[Samsung Galaxy S7 Active Questions & Answers] NotSoMiniGun:
I have an AT&T Galaxy S7 Active - US Model - SM-G891A

I haven't seen any credible sources with a root for this device. From what I can tell, it is identical to the Qualcomm version of the Galaxy S7(non-edge) with one exception; The S7 Active has the "Active button".

Since almost every Qualcomm variant of the Galaxy S7 has been rooted, is there a chance that the S7 active is rootable? or is there already a root?

Let me know if you need any other information or if you would like a test dummy.

UPDATE: Successful Root Of the Galaxy S7 Active (Qualcomm)

PLEASE USE THE POLL TO LET US KNOW WHAT VERSION OF FIRMWARE YOU END UP ROOTING. IF YOU FAIL, PLEASE PROVIDE US WITH AS MUCH INFORMATION, ABOUT YOUR EXPERIENCE, THAT YOU CAN. THIS WAY WE CAN DO OUR BEST TO HELP YOU AND CONTINUE IMPROVING THIS ROOT.

ROOT - CLICK BELOW

Original Tutorial Credit(HERE)

Updated for Galaxy S7 Active (by NotSoMiniGun)

Make sure you have downloaded these files:

•	SuperSU v2.74 (updated) SuperSU v2.76

•	Modified ODIN

•	Unlock boot.tar

•	Fastboot

•	Samsung Official USB Drivers v1.5.40

Make sure you meet these requirements:

•	Firmware PG7, PH2, PI2, PK2, PL1(6.x.x only)

•	NO NOUGAT SUPPORT YET (1/30/2017)

•	>60% Battery charge

Additional suggestions and warnings:

•	Make sure you know both your Samsung account info and your Google account info. You will need these, for Factory Reset Protection, if something goes wrong and you need to wipe your phone.

•	I, also, recommend rooting a clean/wiped/reset phone. This rules out quite a few things that could cause failures or strange behavior during or after the rooting process.

•	You WILL lose some speed and battery life. This is not an optimized root. If you are comfortable with that fact, then go ahead. You’ve been warned. Do not complain about it on this thread.

•	Install the Samsung drivers even if your computer already seems to have them. Right click and run the .exe as administrator. REBOOT after install. This rules out another potential point of failure.

•	MAKE SURE YOU ONLY HAVE YOUR PHONE PLUGGED IN. Make sure there are as few USB devices, as possible, plugged into your computer during the rooting process.

•	DISABLE YOUR ANTI-VIRUS

Step 1:

Read EVERYTHING above. Twice.

Step 2:

Open Settings->About Device and scroll down to “Build Number”. Tap it repeatedly until it says you have activated “Developer Mode”.

Step 3:

Open Settings->Developer Options and turn ON both “USB Debugging” and “OEM Unlock”.

Step 4:

Turn phone OFF. Once off, hold (Volume Down, Center Home, and Power) until you see a blue warning screen.

Step 5:

Press Volume Up and plug your phone into your computer. You should have blue screen that says “Downloading”.

Step 6:

All of the files should be downloaded to your computer and be sitting in your “Downloads” folder. Un-zip the ODIN-modified.zip, right click the ODIN .exe, and run as administrator.

IF YOU DON’T SEE A BLUE BOX AT THE TOP LEFT OF ODIN THEN DO THESE STEPS AGAIN:

1.	Run the Samsung USB Drivers .exe again.

2.	Reboot your computer.

3.	Make sure your data cable isn’t damaged and is plugged in all the way.

Step 7.

Select AP and choose the ENG Boot file ending in .tar. Then click “Start”. The blue box should eventually turn green and say “PASS”.

IF YOU GET STUCK IN A BOOT LOOP:

“If your phone ends up in a bootloop (which most likely will), you will need to do a factory reset. To do this, hold down Volume Down, Center Home, and Power buttons together until your phone resets then quickly switch the Volume Down to Up key while holding the rest of the buttons down until you see “Recovery booting” at the top-left of the screen. If you mess up, don’t worry you can keep trying until you get it right. Once in stock recovery, choose “Wipe data/factory reset” then “yes” to do a factory reset. THIS WILL ERASE EVERYTHING ON YOUR PHONE! Reboot and after 5-10 minutes, you should be welcomed by a welcome screen, go ahead and login.”

Step 8:

Go through the set-up screens until you can repeat Steps 2 & 3.

Step 9:

Unzip fastboot.zip to its own directory. Unzip the contents of SuperSU and copy them to the fastboot folder.

Step 10:

Shift-RightClick in the white space below the files in the fastboot folder. Click “Open Command Window Here”.

Step 11:

Type the following in the Command Prompt:

adb devices

root.bat

Watch your phone for any messages and make sure to tap OK. If it freezes, unplug your phone, plug it back in, and restart from Step 10.

Step 12:

Install BusyBox from the app store. Open the app and make sure it installs to “/system/xbin”. DO NOT INSTALL IT ANYWHERE ELSE. THIS WILL CAUSE PROBLEMS AND REQUIRE A FLASH AND RE-ROOT.

Step 13:

You are now successfully rooted. Read the rest of this post carefully to fix the following items:

WiFi password reset

SecurityLogAgent

General Lag and other issues.

TO UNROOT - CLICK BELOW

Link to Instructions Provided By (jembot)

WARNING:

DO NOT uninstall "SecurityLogAgent", DO freeze it using Titanium Backup. Uninstalling it seems to cause instability and random system crashes.

DO NOT attempt to update SuperSU BINARY UPDATE:You can update to v2.76 from v2.74 with the provided file (updating the app is also ok) after root. Other attempts to update will break WiFi, Cellular Data, Access to the Play Store, and will require a reflash in ODIN to regain functionality.

If you do accidentally do this, just reflash to PI2 firmware and check for OTA updates, or use the update packages, to bring your device back to PL1 Firmware. It will lag a lot, so be patient.

FIRMARE AND PACKAGE DOWNLOAD LINKS

PI2 Firmware Download Password: G891AUCS2API2_FULL_FSFD (Cost me $10 lol)

PG7 Firmware Download

PG7 to PH1 Update

PH1 to PI2 Update

PI2 to PK2 Update

PK2 to PL1 Update

PI2 to PL4 Update

PK2 to PL4 Update

PL1 to PL4 Update

SuperSU v2.74

SuperSU v2.76

Modified ODIN

Unlock boot.tar for PL1 or earlier (credit activefan01)

Original boot.tar for PL4 (use if updating to nougat)

imsservice.apk (use to remove VoLTE and RCS icons)

Fastboot (bundle used in the rooting tutorial)

Samsung Official USB Drivers v1.5.40

Other Issues and Solutions:

If you get and MD5 error:

Your download for the tar file was probably incomplete or corrupt. To fix, re-download and make sure it downloads completely before trying again.

If ODIN does not recognize the file or doesn't display it in the browser:

The file should end in a .tar extension, not a .MD5 extension. Use THIS tutorial to show file extensions in windows(if you can't see them), and make sure the file ends in .tar

If you still experience significant lag or battery usage:

1. Try any of the suggested CPU governor apps on this thread.

2. I, personally, noticed the biggest improvement with Device Control [root] from the play store

3. Enable - Power Efficient Workqueue

Enable - LCD power reduce

Core Limits - 1593 MAX - 307 MIN and Lock Frequencies

Governor - Interactive and Lock Governor UPDATE: "PERFORMANCE" seems to work significantly better at removing lag and, surprisingly, saving battery

Enable - Automatic FStrimming

Enable - Core Control and MSM-Thermal

Enable - Reapply on boot with a 15 second delay

4. Under developer options, consider setting all of the animation speeds to 0

5. As always, you are responsible for any damage to your device or data

For those of you who want Xposed:

1. Install Flashfire from the Play Store

2. Put these 2 files on your phone FRAMEWORK and APK

3. Use Flashfire to flash the zip to your phone.

4. Install the APK and Reboot.

5. Enjoy

6. Avoid these modules or risk bricking your phone:

- Gravitybox - Confirmed

- Xblasttools - Confirmed

For those of you who want to Tether/Hotspot:

1. Install XTether in Xposed

2. Activate and Reboot

3. The native hotspot/tether options will now work in settings

4. Enjoy more.

If you have issues with AT&T keeping you from setting up your phone:

1. Make sure you connect to WiFi on first step of the Samsung setup

2. Do the normal setup until you get to the AT&T Setup portion

3. Let the setup "scan" for connections on WiFi

4. Dismiss the warning about limited WiFi and turn the WiFi OFF

5. Proceed with the rest of the setup by hitting NEXT or SKIP when available

6. You should now be able to use your phone and should be able to setup all AT&T related software separately.

To fix WiFi password reset issue:

1. Install BuildProp from the Play Store

2. Change the value of ro.securestorage.support=false

3. Save, reboot, enter WIFI password for the last time!

How to remove the VoLTE and RCS(hurricane looking thing) icons: (tested by FtaWolf)

1. Install a file explorer like FX

2. Set Read/Write access to System Partition, use the 3 dot menu in the top right

3. (be careful not to touch anything else, I soft-bricked my phone twice on accident)

3. Navigate to /system/priv-app/imsservice

4. Rename file imsservice.apk to imsservice.apk.bak, tap and hold to rename

5. Copy THIS file into the same folder

6. Then set permission to 644, again, tap and hold to change permissions

7. Reboot and you should be good to go.

How to add HotSpot and MobileData toggles or remove unwanted toggles (credit slimshouki)

1. Install CSC Feature Expert from the PlayStore

2. Scroll down until you find "Config Def Quick Setting Item" (Do not search for it, you wont find it)

3. Add " ,WiFiHotspot,MobileData"

4. (OPTIONAL) Delete any toggles you don't want. Make you there is a single comma between all values

5. Open Settings->Personal->Backup and Reset->Reset Settings

6. After it reboots you should see the toggles.

COMPATIBILITY STATUS:

Galaxy S7 & S7 Edge Qualcomm Variant Root: Confirmed Successful On: PG7, PH2, PI2, PK2, PL1 || Fails On: PL4, Android 7.0 Update

Poot Debug APK Qualcomm Root: Incompatible

Dirty Cow Exploit: Temp/Partial Root

TO DO:

Determine Root Method/Source (activefan01, perhaps you can weigh in)

Custom Recovery (if possible)

Optimize Current Root Method (currently takes a decent toll on battery life)

7.0.0+ Root (currenty only works on pre-nougat systems)