Updated: Samsung Phone - Flashing with Australian ROM How to

I was looking to change a mate's newly bought Galaxy S8's firmware from UAE to Australia and was reading spacejase's post. It was quite informative but few things were not clear and that took me a while to understand. like ADB drivers part. I thought I will post a step by step guide on what I did to achieve this. Credit still goes to spacejase for original post

This post will guide you on how to install Australian ROM on imported Samsung phone.

If you can avoid, DO NOT update mobile's software. Back up your data before you start following this guide as your data will be erased when flashing a new ROM on your phone

This method does not root your phone. This will not work with the Hong Kong/Chinese Note 8 N9500 version as there are no Australian (or any international) ROMS

You can only flash the ROMS specified for your model of Samsung phone, ROMS are not interchangeable and flashing other versions will potentially damage (brick) your phone

I take no responsibility for any issues you have with this process - I've just provided this for information

Things that you will need before we start:

• USB-C cable
• Windows PC/Laptop
• Odin 3.12.x for Windows – Free Download
• Samsung Android USB drivers for Windows - Free download
• Platform tools
• Samsung ROM for your specific phone (ROM that you are going to install) - Download from Updato
  Please note, speeds can be slow at times when downloading from updato. If so then cancel the download and try again later. Only download the latest ROM [Check by date of release.]

NOTE CHANGING THE ROM (in ODIN) WILL WIPE YOUR PHONE OF DATA so make sure everything is backed up first
THIS DOES NOT ROOT YOUR PHONE

Enable debugging on your phone:

• Open settings on your phone > Search for Build Number > Tap Build Number for 7 times > Popup will appear saying "Congratulations, you are now a developer"
• Go back into settings > Scroll down to the bottom of page or search Developer options > Turn USB Debugging on > Check USB configuration is MTP (media transfer protocol) [If you can't find it, it may show up on unlocked phone screen when you connect it to laptop]

Install Samsung Android USB drivers for Windows

• Extract downloaded files from link above.
• Create a folder called "ADB" in C drive.
• start installing Samsung Android USB drivers from extracted folder > Choose ADB folder as path to install these drivers in > Finish the install by following further prompts.
• Restart your computer/laptop after installation finishes.
• To confirm the installation, connect mobile to your computer using USB C cable > Allow connection to computer from mobile (You will have to unlock your phone to see the prompt) > Go into device manager on laptop/computer and Samsung Android phone [See linked image] (If you don't see it, don't worry too much about it)

Install Platform tools

(Now I am not sure whether this step is necessary but it's not harmful to avoid getting "Fail" error at the end)

• Download Platform tools from link above.
• Extract the file > Go into extracted folder > There should be only one folder in there > Name this folder "Platform Tools"
• Copy "Platform Tools" folder and paste it inside "ADB" folder we created in last step.

Confirm ADB status

• Connect your mobile to laptop/computer and allow the connection from mobile as we did in previous step.
• Now go back into "ADB" folder > Go into "Platform Tools" folder > Click on the bar at the top > Delete everything in there and type "cmd" > Hit enter button
• Command prompt should open with a path of "C:\ADB\Platform Tools>"
  If you didn't understand above two points - Search Run in Cortana search field > A popup should appear > In there paste the following;
  cmd /c "start /max cmd /K "cd C:\ADB\Platform Tools\"
  and hit enter.
  [Also remember cmd will only open in desired path if you have named your folders exactly the same as mine, including capital letters]
• Once the command is open, Type "adb devices" and hit enter. Example of how it looks like in command prompt
  "C:\ADB\Platform Tools>adb devices"
• Cmd will show
  > List of devices attached
  > daemon not running; starting now at tcp:5037
  > daemon started successfully
• Again type "adb devices" and hit enter.
  > This time it should say "list of devices attached" followed by a string of numbers and the word "authorised" or "device"

IF YOUR PHONE IS NOT AUTHORISED REPEAT THE EARLIER STEPS, FLASHING WILL NOT WORK IF THE PHONE IS NOT AUTHORISED PROPERLY

Download Firmware

• Search and download the firmware that you want to install on your phone
  For example my phone was Galaxy S8 G950FD, and I went with G950F (XSA)
• Extract the downloaded file.

Install Odin

• Download Odin from link above or the latest version and run the application.

Lets start the process of flashing the ROM

• Make sure your phone is not plugged into computer and that it has at least 40% something battery (Just in case and I hope you have already backed up your phone before you started following this guide)
• Run Odin Application > Click on BL tab and go into extracted ROM folder > Select the file beginning with name BL > Do the same for CP and AP tabs.
• For CSC tab there are two files in the folder; CSC and Home_CSC
  > Choosing file beginning with name CSC will erase all user data (Again I hope you have backed up your device) and this is the file I chose for my example device.
  > Choosing File beginning with name Home_CSC is supposed to keep user data?
• Lets say you choose file name beginning with CSC.
• Leave USERDATA tab empty.
• Under options tab > Check "Auto reboot and "F. Reset Time"
• Now there are some articles saying you should check "Re-patition" option while others are saying it can mess partitions real bad and to avoid it. I went without it for my example device.
• Reboot phone in Download Mode (Press and hold Bixby + Power + Volume Down buttons then press volume UP to continue into download mode)
  This method can vary for other devices.
• Connect your mobile to the laptop and allow access to mobile with prompt on your phone (like we did in previous steps)
• You should see blue colored box above "ID:COM" section and in the log section it should say "<ID:0/003> Added!!"
  > DON'T PROCEED UNTIL YOU GET THE BLUE COLOUR IN THE ID:COM BOX in the Odin program, if it’s not blue, something isn't configured properly.
• Make sure the firmware files are in their designated slots in Odin.
• Click start button when you are confident that everything seems good to go.
• During this process DO NOT disconnect your phone from laptop.
• Odin will progress and will tell you when it is finished - It will go green and say PASS!
• The phone will then reboot and install the new rom, this will take a while but it will happen on screen.

Once restarted the phone should have Australian ROM on it.