[GUIDE] How to root a Sprint Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 7" (SM-T217S)

Justin Buser · Feb 7, 2014

There are a couple other guides on here but they are mostly just links to videos or ad infested download links and none of them worked for me so this is how I ended up getting it to work. Everything I used is attached

For the more experienced readers it's simple, flash TWRP using Odin, boot into recovery and TWRP will prompt you to root.

For the only slightly experienced:

Boot into Download Mode (Hold Vol Down +Power to turn on the Device)
Unzip the TWRP Recovery Image after downloading it below.
Connect your tablet to your PC, unzip and run Odin, click the PDA button and select the TWRP md5 file you just unzipped.
Begin holding the Volume Up button on your Tablet and hit the start button in Odin (this will ensure you reboot into the new recovery)

Once in TWRP if you select the reboot option under advanced you should be prompted to root your device if it's not already rooted. If that doesn't happen for some reason you can use adb to sideload the SuperSU zip I've attached, or put it on an sd card and find the flash zip from sdcard option in TWRP to flash it.

wsigo · Feb 8, 2014

Thanks Justin! Works great. Someone should sticky this.

Luckily I had a Windows computer I could use for this, but my main machine is a MacBook Pro. I wish someone would do a nice clear walkthrough like this one for using Heimdall on a Mac.

firedroidguy · Feb 20, 2014

To start I have rooted many phones but am stumped on this tablet. After getting it to start with holding the volume down and power key it stops on the downloading screen. Once I can get it to reboot I held the volume up and power key and got into system recovery. If I am not mistaken I can boot from here also. Right??

Iams1002 · Mar 13, 2014

Thanks it was very useful!

Chinaberry · Mar 30, 2014

Will this trigger the Knox 0x1 problem? I just got this tablet and I want to be able to take it in to Sprint for repairs if I need to.

yort1992 · Apr 3, 2014

Thanks!!!

Justin Buser said:
There are a couple other guides on here but they are mostly just links to videos or ad infested download links and none of them worked for me so this is how I ended up getting it to work. Everything I used is attached

For the more experienced readers it's simple, flash TWRP using Odin, boot into recovery and TWRP will prompt you to root.

For the only slightly experienced:

Boot into Download Mode (Hold Vol Down +Power to turn on the Device)
Unzip the TWRP Recovery Image after downloading it below.
Connect your tablet to your PC, unzip and run Odin, click the PDA button and select the TWRP md5 file you just unzipped.
Begin holding the Volume Up button on your Tablet and hit the start button in Odin (this will ensure you reboot into the new recovery)

Once in TWRP if you select the reboot option under advanced you should be prompted to root your device if it's not already rooted. If that doesn't happen for some reason you can use adb to sideload the SuperSU zip I've attached, or put it on an sd card and find the flash zip from sdcard option in TWRP to flash it.

Thanks for the help! This is my first root I've done myself and it works like a charm. Now my next step is to flash it to any carrier. Does anyone know how to flash the sprint device to a different carrier? If anyone could help me out, that would be greatly appreciated.

colt223 · Apr 3, 2014

Thanks for this. I finally got a couple Galaxy Tab 3's (One 210 and one 217) to upgrade my girls from their Kindle Fires.
Really needed this root to remove all the factory loaded crap.
Thanks.

slickdealers · Apr 7, 2014

colt223 said:
Thanks for this. I finally got a couple Galaxy Tab 3's (One 210 and one 217) to upgrade my girls from their Kindle Fires.
Really needed this root to remove all the factory loaded crap.
Thanks.

I just recently got this tablet from a deal sprint had. What version was your tablet on before rooting? Right now mine is on 4.2.2, but there is an update out. I dont want to update if it wont work with this root.

colt223 · Apr 7, 2014

slickdealers said:
I just recently got this tablet from a deal sprint had. What version was your tablet on before rooting? Right now mine is on 4.2.2, but there is an update out. I dont want to update if it wont work with this root.

I believe it was on 4.2.2 when I rooted. I will have to double-check that when I get home tonight.
What model number do you have? I had to use a different TWRP download for each one of mine, meaning I had to find a different one for the 210.

slickdealers · Apr 7, 2014

colt223 said:
I believe it was on 4.2.2 when I rooted. I will have to double-check that when I get home tonight.
What model number do you have? I had to use a different TWRP download for each one of mine, meaning I had to find a different one for the 210.

My model number is T217S. I tried to do some extra googling and came up with a post saying that the update after 4.2.2 installed KNOX on their tablet, which made their tablet come up with errors when trying to root. Based on your answer and what I found, I'm assuming I'm alright to give it a try. I do have one other question though. After rooting do you know if it would be possible to unroot incase I have to go back to Sprint with a problem?

colt223 · Apr 7, 2014

slickdealers said:
My model number is T217S. I tried to do some extra googling and came up with a post saying that the update after 4.2.2 installed KNOX on their tablet, which made their tablet come up with errors when trying to root. Based on your answer and what I found, I'm assuming I'm alright to give it a try. I do have one other question though. After rooting do you know if it would be possible to unroot incase I have to go back to Sprint with a problem?

I am honestly not sure about going back, but I have had no problems. In fact, when I booted after root, something (sorry I dont remember if it was during root, or after) asked me if I wanted to disable Knox. I said yes, and smooth sailing ever since. I think it might have been the super user app itself that disabled it for me.

slickdealers · Apr 7, 2014

colt223 said:
I am honestly not sure about going back, but I have had no problems. In fact, when I booted after root, something (sorry I dont remember if it was during root, or after) asked me if I wanted to disable Knox. I said yes, and smooth sailing ever since. I think it might have been the super user app itself that disabled it for me.

Just tried it and successfully rooted! I got the same message that you described about Knox. It appears when you go to update SuperSu. Thank you for the help!

For anyone else wondering about going back to stock, I found a thread to the stock firmware.
http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2512172

Chinaberry · Apr 9, 2014

I found the answer in another thread. Flashing TWRP will trip Knox.

Mr_Ada · Apr 17, 2014

Didn't work for me

I did the TWRP stuff and all it did was trigger that warranty bit. Still no root.

slimbrady · Apr 25, 2014

colt223 said:
I am honestly not sure about going back, but I have had no problems. In fact, when I booted after root, something (sorry I dont remember if it was during root, or after) asked me if I wanted to disable Knox. I said yes, and smooth sailing ever since. I think it might have been the super user app itself that disabled it for me.

Yeah, same story here. After flashing TWRP then installing SuperSU first via the TWRP option by booting directly to recovery before OS after flashing TWRP through odin.....then once I clicked the SuperSU app after the OS loaded I chose first the "play" option to update SuperSU then the TWRP option to install the binary update. When it next booted it informed me that Knox was installed and asked whether to disable or not..I said yes and haven't had any problems at all...just trying to find a good ROM now^^

Robisgnarly · May 3, 2014

awesome thanxs for the info..... now if we could only get cm11 on this puppy

pedro.voteford · Jun 1, 2014

Root Failure, odd case

I have twins - they are both, identically:

Software Version: T217VPUAMH9
Hardware Version: T217S.04
Model Number: SM-T217S
Android Version: 4.2.2
Baseband Version: T217SVPUAMH9
Kernel Version: 3.4.0-1458241
Build Number: JDQ39.T217SVPUAMH9

Jim Trotter III-style, I-DENTICAL!

I successfully rooted one with:

1: Enable debugging
2: Boot into Download Mode (from poweroff, hold Vol Down+Power)
3: terminal: sudo heimdall flash --RECOVERY ./T217S.TWRP2.7.0.0.flashable/recovery.img
4: poweroff ; boot to TWRP. From TWRP, wipe [factory reset], then install: ./root/SuperSU-v1.93.zip

With the second (apparently evil) twin, at the heimdall command, I get:

...
Session begun.

Downloading device's PIT file...
PIT file download successful.

Uploading RECOVERY
0%
ERROR: Failed to send file part packet!
ERROR: RECOVERY upload failed!

Ending session...
ERROR: Failed to receive session end confirmation!
Releasing device interface...
Re-attaching kernel driver...

On the device, the blue progress bar grows to about 2% and stops.

I even tried using a different cable in case one had gone wonky, to no avail.

I am at a total loss here.

pedro.voteford · Jun 1, 2014

... and SUCCEED, but via strangeways

...

So, mounting frustration.

I tried instead a slightly different version of TWRP:

$ sudo heimdall flash --RECOVERY recovery/T217S.TWRP.2.7.0.0.recovery/recovery.tar.md5

This time the result is different, but still no success:

Initialising connection...
Detecting device...
Claiming interface...
Attempt failed. Detaching driver...
Claiming interface again...
Setting up interface...

Initialising protocol...
Protocol initialisation successful.

Beginning session...

Some devices may take up to 2 minutes to respond.
Please be patient!

Session begun.

Downloading device's PIT file...
PIT file download successful.

Uploading RECOVERY
100%

... but it stuck at 100% and did not continue. Device also stuck.
^C, hard reboot of device.

Tried again to double check, same result - sticks at 100%, progress bar on device sticks at somewhere around 5%.

Aware of the possible futility, but bored, I tried first one again:

$ sudo heimdall flash --RECOVERY ./T217S.TWRP2.7.0.0.flashable/recovery.img

SUCCEED.

So, apparently it has to be "knocked loose"?

Dunno. I'm in. Hope this helps someone else.

twynn · Jun 3, 2014

Root NB8

This won't work with NB8 EDIT: I was wrong this does work on NB8

keithabrown · Jun 11, 2014

Apparently had to reinstall the drivers a few times to get it to take on Windows. Still no clue what the issue was with Heimdall.

[GUIDE] How to root a Sprint Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 7" (SM-T217S)

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