That’s my personal assessment, after getting to know the /e/cosystem better.
By the way: My nickname SuzieQ is taken from the song of the same name by Creedence Clearwater Revival (abbreviated as CCR), a US rock band from Berkeley, California.
Hi @luka there are two types of phones that eShop sells …New and Refurbished …The ‘New’ here would refer to the Fairphone and Gigaset phones and the refurbished phones make up the rest. The Refurbished phones are A quality phones we source from our vendors. The quantity depends on the availability of a particular model in large numbers. Support will be available as long as the /e/ builds on a particular device are stable and the device is able to get some level of vendor and hardware support. You can write to support@e.email for more information on this.
Thank very much Manoj! I want to help people here in the US while I am here, which suffer from such privacy issues. S9 are affordable for most, it is the poor who have little money and little knowledge of such thing whom I also wish to help. I will keep watch.
Please don’t forget Viva india !
where live a large part of the /e/foundation employees …
Ahh, I did not know YES!
Viva India!! and all your hard work!!
Thank you all my friends!
I am having this same issue on an S9+. I can’t get TWRP to flash because I am getting the same error (both via easy installer and via USB cable). Debugging is allowed and OEM unlock is enabled. I am at a loss.
I’m sorry I am not quite clear where you are stuck! 
Is Prenormal KG/RMM State your issue?
What did you make of the solution offered, in an “edit” by the original poster in post #1?
Thanks aibd. When in boot mode the KG says “Checking” and the RMM is “Prenormal” (so yes I think this is the problem). I keep getting “only official released binaries are allowed to be flashed(RECOVERY)” when trying to flash TWRP via ODIN, by command prompt and Easy Installer. I have tried all 3. I have tried via Windows, MacOS and Linux… I am stuck.
And to the edit in post 1, the phone is connected to the internet. I can’t figure it out. Everything shows the bootloader is unlocked but I can’t get into it. The phone is a SM-G965F/DS so the bootloader should be able to be unlocked.
It is another, further, level of Samsung’s “security”. The article offers different solutions and might need reading more than once. 
And here’s another angle: https://www.samsung.com/au/support/mobile-devices/what-is-factory-reset-protection-frp/
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Here is the exact issue I am having. I can’t event get TWRP on the phone. If you read the comments at the end of the article this is the exact issue I am having. Does anyone know of a fix? It seems that Samsung, Google, or Knox have released an update or patch that causes this and it won’t allow me access to the bootloader on this S9+ SM-G965F/DS.
Is there any possibility you still have any sort of lock, (even screen lock or PIN) or account, especially Google account, still exists within the phone?
In general you must remove all traces of ownership, especially by a third (or fourth) party before you Factory Reset.
Can you be sure you are doing exactly as required for “a Samsung first boot into TWRP”
A. Is there any possibility you still have any sort of lock, (even screen lock or PIN) or account, especially Google account, still exists within the phone?
A. I don’t believe this is possible. The phone was in a brand new sealed box when I received it. Before I opened the box I had the IMEI checked and it came back clean, the phone was a genuine new phone. When I first turned it on I did not create any PINs and I opted to NOT login to a Google account or Samsung account. So I am unsure what would be tripping KNOX to flag the RMM as “Prenormal”.
B. In general you must remove all traces of ownership, especially by a third (or fourth) party before you Factory Reset.
B. See answer in " 1." above. I never set up any PINs or passwords on this new phone (maybe this tripped Knox by not doing so?)
C. Can you be sure you are doing exactly as required for “a Samsung first boot into TWRP”
C. I can’t get this far along in the process because KNOX (RMM set to “Prenormal”) blocks TWRP from being flashed to the bootloader. The process begins (via ODIN, Command Prompt, and Easy Installer) but then fails at the very end. Because of this it is impossible for me to get to the Boot Recovery step.
Here is what It does when installing by Terminal (Linux)
. I will post the line code from Odin and Easy Installer later.
Initialising connection…
Detecting device…
Claiming interface…
Setting up interface…
Initialising protocol…
Protocol initialisation successful.
Beginning session…
Some devices may take up to 2 minutes to respond.
Please be patient!
Session begun.
Downloading device’s PIT file…
PIT file download successful.
Uploading RECOVERY
100%
RECOVERY upload successful
Ending session…
ERROR: Failed to receive session end confirmation!
Releasing device interface…
*
The phone does NOT shut down between " RECOVERY upload successful" > “Ending session…” It just stays in download mode.
So that is the error!
Well documented, thank you 
but
Uploading RECOVERY
100%
RECOVERY upload successful
Please could you post an image of Download mode screen at this time?
It could still point to “timing” of the response to “TWRP installed” and boot into TWRP and not letting Samsung overwrite your new TWRP with the Samsung Recovery. Compare with "First TWRP link above. 
but
It just stays in download mode
How? Surely the [Vol - + Home + Power] eventually (12 seconds) stops Download mode to a black screen?
@egx470,
please don’t get me wrong, but from a distance, what I’m describing sounds a bit mysterious.
How many days and hours has the S9+ been blocked?
Normally, the blocked RMM status returns to normal within a certain time, e.g. within seven days (168 hours). After seven days (24 hours each) at the latest, the OEM unblocking option should be displayed again and the RMM status should be normal. So much for the theory. There are tricks to bypass this 7-day lock, but I recommend you wait and see first.
[???] Was your very first attempt to flash /e/OS with the /e/asy installer tool?
In any case, I would already try to flash the current stock Android 10 with security patch level 2021-03-01 with Odin v3.14.4. This will restore the device to its current factory state and fix any bugs. You should, of course, choose the right build for your region.
Thanks @SuzieQ.
1.I received the new phone on Wednesday March 24, 2021.
2.I am unsure how long the “RMM STATE : Prenormal” has been showing. I only began trying to figure out the problem after I couldn’t get TWRP to flash.
2a. Is “RMM STATE : Prenormal” the reason why "Only official released binaries are allowed to be flashed (recovery)” is showing on the phone after flashing via Heimdall?
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I can access the OEM Unlocking option in developer options and it is on when I flash with Heimdall. From what I can tell the bootloader is unlocked but Knox is blocking the flash.
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My first attempt to flash this S9+ was via Odin 14.4. Here is what it does👇
- My 3rd attempt was the Easy Installer.
Thanks for documenting well.
I must just persue this. Going into Download mode from Download mode makes no sense! 
You’ve done the heimdall flash, got upload success, then end of session fail and red error message.
If you disregard the error message, disconnect USB, press [Vol- +Home +Power] for 12 seconds. Now attend to timing, the very instant the screen begins to go black, move your finger on the Volume button from [-] to [+], hold for another 12 seconds, what happens?
Another angle:
To see the FRP, what is the output of
adb shell getprop ro.frp.pst
@aibd “You’ve done the heimdall flash, got upload success, then end of session fail and red error message.
If you disregard the error message, disconnect USB, press [Vol- +Home +Power] for 12 seconds. Now attend to timing, the very instant the screen begins to go black, move your finger on the Volume button from [-] to [+], hold for another 12 seconds, what happens?”
-It boots to recovery.
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Thanks for making that clear.
Here are my results from
adb shell getprop ro.frp.pst
Q: /dev/block/platform/13540000.dwmmc0/by-name/PERSISTENT
pie: /dev/block/platform/13540000.dwmmc0/by-name/PERSISTENT
oreo: /dev/block/persistent
The first two are from a Samsung running /e/ nicely including easy flash from pie to Q yesterday.
The oreo result is from a google-in-place virgin Samsung.
Edit
This Samsung UK page makes me think that your phone may have shipped with a “Regional Lock”.
And from an eu reseller:
For correct operation, at the very first use, this handset should be activated with a network sim card issued from one of these countries. Activation requires turning the device on for the first time and completing set-up with the simcard installed, then completing at least 5 minutes of voice call(s) with that sim. This process will automatically remove the EU Regional Lock from the device and user is then able to use the device with any region compatible network simcard/s.
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Which Stock Android version did you get the S9+ with?
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Have you tried a stock Android downgrade?
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In the meantime, have you tried to flash the current stock Android 10 with security patch level 2021-03-01 with Odin v3.14.4?
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Try a lower version of TWRP 3.5.1_9-0, e.g. twrp-3.3.1-1-star2lte
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The phone came with Android 8 (Oreo) I believe. I allowed it to update OTA to 10 (Q) because I just successfully flashed a non-plus S9 with /e/ based on Android 10 with no issues (via ODIN). This regular S9 running /e/ (Q, Android 10) is my current cellular phone I use daily and it is great overall.
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Something is blocking my ability to flash back to Android 8 or 9 (I believe the RMM:Prenormal). Both fail and are blocked.
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Yes, flashing to the latest version of Android 10 with patch March 1 2021 works but… RMM is still Prenormal.
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I have tried the 4 previous versions (from current) of TWRP, all fail.
I now am almost certain the problem is Knox. I am at a loss.