Last Updated on May 13, 2023 by Mathew Diekhake
There are many popular one-click rooting methods out there today that root Android phones and tablets. Not any single rooting tool will ever root all devices because the job to get that done a ginormous one. However, you do find someone clicks rooting tools that look after just one manufacturer or a particular area where the excel. With Samsung, that area firmly belongs to Chainfire and his combination of the CF-Root and the CF-Auto-Root tool.
Most modern-day versions of rooting methods for Samsung smartphones and tablets like the Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 are based on the CF-Auto-Root tool version. The CF-Auto-Root is an Odin-based tool that will flash a modified recovery image and cache image on your tablet and then use them to instal land enable SuperSU while it is there and then reflash the stock recovery on your tablet when it is done so it leaves your device with a stock recovery and everything essentially the same at it was before you started. The only difference is that now your device has got the SuperSU app installed. Not only that, but you are using the device as a root user. You can install the SuperSU application whenever you want from the Google Play Store, but things are not that simple if you wanted to use it as a root user. It will not give you the root permissions by just installing it. However, now that SuperSU is installed Chainfire’s way, each time you download and install any app that requires a root user to run it, it will open and work for you after giving you a pop-up message on the display checking that you definitely would like to grant the app root permissions.
The SuperSU application giving you this pop-up message is important because SuperSU is not anti-virus security. In fact, the app does nothing for you at all regarding identifying threats. All SuperSU does is block everything that asks for root access and then prompts you with a message and shows you the name of what app is asking to be let in. That is the part where being an experienced Android user is a must because if you are not able to identify what is safe and what isn’t, you can end up with malware.
When malware gets the chance of using an Android device that has been rooted, it also gets the opportunity to jump out of the area it sits and explore around. That means nothing is stopping it from entering sensitive data like your banking apps or pictures. That is the reason why Google decide not to allow Android Pay to work on any device that has root access.
Don’t be fooled into thinking that it means Google and Android dislike root users, however. The Google Nexus range of smartphone and tablets are primarily manufactured for developers, and the only seasoned developer knows that you cannot do much developing without root access to the internal system. Google and Android appreciate root users as much as we do, they just want you to use the Android operating system responsibly.
The version of the CF-Auto-Root tool that Chainfire has made for the Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 8.0 SM-T715 when it is running on the Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow updates is based on the MMB29K.T715XXU2BPD6 firmware build number. That means Chainfire was running that MMB29K.T715XXU2BPD6 build number when he created this rooting method on your device. However, it does not mean that you need to be running the same firmware. Some of you might be running it already if you check from the Menu > Settings > About Device > Build Number and some of you might not. The rooting file in this guide works for any firmware build number that is based on Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow provided you have the correct SM-T715 model number. You can also find out your tablet’s model number from the same path of Menu > Settings > About Device > Model Number.
Files You Need
- Download the CF-Auto-Root tool that is made for the Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 8.0 SM-T715 tablet running on the Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow software updates from here.
- Download the Samsung USB Drivers on the Windows computer from here.
You need to have a computer that is running any version of the Windows operating system because the Odin flashing application we are using only works with Windows. The Odin app which is made by Samsung developers does not flash if you are using the MacOS or any of the Linux distributions.
You can only flash the rooting package available in this guide on the SM-T715 version of the Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 8.0 tablet. That is the model number, and you can find out yours by tapping on the Menu > Settings > About Device > Model Number. Any other model number displayed from the About Device menu gets bricked if you flash the rooting file in this guide.
There could be a few Android operating system versions that arrive as new software updates still based on the Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow updates that bring new bootloaders with them. That does not usually happen unless the updates are significant and update to completely newer versions of Android such as from Android 5.1 Lollipop to Android 6.0 Marshmallow. Though rare, if an update does bring a new bootloader with it, you may find your device does not boot or does not flash. To fix these issues, Chainfire wants you to submit the new recovery image found in the new firmware files to the official CF-Auto-Root tool thread set up over at the XDA-Developers forum so Chainfire can see your messages and then apply the necessary updates on his end. Those changes that Chainfire makes to the CF-Auto-Root files are automatically reflected in our guides because we link back directly to the official CF-Auto-Root tool repository.
Rooting the Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 8.0 SM-T715 tablet running on the Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow software updates
- Log into the Windows computer using an administrators account or else the Odin flashing application will not let you run it.
- Unlock the Developer Options menu on the Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 8.0 tablet so you can use the features available within that menu.
- Enable the USB Debugging Mode from the Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 8.0 Developer Options menu that you just unlocked so that your tablet can connect to the computer with the USB cable and then do some developments to the software.
- Extract the CF-Auto-Root tool by Chainfire to the desktop of the computer so you can see the Odin flashing application and the rooting file on the desktop.
- Run the Samsung USB Drivers on the computer so that your tablet can connect with the USB cable and then be detected by the Odin flashing application.
- Double-click and run the Odin flashing application that is on the desktop and the wait for the flashing tool’s user interface to open.
- Boot the Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 8.0 tablet into the download mode and then connect it to the computer with the USB cable that you would usually have to charge the battery.
- Check that you can see a blue or yellow ID: COM port coming from the Odin user interface and it is also giving you the “added” message. (Those of you who cannot see any added message and the ID: COM port does not light up with any color needs to get the Samsung USB Drivers working. If the Samsung USB Drivers do not run on your computer, you can try installing the universal Windows ADB Drivers by Koushik Dutta instead. Both of them should do the trick. Moreover, it might be that you are not using the Windows computer with an administrators account, so make sure you are logged in as an administrator for the flashing tool to work).
- Do not make any changes from the default settings you get from the Odin user interface, including any of the buttons.
- Click the AP button you get from the Odin application on the computer and the browse through to the desktop location and choose to upload the rooting file that is ending in the tar.md5 file extension into this location.
- Click the Start button found on the Odin user interface and then pick up the tablet.
- Check that you get white text rolling down the display that shows it is detecting the device, mounting the system and cache, resetting the SUperSU and then running the SuperSU Installer.
- Check the text now shows it is installing the boot image patcher, followed by giving you a message on the screen with some important notices. (Make sure you read through the critical notices, and understand that it is going to take some minutes to complete the rooting, and it might boot loop a few times. Do not worry, these are normal. Do not interrupt the rooting process).
- Check you get more text rolling down the screen that says it is unmounting the system, restoring stock recovery, cleaning up and then reboot in ten seconds.
In conclusion, that is how to root the Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 8.0 SM-T715 tablet when it is running on the Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow software updates by flashing a version of the SuperSU app. You find the tablet reboots as the text on the display states, and as soon as you see the green pass box appearing from the Odin user interface, yo are then bale to unplug the tablet from the computer.
You might want to open up the Google Play Store application and then install one of the root checker applications to check whether or not your device is rooted. You find at least one version of the root checker app is out there waiting for you to install it free of charge and willing to check the root status of your phone for you. Once the root status is confirmed, you can head back to the Google Play Store and start installing your root requiring applications such as the Dumpster app, Titanium Backup, ROM Manager, ROM Toolbox, Xposed Framework, Viper4Android, and Greenify. Moreover, nothing is stopping you from giving the root applications a miss and installing a custom recovery. Those of you who already have a custom recovery can head directly to the XDA-Developers forum and check out what custom ROMs are available for your device. You should find at leas ta few by now that can swap the stock ROM that is running on the Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 8.0 SM-T715 tablet from a custom version. Often these custom ROMs already come debloated so if you were rooting for the sole purpose of installing the Titanium Backup application and then uninstalling the system apps, you might be interested in checking out a custom ROM instead.
Those of you wanting to know more about Android rooting, in general, can check out the post we have made that is decided to root the Android operating system and goes into more detail about all the things you can do with a rooted Android. They include installing the root apps, installing a custom recovery like Team Win’s TWRP Recovery, installing a custom ROM, removing the bloatware, making the battery last long, cranking up the CPU frequency and increasing the performance of the hardware and more.
Furthermore, those of yo who were not so lucky when they checked the root status of the phone and found out that it is not rooted can do some quick troubleshooting to see why that might be. The first thing you should check is that your Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 8.0 tablet is getting into the recovery mode automatically. If you were not quick enough to notice during the flashing, you can hold down the Tab S2’s hardware button combination for the recovery mode as soon as the device reboots for the last time during the rooting process and get it into the recovery mode that way instead. You know when the last reboot it was taking place because it says the “reboot in ten seconds” text on the screen of the tablet. Chainfire states that if a device does not get into the recovery mode by itself, then the SuperSU will not be installed or enabled correctly. Additionally, everyone can boot into the recovery mode manually if it does not happen with CF-Auto-Root automatically like it was supposed to and they will both result in the same thing which is a rooted Android operating system on the Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 8.0 device.
What is more; people can just install one of the other versions of the Odin flashing application and flash the CF-Auto-Root tool with the other version of the Odin 3.10 that comes bundled in with the CF-Auto-Root tool version in this file does not work. Chainfire does us all a favor by including the Odin flashing application in with the rooting file, but it will not necessarily work wonders for everyone. There are cases from YouTube and other sources online where people have flashed the rooting file suing a version of Odin, and it did not work, so they tried another version of the Odin flashing app, and it did work. There are about seven versions of the Odin flashing application that can work on your device, so feel free to try any of the others.
In addition to the tricks with Odin and recovery mode, people can choose to install another firmware version when there is more than one phone carrier network assigned to the same model number. Those cases are usually with regards to devices that are outside of the UNiqted States where you can have a model number for all of the Canada, and yet there are several phone carrier networks all using that same model number but with unique firmware. If your device is SIM unlocked, you can install firmware that was intended for another phone carrier network provided that it is still made for the same model number.