Galaxy S22 saying “flashed with unauthorized software”
My Galaxy S22 suddenly froze on me last week, then the screen went black. When I tried rebooting, it showed some weird message saying the phone’s been flashed with unauthorized software. The thing is, I never flashed or rooted this phone, so I have no idea why it’s throwing that error.
I honestly don’t care much about the phone itself at this point, I just want to get my photos back — a bunch of recent family pictures and trips that weren’t backed up anywhere. I thought Samsung’s backup was running but turns out it wasn’t.
Is there any way to pull those photos out before doing a reset or sending it in? I’m worried if I try anything wrong, I’ll lose them for good. Any advice or suggestions would mean a lot right now.
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Had a similar scare with my S21 last year. Odin flash saved me, all pics intact. Just double-check you’re flashing the right regional firmware and don’t check the ‘repartition’ box. That’s where most people mess up
Good point @Ezra. I’ll try a recovery tool first, see if it detects the phone in its current state. If nothing shows, then maybe I’ll risk Odin
Don’t skip backups though. Even if you think nothing is accessible, sometimes recovery programs pull out cached photos or thumbnails. Better to have something than risk losing everything if Odin fails
Yes, flashing stock firmware through Odin usually just overwrites the system partition. Data often survives unless you explicitly choose the wipe option. But always back up what you can first..if recovery software can’t detect it now, flashing could be your shot.
I can actually get into Download Mode. Didn’t know reflashing might keep data though. If that’s the case, maybe I could try stock firmware before giving up?
Agree with Nina. Reset should be the very last option. I’d also check if you can get into Download Mode. Sometimes flashing the stock firmware through Odin restores the OS without wiping the data partition. But there’s always a risk.
If it won’t boot normally, you might need recovery software. Some Android recovery tools can scan the phone even if it’s stuck in a bad state, as long as the device is still detectable by the PC. Might be worth checking before going nuclear with a reset
Yeah, I tried plugging it into my laptop but it doesn’t show up at all, just stays stuck on that warning screen. That’s why I’m panicking a bit
That’s the Knox security tripping. Samsung phones sometimes show that warning even if you didn’t manually flash. Could be a corrupted update. If you only care about photos, don’t factory reset yet. Try connecting to a PC first and see if MTP kicks in long enough to pull DCIM.
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Also, for future, enable Google Photos or Samsung Cloud sync. It’s a lifesaver. Once you recover these, set up a backup so you don’t have to go through this stress again