How to Flash Samsung Firmware Using Odin — The Best Guide

Odin is one of the popular and official tools to flash firmware/stock ROMs to Samsung Galaxy devices. This page contains a step by step guide on how to install or flash stock or custom firmware to your Samsung Galaxy device.

If you would like to know how to flash or install Samsung stock firmware on a compatible phone using Odin tool, kindly read on.

Also included is a simple step by step guide on how to install stock firmware on any Samsung Galaxy Watch/Gear device.

How to Flash Samsung Galaxy Firmware/Stock ROM via Odin Flash Tool

Odin Flashtool is a lightweight software/utility developed by Samsung for servicing or flashing stock firmware/ROMs or custom flash files like TWRP recovery to Samsung devices.

Moreover, Odin is very easy to use and less complicated.

Firstly, extract the firmware/stock ROM for your Samsung device and place it on your computer before proceeding.

Time needed: 15 minutes.

Here’s a step by step guide on how to use Odin Flash tool to flash firmware/flash files to a Samsung Galaxy device.

Before you proceed, make sure you enable developer option and OEM unlock on your Samsung Galaxy phone. Unlocking your bootloader might make you lose your data. Make a backup.

1. Install Samsung USB Drivers on your Windows computer
2. To install the latest official Samsung USB drivers for Windows, visit the official page to download the Android USB drivers for your Samsung.
3. Once the Samsung Android USB driver for Windows installation is complete, move to the next step.

1. Download Odin Flash Tool
2. Odin is the official software/tool for flashing firmware to Samsung Galaxy phones. Download the latest version of Odin and extract the file to your PC.
3. After extracting, you should have a folder that looks like this.

1. Launch/open Odin3 as an administrator on your Windows PC
2. To open Odin as an admin, right click on it and select Run as an Administrator. Once it’s open, you should see an image like this.

1. Put your Samsung phone in Download/Odin mode and connect it to the computer.
2. You need to put your Samsung device in Download/Odin mode for Odin to detect it.
3. To put or boot your Samsung device in Download/Odin mode, turn off your phone completely, press an hold the Power, Home, and Volume down buttons ( newer devices, press the Volume Down + Bixby + Power) button together until you see the warning notification on your screen.
4. Secondly, press the Volume up button to fully enter into Download/Odin mode. You can now connect your device to the PC.
5. Once you connect your phone, you will see a green COM port under ID:COM on the Odin flash tool screen. The COM port under ID:COM shows your Samsung device has been successfully connected/detected by Odin.
   
   Odin will also show Added in the logs screen.
6. Select the stock firmware to be flashed.
7. It’s time to flash the firmware. Most Samsung stock ROMs are bundled in a single file while others (4 files/repair firmware) are packed separately as 4 files.Firmware
8. Therefore, you should know your firmware type after extracting the archived firmware file.
9. There are two kinds of Firmware (Stock ROMs) in Samsung mobile phones:
10. Single file
    4 files or Repair Firmware
11. Single file Firmware: This kind of firmware contains the main flashing file (PDA or AP) which relates to your phone device’s system files, and after flashing this file your data won’t be deleted from your phone.
12. 4 files Firmware: This firmware contains:
    1. BL or Boot Loader file. Boot Loader is a code which starts processing before the Operating System (OS), and it loads the first part of the OS into the phone’s memory.
    2. CP or Phone or Modem files relate to the phone device’s connectivity such as 3G/2G/4G/5G/WiFi/Bluetooth/GPS etc.
13. Note: It’s very important to flash CP/Phone/ modem file due to the country/area you are living in it.
14. 3. CSC (Common Short Code): This file has data of countries and areas. Data like languages and region-specific settings or apps.
    4. Main flashing file (PDA or AP): It contains the system files like boot.img, system.img, recovery.img and a few other core files for the Android OS.
15. For single stock ROMs:
    Click on the AP option and locate the .tar.md5 or the compatible flash file.
16. For 4 files/repair firmware:
    After extracting the firmware, you will need to select the flash files one after the other into the BL, AP, CP, and Home_CSC box.
17. This is how to select a 4file/repair firmware for Samsung in Odin.
18. Firstly, click on the ‘ BL’ button, then choose the file that starts with “BL” inside your extracted firmware folder.
19. Secondly, click on the ‘ AP’ button in Odin and choose the AP file inside your extracted firmware folder.
20. Next, click on the ‘ CP’ button, choose the CP file inside your extracted firmware folder.
21. Finally, click on the ‘ CSC’ button, choose the HOME_CSC file inside your extracted firmware folder.
22. Furthermore, this is how to understand those files and their functions.
    BL(Bootloader)
    AP/PDA-Application Processor (Can accept files single files like System, Boot, and recovery )
    CP(Core Processor) or Modem file
    Home_CSC(Consumer Software Customization)
23. Note, when loading an AP file in Odin, it’s normal for Odin to freeze or take time to load large AP files. Don’t try to close it in this loading stage.
24. Also, please check the Samsung Firmware Compatibilty page to know the right Firmware to download.
25. Also note: The pit file tab is for engineer’s only or with 4 Files/Repair firmware. Use with caution!
26. If you load every file, it should look like this.

1. Click on Start to begin flashing the firmware
2. Once all the files are loaded correctly and your device is still detected by Odin, click on the Start button.
3. Flashing will take about 5–10 minutes depending on the size of the flash files. Once it’s successfully completed, you will see a green “Pass” at the top of Odin.
4. Your Samsung device will reboot into the normal mode and then boot into the system after a while.

Please, make sure your device is charged more than 30%. Therefore, there would be no errors or breaks during flashing due to a low battery.

How To Flash Firmware To Samsung Galaxy Watch/Galaxy Gear Devices Using NetOdin Tool

This is a step by step tutorial to help you install firmware via NetOdin to your Samsung Gear Frontier, Galaxy Watch etc.

This process will factory reset your Watch, so make sure you’ve backed up everything you need! Also ensure make sure your Samsung Smartwatch is charged up to 70%!

1. Hold down the Home button for 6–10 seconds until the message “ Rebooting … “

2. Quickly press Home three times until the Reboot Menu appears. (The menu is available for about 10 seconds, after which the clock goes back to “Rebooting …”)

3. The menu selection is made by long holding Home button. To go into Download (wireless mode) press the home button until “Download (Wireless)” is highlighted, then hold down the Home button.

4. Download mode will load in WPS mode. Press Home twice to change the mode to the AP.

5. Connect to the access point that appears (for example, SM-R800-a2a5) (ODIN for some reason does not see the device if several networks are connected.)

6. Run NetOdin3 and then set the firmware files for BL, AP and CSC, then click Start (Copying/flashing of firmware takes about 20 minutes).

7. After the files are downloaded, the Watch will reboot. Again, hold Home and highlight & select Recovery in the Reboot menu.

8. The “Setting Up” screen and “Resetting” screen should appear and after that the Watch will reboot and boot as usual.

It is advisable to check whether you have disabled the function “find my watch” or make sure you remember the password to your Samsung Account.

Here are FAQ’s on Odin and flashing firmware or stock ROM to Samsung Galaxy Android devices.

Is Odin software safe?

What’s Odin flashtool?

How to use Odin flashtool?

What’s Odin mode in Samsung?

If you have any issue following this Odin flashing tool tutorial for Samsung, please, feel free to drop a feedback and I will quickly respond.

And finally, do us a favor by sharing this tutorial. It makes us feel good.

Originally published at https://samsungfirmware.net on June 25, 2019.