[Android General] Sync999:
New to this community I hope this post is welcome here. Thanks to many of you I got a successful first time root and thought I would make a decent guide for others that stumble across this eventually.

This guide is for Windows only. I'm sure it would work similarly on Linux, but this is specific to Windows.

I AM NOT RESPONSABLE FOR ANY DAMAGE OR BRICKED DEVICE. That is always a risk you take with rooting, altering any software/firmware. This method did work for me, and if followed correctly it should work for you. Make sure you are using the same device this guide is for. That all being said, if anything goes wrong, this device is very easy to fix bootloops, soft bricks etc. Carry on.

YOU WILL LOSE ALL YOUR DATA AND YOUR TABLET WILL BE RESET TO FACTORY DEFAULT!! BACKUP ANYTHING YOU DONT WANT TO LOSE BEFORE STARTING THIS ROOT.

YOU WILL NEED A COMPUTER. This is NOT a hardware only root, in this guide, again, we will be using Windows 10.

Before starting anything, this will be the software list you need to download and install before moving forward...

The latest release of Magisk: GitHub - topjohnwu/Magisk: The Magic Mask for Android v.25.2 was the latest release at the time of this post, it might be updated when you are reading this. It should still work the same.

Odin: https://xdaforums.com/attachments/odin3-v3-14-1-zip.5158505/ this should be a direct download link. If you dont like that, here is a link to the XDA fourm itself, make sure to download the Odin3 3.14.1.zip, ( 3.13.1.zip is not a link, reddit just highlights it because of the .zip, you just need to scroll down and find it in the forum, should be 1st or second in the list) NOT THE PATCHED VERSION.

The Firmware for your device (SM-X200) This is where I got mine, mind you it's the USA version: https://samfw.com/firmware/SM-X200/XAR/X200XXU1AVC1 If you are out of the states, there is many other sources for your exact firmware version, just type the second half of your build number (starting with "X200...etc.' into the browser followed by firmware then "download". The build number can be found in the software information inside of the "About tablet" section at the bottom of your settings.

The Samsung USB drivers: Samsung Android USB Driver | Samsung Developers You will need these to ensure a proper connection between your PC and tablet

And finally, this is optional, this already patched boot.img file already converted to .tar: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Rm4BPaIVXWClhjKFencRnheJlDB3RRVm/view This is a working boot file, at least for me and many others on XDA, feel free to make your own if you wish, it will be explained in the guide below.

P.S Using the boot file above will save you some time and may help you avoid errors or crashes inside of odin or on your tablet. Also, better for those not as experienced.

The Guide now starts below. (:

Enable Dev options. (This is done by going into the "About Tablet" section at the very bottom of your settings, clicking "Software information", then clicking build number multiple times until a prompt shows up saying you are now a developer, or have unlocked dev settings.)

Enable OEM unlock inside of Developer settings.

Power off device, then hold both volume up and down buttons and plug your tablet into your PC to boot into download menu

Hold volume up once in download menu, to start OEM unlock prosses

When unlocked, the device with automatically factory reset

Set up device, Enable Wi-Fi either during or after setup prosses.

Re-Enable dev settings (as we did in step #1), and make sure "Enable OEM unlock" Is on and or grayed out.

Download latest firmware for your device and extract it using 7zip, (Link for firmware is at the begining of this guide) there should now be a list of 4 files starting with BL_, AP_, CSC_OMC, and HOME_CSC. (We won't be using HOME_CSC, more on that later).

Using Odin, install the AP BL and CSC . In the BL slot, click the BL, then go to the extracted firmware from earlier and select the file the file that starts with "BL_X200". Then give it a second to load in, move to the AP section. Click AP, then select the file from the extracted file again, that starts with "AP". And for CSC, select the file "CSC_OMC..." Not the "CSC_HOME..." After all the files are in the correct slots, click Start at the bottom of the Odin3 application.

Once odin is finished, you need to boot back into stock OS by holding down volume and power button to get out of download menu, if prompted to push power button during boot, do so.

Go through the setup again, enable Wi-Fi and check and make sure OEM unlock is still grayed out and enabled.

Download Magisk From there official GitHub on to your tablet (Link above)

Install Magisk

IMPORTANT!!

This is where you have two options, either skip these steps, and use the provided boot.img file, or make your own (this is harder, you may run into errors and issues, but most of you have been doing this much longer than me, this is just a guide from someone new to this, so I thought my incite may be easier to understand) SKIP STEPS #14-#21 if you chose to download the provided boot.tar file at the beginning of this guide. (I would recommend reading them still, because understanding the prosses will help with a successful root, whether or not you choose to make your own boot.img file, this advice is from experience. Knowledge is power, right?

14. If you choose to make your own patched boot file with magisk, go back to your PC, extract the "AP_X200..." file inside of the firmware file you already extracted, send that file to your Tab A8 (again this is for the SM-X200 ONLY!) via plugging your tablet into your laptop (MAKE SURE ITS POWERED ON AND UNLOCKED)

14.5. You will be prompted to allow data transfer between your tablet and the PC something like " allow this PC to access...etc". Allow it. Open your tablets root storage from the file manager on your windows computer. This PC, then select your tablet. You should see the root files.

15. Return back to the folder of the extracted AP_X200... file you extracted previously; it should be in a standard file format now, not a .tar file

16. Find the "Boot.img" file, copy it and return to your tablets root file

17. Paste the boot.img file you copied from the extracted AP_X200... file, into the root directory of your tablet. Then unplug your tablet and return to your tablet for the next step.

18. Open magisk, click install on the top option, to the right of "Magisk" NOT THE ONE THAT SAYS "App". Then click "Select and patch file" find your "boot.img" file you previously copied over to your tablet in step #16/#17, its often in recent files, but should always be in the tab "Galaxy tab A8" You can find that tab by tapping the hamburger icon (three horizontal lines) in the top left corner. Once there, select the "boot.img" file.

19. Once you find your file, click "Let's go" back in the main Magisk screen

20. Once completed, it should show that it installed the patched boot.img file in your tablets download directory. You have now successfully patched the boot file. If you get an error or a crash, try again. If you keep running into errors, make sure your file is the correct "boot.img" file. Don't be shy, re-read the guide, start over, if necessary, we haven't gone too far yet to try again.

21. Plug your tablet back into your PC, go back to your tablets root directory via your computers file manager, open whichever file Magisk installed its patched "boot.img" file (it should be in the downloads folder of your tablets root directory) copy it to your computer. You can move it anywhere but if you move it back to where the other firmware files that we downloaded and extracted are, you will need to right click the file, hover over 7zip, then click "Add to archive". Then, in the section of the options where it says "archive format" change the file type to tar. You will need to do this step either way, but make sure it's done BEFORE moving it to the other files we extracted earlier, because it will prompt you to replace the file, we don't want to do that.

22. Now take your tablet, unplug it if it's still plugged in, and power off. Once it's powered down completely, hold both the volume up and down buttons like earlier to get into download mode when unlocking the OEM, and plug it into the PC (WHILE STILL HOLDING THE VOLUME BUTTONS UNTIL THE MENU APPEARS). Once the download menu appears, (should be familiar by now) click once on the up-volume button, and you will now be ready to download your files to root your device! Yayy!

23. Open Odin3, and it should have on the left a, "Log" info box, "<ID: somthing/somthing> Added! ("something/something will be numbers, just make sure it says added, that means it sees your Tablet is in download mode and ready for your patched files"

24. You will see 4 slots to the right of the Log page inside of Odin. They will read (top to bottom) "BL", "AP", "CP", "CSC, and "USER DATA". Only BL, AP, and CSC will be used in this prosses, and should be the only ones with check marks to the left of them. If the check marks are not checked, check them.

25. Now, (don't worry almost done!) In the BL slot, click the BL box, go to the extracted firmware from earlier (Step 8) and select the file the file that starts with "BL_X200". Then give it a second to load in, move to the AP section. Select it, then find your boot.img file you made using magisk, or downloaded via the link at the top of this post. Select it, and now move on to CSC. Click it, find your "CSC_OMC" file (you might get away with using the CSC_HOME..." file, but at this point your tablet shouldn't have anything you want to save, as it should have been wiped when unlocking the bootloader, so just take my advice and use the stock CSC_OMC file.

26. Now, you should have files in the BL slot, the AP slot, and the CSC slot. Double check and make sure there are nothing in the "CP" slot, nor the "USERDATA" slot. Once you are ready, and all files are in the correct slots, and your tablet is ready to start downloading, (should have an empty progress bar under the "cancel" instructions on your tablet screen) go ahead and click " Start" at the bottom of the Odin application.

27. This prosses should be relatively quick, less than a minute, but in my many tries, sometimes it was quick, other times it took a minute or two. Once done, the Odin app on your PC should read "Pass" in a green box towards the top right corner of the app, under the Odin logo.

28. Proceed to shut down the device, by holding down on the Power and Volume Down keys, once the screen goes black, lift off the power AND volume down key, and immediately press down on the Power key (again) and the Volume UP this time. (Some guides have said it's not necessary to release from the power key when the black screen starts, and to only change from the volume down key to the volume up key, but in my experience, this may lead to a bootloop *Don't worry, it's fixable*. So, I recommend you lift off both and then immediately start clicking the power *again* and volume up) This should bring you into the system recovery menu. Use the volume down key to scroll down, and the volume up key for up, the power button is to select the option in the menu. Scroll down to "Wipe data/factory reset" and select it. Confirm when prompted, and it will reset your device using the firmware you just installed.

29. Setup as usual, enable the Wi-Fi, double check that OEM unlock is still enabled and grayed out in the developer menu (you will have to re enable the dev menu). Then go to Chrome, type in "Root checker apk" and download the apk, should be available in the first or second result of Google. MAKE sure to allow Chrome downloads, it will prompt you when the apk is downloaded. Open it, and check for Root. This is when I got a pop-up from Magisk, but it may happen at any time. Whenever it happens, just follow its instructions, it will reboot your tablet, then when it's powered back on, go back to root checker. When you check for root, wait a couple seconds, a pop up should show up with a count down, allow it, and it will show that you...are now...ROOTED!

YAY, you did it congratulations. This took me probably 12 hours and many different forums, because there has been a great debate on how to do this properly, but from what I've experienced this is all the right info and guides shoved into one. Many thanks to the XDA forums, and especially user "tofor" on the XDA forums, for the patched boot file when people where still having issues making their own.

I may make a YouTube video explaining all this, but I'm not super into the idea. We will see, depends how this post does and if people still need help. Again, I'm not a pro when it comes to rooting. I'm a nerd, I know my way around tech, but I was an iPhone kid, so I grew up with jailbreaking, which was 100% easier cause most the work was done for you. That all being said, I'm sure I missed some terms, or dint explain something perfectly, so please, to all of you who are much more experienced with this, FEEL FREE TO CORRECT ME!! Have any questions, I'll try to get to them, but I'm not super active. If I don't get to you, I'm sure somebody will. I really hope this helps; this was hell for me.