Install TWRP on Samsung Galaxy Tab S5e

Using /e/OS Setup
6

So Bootloader is still locked

According to LOS :

  1. Connect the device to a Wi-Fi network.
  2. Enable Developer Options by pressing the “Build Number” option in the “Settings” app within the “About” menu
  • From within the Developer options menu, enable OEM unlock.
  1. Download this VBMeta image .tar file.
  2. Power off the device, and boot it into download mode:
  • With the device powered off, plug in the device while holding Volume up + Volume Down + Power.
  • Now, click the button that the onscren instructions coorelate to “Continue” and/or “Unlock Bootloader”, and insert the USB cable into the device.
  • Device will restart, repeat steps 1 and 2.
  • Verify that “OEM Unlock” is still enabled and continue to step 5
  1. Download and install the necessary drivers.
  • Download the newest Samsung drivers from here. You will need to create a Samsung account and login to download them.
  • Install SAMSUNG_USB_Driver_for_Mobile_Phones.exe.
  1. Download this version of Odin.
  2. Extract “Odin_3.13.1.zip”.
  3. Run Odin3 v3.13.1 found in the newly extracted “Odin_3.13.1” folder.
  4. Check the box labeled next to the button labeled “AP”, and then click the “AP” button.
  • In the menu that pops up, select the newly downloaded custom VBMeta .tar file.

10.check*

11.TIP:* The filename may very depending on your device, and version of TWRP.

  1. Check in the top left of thne Odin window that you see a valid device, it will show up as something like COM0.

13.check*

14.TIP:* The COM port, or the number succeeding COM, may be any valid number.

  1. A blue transfer bar will appear on the device showing the recovery image being flashed.
  2. Your device will reboot, you may now unplug the USB cable from your device.
  3. The device will demand you format userdata, please follow the onscreen instructions to do so.
  4. Run through Android Setup skipping everything you can, then connect the device to a Wi-Fi network.
  5. Re-enable Development settings by clicking the “Build Number” option 10 times, in the “Settings” app within the “About” menu, and verify that “OEM Unlock” is still enabled in the “Developer options” menu

According to xda :

https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/rom-official-gts4lvwifi-11-lineageos-18-1.4169395/

– bit more friendly stock → lineage instructions –

  1. Unlock the bootloader
  • Connect to WiFi network
  • Enable OEM Unlock in developer options
  • Turn off the tablet
  • Boot to download mode manually by plugging in USB and holding all the buttons for few seconds
  • Follow instructions on the screen
  1. Connect to WiFi network and make sure OEM Unlock in developer options is still checked
  2. Flash custom VBMeta image ( https://dl.twrp.me/gts4lvwifi/vbmeta.tar.html ) in Odin ( use AP slot )
  3. After flashing VBMeta, boot to stock. It’ll likely ask you to wipe data, if so do that
  4. Connect to WiFi network and make sure OEM Unlock in developer options is still checked
  5. Now you can flash TWRP ( https://dl.twrp.me/gts4lvwifi ) in Odin ( use AP slot once again ), for convenience you can hold volume up while flashing it so that you boot to recovery right after it’s flashed
  6. Install Lineage × whatever else you need ( gapps, addon-su, … )
  7. Format data
  8. Reboot ( make sure to not install TWRP app when TWRP asks you to )
7

Is the same
adb reboot download
I hope so because the reboot with holding the keys did not work. Tested it many times.

And I don’t have that here either.

8

Yes adb reboot donwload is the same, coming from system mode or recovery mode,
but outing from download mode and going to recovery mode (to validate the TWRP install),
you will need to use the buttons combination and the good timing

Supported models

  • SM-T720
  • SM-T720N

About the Galaxy s10e :

https://mirrorbits.lineageos.org/recovery/gts4lvwifi/20211025/lineage-18.1-20211025-recovery-gts4lvwifi.img

9

I am finally one step further. The bootloader is unlocked. The key combination was quite different: “Volume UP/Down” and while pressing these buttons plugin the USB cable.

I have an S5e, so normaly TWRP it should work. But if you see my screenshot, it would not. So i loaded with odin only the VBMETA.

IMG_20211026_002514
IMG_20211026_0025141920×2560 556 KB

Maybe the problem is “secure download enable”. I did not find any option for this on the tablet.

2 questions:
Is anything else missing?
Or may I put e/OS without TRWP, probably a bad idea because if something goes wrong I can throw away the tablet?

I found also this information: https://thedroidguy.com/how-to-fix-samsung-galaxy-s8-only-official-released-binaries-are-allowed-to-be-flashed-after-reboot-error-1094725

Is this worth a try?

10

When faced multiple problems,
Flash back to stock firmware and starting from scratch is always a good idea…

11

In your Download mode screen I see
KG status Prenormal.

I think we really need to account for the reason for seeing that.

This can happen when the phone is being used now in a country different from the one it was intended to be used in when Samsung sent it out. Put another way it has been imported in a slightly irregular way.

Could that be the case here? Do you have all the original labels and packaging? Edit, or alternatiely that it has not been used with a local SIM card in the local country for a specified time to “lift” the restriction.

12

I just looked at the original packaging. Apparently, the device was originally intended for France. I am in Austria. The device does not have a SIM card slot. Only MicroSD

This also explains why after I unlocked the bootloader, the language was set to French. But what does the country have to do with the fact that it can’t be flashed? What if I were in France right now? It’s the same planet… :slight_smile:

13

Sure that was just a first guess. Here is a Knox Guard page for the UK.

Sounds quite benign, really. But Knox is a security suite to do all sorts, including what I guessed a Regional lock. (It might well be a different lock!)

Some form of trade restriction? but within EU seems strange.

Step one would be to find what magic would release the Regional lock, edit, unknown.

Did you use it for a while “normally” after you first got it? Any labels to tell you what is required?

14

Not really nice.

And again, I get to learn something.

Yes I used it normally for 2 days, played with it a little. The first time I turned it on it came with the wizard and suggested German language, then I connected it to my wifi here.
Other than that I haven’t noticed anything unusual or important unfortunately.

15

If it was new from a Samsung dealer, this would be for their support staff.

“Prenormal” seems to be used to tell the device that it is not yet open for “normal” business until some event has happened to release it. We have seen a label saying that you must make 5 minutes of calls on phones in EU.

We must be open to it being not a Regional lock.

16

Ok, i created an test google and test samsung account, connect with my WLAN with Country US / Language US because it is easier with tutorials and findout menu positions. So i let the tablet only with GPS and do all nice Updates, after that i will reboot into downloadmode again. Maybe the status will be changed.

17

USA is where this problem really hits! Will UK setting work for you in case geo-location is very important to the release! A Samsung account might be a very good idea,

18

Is this link relevant ?

19

Hi @piero my feeling is that that method stopped working with Android 10. When you read the recent contributions, it has still worked for some, but we do not always see the cause of the “lock” and the Android version.

It is definitely worth reading (and opening and inspecting the patch) to help understand how these locks are triggered and potentially released.

20

After all, it has worked now with the file vbmeta.tar.

Now i see on the screen “Android Recovery”
Can’t load android system your data may be corrupt. If you contiue you get this message, you may need to perform a factory data reset and erase all user data stored on this device.

So, now i should go to
Install /e/ on a Samsung Galaxy Tab S5e (Wi-Fi) - “gts4lvwifi”
and install the custom recovery twrp-x.x.x-x-gts4lvwifi.tar after Factory reset or go directly into downloadmode?

1 Like
21

If you had this message only once, consider, did you remove your Google A/C, locks, passwords and all then factory reset already?

If you are seeing for a second time it is telling you to do all that!

If you did all that it is a red herring and you take your lead from Odin.

22

Only once. After some reboots, Samsung Anroid starts again.

Had a good friend over today who had done this many times before. We were even able to organize a pit file. We worked a lot of hours the whole day, but no success. Sadly.

Conclusion: It does not work. We have tried everything that was known to us and possible. You can not install a customrom. I think I will have to give up a tablet with a heavy heart.

For last chance, test the link from upper post: https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/guide-17-06-2019-rmm-kg-bypass-root-install-twrp-on-exynos-samsung-after-2018.3747535/

1 Like
23

It is known that you must lift the lock “Prenormal” before you can flash the phone. (Official binaries excepted.)

Please read the whole post and updates by @corsicanu. He only tells us it is good for pie! Extract and open the .zip and read all the contents, and check that they will overwrite some lock that you can see is applied, Edit, better idea.

Here are 2 lines from the patch, much of the rest of the patch will try to harmonise /system and /system/vendor following that intrusion.

rm -rf /system/priv-app/Rlc 2>/dev/null
rm -rf /system/priv-app/KnoxGuard 2>/dev/null

I cannot tell you that Warranty void = 0 would survive that!

I say, better to ask Samsung first - they will know - then to look for the lock before such an intervention. At a minimum I would describe your situation and ask on the xda thread.

Please check again, but with Warranty Void = 0 the phone is still potentially returnable!

Later, also before an intervention that is not definitely specified for your device:

adb shell getprop

I suggest you search that command and tell me how far you can get on your own looking for locks.

to give up a tablet with a heavy heart.

If that includes a return you must not change Warranty Void = 0!

Edit - just one more thing is bugging me!

Apparently, the device was originally intended for France.

Please can you tell me how you deduced this? From Samsung’s point of view, in that case, the intended market would surely have been EU? (Xiaomi require their devices on line for periods of 7, 14 days, or more. New generations of Samsung may be moving in that direction.)

24

I’m sorry to say I think you guys are right, it’s not possible or certainly damn difficult to get TWRP onto the Samsung Galaxy Tab S5e SM-T720

Getting /e/ or Lineageos as a further step would be easy but this seems to fail in so many ways just to get TWRP onto it.

I have been trying to do this from Linux terminal with heimdall. First was getting
ERROR: libusb error -7 whilst sending bulk transfer. Retrying...
I managed to cure that with the following unmerged pull request for heimdall :

…but then when I went to flash TWRP to recovery from download mode like this :
sudo ./Heimdall/build/bin/heimdall flash --RECOVERY twrp-3.5.2_9-0-gts4lvwifi.img --no-reboot
…it was complaining about OEM lock.

So I realised I had not unlocked the two things which need unlocking as someone else wrote and followed that initial step.

Then I realised I’d skipped vbmeta.tar so downloaded it, unpacked it and ran :
sudo ./Heimdall/build/bin/heimdall flash --VBMETA vbmeta.img

It wasn’t happy :

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

Uploading VBMETA
100%
ERROR: Failed to confirm end of file transfer sequence!
ERROR: VBMETA upload failed!

Ending session...
Rebooting device...
Releasing device interface...

So I think this thing is in the too hard basket, at least to do from Linux. I don’t really have Windows sitting around except in a Virtualbox and that somehow sounds even less robust. Anyway, will watch this thread and see if anyone works it out and try to put that thing back in the draw and not take it out again, have lost hours…

I read somewhere, someone made a comment to choose brand other than Samsung if you are trying to install ROMs (from Linux). This is the second time I have had misery with Samsung and Linux, but have had other devices where getting to the TWRP stage is so easy…

25

Hi @bear sorry to hear your story! So you have managed to get past the error 7 problem (?).You probably read elsewhere here that error 7 frequently occurs when a change of Android version is attempted in the flash. As a rule of thumb /e/ should be installed only on a Samsung most updated ROM. (Having the factory reset just before one starts work is always a good precaution!)

Please can you tell us the Android versions you are starting with and aiming for?

Did you study the Odin screen for clues? Would you like to share a picture here?