How To Install Stock Firmware On Samsung Galaxy S6

Samsung Galaxy S6 is set to hit markets all around the world in a few days. As soon as the device comes out, the developers will be getting their hands on and all of a sudden there will be quite a lot to play with this new Samsung beast. If you happen to be an Android power user, chances are, you are going to tweak your device in order get the maximum out of it and there are obvious chances that you will end up soft-bricking your device or messing up the software of your device in particular ways. This can happen if you flash an invalid file on your device or any of your experiment fails. In this case, to recover your device, you are going to need a fresh installation of stock firmware on your device. Or you may only want to have a fresh installation of stock firmware on your device from scratch. To over come this need of users, we have written down this comprehensive guide that will help you to install stock Android firmware on all the variants of your Samsung Galaxy S6.

Before head towards our guide, let’s have a recap on the Galaxy S6. It happens to be the 6th iteration in the Galaxy series. It came out of the curtains on March 1, 2015. Samsung gave the Galaxy S series a whole new look. Its metallic unibody design makes it one of its-own-kind device. We have a 5.1 inch QHD display on the front. A 5 MP shooter is fixed atop of this screen, a 16 MP enhanced shooter is fixed at the back accompanied by a heart rate monitor and flash light. Samsung has used its very own Exynos 7420 Chipset to power up this device. A RAM of 3 GB is fixed inside while under the hood we have a 2550 mAh battery. Out of the box, it can be found running on Android 5.0 Lollipop.

Let’s head towards the guide and learn to flash stock firmware on your Galaxy S6.

Note: At the time of writing this post, official firmwares are not available, but we expect them to come out in a week or less. However, the method to flash stock firmware and all the links will remain same.

Early Preparations

1. This guide is only for Samsung Galaxy S6 (All Variants)

Make sure that your device is exactly as mentioned above. To check out what device you have, go to Settings > More/General > About Device or Settings > About Device and match the model number. Be careful about the device model number, flashing a file on a device not listed here might result in bricking it up. In that case, we may not be held responsible.

2. Battery should be charged at least 60%!

Your device’s battery should not be weak. In case your device goes dead during the flashing process, your device may get soft bricked and you might be in need of flashing stock firmware and that will ultimately result in wiping up your data as well. So, make sure that you charge your device before you start the flashing process.

3. Use the OEM data cable to establish connection!

Always use the original data cable to establish connection between your Android device and your computer / laptop. Using ordinary data cables might interrupt the flashing process, so to avoid any mishap, you need to meet this requirement as well.

4. Backup everything!

Just to be on the safe side, you may consider backing up each and everything from your Android device. This is highly recommended so that in case anything goes wrong, you still have the access to all of your data and you can restore it immediately. Also, clean install is always recommended, that means you will probably have to wipe your device to install the new firmware. So, you may backup everything as listed below.

Backup SMS Messages
Backup Call Logs
Backup Contacts
Backup Media – Copy your files manually to your PC or Laptop.
Backup EFS – If rooted, otherwise skip this step.

5. Install Samsung USB drivers

In order to be able to establish connection between your PC and your Galaxy S4, you need to have the Samsung USB drivers installed on your PC. You can find all Android USB drivers here on our site.

6. Turn off Samsung Kies and other softwares while using Odin3!

Make sure that you turn off Samsung Kies while using Odin3 flashtool. Samsung Kies will interrupt Odin3 and will result in causing errors and may not let you flash your desired firwmrae. Also, make sure that you turn off any antivirus software you’ve installed and also disable firewall to avoid any connection and flashing issues.

Required Downloads & Installations

1. Download and extract Odin3 v3.10.6.
2. Download and extract firmware file (carefully for your variant) to get the .tar.md5 file.

How To Install Stock Firmware & Restore Samsung Galaxy S6

1. Make sure that you read the instructions listed above carefully and you’re all set to go ahead now.
2. Wipe your device complete in order to attain a neat installation. You may boot into the recovery mode and perform a factory data reset.
3. Open Odin3.exe.
4. Put your Galaxy S6 in download mode. To do so, turn it off and wait for 10 seconds. Turn it on by pressing and holding Volume Down + Home Button + Power Key simultaneously, You should see a warning, press Volume Up to continue. In case this method doesn’t work for you, try one from this guide.
5. Connect your device to your PC.
6. As soon as Odin detects your phone, the ID:COM box should turn blue.  Make sure that you’ve installed Samsung USB drivers before connecting.
7. For Odin 3.09 or 3.10.6 hit the AP tab. Select the firmware.tar.md5 or firmware.tar, that you downloaded and extracted above.
8. If you’re using Odin 3.07, you will select “PDA” tab instead of the AP tab, rest of the options remain untouched.
9. Make sure that the options selected in your Odin are exactly as shown in the pic.
10. Hit start and wait till the firmware  flashing is complete, The flashing process box will turn green upon successful flashing.
11. Once the flashing process has been completed successfully, disconnect your device and reboot it manually. You can pull out the battery, place it back and turn on.
12. Once the device boots up, checkout the new firmware now.
13. Your device will be running on official Android Lollipop firmware.
14. Once updated to stock, do not try to downgrade, or else you will result in messing up EFS partition of your device.
15. That’s all!

Got any queries? Make sure that you drop em’ in the comment box below. Good Luck!