Boot Samsung Galaxy S9 into Download Mode using our easy steps tutorial. Launched in March 2018, Samsung Galaxy S9 is a flagship smartphone which is also a successor of the last years Samsung Galaxy S8. Curved glass panels on the front and back, high power camera on the back, high end processor and long last battery life. Yes, with such devastating specs Samsung Galaxy S9 is definitely a smartphone of the year. Some of its more specs include 5.8 inches of Super AMOLED screen with 1440 x 2960 pixels of resolution, Octa-core Qualcomm SDM845 Snapdragon 845 Processor with 256 GB of internal storage and 4 GB of RAM. It even features 12 megapixel of primary camera and 8 megapixel of front camera for selfies. It was launched with the all new Android 8.0 Oreo operating system. In today’s article, we’ll discuss some easy steps on how to boot Galaxy S9 into Download Mode.
Download mode is a special state or we can say a sub-system of an Android phone and is mainly used to flash stock firmwares through official means. Once you enter your Galaxy S9 into download mode, the system of your device will boot from external sources instead of the stock bootloader which will directly help you to replace the stock ROM on your device. Moreover, download mode is also widely used in gaining root access, flashing custom recovery, custom ROMs, boot loader, kernels, modems, pit files, system update etc.
By booting Galaxy S9 into Download Mode, you can easily install the newly released Samsung official OTA updates. You can flash them from PC directly into your phone. Note that while flashing any official stock firmware you’ll need a tool called Odin which must be installed on your PC. Below you can find the download links for all versions of Odin.
If you are flashing Stock ROM by entering your Galaxy S9 into download mode, then you need the ROM package file in tar or tar.md5 format which can be flashed by Odin tool from a PC. Note that Odin does not accept zip files which is completely different from flashing ROMs through recovery mode. Download Mode is essentially considered as the same as Bootloader Mode.
For entering into downloading mode, it is not essential that your phone has root access. Download mode, also called as Odin mode can be entered on any smartphone or tablet irrespective of whether it is rooted or unrooted, whether it has custom ROM or stock ROM installed. To confirm that you’ve successfully booted your Galaxy S9 into download mode, you’ll see a black/blue screen with an Android image in it which says “Downloading”.
There are different methods to boot your Galaxy S9 into download mode. The universal method is by pressing and holding the hard keys/buttons. But what if your button is not working or is broken. Still it is possible to boot your Galaxy S9 into download mode. Entering Galaxy S9 into download mode is one of the easiest tasks that any Android user can implement, as you just need to follow any of the instructions mentioned below. Here in this step by step guide, we’ll discuss four important methods on how to easily enter Galaxy S9 into download mode with or without keys.
How to Enter Samsung Galaxy S9 into Download Mode
Here we have mentioned 4 different ways to enter your Galaxy S9 into download mode. You can refer any one of them.
Note that the below mentioned methods are applicable on all variants of Samsung Galaxy S9 including SM-G9600, SM-G960F, SM-G960T, SM-G960N, SM-G960U, SM-G960W, SM-G960FD and SM-G9608.
Method 1: Using Hard Keys
Step 1: Power off your Samsung Galaxy S9 completely until it vibrates.
Step 2: Press and Hold Volume Down key + Bixby button + Power button simultaneously until you see a warning message. Leave all the keys as you see the warning message window.
Step 3: Now just press Volume up button to continue.
This will directly land your Galaxy S9 into download mode.
That’s all! You’ve successfully booted your Galaxy S9 into download mode using hard keys.
Method 2: Using ADB commands
ADB and Fastboot is a versatile command line tool that lets you communicate with your device when connected to computer (Windows, Mac or Linux) using a USB cable. Through these commands you can perform various actions such as installing and debugging apps, backing up partitions and many more. Lets use this ADB and Fastboot method to boot your Galaxy S9 into download mode.
Step 1: Enable the USB debugging mode on your device. For doing that, follow the path Menu->Settings->Developer options ->USB debugging. If you don’t see Developer option then go to Settings->About Phone and tap 7 times on the Build number. This will make the Developer option appear in the Settings menu.
Step 2: Enable OEM unlocking and Advance reboot mode from Developer options.
Step 3: Download and install ADB and Fastboot setup on your PC.
Step 4: Then using USB cable, connect your Galaxy S9 to PC.
Step 5: Launch Command window on your PC. For doing that, hold Shift button and right mouse click anywhere on your PC. You’ll see a list of options from which select Open command window here option. This will launch the command prompt window.
Step 6: Now to ensure that your Galaxy S9 is properly connected to your PC, type the following command in the command window and press enter key:
adb devices
As soon as you press enter key, you’ll see a message saying ‘List of devices attached’ along with some random numbers. This will confirm that your Galaxy S9 has successfully connected to your PC.
Note: If such thing doesn’t happen, then re-install device drivers, enable USB debugging mode and try again. If the problem still persists, try changing USB cable or even the USB port.
Step 7: Now to boot your Samsung Galaxy S9 into download mode, type the following command in the command window and hit enter key:
adb reboot download
As soon as you press enter key, your Galaxy S9 will enter into download mode.
Method 3: Using Terminal Emulator (Requires ROOT)
Terminal Emulator app helps you in accessing the Android’s built-in Linux command line shell.
This method requires root access on your phone.
Step 1: Download and install Terminal Emulator App.
Step 2: Launch Terminal Emulator App.
Step 3: Type this command in it and press enter key:
su
Step 4: As soon as you hit enter key, a popup will appear to grant Superuser permissions. So click on Grant option.
Step 5: On the next line type the following command and press enter key:
reboot download
As soon as you hit enter key, your Galaxy S9 will boot into downloading mode.
Great! You’ve successfully booted your Galaxy S9 into download mode using Terminal Emulator App.
Method 4: Using Quick Reboot App (Requires ROOT)
Quick Reboot app provides advanced reboot options to boot your Galaxy S9 into download mode, recovery mode, normal reboot, fast reboot, safe mode and much more.
This method also requires root access on your phone.
Step 1: Download and install Quick Reboot app.
Step 2: Launch Quick Reboot app.
Step 3: Tick the ‘I have read and accept the terms’ and click on confirm.
Step 4: To enter into downloading mode, click on the Fastboot mode option.
Step 5: Then Tap on Yes to confirm.
Step 6: As soon as you click on Yes, a popup will appear to grant Superuser permissions. So hit the Grant option.
That’s all! You’ve successfully booted your Galaxy S9 into download mode using Quick Reboot app.
How to Exit (get out of) Download Mode
- For Android phones with a removable battery, you just need to open the back panel, remove and re-insert the battery and then normally start the phone by pressing Power button.
- For non-removable battery phones, long press + hold the Power button to exit the download mode and restart the device.
- For phones with Android 6.0 Marshmallow and above OS, Google has introduced new process to exit the Download mode. For that you need to press and hold Power button + Volume Down key simultaneously until your device reboots.
I hope that this clear things up on how to enter and exit your Samsung Galaxy S9 SM-G9600, SM-G960F, SM-G960T, SM-G960N, SM-G960U, SM-G960W, SM-G960FD and SM-G9608 into Download Mode.
For any issues related to the above article kindly contact me through the comments mentioned below. It’ll be pleasure to help you guys. Till then Keep Smiling and Peace Out! ??
