In this guide, we will show you the steps to download and flash a blank vbmeta for your Samsung device. Things are quite straightforward and uncomplicated till you are in the stock ecosystem. However, as soon as you decide to make a jump into custom development, you might have to carry out a few additional tweaks so as to remove the restrictions put in place by your smartphone manufacturer.
The OEM places these roadblocks to prevent the users from ditching the stock unmodified OS and welcoming abode custom binaries as these mods always pose a risk or two to the normal functioning of the system. One such roadblock has been put in place by Samsung that prevents users from installing unofficial tweaks on their devices.
Fortunately, you could easily bypass this limitation by flashing a blank vbmeta file on your Samsung device. And in this guide, we will show you how to do just that. But before that, let’s try to understand how flashing a blank vbmeta will help you circumvent this problem. So without further ado, let’s get started.
Why Is there a Need to Flash Blank Vbmeta
Flashing a blank vbmeta is needed to disable the Android Verified Boot [popularly known as AVB] on your device. This will then allow you to install custom mods and binaries such as a custom recovery like TWRP [via Odin] or even a Generic System Image [GSI ROM]. To create a blank vbmeta, you’ll have to repatch the Magisk boot image with Preserve AVB 2.0/Dm-verity and file encryption and manually remove AVB from the fstab present in the vendor partition.
Download Blank Vbmeta
You may now get hold of the blank vbmeta from the below link. The only way to check if it works for you or not is to flash it onto your device. If it does, well and good, or else you’ll have to repair the vbmeta partition [which is quite easy to do, as explained in the next section]
DOWNLOAD LINK
Once you have downloaded the file, it will be in an IMG format. You’ll have to convert it to TAR to make it Odin-compatible. So carry out this task as explained below:
- To begin with, download and install the 7ZIP software on your PC.
- Then right-click on vbmeta.img and select Show More Options > 7ZIP.
- Now select Add to > Archive. Select the Format as TAR and save the file as vbmeta.tar.
How to Flash Blank Vbmeta on Samsung
Before starting, please take a backup of all the data on your device, just to be on the safer side. Thedroidwin will not be held responsible if something happens to your device or data after performing the below steps:
- First off, boot your Samsung device to Download Mode.
- Then download and extract the Odin Tool on your PC.
- Now launch Odin via its EXE file and click OK in the prompt.
- Then click on AP and load the blank vbmeta.tar file in that slot.
- Finally, click Start and the file will be flashed.
- If it’s successful, your device will boot to the OS, else, you’ll get the following error message.
Reason vbmeta: Error verifying vbmeta image
- In that case, just flash the vbmeta_disabled.tar file that you use for flashing the TWRP Recovery in the AP slot of Odin.
Now, since the blank vbmeta didn’t work out, you have two options- either create a new one yourself or refer to its alternatives, both of which are explained below.
How to Create Blank Vbmeta
If the aforementioned blank vbmeta didn’t work out for you, then let’s proceed ahead and create a blank vbmeta ourselves which in turn will allow you to flash any unsigned partition!
- To begin with, root your Samsung device via Magisk patched AP.
- Then download and install Solid File Manager and mount vendor.
- Then navigate to /vendor/etc and open up the exynos9611.fstab file.
- Now search the word avb, delete it, and save the file. Once done, restart your device.
- Then download the vbmeta.tar file from below. Now download and extract Odin on your PC.
- Now load the vbmeta.tar file in Odin’s AP and USERDATA slots and click Start.
- The file will be flashed. Once done, reboot your device to the Recovery Mode.
- Now perform a factory reset from the recovery. Your device will undergo a reboot a couple of times, it is completely normal.
- Install the Magisk APK again and launch it. It will install additional dependencies and restart your device. Once done, let’s now patch the samsung_vbmeta.
- So download the samsung_vbmeta from below, and extract it to your device’s Download folder.
- Now enable USB Debugging on your device and connect it to your PC via a USB cable.
- Then download and extract Android SDK Platform Tools on your PC. Now open a Command Prompt there. Now type in the below three commands
adb shell su dd if=/sdcard/Download/vbmeta.img of=/dev/block/by-name/samsung_vbmeta
- You might get a prompt on your device, both for adb shell as well as su, make sure to tap on Grant/Allow/OK.
As soon as the commands are executed successfully, both the vbmeta and samsung_vbmeta should now be unsigned and it will allow you to flash any unsigned partition!
Alternatives to Flashing a Blank Vbmeta
If downloading or creating your own vbmeta didn’t get the job done and you are still unable to disable the Android Verified Boot, then in most cases [such as while flashing a GSI ROM], simply rooting the device would be sufficient as well. Here’s how it could be done [the below process will wipe off all the data, so please take a complete device backup beforehand].
- To begin with, download and install a TWRP Recovery on your device.
- Then go to Wipe > Format Data > type in YES > hit the blue checkmark.
- Now transfer the Magisk ZIP file to your device via the TWRP Recovery.
- Go to Install, select the Magisk ZIP, and perform a right swipe to flash it.
- Once done, go to Reboot and select System. Now install the Magisk APK.
- Now launch it, let it install the dependencies, and then restart the device.
- With this, the Android Verified Boot now stands disabled on your device.
If you are planning to flash any GSI ROM, then extract the GSI.img.xz and get the GSI.img. Then transfer the file to your device. Now boot to TWRP, go to Install, tap on Install Image, and select the GSI.img. Then choose the System partition and flash the GSI. Once done, go to Wipe > Format Data > type in YES > hit the blue checkmark. Finally, select Reboot > System. Your device will now boot to the newly flashed GSI ROM.
So on that note, we round off this guide regarding the blank vbmeta file for your Samsung device. If you have any queries concerning the aforementioned steps, do let us know in the comments. We will get back to you with a solution at the earliest.
