Samsung J5 SM-J530f: do I need to unlock OEM bootloader to boot into TWRP?

[tobiasBora]

TL;DR: Do I need to unlock OEM bootloader to boot into TWRP on the SM-J530f?

A friend of mine own a Samsung J5 (J530F), and she broke her screen (of course, USB debugging is not enabled), and she really would like to recover some files & contacts. I tried to blindly unlock the screen with an OTG keyboard, but for now, I'm not very successful (it's even harder when you never used a phone to blindly unlock it ), so I also tried to flash this TWRP recovery. (my hope is to get access to ADB shell after booting TWRP) Using heimdall, I didn't see error that looks fatal, just a minor (?) error during the session ending:

Uploading RECOVERY
100%
RECOVERY upload successful

Ending session...
ERROR: Failed to receive session end confirmation!
Releasing device interface...

However, after rebooting with Power+Volume up+Home, nothing special happens (at least given that I can't see the broken screen). And "adb shell" can't find the device.

So do you think I just did something wrong, or do I really need to unlock the bootloader to boot TWRP on the SM-J530f? If I do need to unlock the OEM, is there some signed image that could let me boot something with ADB access? If not, any other idea?

Thanks!

 

[rbnyellow]

Odin

Hey !
I don't really understand but I could advise you to use Odin for Samsung instead ADB shell (if you use it, think to uncheck auto reboot). If you don't use it maybe try to install samsung usb drivers.
For the OEM unlock, It depend of your android version. I am not sure but you can unlock it in the dev options in the settings in Android Oreo or Nougat but not in Pie or Ten.
In theory, you can access to the device storage in recovery mode by using a computer.
I think it is all,
Cheers.

 

[tobiasBora]

Thanks for your answer, but unfortunately I can't access the dev settings because the screen is broken. If I could go in dev settings, I'd just enable usb debugging directly.