Video: How to Root the Samsung Galaxy Note 5

Looking to root the Samsung Galaxy Note 5 and remove some of Samsung’s bloated software on the phone? So long as you have a specific version of the Note 5, it’s a pretty easy affair. Essentially, we can just flash a rooted kernel onto the phone via Odin, Samsung’s own flashing software, and that’ll give us root access.

Once you have root access, you’ll be able to flash custom firmware in the form of custom ROMs (once you flash a custom recovery image onto the phone), remove bloatware from the phone, and more.

If you’re ready to get started, here’s how.

Before You Begin

  1. This will erase the phone, so backup anything you don’t want to lose before getting started.
  2. This tutorial requires Windows as the Samsung flashing software, Odin, is for Windows only.
  3. You need to know what model of the Galaxy Note 5 you have as this will only work on specific versions and the kernel we use to root the phone is specific to each model as well. Head to Settings > About Phone and write down the model number for reference later.

For a list of currently supported models, check the developer’s page here.

Enable OEM Lock and USB Debugging

Before we root the Galaxy Note 5, we need to perform a few actions on the phone to get it ready.

  1. Go to Settings > About Phone and tap on Build Number repeatedly until it tells you you are a developer.
  2. Tap Back and tap on the new Developer Options that appeared.
  3. Scroll down and turn on USB Debugging and turn on OEM Unlocking.

Root the Galaxy Note 5

Now that we have the setup on the phone out of the way, we can begin flashing the rooted kernel onto the phone to gain root access.

Download the Required Files

  1. Download Samsung’s firmware flashing software, called Odin, and save it to your desktop:
    Odin Download
  2. Download the rooted kernel for your specific model number from the developer (check his post for what models are supported):
    SpaceX Kernel

Put the Phone into Download Mode

  1. Turn off your device.
  2. Turn it back on by holding down Power, Home, and Volume Down and keep holding them until you get the download mode screen.
  3. Plug the phone into the computer via USB.

Root the Galaxy Note 5 by Flashing the Kernel

  1. Right-click on the Odin file you downloaded earlier and click Open As Administrator.
  2. When it opens, you should see Added in one of the slots indicating that it can see the phone. If not, please head to my how to setup ADB tutorial to just install the drivers, then unplug the phone and plug it back in and see if that fixed it.
  3. Click AP in the toolkit and select the SpaceX kernel .tar.gz file then click OK.
  4. Click Start and wait for it to flash.

Update SuperSU

  1. After that, the phone should reboot. Open the SuperSU app that is now in your app drawer and it should prompt you that it needs to update the binaries. If it does, let it, if not, then you are all set.

There you go, you’re all set. Now you can use this tutorial on XDA for how to flash a custom recovery onto the phone (check to make sure it works for your version of the Note 5 before doing though of course). Once you have that, you can head to my ROM repository and check out the various ROMs for the Galaxy Note 5.

Let me know how this worked out for you in the comments below!

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24 thoughts on “Video: How to Root the Samsung Galaxy Note 5”

  1. The light Knight

    oh thank god … i got it on again… when are you going to do the 920V 6.1 ??? please i need to root my phone i just got it as a birthday gift from mom 🙂

  2. Hey david I have a problem while rooting when i started the AP so my note 5 stuck at the logo of SAMSUNG GALAXY NOTE 5 and on top a message is appearing that “Kernal is not seandroid enforcing” what should i do now??

  3. hi i followed your you tube video to root my phone. i got samsung note 5 model number sm -n920w8 . i did download the kernel version that was supported for my model. but now after downloaded when it was suppose to reboot itself , it just stopped saying “kernel is not seandroid enforcing” . it’s stuck there. please help. what can i do to make it work or even get my phone working???

  4. Hi so i followed everything but it didn’t pass it said fail. So i tried again and stopped at setup connection, what do i do? My model is N9200

  5. I did everything you said but my phone is stuck in the reboot phase. It said pass in odin. are you supposed to remove the sim before you do this?

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