How to Root the Samsung Galaxy Ace 2

Choosing a mid-range smartphone has become a difficult task, thanks to manufacturers for flooding the market with a number of cool smartphones. It’s not always true that a mid-range device can’t provide great features, the Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 is a great example of this. The device offers a nice set of hardware and on the software side, you’ll find Android 2.3 Gingerbread, a bit disappointing but not a thing to worry about as the company promises the Jelly Bean update in the near future. Until then, you can root the device and enjoy all the root-only goodies and maybe upgrade the device to JB right now using custom ROMs. Let’s see how you can root your Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 smartphone.

I. Before You Begin:

1. This will void the warranty of your device. However, you can reinstate the warranty by unrooting the device if there’s any unrooting procedure available.

2. This procedure works for the GT-I8160 model only.

3. Make sure your device’s charged fully or has at least 60% of battery life left.

4. You should have appropriate drivers installed on your PC.

II. Downloading Required Files:

1. Odin (Download link’s available in the first post)

2. Root Package (Download link’s given in the first post)

3. Update ZIP (Download link’s given in the first post)

III. Rooting the Samsung Galaxy Ace 2:

1. Download and place all the files onto your Desktop.

2. Connect your device to your PC using the USB cable.

3. Copy the Update ZIP file over to the root of your SD card.

4. Once it’s copied, unplug the device from your PC.

5. Extract files from the Odin archive to your Desktop.

6. Double-click on the Odin executable file and it’ll launch.

7. Click on PDA button and select the Root Package file you downloaded earlier.

8. Make sure that only Auto Reboot and F. Reset Time boxes are checked in the tool, leave Repartition box unchecked.

9. Turn OFF your device.

10. Reboot the device into Download mode. To do so, simply press and hold the Volume DOWN+Home+Power buttons together.

11. Once inside Download mode, connect the device to your PC via USB cable.

12. Click on Start button in the Odin and it’ll start flashing the file.

13. Your device will automatically reboot.

14. Turn OFF your device.

15. Reboot the device into Recovery Mode. This can be done by pressing and holding the Volume UP+Home+Power buttons together.

16. In the Recovery mode, choose apply update from sdcard and select the Update ZIP file you copied earlier to the device.

17. Reboot the device.

18. And you’re all done!

Excellent! Your device has been successfully rooted and you can now start using root-only apps on it.

If this procedure helped you please thank/donate to the original developers here.

If you need help with this procedure, please ask in the comments below or in the forum.

This is part of our Android How To’s. We have how to’s on rooting, loading ROMs, and tons of other tips and tricks for your specific device or for Android devices in general! For all of our Android How To’s, head here.