apps you can only install when you have root access on the device.

Root access is the same thing as being the root user or the superuser. It means you are using the account that Android has tucked away within the system that grants access to all commands and all files. It means being able to use all three levels of permissions that Linux kernels have, including the read, write and modify permissions.

There are many ways of becoming the root user — but none of them matter if you are wondering the difference between root apps you can install. As long as the root checker application verifies that you do indeed have root access, then you know that all of the same root apps are going to work. The only time the way you get root access on the Samsung Galaxy Tab A matters is when you want to do more than just install the root applications. If you want to be installing custom ROMs and custom kernels too, then you need to have a custom recovery installed, or there is no way to get the ROMs installed. Those of you only interested in installing the root-requiring applications, however, can do that without needing anything else other than the root access on the device itself. And like I said before, it doesn’t matter what root tools you use to become the root user on the device when thinking about what apps you can install. All of them work regardless of the tool that was used.

Notes:

  • Chainfire’s Samsung Galaxy Tab A SM-P550 tablet was running on the MMB29M.P550XXU1BPF3 firmware build number when he created the version of the CF-Auto-Root tool that is available in this guide. That does not mean you need to be running on the same firmware build number that he was running. It just means you can use that information as a guideline if that information ever becomes relevant.
  • There is a slight chance that someday someone will follow this guide and the device does not boot up after having flashed the rooting file. If that ever happens to you, you need to let the developer know about it by sending a message to the CF-Auto-Root tool thread made on the XDA-Developers web forum. The message needs to contain the recovery image file from the firmware that you are running.
  • You need to have the Samsung Galaxy Tab A tablet that comes with the SM-P550 model number or else the rooting will not work. Not only that but using the wrong model number often results in the device getting bricked after you flash the rooting file.
  • You need to have a computer that runs on a version of the Windows operating system to use this guide. Any other operating system cannot run the Odin flashing tool. Since the Odin flashing tool is the only thing that can flash the rooting file, that means you need to have a computer with Windows installed. What’s more, you cannot just run a virtual machine on a Mac or Linux and expect it to work. They can cause damage also.

Download Samsung Galaxy Tab A SM-P550 CF-Auto-Root and Drivers

How to Root Samsung Galaxy Tab A SM-P550 on Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow Using CF-Auto-Root

  1. Start by turning on the Windows PC and then login into it by using the administrator’s account. (You can log into your regular user account and then try right-clicking on the Odin flashing application executable file and choosing to run the app as the admin instead if you cannot log into the computer using the admin account).
  2. Unlock the Developer Options menu on the Samsung Galaxy Tab A SM-P550 tablet so you can use all of the options that are then available to developers from the Android operating system.
  3. Turn on the USB Debugging Mode from the Developer Options menu that is available on the Samsung Galaxy Tab A SM-P550 tablet so the Android operating system can allow for the necessary changes to happen that make the rooting work.
  4. Install the Samsung USB Drivers on the computer so the flashing tool that flashes the rooting tool can detect your device.
  5. Open the Downloads folder on the computer where your files end up when you have downloaded them and then extract the rooting file to the Downloads folder.
  6. Boot the Samsung Galaxy Tab A SM-P550 tablet into its Download Mode and then connect it to the computer with the USB cable.
  7. Run the Odin flashing application that is now available in the Downloads folder, so the user interface of the flashing tool opens up on the PC.
  8. Check that the added message is showing up in the Odin Log so you know the Samsung USB Drivers are working.
  9. Do not make any changes from the Odin Options tab that is available from the flashing tool’s user interface.
  10. Click on the AP button that Odin has and then browse through to the Downloads folder and select the rooting file so that it uploads to the Odin.
  11. Click on the Start button and the rooting of the Samsung Galaxy Tab A SM-P550 tablet and then read the information that is rolling down the display of the tablet so you know what is happening.
  12. Wait until the screen says it is going to reboot in ten seconds time and then look for the pass message from the Odin flashing tool’s user interface.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab A SM-P550 tablet is now rooted when running on the Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow software updates. The guide runs through what you need to flash the CF-Auto-Root tool that installs and enables the SuperSU program on the Samsung Galaxy Tab A SM-P550 tablet. The SuperSU is what gives your Android operating system the root access. All you need to do now is start installing the root applications that you wanted to try. They will download the same way your regular apps download and then click on them to run them the way you typically would too. The SuperSU then prompts your screen with a message asking for your confirmation that you do want to give the app the root access on the system. After that point, the app has root access until you choose to take those rooting permissions away.

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