[Sprint Galaxy S 5 General] RazzMcTazz:
Following are step-by-step instructions to help you get rooted on Android 6.0.1 with SuperSU or Magisk. And following that are instructions on how to get unrooted and/or update your firmware/OS (without losing your apps & settings). The following rooting method has been successfully tried on Sprint Galaxy S5 Android 6.0.1 firmware versions, G900PVPU3CPCA, G900PVPS3CPE2, G900PVPU3CPL2, G900PVPS3CQD1, G900PVPU3CPH3, G900PVPU3PK1, G900PVPS3CQA2, G900PVPS3CQB3, & G900PVPS3CQD1 with the SuperSU v2.78 root, and (as of 11/25/17) has been successfully tried on G900PVPS3CQD1 with Magisk v14.0 root.

FYI: On 11/25/2017 I re-rooted my daughter's phone from the SuperSU root to Magisk v14.0 root so that she could play Animal Crossing on her Galaxy S5. (Some games won't install from the Play Store unless you're on the latest OS. And even if you side-load the apps, some apps won't run if they detect that you're rooted. Magisk masks your "rootedness" so that such games run. The instructions are essentially the same for either root method. It may be worth noting that these instructions differ from the far more complicated, perhaps outdated, instructions on XDA's Magisk page.)

I offer these instructions with absolutely no warranty of fitness. Following these instructions

will void your warranty

, and could destroy your phone, the planet, and possibly even the solar system.

Step-by-Step Instructions for Rooting a Stock Sprint Android 6.0.1 Galaxy S5.

If you're already on Android 6.0.1, skip to the next step. Otherwise, install the stock Sprint Android 6.0.1 update. You can do this by accepting Sprint's over-the-air (OTA) update if Sprint pushed it to your phone. Or you can "pull" it from Sprint by going into Settings/System Update and selecting "Download updates manually". (If you're rooted or on a custom ROM and can't get the OTA update, see the instructions below about unrooting and updating the OS.) After installation, the phone reboots and an animation of meshing gears spins, for up to about 10 minutes. If you're connected to a PC via USB, then after it finishes installing you'll get a message about needing to install Samsung Smart Start and having to disconnect/reconnect. PC users should just be able to disconnect & reconnect the USB cable from the PC to the phone, and thereby cause the PC to install the new driver via Windows Update (assuming the PC is Internet-connected). After the new USB driver is installed, you may be prompted to allow access to the new MTP connection. Allow it. Google Play Services will need to be updated and may do so on its own or you may have to help it along. You should be prompted to reboot after Google Play Services updates. Reboot it. You'll be asked to allow access to device data for an MTP connection. Allow it.

In the unlikely event you haven't already done so, install Samsung USB drivers on PC.

Download Odin and unzip/extract it to your PC. (I used Odin v.3.10.7, but other versions of Odin will work.) Odin is a program that lets you push system files onto Samsung devices from a PC.

Download to PC, the file "twrp-3.0.2-2-klte.img.tar" from HERE. You want the .tar file, not the .img file. DO NOT download twrp-3.0.2-1-klte.img.tar. ("TWRP" is a custom recovery that lets you install custom firmware, etc.)

Depending on which root method you prefer, download to phone's SD-card (not to the phone's internal memory), either "SuperSU-v2.78.zip" from HERE., or download Magisk v.14.0. (both SuperSU and Magisk let you manage the root access to your phone. Magisk can often hide the fact that the phone is rooted, which can enable apps/games that won't run on rooted devices. Contrary to the, perhaps outdated, instructions on the Magisk XDA page and elsewhere, in my experience, you don't need to install the Magisk Manager or Phhs SuperUser, as both seem to be integrated and come along with the Magisk v14.0 zip. Since Magisk seems to be a newer/better style of root, if I were going to re-root my phone-- which I may do-- I'd go with Magisk, even though I've never needed a root-masking root method. See upgrade note below.*)

With the phone disconnected from the PC, launch Odin.exe on the PC.

With phone powered off, simultaneously press Volume-Down, Home & then Power. You have to hold them down long enough to see the "Warning!!" screen.

Press Volume-Up to enter "Downloading..." mode.

Connect phone to PC via USB. (If it's the 1st time you've done this in "Downloading" mode, then Windows will try to download the ADB Driver & Gadget Serial Driver. You'll need those drivers or else Odin won't connect.)

If properly connected, Odin's "ID:COM" box should show something like "#:[COM#]" in a pale-blue highlight, where "#" will be some number. If you don't see something like that highlighted in pale blue, then you can't proceed any further, so update the ADB driver & Gadget Serial driver and/or try a different USB port, and/or try a different USB cable, and/or restart the PC, and/or try a different PC.

From Odin, select "PDA" if the Odin version is v3.10.6 or lower. Or select "AP" if the Odin version is 3.10.7 or higher.

From Odin, browse to the "twrp-3.0.2-2-klte.img.tar". (Wherever you stored it in step #4 above.)

In the Odin "options" section, make sure "Auto Reboot" and other options are unchecked. (PDA or AP should be check-marked.)

From Odin, select "Start". Odin will show the downloading progress (and you'll see a progress bar on the phone's screen). Then Odin should indicate downloading success. E.g. Odin v3.10.7 displays "PASS!" in a green box when it's finished downloading.

After downloading is complete, disconnect the USB cable from phone and briefly remove the battery. Briefly removing the battery is easiest. Alternatively, it's possible to hold the power button down just long enough to turn-off the phone, but if you hold it a split-second too long then the phone will reboot, you'll lose TWRP, and you'll have to go back to step #14.

Simultaneously press Volume-Up (not Volume-Down), Home, & then Power until the phone boots into the TWRP (Team Win Recovery Project) custom recovery. If you do this correctly (and it's easy to do it incorrectly) then in the upper left corner of the Samsung splash screen, you'll see "RECOVERY BOOTING", "RECOVERY IS NOT SEANDROID ENFORCING" & "Set Warranty Bit: Recovery", and then you'll clearly see the TeamWin Recovery Project (TWRP) menu. Note that if you don't push the buttons correctly (which is easy to do) and you accidentally boot into Android or into the stock recovery, then go back to step #14.

From the TWRP menu, select "Install".

Then tap "Select Storage", choose "Micro SDCard", and hit "OK".

Browse to SuperSU-v2.78.zip or Magisk v.14.0.zip which should be on your SD-card (from step #5) and select it.

Check "Reboot after install" and "Swipe to confirm Flash". When it reboots, you should see "Set Warranty Bit" in the upper left corner of the Samsung splash screen.

After the phone reboots, go into the app drawer. You should see "SuperSU Free" which indicates that you're most likely rooted.

However, you should probably double-check that you're rooted by installing a root-checker like Root Check (by JR Rummy Apps) from the Play Store. Open it. Grant it root access (hopefully, if you're rooted). Consider optionally installing "Busy Box" from within the "Root Check" app since the Busy Box Linux-utilities are used by many root apps.

Profit. You can now install root apps like Titanium Backup & X-plore File Manager. And you can do a (Nandroid) "Backup" from within TWRP which I highly recommend, since it lets you restore your phone in case the phone's system software ever gets corrupted. I recommend that you also consider installing the Xposed Framework, which lets you add cool features to your phone that previously were only available by installing custom ROMs. If you install Xposed, I recommend installing XTouchWiz.

11/26/17 UPDATE: Instructions for unrooting, upgrading firmware, & optionally re-rooting, perhaps with Magisk.

On 11/25 my daughter wanted me to unroot her phone so that she could play Animal Crossing, which won't run on rooted phones. I did some research and found that Animal Crossing (and other games) will run if rooted with Magisk. She had been rooted on a Sprint Galaxy S5 with SuperSU v2.78 on an outdated Sprint Android 6.0.1 firmware version (G900PVPU3CPL2). Using Odin, I was able to upgrade her to Sprint's latest OS version of Android 6.0.1 (G900PVPS3CQD1). Doing so was like taking an over-the-air Sprint upgrade in that all of her settings, desktops, apps and stuff remained. Upgrading the OS automatically removed root. But I re-rooted with Magisk. She was then able to install Animal Crossing from the Play Store and play it. Instructions on how to do such an unroot (so that you can do a re-root) follow:

Download to your PC your desired stock Sprint firmware version from your favorite repository site. I downloaded the latest Sprint CDMA firmware (G900PVPS3CQD1) from Sammoble.com.

Follow steps 1-11 in the rooting instructions above.

From Odin, browse to the Sprint firmware version that you downloaded to your PC. (Wherever you stored it.)

In the Odin "options" make sure "Auto Reboot" is checked.

From Odin, select "Start". Odin will show the downloading progress (and you'll see a progress bar on the phone's screen). Then Odin should indicate downloading success. E.g. Odin v3.10.7 displays "PASS!" in a green box when it's finished downloading. Your phone will then restart. It will take a long time. It will hang for a long time at the Sprint logo screen, and then it will go into upgrade mode where you'll see gears turning on a green background. When it finishes, you'll be upgraded and unrooted. Then to re-root, follow the rooting instructions above.