This is how I installed unofficial /e/OS and official LineageOS on my Samsung A5 (2016). Couldn’t get it to work with heimdall on Linux, contrary to instructions on both Lineage and eelo websites.
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The following instructions are for Windows only. Please don’t use a virtual machine as these can cause problems communicating with the device. Download Odin:
https://build.nethunter.com/samsung-tools/Odin_3.12.3.zip -
Extract the “Odin_3.12.3.zip” file. You should now have a folder called “Odin_3.12.3”. Treat this as your working directory and download all other files to this folder. Download Team Win Recovery Project (TWRP):
https://dl.twrp.me/herolte/twrp-3.2.1-1-herolte.img.tar.html -
Make sure to click “Download twrp-3.2.1-1-herolte.img.tar” to download the actual file. They also offer an md5 checksum, which you can use to check if the TWRP file is corrupt or not, but this isn’t needed. Download the Android platform tools:
https://dl.google.com/android/repository/platform-tools-latest-windows.zip -
Extract the “platform-tools-latest-windows.zip” file and there should be a “platform-tools” folder. Open this folder and move its contents into the “Odin_3.12.3” folder from before. Now to download OS itself:
https://androidfilehost.com/?fid=1899786940962606687 -
If you would like to have root access you will need to download the optional root add-on:
https://mirrorbits.lineageos.org/su/20190304/addonsu-16.0-arm-signed.zip -
Now to prepare the device to be flashed with TWRP. Go into settings and look for “Developer Options” or something along those lines. If it isn’t there, go into “About phone” and tap “Build number” 7 times. Then go back up into settings. They should be there now. Enable “Developer Options” (if it has a toggle) then enable “USB Debugging”. Also enable “OEM Unlock” if it’s there, this would allow us to flash unsigned images to the device however not all builds have this setting so you may not need to enable it. Also go back into security settings and disable reactivation lock if you can. Because sometimes it can cause issues. Shutdown your device.
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Then hold the Volume Down, Home, and Power keys. This should put the device into download mode. Accept any warnings by pressing Volume Up, then plug the device in. Open “Odin.exe” from the " Odin_3.12.3" folder. In the log, it should say Added!, meaning it detected your device. If it didn’t detect it, then you probably have a driver issue. Click the “Option” tab and make sure “F. Reset Time” is enabled. Disable “Auto Reboot”. Also check the checkbox next to the “AP” button and then click the button. Select the “twrp-3.2.1-1-herolte.img.tar” file. Click “Start” in Odin. Once Odin says “RESET” or “PASS” near the top and says it successfully flashed in the log, turn of the device by pressing Volume Down and Power. You can then just hold the Volume Up and Power keys to boot into recovery mode. You will see the Team Win Recovery Project (TWRP) splash screen.
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It’s going to ask you if you want to modify the system, you can just allow it to do this by swiping the slider. It may also ask you anytime during the process if you want to root or install its app, don’t let it do this. Now click “Wipe” and swipe the slider to factory reset. This won’t actually factory reset your device but it just clears the partition that user data is stored in, along with the caches. Once that finishes you can click the home button. Now click “Advanced” and click “ADB Sideload”. Swipe the slider, you don’t need to wait for it to start as it will start once it gets the command from your computer. Open a command prompt window in to the " Odin_3.12.3" folder (in Windows 7, by typing CMD in folder’s adress bar and pressing enter) and run adb devices. After the message about starting the daemon you should see something like SERIAL NUMBER sideload. If you don’t, then there is probably a driver issue. Now just run adb sideload e-0.7-p-20191012-UNOFFICIAL-a5xelte.zip to flash it. The percentage is inaccurate so don’t worry if it goes over 100%. TWRP will say once it finishes. Don’t reboot yet though, if you want root. Click the home button and go back to the ADB Sideload menu. Swipe the slider and this time run the same command but for the root add-on, adb sideload addonsu-16.0-arm-signed.zip
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Now you can “Reboot System” to reboot into /e/OS. You should now see the /e/OS boot animation. The first boot may take up to 15 minutes. but you should soon be seeing the setup wizard where you can continue like you normally would. If you flashed the root add-on don’t forget to enable it in developer settings.