So what can you do? If you want what the OTA update brings to the table, you can’t let them know you remodeled the kitchen. Not to worry, Odin (the program, not the god) can put your kitchen back in working order before it’s updated. This analogy is starting to get out of hand, but Odin can easily unroot your phone so you can update without worry. Just make sure you backup all of your files before you do anything!
What You Need to Know Before You Start
Before I say anything else, this will absolutely wipe your device clean. Any data added to your device will be gone after unrooting. This means unless you want your phone to stay factory fresh, or want to download everything you had all over again; please backup your data in any way possible. If you’ve already backed up your device, back it up again. You can never have too many fail-safes, so adding one more can only help. You can use services like Titanium, Nandroid, or anything else you have installed or that you prefer. Once you’ve done that, we can get started.
Downloading and Gather Everything You Need
Before the actual process begins, you need to gather all of the ingredients that make the magic happen. You’ll need a recent copy of Odin, Samsung USB drivers, a working PC for Odin to use, an appropriate USB cable to connect the Note 5 to your PC, and finally the stock ROM for a Sprint or T-Mobile version of the Note 5. I’ll tell you where to get each, starting with Odin.
Step 1:
Odin can sometimes be hard to track down, but thankfully there’s a valid copy of Odin on OdinDownload for version 3.09. If you’re worried this won’t be the correct version of Odin, or if you already have a version of Odin3; any version of Odin3 will serve our purpose here. Odin 3 Download You don’t need to install Odin after downloading it, double clicking the exe launches the program right away. Put Odin aside for now if you haven’t already downloaded Samsung USB drivers, because that’s next on the list.
Step 2:
One easy way to find out if you have the required drivers or not is to try plugging your Note 5 into your PC. If you can’t access its memory when you do this, you need new drivers installed. Luckily, you can get them from one of Samsung’s official websites. Samsung USB Drivers Download Unlike Odin, you will have to install these files, but it won’t take very long. After you unzip the exe required, and run it, your drivers will be installed before you know it. Once this is done, you can connect your Note 5 to your PC without any trouble.
Step 3:
Next on the shopping list is a stock ROM. Without this, you won’t have anything for Odin to change your current firmware with. This is split into two categories: Sprint, and then T-Mobile. Depending on the version of your phone, you’ll need to download a different stock ROM. Sprint ROM Download T-mobile ROM Download Download any stock ROM you want, as long as it’s for the appropriate version of your device. Do not use a T-mobile ROM on a Sprint phone, and vice versa. Once this is done, set the file aside for later. If you’d rather search for your stock ROM yourself using your model number, you can always do that through Sammobile down below: Be warned: These are large files, so this will take quite some time with slower internet speeds.
Step 4:
For this next step, make sure your PC is powered on still after you’ve downloaded all of the necessary files. Group them all into one folder if it makes it easier.
Step 5:
Connect your Note 5 to your PC via your USB cable and confirm that everything is connected properly. Once you’ve done this, disconnect your phone. You’ll connect it again later, but for now, keep it off to the side. If you still can’t see your phone after you’ve downloaded and installed your drivers, enable USB Debugging if it isn’t already enabled.
Step 6:
How much battery does your phone have left? If it doesn’t have above 60%, charge it until it hits this point or past it. If your battery dies during the unroot process, you’ll have a lot of trouble on your hands.
Step 7:
There’s one last step before we get started, and that’s to backup your device. This is the third time I’m mentioning it, and it’ll be the last. If you do not backup your device, you will lose everything in the unroot process. That’s the last warning I’ll give, so make sure your important data is protected.
Starting the Unroot Process
Now that you have everything you need to unroot the Note 5, it’s time to get to the real dirty work of the actual process. Believe it or not, getting everything you need to unroot, takes more time than unrooting. Don’t celebrate just yet, but at least the hard part is already over.
Step 1:
If you haven’t already, let’s start unpacking. I’m not talking about like unpacking after moving, or after a long trip, but about unpacking that large zip file you downloaded earlier. You can extract it wherever you want, but if you have a folder with all of your required files; I’d extract it there for convenience.
Step 2:
Put your phone into Odin Download Mode. To do this, hold down your volume down, home, and power buttons until your screen changes. From this point on, follow the onscreen instructions and press the volume up key to get your phone ready.
Step 3:
If you haven’t already, launch Odin by double clicking the exe. There’s a lot of information here, but we don’t have to worry about most of it for what we’re doing. All we need to worry about is the AP button, and the Start button.
Step 4:
Well, there are a few more things to worry about. If you see all of those check boxes on the left, make sure only Auto Reboot and F. Reset Time are checked.
Step 5:
With Odin still open, connect your phone (that is currently in Odin Download Mode) to your PC. In a few moments, you’ll see one of the boxes under ID:COM. If you don’t see a blue light; you need to reinstall your drivers and reconnect your device.
Step 6:
With your device connected, and the blue box showing, click the AP button to bring up a file browser. Do you remember where you extracted that stock ROM file? Track it down, and then double click it, or select it and confirm your selection in the file browser.
Step 7:
You’re almost there, with everything set, confirm everything is connected and then hit Start at the bottom of the screen. This begins the unroot process, and your phone will reboot automatically once it’s done. Now all you need to do is play a few rounds of the waiting game, and your Note 5 is completely unrooted.
Conclusion
Fortunately, it takes longer to download a stock ROM than it does to unroot the Samsung Galaxy Note 5. Once the download is done, the entire process will only take a few minutes out of your day, and leave you with the satisfaction of a mission quickly accomplished. Did you run into any problems along the way? You can leave a comment down below with any questions you might have, and we’ll address them as quickly as we can. Featured Image Credit
