How to Root the Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 (WiFi)

Have you just bought yourself a brand new Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 (WiFi)? Then go ahead and get yourself root-access as well. Rooting your device is as easy as pie and our guide below should help you do that.

Rooting is the process of gaining administrative rights on your Android device.  Once we root our Android device, we can then make changes to it to customize it well beyond what it normally can do.

Once you have root access on your Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 (WiFi), you’ll be able to:

  • Remove apps that were preinstalled by your carrier/manufacturer from your device.
  • Free up storage space (because of the above benefit).
  • Increase battery life (apps that might have been running constantly can be removed).
  • Increase performance (after removing apps that are always running, the device will be less bogged down and run smoother).
  • Update to a new version of Android (by flashing a custom recovery/ROM, see the end of this procedure for more info on that).
  • Tons of other customizations when you use your new found administrative rights to flash a custom ROM (again, see the end of this procedure for more info on that).

Interested? Here’s how to root your Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 (WiFi):

I. Before You Begin

1. This will void the warranty of your device. You’re doing this at your own risk, we won’t be held responsible if you end-up bricking your device.

2. This only works for the SM-T800 variant of the device.

3. This should only work on Windows based PCs.

4. You should’ve appropriate drivers installed on your PC. If you haven’t, you can download and install the latest drivers from here.

5. This procedure flashes a custom recovery as well.

II. Downloading Required Files

1. Download Odin and save it to your desktop.

Odin

2. Download CF-Root and save it to your desktop.

CF-Root

3. Download CWM Recovery and save it to your desktop.

CWM Recovery (Download link’s available in the first post)

III. Rooting the Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 (WiFi)

1. Extract files from Odin and CF-Root to your desktop by right-clicking on each of them and selecting Extract here.

2. Launch Odin by double-clicking on its executable file.

3. Click on PDA and select the CF-Root file that you just extracted to your desktop.

4. Uncheck Repartition if it’s already checked in the Odin.

5. You can checkmark the boxes that say Auto Reboot and F. Reset Time.

6. Turn OFF your device.

7. Turn it back on by holding down Volume DOWN, Home, and Power buttons together.

8. Press Volume UP and your device should enter Download mode.

9. Plug in your device to your PC using the USB cable.

10. Hit Start in the Odin and it’ll start flashing the root file on your device.

11. Once the file’s flashed, your device should automatically reboot.

12. And you’re done!

Awesome! Your Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 (WiFi variant) is now rooted. If you’ve been waiting to install some root-only apps on your device, now is the perfect time to do so.

If rooting alone doesn’t satisfy your needs, you should consider flashing a recovery as it’ll then let you flash a custom ROM on your device. Here’s how:

IV. Flashing a Custom Recovery on the Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 (WiFi)

1. Connect your device to your PC via USB cable.

2. Copy CWM Recovery from your desktop over to the root of your SD card. It’s the topmost folder you have on your SD card.

3. Once the file’s copied, disconnect your device from your PC.

4. Head over to the Google Play store and download and install Terminal Emulator on your device.

5. Launch Terminal Emulator from your App Drawer.

6. Type in following command into the Terminal Emulator window. Make sure to replace filename.img with the actual name of the recovery image you downloaded.

su

dd if=/sdcard/filename.img of=/dev/block/platform/dw_mmc.0/by-name/RECOVERY

7. It should flash the recovery on your device.

8. When the recovery’s flashed, reboot your device.

9. And you’re all done!

Brilliant! You’ve successfully flashed a custom recovery on your Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 (WiFi variant). You can now go ahead and flash a custom ROM on your device.

You can click here to find all of the Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 (WiFi) How To’s.

You can also find all of the Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 (WiFi) ROMs we have here.

69 thoughts on “How to Root the Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 (WiFi)”

        1. actually…i need to correct this…the volume controls on the tab 10.5 seem to operate in reverse from the 8.4 i had last week…volume up is to the RIGHT not left like the last two samsung tabs i had…confusing huh? so left down right up

  1. Correction : “7. Turn it back on by holding down the Volume DOWN, the Power and the Home buttons together.”

    It may have been updated since you wrote the article.

  2. Hi Mahesh, Hopefully this does not break the fingerprint scanner? That is one feature I would miss if gone – Thanks in advance for the how-to!

    1. I followed this tutorial and am lacking understanding of how to use the Clockwork recovery. I turned off my Tab S and then turned it on while holding down volume up and the home button. It then entered the old default Android system recovery . I thought it loaded correctly last night when I followed your steps, but it did seem to go rather fast.

      The text that appears in the Terminal Emulator is as follows:

      15640+0 records in
      15640+0 records out

      8007680 bytes transferred in 1.393 secs (5748513 bytes/sec)

      If this is all that should have appeared then I must wonder what my next step is to access this recovery system.

  3. Hi, does anyone have a link to a Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10,5 (Wifi) European ROM. I bought mien in the US, and I would like to flash it so I can choose choose Danish language 🙂

    1. Hi James,

      Does the SuperSU app appear in your App Drawer? If it does, just open the Game Killer and it’ll ask you for root permission, hit the Grant button and you’ll be all set.

      Hope this helps!

  4. Hiya,

    I have just held down the buttons to enter download mode but pressing up did nothing. So I have entered A manual mode which I cannot get out of. Holding down the power button does not switch this device off. I have held it for up to 1 minute and nothing.

    I have installed the USB drivers on a windows PC, but when I plug the T-800 into the PC the device does not show. nor does it show in ODIN.

    Will I have to wait until my battery runs out now, or is there a way of turning the T-800 off?

    My screen says:

    # MANUAL MODE #
    — Applying Multi-CSC….
    Applied the CSC-code : TGY
    Successfully applied multi-CSC

    Now send the package you want to apply
    to the device with “adb sideload “…

    Thanks

  5. KidSareezWorldstarLCounter

    Excuse me Mahesh, is it only one variant of Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 Wifi?

    Aka SM-T800? Correct?

    So like if I buy a Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 Wifi from Amazon, etc, it should (by default) be “SM-T800”, correct?

        1. Steven Dorsey

          All Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5’s should be SM-T800. SMT805’s are all the wired variant. So if it says Wireless, its T800, if its not wireless but requires a wired connection, its T805. 🙂

          1. that doesn’t make any sense….. theres no such thing as a tablet that requires a wired connection…. assuming you’re refering to internet… which, you know what they say about assuming. so i could and probably am making an ass of myself. but lets not give people the wrong advice.

          2. Just now saw this reply. I should like to inform you that the Galaxy Tab S has two variants. The SM-T800 and the SM-T805. And there is a request thread for Cyanogenmod 11 to be ported to the Galaxy Tab S has a sizable cadre of users chiming in together, requesting that Cyanogenmod 11 be ported to the “SM-T805 Wired Variant”.

          3. I can see where you might get confused. Kinda. The smt805 is the varient with wireless carrier (sold through Verizon,att,etc and includes 3g) as well as WiFi where as the smt800 is the WiFi only. But as far as wired. There isn’t a Samsung tablet that exists on the market that has an Ethernet port. The main reason being , it defeats the purpose of a tablet, as well as the undeniable push to make everything wireless , which has been a standard since day one of samsung tablets or any tablet

          4. I can see where you might get confused. Kinda. The smt805 is the varient with wireless carrier (sold through Verizon,attend,etc and includes 3g) as well as WiFi where as the smt800 is the WiFi only. But as far as wired. There isn’t a Samsung tablet that exists on the market that has an Ethernet port. The main reason bejng , it defeats the purpose of a tablet, as well as the undeniable push to make everything wireless , which has been a standard since day one of samsung tablets or any tablet

  6. Hey, I’m having a bit of trouble installing the custom recovery. Can you go into a bit more detail with some screenshots about how to do this please? Thanks!

  7. I’m having trouble flashing the custom recovery in terminal emulator too. Can anyone help? It says no such file or directory

        1. I’m not the expert as Mahesh is, but, definitively You’ll loss warranty, unless the unroot procedure erase all evidence of the rooting procedure.

  8. Hi, Thx for the tuto, ODIN gets stuck there and nothing happens on the device, what should I do? Please help, Im worried…

    Added!!
    Enter CS for MD5..
    Check MD5.. Do not unplug the cable..
    Please wait..
    CF_AutoRoot_Port_T800_BeansTown106.tar.md5 is valid.
    Checking MD5 finished Sucessfully..
    Leave CS..
    Odin v.3 engine (ID:3)..
    File analysis..
    SetupConnection..

  9. Will this work with the Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 LTE (SM-T805)? I want to enable writing to the external SD card by modifying the permissions.xml file.

  10. How long should the rooting process take? I started ODIN and my tablet says “Downloading… Do not turn off target!!” But it has been like that for over 30 minutes now. Should it take this long?

  11. can sombody help me with this? on skype screensharing or something i scared do do this becouse i have this tablet only 2 months, and i don’t want to brake it…

  12. Hi, thanks for writing this guide. I successfully rooted my T800, but I’m having trouble with the CWM recovery. After inputting the commands above, nothing seems to happen. How do you know if the cwm flash was successful? Thanks.

  13. Jennifer Christensen

    Odin refuses to see my tab in Download mode. When the tab is on (regular mode) and plugged in, Odin gives an “added!!” message. When I turn it off and try again in download mode (turn off, unplug, turn on in DL mode, plug in) Odin does nothing. Please help??

  14. i rooted my samsung galaxy tab s 10.5 LTE superuser apear on my tablet but it doesnt verify that it rooted what should i do ?

  15. How long should the rooting process take? I started ODIN and my tablet
    says “Downloading… Do not turn off target!!” But it has been like that
    for over 30 minutes now. Should it take this long?What sud i do next?

  16. I followed the instructions. It appears to go through the process, appropriate looking text scrolls through on both Odin and on device, though only takes about 30 seconds, but root checker says it is not rooted. What am I doing wrong?

    1. This is what appears in Odin on the PC
      Removed!!
      Added!!
      Removed!!
      Added!!
      Odin engine v(ID:3.1203)..
      File analysis..
      SetupConnection..
      Initialzation..
      Get PIT for mapping..
      Firmware update start..
      SingleDownload.
      cache.img
      recovery.img
      RQT_CLOSE !!
      RES OK !!
      Removed!!
      Remain Port …. 0
      All threads completed. (succeed 1 / failed 0)
      Added!!
      Removed!!

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