The reason for the factory reset when first installing TWRP is that it can't read the encrypted data partition so you need to format, not wipe, but format it. That is MORE than just factory resetting in that in erases everything from the partition. But once TWRP is installed, you can upgrade it by flashing the img file using the installed TWRP. That doesn't effect anything but the recovery partition itself.It seems I'm late to the game again, just saw this thread -
How to install TWRP without losing your data
Twrp install without losing data Whats Not working: Support for metadata encryption (which causes mounting errors in log) MTP sometimes doesn't start until you disable and reenable in the Mount panel Instructions: From OEM stock firmware with...forum.xda-developers.com
This would be the same situation with X200XXU1BVI6? Just flash your new image through the TWRP app itself and I won't have to factory reset?
Development [RECOVERY][UNOFFICIAL] TWRP 3.7.0 for 2021 Galaxy Tab A8 10.5 [SM-X200]
- Thread starter Magendanz
- Start date
TWRP can't mount the data partition, so it can't back it up. Can I use adb to pull data to back it up to my PC?
Edit: I went ahead and tried this, but for some unknown reason, Fastboot sees the device but ADB doesn't. Can't use Fastboot because data isn't mounted.
Edit: I went ahead and tried this, but for some unknown reason, Fastboot sees the device but ADB doesn't. Can't use Fastboot because data isn't mounted.
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This description makes more sense, thanks - so I guess I'll have to start all over again if I want to install TWRP.
But still confused on that how to guide...you were able to install without factory reset on X200XXU1AVG1 but not now on X200XXU1BVI6?
Formatting the data partition has been required for TWRP ever since Samsung started encrypting it. Way before AVG1.
Samsung Odin - Official Odin Download links
Samsung Odin, Official Odin Download links and flashing guides
samsungodin.com
Look no further here on XDA - https://www.xda-developers.com/how-to-update-samsung-galaxy-smartphone/
Thank you for the workaround. I also got similar touch issue and I had flashed TWRP as mentioned in original post (via ODIN).
Besides touch not working in TWRP for me, everything works good. Thanks!
BTW some other things which I encountered
1. You have to format data (from TWRP) after twrp install, otherwise bootloop happens
2. You need to flash magisk patched boot.img otherwise TWRP doesn't stick, it goes away after next reboot.
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As indicated, I am a long term, but relatively inexperienced member. While my experience here comes about as a result of several brickings, 8 reformats, and reading at least 200 pages of well-intentioned material from which I had to draw conclusions (a lot dead ends, reformats and bricks!), and against senior member Afaneh92's stern warning, I decided to proceed. God help me, but he did mention something about "encryption"! Lest I be accused of being "off-topic" or something equally bad, I am going to leave out the processes and events of the past 3 weeks, and state my results. I am an attorney and suffice it to say that a rooted android phone is best way to interact with systems used in this profession to avoid embarrassment or worse. I am on 13,and used the latest version of twrp. Aside from root, use the stock ROM.
First, I learned that the encryption problem is a possible show stopper. You guys can overcome it but each generation of devices seems to be increasingly difficult. The password - encryption thing was a rude awakening. Using every technique advised, I am not sure I succeeded even though I was finally able to move through the flashing and subsequent processes without seeing warnings or being stopped by encryption. This process, more than anything else, caused more brickings, looping and repeated collapsing of the device.
I still think there are encryption issues. When I finally got the tab stabilized and was able to interact with it, I again flashed the tar. I put Odin in a manual kind of way where it would not automatically reboot. The pressing button timing thing on the "rebound" is tricky.. at least, to me. Since the combination of of buttons was also inconsistent in the blogs, I had no way of really knowing whether the failure to flash was my clumsiness, the wrong buttons or the wrong tar. Putting Odin on manual, made it breeze.
Having believed that the recovery was now flashed and safe, I then loaded Magisks as Afaneh and the blogs suggested. While not apparent at first, neither root nor the recovery were stable. When I finally looked at what the recovery was reporting to me, that there was no data, no space for data, etc, yet the phone was clearly functional to a degree, I went back to the blogs.
The process of trying to identify and fix that, resulted in the total collapse of the device again.
After a few days, I decided to take a reverse approach. I learned how to patch the boot file from the stock ROM with Magisks. I also incorporated the patched img into the tar of the stock ROM itself, just in case. However, when I used the patched img, etc, Magisks flashed and worked like I am used to! I then flashed the twrp again. However, I had forgotten to format partitions and the tab did not have enough space to restore my backups. I wiped and reformatted twice. I flashed twrp effortlessly and the tab functioned and continues to function, in root reliably.
All my utilities for diagnosing issues are showing nothing out of place, except for root. Still, twrp cannot "see" the partitions or what is in them. It cannot mount what it does not recognize and, from experience, the process of trying to get it to see the partitions, etc, so that it can mount them, will lead (me) to another round angst.
To date, I have seen people of all levels ask questions (often, as I now know the response to which won't lead to the problem) or, the more senior members talk aound the problem. I have not seen it reified in a concrete way. I am following this thread religiously because I imagine any breakthroughs will be reported here.
For my purposes, to the extent it works, the recovery is OK. Again, root is working perfectly. One aspect of the recovery I really miss is the inability to back up. Over the years, I have come to rely on that. For those of us who don't have time reconstruct a device every time something happens, the twrp image back up has become almost indispensable.
So, the twrp works it just depends on one's needsm
First, I learned that the encryption problem is a possible show stopper. You guys can overcome it but each generation of devices seems to be increasingly difficult. The password - encryption thing was a rude awakening. Using every technique advised, I am not sure I succeeded even though I was finally able to move through the flashing and subsequent processes without seeing warnings or being stopped by encryption. This process, more than anything else, caused more brickings, looping and repeated collapsing of the device.
I still think there are encryption issues. When I finally got the tab stabilized and was able to interact with it, I again flashed the tar. I put Odin in a manual kind of way where it would not automatically reboot. The pressing button timing thing on the "rebound" is tricky.. at least, to me. Since the combination of of buttons was also inconsistent in the blogs, I had no way of really knowing whether the failure to flash was my clumsiness, the wrong buttons or the wrong tar. Putting Odin on manual, made it breeze.
Having believed that the recovery was now flashed and safe, I then loaded Magisks as Afaneh and the blogs suggested. While not apparent at first, neither root nor the recovery were stable. When I finally looked at what the recovery was reporting to me, that there was no data, no space for data, etc, yet the phone was clearly functional to a degree, I went back to the blogs.
The process of trying to identify and fix that, resulted in the total collapse of the device again.
After a few days, I decided to take a reverse approach. I learned how to patch the boot file from the stock ROM with Magisks. I also incorporated the patched img into the tar of the stock ROM itself, just in case. However, when I used the patched img, etc, Magisks flashed and worked like I am used to! I then flashed the twrp again. However, I had forgotten to format partitions and the tab did not have enough space to restore my backups. I wiped and reformatted twice. I flashed twrp effortlessly and the tab functioned and continues to function, in root reliably.
All my utilities for diagnosing issues are showing nothing out of place, except for root. Still, twrp cannot "see" the partitions or what is in them. It cannot mount what it does not recognize and, from experience, the process of trying to get it to see the partitions, etc, so that it can mount them, will lead (me) to another round angst.
To date, I have seen people of all levels ask questions (often, as I now know the response to which won't lead to the problem) or, the more senior members talk aound the problem. I have not seen it reified in a concrete way. I am following this thread religiously because I imagine any breakthroughs will be reported here.
For my purposes, to the extent it works, the recovery is OK. Again, root is working perfectly. One aspect of the recovery I really miss is the inability to back up. Over the years, I have come to rely on that. For those of us who don't have time reconstruct a device every time something happens, the twrp image back up has become almost indispensable.
So, the twrp works it just depends on one's needsm
I successfully installed TWRP (and Magisk, and a phh GSI Lineage) on the A8. Pretty simple if you know the caveats.
Getting rid of the Samsung cruft was like a liberation for the tablet. Thanks for all involved devs!
- Enable developper settings and unlock botloader ("OEM unlock"). For me this option did only appear in the developper settings with a working internet connection (so at least Wifi had to be set up).
- I was not able to install TWRP without a rooted boot.img despite running the most current official firmware. The original recovery seemed to re-appear after a reboot. So first I had to patch boot.img with the Magisk app. Can be done with any device where Magisk is installed, not necessarily the A8. boot.img is hidden somewhere deep inside the nested archive of the official firmware.
- The download mode of the A8 for me had the annoying habit of allowing only exactly one operation, afterwards the tablet had to be rebooted again to download mode in order to be recognized again by the connected computer?!
- For Linux users: You don't need Odin, Heimdall works.
- So: Reboot to download mode (Vol+/-) for the first time, flash the patched boot.img (heimdall flash --boot magisk_patched_file.img --no-reboot; I added --no-reboot, because I wanted to have control over the reboot process and avoid booting to system in between)
- Reboot to download for the second time and flash TWRP (heimdall flash --recovery twrp-name.img --no-reboot)
- ...and then flash the GSI image according to the instructions in this forum. I tried to avoid booting the system whenever possible until the GSI was flashed, but I don't know if this is necessary.
Getting rid of the Samsung cruft was like a liberation for the tablet. Thanks for all involved devs!
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You can backup the super image but not data. I had to format my SD card as ext4 because it is 64gb and TWRP wasn't handling exFat.
So I've already rooted with mag, can I just use the twrp app to flash that file that's available to download? Or do I need to use Odin since it's never been installed? Also if I read it right I'll need to run the twrp file thru mag and then send it in the ap slot of Odin and leave the rest of the slots empty? A little new to rooting coming from ios.
Argh, like a dummy I went through the motions of rooting with Magisk before checking here and hardbricked my device by patching the the entire AP tarball. No response, won't boot to download mode. Any advice?
The issue is that it won't turn on at all and I can't get it into download mode. No response from the device. Maybe letting it discharge would help?
That happened to me when I first starting developing TWRP on this device, and I had to wait a week for the battery to die. After then, just plug it into a USB cable connected to your PC while holding Vol Up & Down to enter Download mode and flash the latest OEM firmware release.
Thanks! Seems like a pretty quick amount of time for the battery to discharge but I'll wait and see.
I can attest to this....the first time I tried to patch img through Magisk the same thing happened. It took a full week for it to drain so you have to be patient.
One other thing to try...is your SIM/SD card tray fully inserted? The screen never turned on for me when it was not in
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2
You might be confusing me with a custom service rep. I build TWRP for my own use and share those builds with the XDA community in the hope that others can benefit and start building their own custom ROMs. After all, my OP starts with a note that says, "This is unofficial and unsupported." As much of a hassle as it was for you to discover that the OEM bootloader isn't compatible with all versions of the kernel, I'm guessing that it's still easier than if you'd started from scratch like I did.
Rather than complain that an unofficial and unsupported build of a custom recovery needs fixes, I suggest you embrace the fact that you're taking some risks by following this path and that some more advanced knowledge of how the boot sequence works may be required. You should also easily be able to enter Download mode and flash the latest OEM firmware without needing a USB adaptor. -
4Updated for the new Android 13 OEM release...
Downloads:
Change Log:
v3.7.0_12-1 (2023-01-22):
- Updated to X200XXU1CVL5 (Android 13) OEM stock kernel (Dec 2022 Update).
2
You might be confusing me with a custom service rep. I build TWRP for my own use and share those builds with the XDA community in the hope that others can benefit and start building their own custom ROMs. After all, my OP starts with a note that says, "This is unofficial and unsupported." As much of a hassle as it was for you to discover that the OEM bootloader isn't compatible with all versions of the kernel, I'm guessing that it's still easier than if you'd started from scratch like I did.
Rather than complain that an unofficial and unsupported build of a custom recovery needs fixes, I suggest you embrace the fact that you're taking some risks by following this path and that some more advanced knowledge of how the boot sequence works may be required. You should also easily be able to enter Download mode and flash the latest OEM firmware without needing a USB adaptor. -
12
Notes:
- What's posted below is a work in progress, but it should suffice to unblock efforts to build custom ROMs for this impressive tablet.
- This is unofficial and unsupported, so the usual caveats apply. Since we don't flash the bootloader, you should be able recover from any problems...but nothing is guaranteed.
Not working:
- Support for metadata encryption (which causes mounting errors in log)
Change Log:
v3.7.0_12-1 (2023-01-22):
- Updated to X200XXU1CVL5 (Android 13) OEM stock kernel (Dec 2022 Update).
- Fixed issue with MTP sometimes not starting until state is toggled in the Mount panel.
- Switched to TWRP 3.7.0 release built from new AOSP-12.1 branch.
- Updated to X200XXS1BVJ1 (Android 12) OEM stock kernel (Oct 2022 Security Update).
- Adjusted dynamic partition size and removed redundant backup image.
- Updated to TWRP 3.7.0 release built from AOSP-11 branch.
- Updated to X200XXU1BVI6 (Android 12) OEM stock kernel.
- Fixed Fastboot Mode (fastbootd) so that dynamic partitions (system, product, vendor) can be managed in TWRP.
- Initial TWRP 3.6.2 release built from AOSP-11 branch.
Instructions:
From OEM stock firmware:
- Unlock bootloader
- Hold Vol Up & Vol Down buttons during restart to enter Download mode
- Install TWRP to AP with Odin
- Hold Power & Vol Up buttons during restart to enter TWRP recovery
- Hold Power & Vol Up during restart to enter TWRP recovery
- Tap Install->Install Image, select your image (.img) file, pick Recovery partition, and then swipe to install
- Reboot to Recovery
What about rooting with Magisk?
These images are not supplied pre-rooted with Magisk, since it's against the terms of use laid out by Magisk's developer, John Wu. To root the TWRP image yourself, simply use Magisk Manager to Select and Patch the boot.img file. More details on this process are available here. Note that you should just patch the boot.img file and not the whole AP tarball, since this device's bootloader doesn't like the empty vbmeta.img that Magisk will provide.
Source:
Donations:
- Your support is always appreciated! Just click here.
4New release for Android 12 is posted. Note that the OEM's stock recovery auto-restoration "feature" has been removed in X200XXU1BVI6, so TWRP installs should survive rebooting to system now.
Downloads:
Change Log:
v3.7.0_11-0 (2022-10-09):
- Updated to TWRP 3.7.0 release built from AOSP-11 branch.
- Updated to X200XXU1BVI6 (Android 12) OEM stock kernel.
4New release is posted...
Downloads:
Change Log:
v3.6.2_11-1 (2022-09-11):
- Fixed Fastboot Mode (fastbootd) so that dynamic partitions (system, product, vendor) can be managed in TWRP.
4Updated for the new Android 13 OEM release...
Downloads:
Change Log:
v3.7.0_12-1 (2023-01-22):
- Updated to X200XXU1CVL5 (Android 13) OEM stock kernel (Dec 2022 Update).
3This build seems to work for backing up my super partition. Please give it a try!
Downloads:
Change Log:
v3.7.0_11-1 (2022-10-24):
- Adjusted dynamic partition size and removed redundant backup image.
