This guide only applies to the following:
IT WILL NOT work on the Galaxy S6 / S6 edge / S6 edge+ or Note 5.
There are no 'Unlocked' ROMs available for the older 2015 devices.
I do not take responsibility for bricking, dead devices, or you not being able to use your brain and flash the ROM correctly. Besides, you have to be an absolute idiot to brick a Samsung phone.
DO NOT USE THE SAME VERSION OF ODIN ON BOTH DEVICES. I have linked 2 different versions of Odin, one for the S7/S7 edge and one for the newer S8 and S8+.
Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 edge
Now, when the S7 and S7 edge were released in the US, they were released with quite a few variants, but I will only mention 5:
The first 4 variants are designed for each specific carrier, to work properly with their VoLTE, WiFi Calling, LTE+ and any carrier specific apps. These phones can be cross flashed with each others ROMs since the hardware is identical on all of them. A Verizon S7 edge would work fine on AT&T if you flashed the G935A AT&T ROM on it. However, that's for the users actually living in the US, when these phones come to Pakistan, the carrier bloat remains on them.
Samsung released an Unlocked variant of the S7/S7e that could've been purchased from the Samsung website directly, this carrier the G930U/G935U SKU, the U signifying that the phone was unlocked. The ROM of this has absolutely no carrier bloat at all, and is like using an unlocked and completely bloat-free Snapdragon Galaxy S7/S7e.
NOTE: Your data will be wiped in the process. Everything, including apps, media, call logs, messages and app data.
What you need for this process:
Download the Galaxy S7 (G930U) ROM here: Updato Link
Download the Galaxy S7 edge (G935U) ROM here: Updato Link
Samsung will be releasing newer ROMs, so download whichever ROM has the newest and most recent build date.
The links are set to show only 'XAA' unlocked ROMs for both devices.
1) Power off your phone.
2) Boot into Download Mode (A.K.A Odin mode), by pressing the following button combo:
POWER + HOME + VOLUME DOWN
A warning message will display on screen, press Volume Up to continue to Download Mode.
3) Unzip the ROM you downloaded for your phone. It will contain 4 files. Bootloader (BL), AP (System/Recovery/Cache/Userdata), CP (Modem/Radio, NON-HLOS) and CSC (Sales code and carrier specific customization). You should have the XAA CSC, which is for Unlocked US phones.
Screenshot attached for reference. Your files will be named differently.
4) Plug your phone in using the microUSB cable. Open Odin. It will appear in the Odin window as a COM device and the log will show 'Added' when the device has been connected. Just to play it safe, wait a minute and then start the flashing process so all necessary drivers can be installed automatically.
5) There will be 4 main tabs in the Odin window, BL, AP, CP and CSC. Click each tab, browse the files you downloaded and place the right file in the right tab.
Screenshot attached from Odin 3.12.3 which you will be using in this tutorial.
6) Once all the files have been added, hit Start, and wait for Odin to show a 'PASS' message, your phone will wipe all the data on it, reboot 1-2 times, and eventually bring you to the setup screen where you can proceed and normally set up your phone.
Note: When adding AP to Odin, the window will freeze and show 'Not Responding' for 2-5 minutes due to the file being larger than 3GB since it includes the entire System partition.
Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus
Although the process is exactly the same for the S8 and S8 plus, I have to explain some thing regarding model numbers.
If and when S8/S8+ kits start arriving into Pakistan, they will all have the G950U/G955U model numbers, this is because Samsung decided to have one SKU for the S8/S8+, but carriers have different ROMs based on their CSC, so it is possible that you can have two S8's with the G950U model number, but one will have AT&T Bloatware, and one may have Verizon bloatware.
Now, the unlocked Galaxy S8/S8+ was released in the US, similar to last year's S7 and S7e, however it is under the SM-G950U1 / G955U1 model number. Same 'XAA' unlocked CSC will be used. Flashing a U1 ROM on a U device will work perfectly fine since the hardware is identical again.
NOTE: Your data will be wiped in the process. Everything, including apps, media, call logs, messages and app data.
What you need for this process:
Download the Galaxy S8 (G950U1) ROM here: Updato Link
Download the Galaxy S8+ (G955U1) ROM here: Updato Link
1) Power off your phone.
2) Boot into Download Mode (A.K.A Odin mode), by pressing the following button combo:
POWER + VOLUME DOWN + BIXBY KEY
A warning message will display on screen, press Volume Up to continue to Download Mode.
3) Unzip the ROM you downloaded for your phone. It will contain 4 files. Bootloader (BL), AP (System/Recovery/Cache/Userdata), CP (Modem/Radio, NON-HLOS) and CSC (Sales code and carrier specific customization). You should have the XAA CSC, which is for Unlocked US phones.
Screenshot attached for reference. Your files will be named differently.
4) Plug your phone in using the USB Type-C cable. Open Odin. It will appear in the Odin window as a COM device and the log will show 'Added' when the device has been connected. Just to play it safe, wait a minute and then start the flashing process so all necessary drivers can be installed automatically.
5) There will be 4 main tabs in the Odin window, BL, AP, CP and CSC. Click each tab, browse the files you downloaded and place the right file in the right tab.
Screenshot attached from Odin 3.12.3 which you will be using in this tutorial.
6) Once all the files have been added, hit Start, and wait for Odin to show a 'PASS' message, your phone will wipe all the data on it, reboot 1-2 times, and eventually bring you to the setup screen where you can proceed and normally set up your phone.
Note: When adding AP to Odin, the window will freeze and show 'Not Responding' for 2-5 minutes due to the file being larger than 3GB since it includes the entire System partition.
- Samsung Galaxy S7 (SM-G930A / SM-G930T / SM-G930V / SM-G930P)
- Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (SM-G935A / SM-G935T / SM-G935V / SM-G935P)
- Samsung Galaxy S8 (SM-G950U)
- Samsung Galaxy S8+ (SM-G955U)
IT WILL NOT work on the Galaxy S6 / S6 edge / S6 edge+ or Note 5.
There are no 'Unlocked' ROMs available for the older 2015 devices.
I do not take responsibility for bricking, dead devices, or you not being able to use your brain and flash the ROM correctly. Besides, you have to be an absolute idiot to brick a Samsung phone.
DO NOT USE THE SAME VERSION OF ODIN ON BOTH DEVICES. I have linked 2 different versions of Odin, one for the S7/S7 edge and one for the newer S8 and S8+.
Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 edge
Spoiler: show
Now, when the S7 and S7 edge were released in the US, they were released with quite a few variants, but I will only mention 5:
- SM-G930A/G935A (AT&T US)
- SM-G930T/G935T (T-Mobile US)
- SM-G930V/G935V (Verizon US)
- SM-G930P/G935P (Sprint US)
- SM-G930U/G935U (UNLOCKED)
The first 4 variants are designed for each specific carrier, to work properly with their VoLTE, WiFi Calling, LTE+ and any carrier specific apps. These phones can be cross flashed with each others ROMs since the hardware is identical on all of them. A Verizon S7 edge would work fine on AT&T if you flashed the G935A AT&T ROM on it. However, that's for the users actually living in the US, when these phones come to Pakistan, the carrier bloat remains on them.
Samsung released an Unlocked variant of the S7/S7e that could've been purchased from the Samsung website directly, this carrier the G930U/G935U SKU, the U signifying that the phone was unlocked. The ROM of this has absolutely no carrier bloat at all, and is like using an unlocked and completely bloat-free Snapdragon Galaxy S7/S7e.
NOTE: Your data will be wiped in the process. Everything, including apps, media, call logs, messages and app data.
What you need for this process:
- A US kit Galaxy S7/S7e (any variant will do)
- A Windows PC
- Odin (Samsung flash tool) - This version is a modified version of Odin v3, it overrides the model number check so you can flash the G930U/G935U ROM on a device with a different model number. - Download Link
- The 'U' unlocked ROM for your device (G930U for S7 and G935U for S7 edge)
- A brain
- A good quality microUSB cable (crappy ones are NOT to be used in this process, some cables have issues with data transfer and you'll be flashing 4GB worth of files)
- At least 50% battery charge in the phone
Download the Galaxy S7 (G930U) ROM here: Updato Link
Download the Galaxy S7 edge (G935U) ROM here: Updato Link
Samsung will be releasing newer ROMs, so download whichever ROM has the newest and most recent build date.
The links are set to show only 'XAA' unlocked ROMs for both devices.
1) Power off your phone.
2) Boot into Download Mode (A.K.A Odin mode), by pressing the following button combo:
POWER + HOME + VOLUME DOWN
A warning message will display on screen, press Volume Up to continue to Download Mode.
3) Unzip the ROM you downloaded for your phone. It will contain 4 files. Bootloader (BL), AP (System/Recovery/Cache/Userdata), CP (Modem/Radio, NON-HLOS) and CSC (Sales code and carrier specific customization). You should have the XAA CSC, which is for Unlocked US phones.
Screenshot attached for reference. Your files will be named differently.
4) Plug your phone in using the microUSB cable. Open Odin. It will appear in the Odin window as a COM device and the log will show 'Added' when the device has been connected. Just to play it safe, wait a minute and then start the flashing process so all necessary drivers can be installed automatically.
5) There will be 4 main tabs in the Odin window, BL, AP, CP and CSC. Click each tab, browse the files you downloaded and place the right file in the right tab.
Screenshot attached from Odin 3.12.3 which you will be using in this tutorial.
6) Once all the files have been added, hit Start, and wait for Odin to show a 'PASS' message, your phone will wipe all the data on it, reboot 1-2 times, and eventually bring you to the setup screen where you can proceed and normally set up your phone.
Note: When adding AP to Odin, the window will freeze and show 'Not Responding' for 2-5 minutes due to the file being larger than 3GB since it includes the entire System partition.
Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus
Spoiler: show
Although the process is exactly the same for the S8 and S8 plus, I have to explain some thing regarding model numbers.
If and when S8/S8+ kits start arriving into Pakistan, they will all have the G950U/G955U model numbers, this is because Samsung decided to have one SKU for the S8/S8+, but carriers have different ROMs based on their CSC, so it is possible that you can have two S8's with the G950U model number, but one will have AT&T Bloatware, and one may have Verizon bloatware.
Now, the unlocked Galaxy S8/S8+ was released in the US, similar to last year's S7 and S7e, however it is under the SM-G950U1 / G955U1 model number. Same 'XAA' unlocked CSC will be used. Flashing a U1 ROM on a U device will work perfectly fine since the hardware is identical again.
NOTE: Your data will be wiped in the process. Everything, including apps, media, call logs, messages and app data.
What you need for this process:
- A US kit Galaxy S8/S8+ (any variant will do)
- A Windows PC
- Odin (Samsung flash tool) - This version is a modified version of Odin v3, it overrides the model number check so you can flash the G950U1/G955U1 ROM on a device with the 950U/955U model number. - Download Link
- The 'U1' unlocked ROM for your device
- A brain
- A good quality USB Type-C cable (crappy ones are NOT to be used in this process, some cables have issues with data transfer and you'll be flashing 5GB worth of files)
- At least 50% battery charge in the phone
Download the Galaxy S8 (G950U1) ROM here: Updato Link
Download the Galaxy S8+ (G955U1) ROM here: Updato Link
1) Power off your phone.
2) Boot into Download Mode (A.K.A Odin mode), by pressing the following button combo:
POWER + VOLUME DOWN + BIXBY KEY
A warning message will display on screen, press Volume Up to continue to Download Mode.
3) Unzip the ROM you downloaded for your phone. It will contain 4 files. Bootloader (BL), AP (System/Recovery/Cache/Userdata), CP (Modem/Radio, NON-HLOS) and CSC (Sales code and carrier specific customization). You should have the XAA CSC, which is for Unlocked US phones.
Screenshot attached for reference. Your files will be named differently.
4) Plug your phone in using the USB Type-C cable. Open Odin. It will appear in the Odin window as a COM device and the log will show 'Added' when the device has been connected. Just to play it safe, wait a minute and then start the flashing process so all necessary drivers can be installed automatically.
5) There will be 4 main tabs in the Odin window, BL, AP, CP and CSC. Click each tab, browse the files you downloaded and place the right file in the right tab.
Screenshot attached from Odin 3.12.3 which you will be using in this tutorial.
6) Once all the files have been added, hit Start, and wait for Odin to show a 'PASS' message, your phone will wipe all the data on it, reboot 1-2 times, and eventually bring you to the setup screen where you can proceed and normally set up your phone.
Note: When adding AP to Odin, the window will freeze and show 'Not Responding' for 2-5 minutes due to the file being larger than 3GB since it includes the entire System partition.
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