How to root the Samsung Galaxy A8

November 27, 2015

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This guide will show you how to root the popular Samsung Galaxy A8 phone from Samsung.

Disclaimer: FlexiSPY is not responsible for rooting the Android device in any way.  Before performing any of these steps make sure you back up your Android device completely.  Rooting is done entirely by you at your own risk. 

What is needed to root the Samsung Galaxy A8?

In order to root the Samsung Galaxy A8 you will need the following.

  • The Samsung Galaxy A8 you want to root in your hand.
  • A PC.

Step 1 – Download the USB drivers for the Samsung Galaxy A8 for your PC

In order for your PC to recognise the Samsung Galaxy A8 as part of the rooting process you first must download and install the USB drivers on to your PC.

You can download the USB drivers for the Samsung Galaxy A8 from here.

Once you have downloaded them run the main program file to make sure the drivers are installed.

Step 2 – Download the Odin rooting program

In order to root the Samsung Galaxy A8 using the root file given in the next step you must first download Odin which is what will be used to install the root file on to the Samsung Galaxy A8 and perform the rooting process.

You can download Odin from here.

Once downloaded extract the file to a convenient location such as the desktop and extract it.

Step 3 – Download the Samsung Galaxy A8 root package

Now that we have installed the Samsung Galaxy A8 USB drivers and downloaded Odin we now need to download the root package to be used for the rooting process.  For this device we are flashing a custom kernel.

PLEASE BACKUP THE DEVICE FIRST.  YOU DO THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK

You can download the Samsung Galaxy A8 root kernel from here.  When you have downloaded it save it to an easy to find location such as your desktop and extract it to get a .TAR file.

Step 4 – Enable USB debugging and OEM Unlock on the Samsung Galaxy A8

In order for your PC to recognise the Samsung Galaxy A8 when you plug it in to perform rooting you must first enable USB debugging on the phone itself.  This is done by doing the following.

  1. Tap the Settings option.
  2. Tap the About Phone option.
  3. Keep tapping the Build Number option (seven times) until it says you are a developer.
  4. Tap the new Developer Options menu that appears.
  5. Make sure that the USB Debugging option is checked.
  6. Make sure that the OEM unlocking option is checked.

Step 5 – Root the Samsung Galaxy A8

Now that we have all we need it is time to root the Samsung Galaxy A8.  Before we can do that you must first put the Samsung Galaxy A8 in to Download mode which can be done using the following steps.

  1. Make sure the Samsung Galaxy A8 is powered off completely.
  2. Hold down the Volume down key and the Home key and the power button and keep all three buttons pressed until the Samsung Galaxy A8 powers up.
  3. Providing you have done it correctly it should boot in to Download mode and you press the Volume up key to start Download mode.
  4. Connect the Samsung Galaxy A8 now to your PC.
  5. Run the Odin software you downloaded in step 2.
  6. Inside Odin click the AP option and browse on your computer to the .TAR root kernel file you downloaded and extracted in step 4.
  7. Inside Odin click Start to begin the root process.

The process will take a few moments after which the Samsung Galaxy A8 will restart itself and complete the rooting process – Do not remove the Samsung Galaxy A8 from your PC during this time.

Once the Samsung Galaxy A8 starts up properly simply go to the Play Store and search for and install SuperSU.

Once installed, tap SuperSU for it run and perform some first time tasks and then, once completed, the device should be rooted.

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