Rooting Samsung Galaxy S7 Active (AT&T)

[Gung Pow Chicken]

I've got a Samsung SM-G891A (S7 Active) running Android Nougat 7.0. I've seen a few a few XDA forums on rooting the S7 Active running 6.0, the only issue is I'm running 7.0. I've seen a few firmware packages available for the S7 Active but I'm afraid I'll brick the phone as I've never had good luck downgrading firmware via ODIN.

 

Has anyone on this forum successfully rooted an S7 Active running Nougat? or have you seen a video or a forum page describing how to?

 

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated

Thanks

[Aytex]

Did you post this on XDA as well. I'm sure they have far more users in this certain criteria than here.

[Chillstice]

I would recommend doing some more in-depth research on XDA. I was able to root my Samsung S7 SM-G930v (S7 Verizon) running Nougat 7.0 using the engineering rom, but it's still literally impossible to unlock the bootloader on the US Qualcomm variant. It's basically like a half-root where I can use root applications, but can't load a custom recovery like TWRP or anything because the bootloader is still locked. I'm extremely frustrated because the hardware is excellent, but Samsung struggles with software. The combination of Samsung and Verizon means even though there's a multi-thousand dollar bounty pool for anyone who can unlock the bootloader, it's locked down so well that it hasn't been claimed for years. Something like a Google Pixel or a Huawei flagship is a million times easier to root. It's a real shame.

 

Also regarding downgrading firmware: Newer versions of the firmware are designed so that you can't downgrade. If it detects that you're trying to install an older version of the firmware, it will fail and give an error code.

 

Since the bootloader is literally impossible to unlock, it's actually quite difficult to hard brick the device. You may encounter a soft brick in the form of a boot-loop or something similar. In that case all you have to do is go into the recovery menu and factory reset. 

[Gung Pow Chicken]

On 7/26/2017 at 11:08 AM, Aytex said:

Did you post this on XDA as well. I'm sure they have far more users in this certain criteria than here.

I did, for both phones and I still haven't found a solution.

[FollowMyPosts]

Good choice on not going to the root POST. It bricked my phone.

[FollowMyPosts]

On 7/26/2017 at 1:14 PM, Chiller252 said:

I would recommend doing some more in-depth research on XDA. I was able to root my Samsung S7 SM-G930v (S7 Verizon) running Nougat 7.0 using the engineering rom, but it's still literally impossible to unlock the bootloader on the US Qualcomm variant. It's basically like a half-root where I can use root applications, but can't load a custom recovery like TWRP or anything because the bootloader is still locked. I'm extremely frustrated because the hardware is excellent, but Samsung struggles with software. The combination of Samsung and Verizon means even though there's a multi-thousand dollar bounty pool for anyone who can unlock the bootloader, it's locked down so well that it hasn't been claimed for years. Something like a Google Pixel or a Huawei flagship is a million times easier to root. It's a real shame.

 

Also regarding downgrading firmware: Newer versions of the firmware are designed so that you can't downgrade. If it detects that you're trying to install an older version of the firmware, it will fail and give an error code.

 

Since the bootloader is literally impossible to unlock, it's actually quite difficult to hard brick the device. You may encounter a soft brick in the form of a boot-loop or something similar. In that case all you have to do is go into the recovery menu and factory reset. 

Resetting won't work.

[Chillstice]

5 hours ago, FollowMyPosts said:

Resetting won't work.

What are you on about?

 

Edit: Did you try rooting a galaxy device and got stuck in a boot loop? Are you able to hold "Volume UP + Power + Home" while powered down to enter the recovery menu? Can you then factory reset the os?

[balisongassassin]

On 10/1/2017 at 12:17 AM, Chiller252 said:

What are you on about?

 

Edit: Did you try rooting a galaxy device and got stuck in a boot loop? Are you able to hold "Volume UP + Power + Home" while powered down to enter the recovery menu? Can you then factory reset the os?

I attempted to root my Galaxy S7 active, got stuck in a bootloop, got to the recovery menu, did a factory reset and when i went to reboot the phone it just went into the bootloop again.

 

I believe FollowMyPosts ran into this problem too and that is why they said "resetting wont work".