How to Root Samsung Galaxy M21 and Unlock Bootloader

One of the popular phone series from Samsung is its Galaxy M series, and about a few months earlier they added Galaxy M21 to the series. It is a budget phone and known as Monster because of its big battery, great camera, and a fantastic display. The Galaxy M21 is prevalent in many regions, and if you own this great device, then this guide is for you. Here you get to know How to Root Samsung Galaxy M21 and guide to unlock bootloader on Samsung M21.

Samsung Galaxy M21 comes with great hardware for powerpack performance, and it is available at a reasonable price. The device released with Android 10 based OneUI 2.0. It features a big 6.4-inch AMOLED display with FHD+ resolution. Galaxy M21 powered with its own Exynos 9611 processor integrated with Mali-G72 MP3 GPU. The phone coupled with 4GB & 6GB RAM options and 64GB & 128GB internal storage respectively. And its main feature is the battery which is 6000mAh on the phone.

This guide is for rooting Galaxy M21, and you must be thinking about what the need for rooting Galaxy M21. And here is your answer that it enables many advanced features on the phone that doesn’t come by default. Rooting adds many features such as support for custom fonts, custom boot animation, third party themes, and more. If you like to customize your phone, then root also enables support for Xposed Modules. So these are only a few advantages of rooting, but to root first, we have to unlock the bootloader of Galaxy M21 so let’s get into the guide.

How to Root Samsung Galaxy M21

Samsung phones are not easy to root because of the new security method implemented by Samsung. It restricts users from rooting and unlocking bootloader on their Samsung devices. But it is possible to root, all thanks to Magisk and John Wu, the developer of Magisk. We can root Samsung M21 with two different methods which are using Magisk Patched boot image and using a custom recovery & Magisk. But as you know rooting Galaxy M21 requires unlocking bootloader so first, we will guide you to unlock bootloader on Galaxy M21 and then root with Magisk Patched file.

Samsung Galaxy M21 Unlock Bootloader

All android phones come with locked bootloader for security reasons, and it restricts users from modifying their devices. So if you want to root your phone, then it is necessary to unlock the bootloader, and luckily Samsung allows us to unlock the bootloader. And it is easy to unlock bootloader on Samsung M21 without any wait time. Follow the below steps to unlock bootloader on Galaxy M21.

  1. First, take a full backup of your Galaxy M21 as unlocking bootloader will wipe data from your phone.
  2. Open Settings on your phone and go to About Phone > Software Information.
  3. In the Software Information, check for Build Number and tap 7-8 times to enable developer options. It will show ‘You are now a developer’.
  4. Go back to Settings and go to Additional Settings > Developer Options.
  5. Now enable OEM unlocking and USB debugging in the Developer Options. Samsung Galaxy M21 Unlock Bootloader
  6. Once you have enabled the OEM Unlocking and USB Debugging, press and hold Volume Up + Volume Down and connect your phone to your PC. Samsung Galaxy M21 Unlock Bootloader
  7. It will show a Warning screen on your phone, and now you can release both buttons. Now press Volume Up button once, and Galaxy M21 will boot into Download mode.
  8. Long press Volume Up button when the device in Download Mode and now the unlock bootloader on Galaxy M21 will start and wipe all data.
  9. The device will reboot into the system. Now make sure that OEM unlocking is greyed out in Developer options. If not, then wait for a few days and repeat the steps.

Once you have unlocked the bootloader on Samsung Galaxy M21, you can proceed with rooting Samsung M21. It is not easy to unlock bootloader on Samsung devices because of extra security. But with the above steps, you can easily unlock the bootloader. Before rooting your phone, follow the below requirement list.

Prerequisites

Root Samsung Galaxy M21 using Magisk

  1. Extract the Downloaded Firmware on your computer and check for AP file (file starting with AP) which will be in tar format.
  2. Copy the AP file to your phone storage. Also, extract the Odin tool zip file on your PC.
  3. You need Magisk Manager to patch the file so install it on your phone if already done then skip it.
  4. Now open the Magisk Manager app and click on Install > Install. How to root Samsung Galaxy M21
  5. A pop up will appear with a few options, so choose ‘Select and Patch a File’. How to root Samsung Galaxy M21
  6. Browse and select the AP tar file and wait for the patching process. It can take a few seconds.
  7. After the complete patching process, the output file will be saved in the Download folder with the name magisk_patched.tar.
  8. Copy the magisk_patched.tar file to your PC and remember the location as we will need it in upcoming steps.
  9. Open the Odin Flash Tool on your Computer.
  10. Make sure to untick Auto-Reboot option in the Options tab in the Odin tool and untick Auto-Reboot. Check screenshot for reference. How to root Samsung M21
  11. On the right side of the tool, click on the AP and locate the magisk_patched.tar file. Click on the BL and load the BL file from extracted firmware and similarly load the CP and CSC file in their respective section. How to root Samsung Galaxy M21
  12. Then Boot your Galaxy M21 in the Download Mode. You can follow steps 6 & 7 from unlock bootloader section to boot into download mode.
  13. Connect your phone to your computer when the Galaxy M21 is in Download Mode. The Odin tool will detect your phone, and you can see the blue color near ID: COM.
  14. After completing all the above steps, click on the Start button. It will start flashing the Firmware, including Magisk patched file.
  15. You can disconnect your phone when it shows the Pass message. Then follow the below steps carefully.
  16. Now you need to carefully boot into the rooted system using the below button combination.
    • Press & hold the Volume Up + Power button and release all the buttons when you see the warning screen.
  17. That’s all, and now you have successfully rooted your Samsung M21 with Magisk.

The above method will root your Samsung M21, and you can use all the root functions on your phone. But there are other important things that you need to know before rebooting your phone. Samsung has dual layer security, and so you need to take correct steps while rebooting into the system. If you are not familiar with the shortcuts to boot Samsung phones into a specific system, then below we have listed the shortcut button combos. Check out and make sure to use the same process when you want to boot into the system.

  • System without Root: Normal power-up
  • System with Root: Press & hold the Volume Up + Power button and release all the buttons when you see the warning screen.
  • Recovery Mode: Press & hold Volume Up + Power button together and when you see Warning screen release only the Power button and keep pressing Volume Up button until you see Recovery.

The last one is an important part, and once your phone boots into the system, you can check for root access. If the Magisk is installed successfully, then it means you have rooted your phone. And now you can use root features like an Ad blocker, remove pre-installed apps, and many other features.

You May Also Like | Download Google Camera 7.2 for Samsung Galaxy M21

There you have it the complete guide on how to root Samsung M21 along with a guide to unlock bootloader Galaxy M21. And if you have any relates questions, then let us know in the comment section below.

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AUTHOR.

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Ashutosh singh

Computer Science graduate and tech enthusiast. Love testing new tech gadgets ever since my first windows phone from Samsung. Working as a technical writer for more than five years, and I believe I have also developed good SEO skills. In my spare time, I like watching movies, and playing games.

2 thoughts on “How to Root Samsung Galaxy M21 and Unlock Bootloader”

    • Try this,
      After patching AP file extract it and then compress again with files meta-data, boot.img, recovery.img, vbmeta.img and remove other files. So in the new compressed tar file only these four files should be there. And then flash this file through Odin.

      Reply

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