How to root Samsung GALAXY Tab Pro 8.4 tablet with CF Auto Root?

When it made its first debut in 2014, Samsung GALAXY Tab Pro tablets made everyone impressed especially with the new redesigned Android layout and UI with the so-called ‘Magazine UI’. It looks more professional, organized and attractive than the standard stock UI of Android OS.

Unfortunately, similar just what happens to Samsung Galaxy Tab S series, all the tablets under Samsung Galaxy Tab PRO have been written off by Samsung to not receive the official software updates to Android Lollipop 5.0 OS, which means all the tablets under this series will be stuck for good at Android Kitkat OS.

Thankfully, there’s another workaround that you can apply if you want to upgrade your Tab PRO tablet to Android Lollipop OS and even Marshmallow OS. One of them is by using CyanogenMOD custom ROMs.

Okay then, below I’m going to show you how to root Samsung GALAXY Tab Pro 8.4 tablet by using a software called ‘CF Auto Root’. Hope this works on your device.



First of all, before starting to the process of rooting, you need to check the firmware version that’s currently running on your Samsung GALAXY Tab Pro 8.4 tablet. This is really important to do in order to ensure that your device is compatible with the rooting method I’m going to share to you here in this post.

To do that, now go to Setting > scroll down to the very bottom of the list > and then select the option ‘About Tablet’.

Make sure that your Samsung GALAXY Tab Pro 8.4 is currently running the firmware version of ‘SM-T320’, which is based on Android 4.4.2 Kitkat.


Now open your computer or laptop and download these 2 important files that you’re about to use in this process of rooting. The first one is the rooting software called ‘CF Auto Root’. And the second file is Samsung USB driver that is compatible with your Samsung GALAXY Tab Pro 8.4 tablet.



After downloading the 2 files above, now transfer them to the desktop of your computer because you will run these 2 files from your computer, NOT on your tablet.


Now turn off your tablet. We’re about to start to the process of rooting. But first, make sure that your tablet now has around 50% of battery life or more. This is really important so the process can proceed without any interruption.


Once your tablet is fully powered off, now you need to enter to the system mode of this tablet. To do that, press the HOME BUTTON + VOLUME DOWN + and POWER BUTTON AT THE SAME TIME.

Your device will then turn on to the system mode, but not on the regular system. So your tablet will not enter to the homescreen.

As you can see on the screen, the warning message will be prompted to you. To proceed to the ‘Download or ODIN mode’, press volume UP to continue. After that, your tablet will enter to the Download/ODIN mode. The green Android robot will show up here on the screen.


The first file you need to install is Samsung USB driver. This is really important to do in order to ensure that your computer/laptop can recognize the system of your tablet when it’s connected through USB cable.


After installing Samsung USB driver, now extract the CF Auto Root software which you JUST downloaded earlier. Try to extract this file on the desktop.


The next thing to do now is plug in the USB cable with your computer.


After plugging in the USB cable to your computer, now connect your tablet to your computer. And then wait for a few seconds until your laptop recognizes your device.


Now open the folder of CF Auto Root which you extracted earlier on the desktop. This CF Auto Root is actually just an executable software, so you don’t need to install it to your computer.

To run this software, open the file named ‘Odin3’.


Once you open the ‘Odin3’ file, as you can see on the software, there is a bunch of information and configurations that have been set as default by the software.

Now in order for this rooting process to work correctly, first of all, make sure that you see the word ‘[COM]’ (along with number) on the section ‘ID-COM’. And then, there is a word ‘Added’ inside the text field ‘Message’.

If you can see these 2 words on the software, then it means that your tablet is properly connected with your computer through the Samsung USB driver which you installed earlier. But DO NOT CHANGE any configuration on this tool. Just leave the software untouched.

** However, if you don't see these 2 words above, the DO NOT PROCEED TO THE NEXT STEPS YET. Your computer is probably still having a problem recognizing your tablet. **


Okay, now press the ‘PDA’ button on the right. Usually, this Odin3 software will automatically recognize and locate the CF Auto Root file without asking you to find it again on your computer. So, if that happens, double click the ‘CF Auto Root’ file that you see on the prompted window.


Once you select and double click the ‘CF-Auto-Root-..’ file on the prompted window, the Odin3 software will give a check mark on the small box and there will be some new lines of texts appearing inside the ‘Message’ box.

Now to start the rooting process of your tablet, press the ‘Start’ button.


After pressing the ‘Start’ button, the rooting process will begin. All you need to do now is wait for a few seconds until the process is complete.


As you can see, after a few seconds, your tablet will be rebooting automatically. The green Android robot that you saw earlier on this screen will now turn into red. But don’t worry, this is normal and as expected in the process of rooting.


As you can see on the screen, there is a message that says that your tablet is about to reboot in 10 seconds. Your tablet will then reboot itself and go back to the system or homescreen.

Meanwhile, on your computer’s screen, the green bar of the Odin3 software will only fill up the first bar, not the entire bar. But that’s okay because this is what is supposed to happen.


Once your tablet finishes rebooting and finally enters to the homescreen, you can then close the ‘Odin3’ software on your computer. After that, disconnect your tablet from the USB cable.


As you can see on your tablet, once your device is rooted, a new app called ‘SuperSU’ will appear on the app drawer, this means your Samsung GALAXY Tab Pro 8.4 tablet has been successfully rooted. Congratulations guys!

Okay, now open this SuperSU app.


After you open the SuperSU app, it will warn you that SuperSU will disable the feature called ‘KNOX’ on this tablet. Now select ‘Ok’ to start activating this SuperSU app.


In the next prompted window, select the option ‘NO, thanks’.


Now your Samsung GALAXY Tab Pro 8.4 tablet has been successfully rooted. However, in order to ensure that the root access is indeed available on this tablet, you need to verify it by using an app called ‘Root Checker’.

Okay, now go to Google Play Store and download this app. And once you finish installing this app, open it and select ‘Verify Root’ to start verifying the root access on your device. The small window will be prompted on the screen. Select ‘ALLOW’ or ‘GRANT’ in this options.

Root Checker will then show you the green check mark and text that says ‘Congratulations! Root access is properly installed on this device!’.


Well, there you go guys, my step-by-step guide for you if you want to root your Samsung GALAXY Tab Pro 8.4 tablet by using CF Auto Root software. Hopefully, this method above works perfectly on your device.

Anyway, you can actually upgrade your Samsung Galaxy Tab PRO 8.4 tablet to Android Lollipop 5.0 OS by using CyanogenMOD 12 custom ROMs.

So if you feel kind of bored using the stock ‘Magazine UI’ and want to upgrade its software/OS, then you can check out my other posts below:

• *** How to install Android Lollipop 5.0 OS on Samsung GALAXY Tab Pro 8.4 (CyanogenMOD 12)?
• *** How to install Android Marshmallow 6.0 OS on Samsung GALAXY Tab Pro 8.4 (CyanogenMOD 13)?

More details at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Rc17Hj11RM

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