Install TWRP Recovery and Root Galaxy Tab S3 T820/T825

Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 just came out a while ago. Galaxy Tab S series is Samsung’s premium tablet series. These tablets equip top-notch specifications inside a very decent design and build. Just like the Galaxy Tab S and Tab S2, the Tab S3 also sports an elegant structure. Galaxy Tab S3’s 9.7-inch variant has a resolution of 1536 x 2048 pixels with 264 ppi. Samsung has powered up this Tab using Snapdragon 820 CPU, Adreno 530 GPU and a whopping 4 GB RAM. Tab S3 has 32 GB internal storage, it can expanded using a microSD card. Tab S3 has a 13 MP shooter at the back and a 5 MP shooter on the front. A huge 6000 mAh battery is placed inside.

Galaxy Tab S3 runs on Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box. The Tab S3 has just paved way towards new standards for the tablet devices. It’s about time that Galaxy Tab S3 starts hitting the hands of users and we start seeing the real power of this tablet getting unleashed. Just to give this thing a kickstart, XDA member Ashyx came up with the TWRP recovery and a procedure to root the Galaxy Tab S3. Ashyx has been coming up with recoveries and root for several devices in the past as well. Now is the turn for the Galaxy Tab S3.

Galaxy Tab S3 has been blessed by a TWRP 3.1.0-1 recovery. Using the latest version of SuperSU, the device can be easily rooted as well. Since it runs on Android 7.0 Nougat, things are little hard here for now. The Galaxy Tab S3 also requires disabling no-verity right after you root your device. All you need is to follow the instructions very carefully and it should go more than smooth.

Before flashing the recovery and root the tablet, it is very much important to know what y0u are up to, just in case you are a newbie. The custom recoveries like TWRP allow you to create the backup of every single partition from your phone, it also allows to wipe every partition, wipe cache, dalvik cache, data and system of the device. Flashing custom ROMs, MODs and other such related zip files is possible through custom recoveries like TWRP. In most of the cases, the device is rooted only with the help of a recovery. Whereas, the root access can do wonders. It can enhance the performance of your device by letting you install root specific applications. Users can also give a boost to their device’s battery life by using applications like Greenify and others.

Flashing TWRP recovery and rooting your Tab S3 will void its warranty. Be reminded that in case something goes wrong in the direction we don’t want it to, TechBeasts, the device manufacturer or the developer many not be held responsible. You are going to do everything at your own risk.

Assuming that Galaxy Tab S3 owners have a clear understanding of everything, it is time for us to download and install TWRP recovery and root Galaxy Tab S3 T820/T825.

Install TWRP Recovery and Root Galaxy Tab S3 T820/T825

Early preparations

1. Charge your Galaxy Tab S3 up to 50% to avoid power issues during the flashing process. Check your device’s model number carefully under settings > more / general > about device.
2. Enable OEM Unlocking and also enable USB debugging mode on your phone.
3. Get an external microSD card or a USB OTG as you will need to copy SuperSU.zip file to that, otherwise you will have to use the MTP mode while you boot up into TWRP recovery to flash copy it.
4. Backup your important contacts, call logs, sms messages and also copy your media content to your computer as you will have to wipe your phone on the way.
5. Uninstall/disable Samsung Kies while using Odin. Samsung Kies can hinder the connection between your phone and Odin.
6. Use OEM data cable to establish connection between your PC and your phone.
7. Follow these instructions to the letter to avoid any mishap during flashing process.

Downloads and installations

• Download and install Samsung USB drivers on your PC: Download Link with Guide
• Download and extract Odin 3.10.7 on your PC: Download Link with Guide
• Download the TWRP Recovery.tar file carefully according to your device.
  • SM-T820: twrp_3.1.0-1_sm-t820_3417
  • SM-T825: twrp_3.1.0-1_sm-t825_5417
• Download SuperSU.zip file and copy it to your phone’s external SD card. If you haven’t got an external SD card, you will need to copy it to internal storage after installing TWRP recovery.
• Download dm-verity.zip file and copy it to the external SD card as well. Alternatively, you can also copy both these.zip files to a USB OTG if you have got one.

How to Install TWRP Custom Recovery and Root Galaxy Tab S3 now

1. Open Odin3.exe file from the extracted Odin files that you downloaded above.
2. Put your Galaxy Tab S3 in download mode now. To do so, turn off your phone first. Now turn it on by pressing and holding Volume Down + Power + Home button. As soon as your device boots up showing a Downloading screen, leave the keys.
3. Connect your phone to your PC now. Odin should show an “Added” message in the logs and also show the blue light in the ID:COM box. This will verify a successful connection between your phone and your PC.
4. Now click on the “AP” tab in Odin and select the TWRP Recovery.img.tar file according to your device carefully.
5. The options ticked in Odin should be only “F.Reset Time“. Make sure that the Auto-Reboot option is not checked, we do not want to reboot the phone after flashing TWRP recovery.
6. After selecting the file and checking/unchecking the options carefully, hit the start button. Odin will now flash the TWRP and show you a PASS message in a few minutes.
7. Once done, disconnect your device from your PC now. Do not reboot your device.
8. Do not close Odin, follow the rest of the procedure below.

Now that we are done flashing TWRP recovery, next is the root access. There are 2 different things you can do. You can either root your phone and have it running alongside TWRP recovery or you can also disable forced encryption, mount your internal storage and disable dm-verity. We will cover both these aspects in two small methods below. Follow the one according to your liking.

How to disable forced encryption, mount internal storage, disable dm-verity and Root the Tab S3

1. Download SR3-SuperSU-v2.79-SR3-20170114223742.zip and copy it to your external SD card or a USB OTG.
2. Download no-verity-no-encrypt_ashyx and copy it to your external SD card or a USB OTG.
3. Now you need to boot directly into TWRP Recovery. Turn off your phone completely and turn it on by pressing and holding Volume Up + Home + Power key now. Your phone should successfully boot into newly installed custom recovery.
4. TWRP will ask you whether you want to allow modifications or not, you will need to swipe finger to the right to enable modifications. Swiping the finger to right will trigger dm-verity if you will need to disable it immediately. Leaving it enabled will not let you boot the phone, neither root it. This is an important stuff since we want to be able to modify the system.
5. Now tap “Wipe > Format Data > type “yes” to format data. This is important to disable encryption. This step will factory reset your phone, so make sure that you’ve backed up the entire data at hand.
6. Now go back to the main menu in TWRP Recovery and tap “Reboot > Recovery”. This will once again reboot your phone in TWRP.
7. Now make sure that you’ve copied the SuperSU.zip and dm-verity.zip files in external SD Card or USB OTG, if not then transfer both these files to your external SD Card by using MTP mode in TWRP now. Once you’ve the files, tap “Install > locate the SuperSU.zip according to the location where you copied > flash it”.
8. Now once again tap “Install > locate the dm-verity.zip file > flash it”.
9. Once done flashing, reboot your phone to system.
10. That’s all. You’re rooted and have a TWRP recovery installed. Best of luck.

That was it guys. Don’t forget to backup your EFS partition now and also create a Nandroid backup. Its’ time to unleash the true power of your Galaxy Tab S3. I hope that this guide proved to be fruitful for all of you. Let us know if you are stuck with something or something isn’t working right for you.

Credits: Ashyx