Database Develop

Need Help Missing OEM unlock in developer Option

Hello friends, i have Sm-n950f device. Yesterday, i tried to root my device. I successfully installed TWRP recovery but afterwards, i got error that only official binary allowed to be installed and i was stuck on samsung logo. Then with odin i install official firmware again and i found oem unlock missing. I tried some methods to get it back by setting up date 8 days back but nothing happen. Now my device have 1 july security pacth and its again showing update for august patch. What should i do??
Thanks

cheemak said:
Hello friends, i have Sm-n950f device. Yesterday, i tried to root my device. I successfully installed TWRP recovery but afterwards, i got error that only official binary allowed to be installed and i was stuck on samsung logo. Then with odin i install official firmware again and i found oem unlock missing. I tried some methods to get it back by setting up date 8 days back but nothing happen. Now my device have 1 july security pacth and its again showing update for august patch. What should i do??
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe try this and see if it works for you
https://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-note-8/how-to/oem-unlock-quick-fix-highly-recommend-t3791984

I tried these steps whole day but it did not work for me.,,, any other suggestion please?
thanks for your reply

cheemak said:
Hello friends, i have Sm-n950f device. Yesterday, i tried to root my device. I successfully installed TWRP recovery but afterwards, i got error that only official binary allowed to be installed and i was stuck on samsung logo. Then with odin i install official firmware again and i found oem unlock missing. I tried some methods to get it back by setting up date 8 days back but nothing happen. Now my device have 1 july security pacth and its again showing update for august patch. What should i do??
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If the workaround to bring back the oem unlock toggle isn't working, then you will have to wait the 7 days for it to appear. Then you can toggle it and try installing twrp again. You likely missed a step in the process last time which resulted in 'jail'.

cheemak said:
I tried these steps whole day but it did not work for me.,,, any other suggestion please?
thanks for your reply
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You could try my method here - https://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=76962872&postcount=28

I tried this method as well but without sim card and it didn't work,,, is sim card important to insert? Now my device running time is about 20 hours so I don't want to restart my device if I restarted then it again come back to 0. What should I do not getting??

indercheema14 said:
I tried this method as well but without sim card and it didn't work,,, is sim card important to insert? Now my device running time is about 20 hours so I don't want to restart my device if I restarted then it again come back to 0. What should I do not getting??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Reboots don't affect the 7 day timer. Your uptime timer will reset, but the 7 day timer for OEM unlock is server-side.

sefrcoko said:
Reboots don't affect the 7 day timer. Your uptime timer will reset, but the 7 day timer for OEM unlock is server-side.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok thank you for information,, i am getting OTA update for august security patch,, should i install this update or not? i want to root my device and install custom rom but still waiting for oem button to appear in developer option? what you suggest?

cheemak said:
Ok thank you for information,, i am getting OTA update for august security patch,, should i install this update or not? i want to root my device and install custom rom but still waiting for oem button to appear in developer option? what you suggest?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not sure but I think that installing the update could restart the 7-day wait period. If you want to root as fast as possible then it's probably safer to not install the update for now and just wait for the OEM Unlock toggle to appear. There is also a stick thread here with a workaround to skip the 7 day waiting period, but it didn't seem to work for everyone (although it did work for me the one time I tried it).

Any luck///need help too.
Any luck with getting the OEM to show?
I've tried them all waiting 7 to 2 weeks, factory reset change date at setting up insert sim card and no luck. I got my note 8 at soon as it came out so maybe it has something to do with it? I want to root it so bad it cant because of no OEM. Any new information would be great!

dandel0074 said:
Any luck with getting the OEM to show?
I've tried them all waiting 7 to 2 weeks, factory reset change date at setting up insert sim card and no luck. I got my note 8 at soon as it came out so maybe it has something to do with it? I want to root it so bad it cant because of no OEM. Any new information would be great!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What model do you have? What's your csc?

sefrcoko said:
What model do you have? What's your csc?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Damn, sorry I thought I listed it. I have a t mobile note 8 where the OEM wont show up and a unlocked note 9 N9600 where the OEM is grayed out to which I tried Odin flashing N9600 CPT/TCP version (not to sure right early this moment) and the flash passed but the phone was exactly the same without any changes and still the OEM was grayed out. I tried 3 different methods of changing dates on both phones with no luck. Any kind of new information or version ti they and get this OEM to work for me would be greatly appreciated.

dandel0074 said:
Damn, sorry I thought I listed it. I have a t mobile note 8 where the OEM wont show up and a unlocked note 9 N9600 where the OEM is grayed out to which I tried Odin flashing N9600 CPT/TCP version (not to sure right early this moment) and the flash passed but the phone was exactly the same without any changes and still the OEM was grayed out. I tried 3 different methods of changing dates on both phones with no luck. Any kind of new information or version ti they and get this OEM to work for me would be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok the T-Mobile model has a locked bootloader that can't be unlocked, so OEM unlock won't work.
The N9600's bootloader can be unlocked though. I have tried the date trick in the past on another Note 8 variant and it worked, but I have since read different things such as recent firmware updates stopping the trick, or needing to jump more than 30 days ahead instead of 7 to make it work. Not sure if all that's true or not, but if nothing works then I would probably back things up, flash original firmware through Odin with full wipe and wait 7 days to see if OEM unlock appears.

sefrcoko said:
Ok the T-Mobile model has a locked bootloader that can't be unlocked, so OEM unlock won't work.
The N9600's bootloader can be unlocked though. I have tried the date trick in the past on another Note 8 variant and it worked, but I have since read different things such as recent firmware updates stopping the trick, or needing to jump more than 30 days ahead instead of 7 to make it work. Not sure if all that's true or not, but if nothing works then I would probably back things up, flash original firmware through Odin with full wipe and wait 7 days to see if OEM unlock appears.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes I know the t mobile bootloader cant be unlocked but still can get be rooted and use some mods with the lost of 20% battery lose but one has to get OEM unlocked under developers options (that option never shows up for me) I've tried 7 to 14 day without reboot but not 30. I've give that a try on the note 8.
As for the note 9 N9600, I thought it came unlocked already but still just need the OEM unlock switched, which for me is grayed out and cant be switched. I'll use factory reset on both and try the 30 days trick instead of 7 and see if itll work.
Thanks for the info.

dandel0074 said:
Yes I know the t mobile bootloader cant be unlocked but still can get be rooted and use some mods with the lost of 20% battery lose but one has to get OEM unlocked under developers options (that option never shows up for me) I've tried 7 to 14 day without reboot but not 30. I've give that a try on the note 8.
As for the note 9 N9600, I thought it came unlocked already but still just need the OEM unlock switched, which for me is grayed out and cant be switched. I'll use factory reset on both and try the 30 days trick instead of 7 and see if itll work.
Thanks for the info.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah the samfail method for u.s. snapdragon models was patched by Samsung at one point, but it depends on which version bootloader you currently have installed if I recall correctly. Check through the samfail thread for more info there. I have an exynos, so can't say for sure about n9600 but that's what I would try at this point

sefrcoko said:
Yeah the samfail method for u.s. snapdragon models was patched by Samsung at one point, but it depends on which version bootloader you currently have installed if I recall correctly. Check through the samfail thread for more info there. I have an exynos, so can't say for sure about n9600 but that's what I would try at this point
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I cant do anything without figuring out how to get OEM unlock to show up on my note and OEM unlock option greyed out removed from my note 9. The only step one found was the tricking the device on changing the date and that didnt work on the note 8 (going to try it for 30 plus days and see if thatll work) as for the note 9,,,,,,, I dont know why it's even grayed out.

dandel0074 said:
I cant do anything without figuring out how to get OEM unlock to show up on my note and OEM unlock option greyed out removed from my note 9. The only step one found was the tricking the device on changing the date and that didnt work on the note 8 (going to try it for 30 plus days and see if thatll work) as for the note 9,,,,,,, I dont know why it's even grayed out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Like I said you won't get it on the T-Mobile model (and iirc it's not needed for samfail, even if you are on the proper bootloader, etc.), but you can always check the 9600 and/or OEM unlock threads for more on that one if the stock flash/wipe and waiting period approach isn't preferred or doesn't work out.

OEM UNLOCK OFF and/or RMM STATE PRENORMAL fix

Hi,
so I'm using some Samsung Galaxy S9 to measure GSM networks (like 50 pcs). Out of box; some S9 don't have OEM UNLOCK option (or the option is OFF and grayed out) and some have RMM STATE PRENORMAL, both options make use of the phones impossible (I use custom boot and fw). I made like one week research on this topic; found only some "standard" information mess and few guides. Just want to share how I fixed my problem.
Always try on fresh FW or after wipe (...fresh FW is preffered...).
1. If You have a phone that have OEM UNLOCK option not visible or grayed out, at first try to connect to network (WiFi / GSM) in most cases OEM UNLOCK option appears after few seconds, and in some cases phone restart is required. This helped me in few cases.
2. If first step didn't help then try to do date changing trick, there are some guides, but in short:
- make sure that GSM / WiFi networks are OFF, in [General management] > [Date and time], turn OFF [Automatic date and time] and change date back more than 7 days (ieg. 2 weeks or one month)
- turn on network (GSM / WiFi), make sure that the date didn't update after network ON (if it did, just repeat), go to [Software update] and click [Download updates manually], at update screen choose [LATER], after this under [Download updates manually] there shoudl be "Last checked on 99/99/9999" and shoudl display date You have set
if after this the date is actual not that which You choose, then wipe the phone and try again, if after few tryes there is no result, then this trick won't work on this phone
- restart phone and turn ON [Automatic date and time] , and then click [Download updates manually] and also choose [LATER], "Last checked on 99/99/9999" shoudl be actual date,
now restart the phone and check if OEM UNLOCK option appeared...
This trick/method worked only on 1 of my phones, so for S9 it's bad... it worked better on S8.
3. This is rather as bonus, it's useless for me, but maybe helps someone. Sometimes, doing firmware update via OTA ([Software update] > [Download updates manually]) OEM UNLOCK appears after update is is done. So, flash phone with older FW, an then do OTA update. This one did the trick few times.
As for RMM STATE PRENORMAL, method 1, 2 and 3 helps... but NOT always... it's a real pain... so...
4. This method helps with OEM UNLOCK OFF and RMM STATE PRENORMAL states (afterwards OEM UNLOCK is ON, and RMM STATE is NORMAL). Success rate was 100% in my case (3 out of 3 phones, other methods failed badly). One thing is weird, I'v found only 1 mention of this one... well, spoiler alert, it's paid, but gets the job done.
Just go to chimeratool.com, get paid trial version... than just few clicks and one minute later... viola! All done and working... real shock for me... afer week of research...
(I'm not paid and/or related to Chimera tool, just want to help others)
Hope it helps and clarifies some things!
Regards, Doman.
PS: as for SAMSUNG... shame on You for this stiupid lock...!

About RMM State : Prenormal... ChimeraTool did not worked in my case
G960F/DS

flyingcascade said:
About RMM State : Prenormal... ChimeraTool did not worked in my case
G960F/DS
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have You tried doing KG state fix first with Chimera and then RMM? There are two methods to unlock RMM, first just use RMM unlock, second first run KG unlock (even if You don't have problem with it) and then run RMM unlock. Also You can try contacting with guys from Chimera.

Doman2011 said:
Have You tried doing KG state fix first with Chimera and then RMM? There are two methods to unlock RMM, first just use RMM unlock, second first run KG unlock (even if You don't have problem with it) and then run RMM unlock. Also You can try contacting with guys from Chimera.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have tried two methods. In both cases Chimera says something like "this phone doesn't support this type of unlocking". I think June 2019 firmware is too new for it. Tommorow will mark 168 hours while the phone is turned on. I'll give feedback when I reboot in download mode and if RMM State : Prenormal is still there.
EDIT: After 170 hours and reboot in download mode the state is still "Prenormal". I lost all hope...

flyingcascade said:
EDIT: After 170 hours and reboot in download mode the state is still "Prenormal". I lost all hope...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Contact Chimera guys; I'm sure that they'll work on it - if it is a new FW case.
Or... flash device with older FW and then try again.

I have never had the problem with oem. Its just my rmm state is prenormal, I tried the steps on that thread, to see if mabye the steps for oem can help. But the my rmm is still prenormal. All the steps to fixing rmm that i have found all involve twrp, And i dont have twrp due to my rmm state being prenormal. If you could help me futher that would be great thank you..

RMM STATUS is always Prenormal. KG STATUS is Checking. Why?

i flash russia firmware, somehow OEM is appear, i switch it off and on. Then i go to change language, again somehow OEM is missing, reboot to bootloader still RMM prenormal
I can root it with old firmware (no KG or RMM in download mode) but its older than latest firmware 2 years

what about KG prenormal with oem lock on.no oem unlocking option.tried all the methods.non of them has worked.suffering from this [email protected](ijg lock

HirukaNethmitha said:
what about KG prenormal with oem lock on.no oem unlocking option.tried all the methods.non of them has worked.suffering from this [email protected](ijg lock
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Other than what I had put together, How To Guide , which is purely based on other people's work and trial-n-error, I am not sure how I can be of much help here. There are plenty of reports of this happening with devices that are purchased directly through Samsung (with financing or with trade-in !!!).
This is likely illegal by Samsung, as this block should resolve itself automatically on completion of payment / trade-in but it clearly doesn't. Someone would have to sue them to get this sorted.. You can try to contact their team, financing / trade-in, and VERY nicely request this to be unblocked. Other than that, google for random removal of prenormal state. Other than trying reflashing from scratch, not sure what else I would do. I literally just made sure to buy my device through a 3rd party vendor and categorially avoided the issue..

RMM Unlock by Odin Flashing Pre-Oreo Rom - SM A600A

I ended up with the A6 when my HTC One M9 battery did the thing it does and destroyed my phone. The total destruction is not solely the phone's fault... I tend to drop things and bump into stuff... so... Anyway, I did very little to no research on the phone before "purchasing" it as my once absolute obsession with flashing and rooting and all the fun tinkering had since gone the way of the "Buffalo" (although, i feel like the are still around) around the time phones kind of became as good as they really needed to get. There was very little under the hood tinkering that seemed interesting anymore. Except... the whole LineageOS wth MicroG-thing. Super-excited!!!
Anyway, if you happen to be unlucky like me before you can root, the're's this whole RMM Unlock blahblahsad thing to deal with. I waited the 168 hours , following all the instructions to a T, only to find that my developer options were exactly as they had been. OEM no where to be found. I'm impatient... this is a character flaw. so, I get the whole get over it and try it again. And if there are no other options, I will, of course. But I was just looking at a similar issue just concerning a Galaxy S8+ [GUIDE] How to skip RMM STATE: PRENORMAL and install TWRP
So, like the post instructs, would it be possible on the lovley A6 to downgrade to a pre-Oreo Rom flashed via Odin in order to RMM Unlock the thing and carry on with the RMM State Bypass Mesa and No Verify Opt Encrypt. Or am I getting something completely wrong here?
I guess maybe one is never really over flashing rom and rooting devices. but i dig it!
Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks XDA gang.

So what I understand is that you want... root on Pie... right?
You should check this:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-j/how-to/remove-rmm-prenormal-j4-j6-a6-t3921288

Thanks, I'll check it out!

Oem unlock
That link to oem unlock thru waiting the 7 days full /change time and date / etc does not work on the a600a droid 8.0 ....I have one and keep trying to oem unlock with no success ...followed link per word

Rooting Note8 SM-N950U with Nougat 7.1.1

Specs:
T-Mobile-locked Samsung Galaxy Note 8 - N950U
Baseband version: N950USQU1AQI5
Build number: NMF26X.N950USQU1AQI5
Android version: 7.1.1
Samsung Experience version: 8.5
Knox version: 2.9
I recently purchased the above Note8. I have bookmarked a root method[1], but it requires bootloader v7. If I'm decoding my phone's baseband version correctly, its on v1, so probably won't work with this method.
I'm wondering, if I let it do an OTA update to Oreo (Android v8), will it hit the requisite v7 bootloader so I can, according to the instructions on that page, flash it back to a pre-rooted Nougat? ( If there's a better method than what I'm planning to follow, please advise. I'm all ears! )
[1] www (dot) the custom droid (dot) com/root-galaxy-note-8-snapdragon-n950u/

Just stay on firmware you are on and use the old Samfail root method
Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

Thanks, butchieboy. Would this be the process for this phone?
https://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-note-8/development/root-samfail-galaxy-note8-t3685340

Yes [emoji106] The thread is closed but you should still be able to get the files you need. If not I still have them and when I find time I could send them to you with Mega...but you still should be able to get them from the thread.
Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk

The links are still good in that post, but I'm a bit concerned about them. The SamFAIL downloads for the v1 bootloader are designated for N950F ("for the Samsung Galaxy Note 8(SM-N950F)"), which is the European firmware. Mine's N950U (US).
Does this SamFAIL root actually rely on the European firmware? How does that impact the Snapdragon? I thought the European phones/firmwares were designed for a different processor.

No dice
I followed the instructions on that post to the letter. The first flash didn't cause my phone to reboot (as the instructions say it will), so I rebooted it myself and got it back to the "Emergency" screen, whereupon I did the part #2 flash. It reset that time, and now it's stuck in an "Installing update" loop with the Android icon (with a "warning" icon above it) just appearing over and over.
What do I do now? Do I have to try and flash a stock ROM and see if I can recover the phone? Or is there something I can do from here that will help it continue?

Boot to recovery and factory reset
Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk

And the angels sang!
Since I couldn't get the damn thing to shut off anyway, I left the phone in the "Installing" loop overnight (since that was the least risk of screen burn). This morning, the device was dead because the battery had drained to zero, so I put it on the charger. I left it there for only about 30 minutes so it had just enough juice for me to try and get it into recovery mode.
I must not have held the buttons correctly, because it went into a normal boot instead of going into Download or Recovery. I let it go, intending to just try again once it entered the "Installing" loop, and LO! the "SAMSUNG" logo came up. It hadn't done that before. I put the phone aside and didn't touch anything while the logo pulsated, and it eventaully dropped into the setup screen! :victory: Of course, it almost immediately shut down because the battery hadn't charged enough, but I think it somehow reset/corrected itself when it lost all power overnight.
I left it on the charger and monitored the level. It stopped increasing at 80%, which is the expected behavior with this solution. I powered it on again, and everything is as described in the rooting post (except that SuperSU did not prompt me multiple times to update it).
So, at this point, I'd say I'm good. Looks like it reset itself, and the root succeeded. Hopefully anybody coming along later with this same issue on the Note 8 will see this post.
Thanks again, butchieboy.

Samsung: worst ever for a power user!

Today I got up real pissed with Samsung for being so restrictive around ROM flashing, rooting, flashing custom firmware or even stock firmware, so wanted to create this post to help anybody considering to get a Samsung phone to stay away from it.
This post is not intended to recommend any specific brand or model of android phone, but to recommend the exact opposite, which brand and model NOT TO EVEN THINK of purchasing.
This post relates to Samsung Galaxy S9 G9600 model which is Snapdragon architecture, but since Samsung is coming up with a bunch of "security features" I tend to think this may be the case for other models as well. I browsed all around XDA and other sources for guides on how to root and install custom roms, and it turns out Samsung manages to have limitations for EVERY step of the way.
Getting a few facts straight
Reference post: https://forum.xda-developers.com/ga.../rom-lineageos-17-1-s9-s9-snapdragon-t4093301
Ok, so there is a solid thread about a custom firmware and looks like several users got hands on it, but they might have been able to get passed though all Samsung security crap before it came out or before it got so tightened up. I'll list below every limitation I found:
OEM Unlock
There is a step where we need to tick OEM Unlock from the phone developer settings, it turns out Samsung has put a 7-day timer for this option to even appear listed to enable. If you do factory reset of the phone, the 7-day timer restarts. There are a few posts around on how to get passed this timer, but to me they were all crap, none of them worked. STRIKE ONE!
Bootloader unlock
After 7-days, we get the OEM Unlock option to appear, at this point you may think: Hurray!! .... WRONG! Now next step is to unlock the bootloader using an utility called CROM Services... And as you may have already guessed, did not work! I'm able to install the apk, but on launch it complains about wrong android version. (Tried with Android 8 and 10) STRIKE TWO!
There are some posts and guides claiming to be able to unlock bootloader by using fastboot utility, I can't reach to understand how, since fastboot commands rely on the bootloader to be previously unlocked (?). I least that is my understanding, correct me if wrong. Needless to say fastboot did not work for me. ADB lists my device but fastboot doesn't. There are a few troubleshoot guides around to try selecting proper USB driver from windows device manager, tried all that, tried a couple of ADB installations, fastboot didn't work.
Knox and RMM state
After some lookup in the web, Samsung incorporates some security features trying to prevent device theft and such things. For us power users this is in reality just a whole load of crap preventing us to get all the juice out of our phones.
Reference: https://www.goandroid.co.in/unlock-bootloader-of-galaxy-s9-plus-snapdragon/84688/
TWRP Recovery
Next step would be to flash a custom recovery such as TWRP with Odin or adb/fastboot, but since we are not able to unlock the bootloader in previous step, this is not doable at all. STRIKE THREE! OUT!
Fastboot utility doesn't recognize the device in download mode, so we can't send any commands to the phone.
Odin complains it is only able to flash signed stock roms, so since TWRP is not, we cannot flash it.
Rooting
Needless to say that if we don't have TWRP, we cannot flash the corresponding packages to root. Although this step may not be needed to install custom firmware, rooting has not been possible.
Stock ROM Flashing
Ok, so let's stay out of custom firmware - let's play around with stock firmwares. At this point, since flashing stock firmwares is kind of allowed by Samsung I was able to try out a couple from android 8 to 10 with Odin
Stock ROM Source: https://www.sammobile.com/samsung/galaxy-s9/firmware/#SM-G9600
But watch out! Once you get to install a specific build version, you cannot go back or downgrade to ROMS with previous Android build version. So now that I got Android 10 cannot go back to 8 or 9, this is probably because locked bootloader and unable to unlock. Here, Odin complains with FAIL! (AUTH) message.
STRIKE FOUR! EVEN OUTTER!
SIM Unlock
Ok, let's stay out of Samsung S9 G9600 model, let's crash it to the wall and throw it away to the garbage! Ok no, let's have it carrier unlocked and sell. Unlockbase is a well known and trusted sim unlock provider, I purchased a license to unlock by USB cable, but... GUESS WHAT! G9600 is not supported for unlocking operator network with this software... what a surprise!! I was able to apply for a refund and got my money back, so no worries here.
Note that flashing carrier free ROM does not unlock sim to use with any network operator.
I'll be trying to unlocking by code soon, as this is based on IMEI number, I may think this is independent to the phone model and edition, so I hope I have more luck with this option.
Conclusion
G9600 is a really crappy phone to mess around with. I may have ran low on luck with this specific Samsung Galaxy model since I got it as a gift, which is the latinamerican crappy edition. I wonder if other S9 editions and other Samsung models run with better luck than mine on this scenery... But as a lesson to myself, I will stay away of any Samsung smartphone in the foreseeable future.

OEM Unlock
The 7-day lock prevents stolen phones from being factory reset, leaving the thief with a phone permanently protected by your account. While a minor inconvenience, it's actually effective and not the worst compared to other manufacturers.
Bootloader Unlock
After OEM Unlocking, flashing TWRP through ODIN is effectively unlocking the bootloader. This is possible on both exynos and snap.
Knox and RMM
While this is an inconvenience, from Samsung's point of view, it's worth it. It makes the phone look more secure in the eyes of potential customers. If you really wish for NFC payments, I'm still able to use GPay with Magisk on a custom ROM.
TWRP Recovery
TWRP is flashed through ODIN, not fastboot. Look up an actual guide before complaining.
Root
Yes you can
Stock ROM Flashing
The one thing I could agree on with you is Samsung disabling OTA updates when OEM unlocking. I don't see the point really, but you're free to flash whatever you want through ODIN. Downgrading shouldn't be an issue. Not sure what's up with that.
Before buying a phone, how about you do some research before crying on forums. As a power user coming from the Oneplus One, I don't regret going for Samsung in the least.

Thanks for your reply, I had dropped all hope after several attempts over last few weeks. Found this option and I was able to get past my blocking issue with TWRP and moved on.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/ga...er-development/g9650zhu6dta7-android-t4051751

I have G960F and have to admit I totally disagree with your original post. I've been using custom ROMs on nearly every phone I ever had and don't think S9 (G960F) is bad in terms of unlocking. Just did an OEM unlock, waited a week, flashed TWRP through Odin, booted straight to TWRP and immediately flashed a custom ROM from it (because a boot to the stock ROM would replace TWRP back with the stock recovery IIRC). In the end I got sick of all the problems with Magisk and non-working google pay that I went back to the stock ROM - making S9 the first phone I use with a stock ROM even though it can be flashed. I think it's a great phone for power users.
And as far as SIM unlock goes - Samsung is not to blame, the carrier the phone was made for (and purchased from) is. Phones that Samsung itself sells are unlocked. I wonder why there's still some countries where SIM locking remains legal.

This thread is a prime example of how people end up with bricked devices. So much misinformation in one page LOL

I had the 9650 and most of what I'm doing here is user error. This was one of the best devices I've ever owned. I mention of fast boot and such you obviously just do not know samsung devices. You can't blame samsung on your own ignorance