SM-X200 (Galaxy Tab A8) Root Guide

[siewerche]

Yes, it is now rooted with Android 13. Runs very well so far.
I only changed the boot file on Android 13 and it worked. is described in detail here in the forum because of Android 13 and the boot file

 

[DonLuigi72]

Yes, it is now rooted with Android 13. Runs very well so far.
I only changed the boot file on Android 13 and it worked. is described in detail here in the forum because of Android 13 and the boot file

Can you please explain, how did you root Android 13 on this tab? Are there any additional / different steps, compared to this guide?
I have EUX CSC and tried every possible guide on the internet, only to end up in a boot loop.
I tried patching complete AP or just boot loader with magisk. After Odin, I end up in a boot loop. Cant even boot it into recovery. I do have boot loader unlocked via developer options and in download mode.
After I flash AP and the rest from stock FW, tablet boots up.

 

[siewerche]

Can you please explain, how did you root Android 13 on this tab? Are there any additional / different steps, compared to this guide?
I have EUX CSC and tried every possible guide on the internet, only to end up in a boot loop.
I tried patching complete AP or just boot loader with magisk. After Odin, I end up in a boot loop. Cant even boot it into recovery. I do have boot loader unlocked via developer options and in download mode.
After I flash AP and the rest from stock FW, tablet boots up.

Samsung Galaxy Tab A8 2021 (SM-X200) Android 12 / Android 13 Treble flash Guide

Your warranty will be void after any of these procedures. * I am not responsible for the outcome for using any of this information, e.g. bricked devices, dead devices, boot loops * do some research regarding flashing, custom ROM and unlocking...

forum.xda-developers.com

 

[phyberlamer]

thanks

 

[DonLuigi72]

Samsung Galaxy Tab A8 2021 (SM-X200) Android 12 / Android 13 Treble flash Guide

Your warranty will be void after any of these procedures. * I am not responsible for the outcome for using any of this information, e.g. bricked devices, dead devices, boot loops * do some research regarding flashing, custom ROM and unlocking...

forum.xda-developers.com

So i flashed TWRP. Now when tablets boots, it always boots into TWRP recovery. I cant boot into Android anymore.

So I followed next steps and booted into fastboot, enabled ADB, and now I am here:

• ...
• Download a GSI image, including LineageOS, Google Android, AOSP, or any other custom GSI Treble compatible ROM for AB partition scheme.
• fastboot flash system system.img
• ...

Where did you download GSI image of Samsung Android 13 for this tablet? Or did you install something else, like LineageOS?

 

[phyberlamer]

So i flashed TWRP. Now when tablets boots, it always boots into TWRP recovery. I cant boot into Android anymore.

So I followed next steps and booted into fastboot, enabled ADB, and now I am here:


Where did you download GSI image of Samsung Android 13 for this tablet? Or did you install something else, like LineageOS?

Generic System Image (GSI) list

Notes about tinkering with Android Project Treble. Contribute to phhusson/treble_experimentations development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

try lookin there iv not been to it yet or

How to install gsi in TAB A8 2021 SM-X200

Working GSI TAB A8 SM-X200 BUGS: i don't know you tell me? Instructions: From OEM stock firmware with root installed Download the DSU Loader by VegaBobo make sure to download release.apk. once installed open the app click Select a GSI File to...

forum.xda-developers.com

 

[Elementtair]

The guide work very well for Android 13 latest release. Thanks.

Be careful to only extract and patch the boot.img file (and not the whole tar),
then turn it in a tar achive and flash it for AP in Odin as described.

(tried to patch the whole AP original file first with Magisk ... ended in a bootloop)

 

[vad12]

Thank you Sync999 on the guide. It has definitely been a few years since I rooted an Android, so this helped refresh my memory on this whole process with Samsungs.

I did not use Odin though, I used Heimdall 2.0.1 on Gentoo Linux. I leave my steps here since there hasn't been anything recent on XDA about using Heimdall, and I understand the reason why now, after doing this. I'd imagine these steps should also work on Ubuntu, ArchLinux, etc. Also, keep in mind that I rooted a fresh tablet I bought only 2 days prior, so nothing was ever done on it.

Some steps have a (*) with a footnote toward the bottom.

• Do the OP's steps 1 through 7 (*). I suggest downloading all the firmware zip files to their own folder before running the next commands. Leave boot.tar out of this folder for now.

• cd /path/to/the/zip/files/you/downloaded/
  unzip *.zip #This will give you .tar files
  for i in *.tar.md5; do mv "$i" "${i%%.md5}"; done; unset i #Remove the .md5 extensions
  mkdir tmp && cd tmp #temporary folder to get "messy" in
  tar -xvf ../BL_*.tar
  tar -xvf ../AP_*.tar
  tar -xvf ../CSC_*.tar #HOME_*.tar omitted as suggested by OP

• heimdall flash --verbose --boot boot.img --cache cache.img --dtbo dtbo.img --grd_fw grd_fw.img --omr omr.img --optics optics.img --prism prism.img --recovery recovery.img --socko socko.img --super super.img --userdata userdata.img --vbmeta vbmeta.img --vbmeta_system vbmeta_system.img --l_agdsp AGCP_DSP.bin --wcnmodem EXEC_KERNEL_IMAGE.bin  --gnssmodem gnssmodem.bin --uboot lk-sign.bin --pm_sys sharkl5pro_cm4.bin --sml sml-sign.bin --teecfg teecfg-sign.bin --trustos tos-sign.bin --splloader u-boot-spl-16k-sign.bin --pit GTA8WIFI_EUR_OPEN.pit #(**)

• The tablet should have rebooted by itself. Do OP's steps 11 through 22, now. (***)

• tar -xvf /path/to/boot.tar #You should still be inside the tmp folder you made. The stock bootloader image is replaced.

• heimdall flash --verbose --boot boot.img --cache cache.img --grd_fw grd_fw.img --omr omr.img --optics optics.img --prism prism.img --uboot lk-sign.bin --pm_sys sharkl5pro_cm4.bin --sml sml-sign.bin --teecfg teecfg-sign.bin --trustos tos-sign.bin --splloader u-boot-spl-16k-sign.bin --pit GTA8WIFI_EUR_OPEN.pit --no-reboot #(****) (*****)

• Do steps 28 and 29.
• Done.

(*)One thing I did stumble on at first was the OEM unlock step. Your tablet needs to be connected to the internet no matter what, for the option to show. Skipping everything else in the Getting Started setup helps speed things up.

(**)As I mentioned, I just bought the tablet. I verified that the .pit file here is the exact same as the one i grabbed from the tablet with heimdall. If you have made changes to your tablet's partitions, then you might need to create your own pit file with heimdall and use that when flashing.

(***) I used the OP's boot.tar. The Magisk method to make your own is pretty straightforward, too.

(****) I decided to do the BL_ and CSC_ files together with boot.img here, and I excluded all the AP_ files.

(*****) I originally did this part with only --boot boot.img and none of the other flags. I did not properly read OP's step 28 and found myself in a bootloop. That's when I tried this longer flash command and I followed step 28 properly at the same time. You can try with just --boot boot.img (and do step 28 properly) to see if that works for you.

A couple quirks with heimdall:

I originally tried using heimdall with --no-reboot --resume at the end of each command, and nothing worked, not even saving my own .pit file. I then decided not to use --no-reboot --resume in any of the flashing. It helped speed things up, but I recommend doing --no-reboot (no --resume) for the last flashing step, so you can get ready for pressing those buttons when the tablet reboots.

Some notes about these Android partitions and anyone on XDA looking for recent heimdall use info:

Android partitions have changed alot over the years and have split into many smaller parts. On top of that, each manufacturer has their own partition setup with some unique names. To know all the partitions you want to use and which file to use them with, it is recommended to first run heimdall print-pit, and it will tell you what goes where. Basicly when flashing, you add a -- in front of the partition name, then the filename follows. That's the heimdall syntax and why. I manually constructed each command by looking at the print-pit reading, so the commands above work for this tablet, but probably won't for most other phones or tablets. I think the lookup of partition names can be scripted in Bash to make things more automated with using heimdall, if someone wants to put the time. It also seems helpful to include --pit some-file.pit in your flash commands.

Please do not hesitate to point out any mistakes in my instructions above. I wanted to post this the moment I rooted the tablet, but now it's 3 days later lol. I hope I did not miss out anything.

 

[Joejoe317]

The guide work very well for Android 13 latest release. Thanks.

Be careful to only extract and patch the boot.img file (and not the whole tar),
then turn it in a tar achive and flash it for AP in Odin as described.

(tried to patch the whole AP original file first with Magisk ... ended in a bootloop)

The op guide, or the recent one listed with twrp?
I have an a8 coming in the mail. I’m not sure the current version of android on it. Which steps did you mod and additional downloads?

 

[Elementtair]

Op one is perfect.
I just did mine at the time, updated first with latest firmware, and exactly follow op procedure.
Only change was to take boot.img from the same latest firmware, downloaded from samfw.com, and patch it with magisk.
(version was X200XXU1CVL5 , europe build for me, seems there's a new release)

 

[Joejoe317]

Op one is perfect.
I just did mine at the time, updated first with latest firmware, and exactly follow op procedure.
Only change was to take boot.img from the same latest firmware, downloaded from samfw.com, and patch it with magisk.
(version was X200XXU1CVL5 , europe build for me, seems there's a new release)

Thanks! So the current updated os version should also be the version from samfw.com and that seems to be the only difference (and to take the boot.img to build your own from this)?

 

[Elementtair]

Yep.
They seem to have all versions on samfw, you'll find the matching one there.

 

[Joejoe317]

Yep.
They seem to have all versions on samfw, you'll find the matching one there.

I just got the tablet in. Currently it’s on android 12. So not sure if this is because I need to update or something,
But on step 9 where I downloaded the 13 version and run Odin, it keeps failing. Do I have to update to 13 first or does it matter?

Edit: never mind, he didn’t say you had to be in download mode with the tablet. I’m new to this so I’m taking his steps quite literally.

When I read ahead it said you have to go through setup again, and the only point I had to do that was when I was in the recovery download mode.

 

[kevinco1]

I only want to change the ''tap'' sounds when the display is touched. Do I really need to do all of this (root access) or is there an easier way to do that? This seems like a lot of work and I use this tablet regularly.

Not at all, just go into "Sound and vibration" in the settings and turn the tap off there

 

[dimpie]

Help please, still after more then 5 times trying . Still after wipe and factory the tablet is in to boot loop ??
I use EUX SM-X200 from the samfw.com ( I also not find the boot.img file into the extracted folder ? ) what doing wrong ?

 

[dimpie]

I try it for the last time with the whole patch magisk file and now the tab won't start anymore. still black screen ??? is this broken ?

 

[Elementtair]

If you don't patch only the boot.img file, it's a guaranted bootloop.

 

[Boglavar]

Thanks for some pretty darn good instructions. I now have a rooted sm-x200. I'm having a hell of a time getting busybox on there though. Has anyone else had issues with this and found a solution?

 

[kevinco1]

This thread was posted in the General section for whatever reason.

If you have a SM-X200, I'd invite you to come to the official section on XDA for this device to discuss further. We need more interest to hopefully spur development! Thanks in advance

Samsung Galaxy Tab A8 (2021)

The Samsung Galaxy Tab A8 is a 10.5" phone with a 1200x1920 resolution display. The Unisoc Tiger T618 chipset is paired with 3/4GB of RAM and 23/64/128GB of storage. The main camera is 8MP and the selfie camera is 5MP. The battery has a 7040mAh capacity.

forum.xda-developers.com

 

[Boglavar]

This thread was posted in the General section for whatever reason.

If you have a SM-X200, I'd invite you to come to the official section on XDA for this device to discuss further. We need more interest to hopefully spur development! Thanks in advance

Samsung Galaxy Tab A8 (2021)

The Samsung Galaxy Tab A8 is a 10.5" phone with a 1200x1920 resolution display. The Unisoc Tiger T618 chipset is paired with 3/4GB of RAM and 23/64/128GB of storage. The main camera is 8MP and the selfie camera is 5MP. The battery has a 7040mAh capacity.

forum.xda-developers.com

OK, I'll head over there. Thanks! Also, I finally found the busybox I'm familiar with, by Stephen Erickson. Once I got that I installed with default settings (/system/xbin) and it failed. Changed install dir to /system/bin and success!