How to Root Galaxy S10, S10e, S10 Plus, or A50! [Exynos Only]

For those of you who want to root the Samsung Galaxy S10, S10e, S10 Plus, or the A50, here’s a full step-by-step tutorial along with video tutorial so you can root it easily.  Before beginning, this root method only works for Exynos models.

Here are the models supported:

  • Samsung Galaxy S10 SM-G973F, SM-G973N, SM-G973F-DS
  • Samsung Galaxy S10e SM-G970F, SM-G970N, SM-G970F-DS
  • Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus SM-G975F, SM-G975N, SM-G975F-DS

Models NOT SUPPORTED:

  • Samsung Galaxy S10 SM-G973U
  • Samsung Galaxy S10e SM-G970U
  • Samsung Galaxy S10 SM-G975U

Models ending in “U” have Snapdragon CPU instead of Exynos, which means it has locked bootloader since Samsung has locked the bootloader on Snapdragon models.  Unfortunately your best bet is to sell it and grab the international model.  If you have AT&T or T-Mobile, that should be just fine as international models are 100% fully-compatible with any GSM such as AT&T or T-Mobile(yes your 4G LTE will work fine but for T-Mobile, you may miss out of the new 600Mhz bands).  If you have Verizon or Sprint, you are out of luck, try switching carriers.

WARNING: Rooting your device will VOID WARRANTY, RENDER SAMSUNG PAY USELESS FOREVER, and other things might not work such as S-Health(although you can fix it with a patch or custom ROM).  Also we will have to ERASE EVERYTHING on your device. If this is a big issue for you, simply don’t root.

Step 1. Go to Settings->About Phone and check your model number.  Make sure it is one of the supported models.

 

Step 2. Tap on “Software Information” and make sure your “Android version” is 9.  Then tap on “Build number” about 5 times until it says you have enabled developer options/mode.

Step 3. Tap the back button twice and swipe down to the bottom of Settings menu, you should now see a new menu called “Developer Options”, tap on that.

 

Step 4. You should see “OEM Unlocking” option if you’ve had your device for more than 7 days.  If you don’t see it, just come back in 7 days.  Make sure to turn it on.

Step 5. Power off your phone then hold down Volume Down and Bixby buttons together and connect the USB cable from your computer to your phone.

You should be now in “Warning” mode.

Step 6. Hold down the Volume Up key for several seconds until it says “Unlock Bootloader”.  Hit the Volume Up key to unlock the bootloader.  This will ERASE EVERYTHING on your phone.

Your phone should wipe and reboot, you may have to hit the Power button to let it boot.

Step 7. Once booted, sign in and connect to WiFi.

Step 8. Repeat Steps 1 to 3 and check “OEM unlocking” has been greyed out and turned ON.  If you you see this, you can go ahead to the next step.  If not, you may have messed up one of the steps, just start over from Step 1 and carefully follow the tutorial.

Step 9. Download the Canary version of Magisk Manager APK here.

Once downloaded, install the APK file, this will install the Canary version of Magisk Manager app.

Step 10. Go to SamMobile.com/firmwares and download the latest firmware for your model of Galaxy S10, S10e, S10 Plus, or A50.  You can download other country/carrier firmware so long as the model numbers match.  If you have a certain carrier-branded app you absolutely need, then go ahead and download the exact country/carrier firmware.

Unzip/extract the firmware file, you should get a folder with a bunch of files.

Step 11.  Also download ODIN and Samsung USB drivers here.

Unzip the ODIN zip file and you should get a folder with ODIN program and everything you need to flash patched firmware later.

Step 12. Copy the firmware file starting with “AP” under the firmware folder to your phone.

Copy to the Download folder.

Step 13. Open Magisk Manager app and tap on Install.

Tap on install once more.

Tap on “Select and patch a file”, this will patch Magisk root to your firmware so you can flash it with ODIN later.

Choose the firmware file you copied over earlier and Magisk Manager app will patch the firmware, should take about a minute.

 

Step 14. Once done, copy over the new “magisk_patched.tar” file in your Download directory of the phone to your Downloads folder on the computer.

Step 15. Power off your phone and reboot into ODIN warning mode just like you did in Step 5.  Hit the Volume up key to enter the ODIN download mode.

Your phone should look like the photo above.

Step 16. Make sure you see a blue-highlighted box with a random COM number.  If you don’t see this, simply double-click on the Samsung USB drivers file you downloaded and install drivers, this driver works for all Windows versions, I am using Windows 10.

Once you see “PASS”, you are ready to go.  First, you can reset your phone by holding down Volume Down and Power buttons together.

IMPORTANT: As SOON as you see screen go black, hold down Volume Up, Bixby, and Power buttons together to enter stock recovery mode.  If you are not sure about this, watch the video tutorial multiple times.  If you mess up, you will have to re-flash stock firmware then re-follow this tutorial.

Volume Down + Power to reset phone.

Hold down Volume Up + Bixby + Power buttons immediately after screen goes black and hold it down until you enter stock recovery.

Once you see the Android guy, you can let go of all the buttons.

Step 17. Choose “wipe data/factory reset” using the Volume keys and hit the Power key.  Say yes.  This will wipe EVERYTHING on your phone AGAIN.

When done, hit the Power key to reboot.

Step 18. Once rebooted, sign in.

If you don’t see Magisk Manager app, that’s normal so power off.

Step 19. To enable root at boot, you MUST hold down Volume Up, Bixby, and Power buttons together until you see the warning message like above.  From now on, turn on your phone like this to get root.  You phone will still boot if you just use the Power button but you won’t have root.

Once rebooted, you should now see Magisk Manager app.  Congratulations, you have fully rooted your Galaxy S10/S10e/S10 Plus/A50!

 

Verify you have 100% root by installing and running Titanium Backup app, and you should see a Superuser Request window pop up. Congratulations!

Now, Magisk Manager app may ask you to apply more zip file, say yes and let Magisk Manager fully apply the patches.  That’s it!

Have a question?

Please post all your questions at the new Android Rehab Center at HighOnAndroid Forum, thank you for understanding!

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Max Lee

Max Lee is the founder of HighOnAndroid.com. Max makes Android tutorials and review videos for people who want to get high on Android over at his YouTube channel and Korean YouTube channel.