How To Fix Odin Firmware Installation Failed at Hidden.img

Last updated on December 19th, 2020 at 09:58 am

Flashing your Samsung galaxy smartphone via Odin is intended to be very easy and straightforward, but sometimes, even with the right firmware/flash files, errors like Invalid Ext4 Image in Odin, and the hidden.img not flashing are one of the common errors you can encounter when flashing with Samsung’s Odin flashing tool.

Like most common errors when flashing with Odin or any Samsung flashing tool, fixing the Odin firmware installation failing at the hidden.img is easy if you follow the steps outline in this post.

If you’re looking for a solution to the Odin Failed to flash “hidden.img“, this tutorial will save you the stress of trying to download and flash multiple files to your Samsung Galaxy device.

All you need is your computer, the right firmware, and probably an iPhone to view this page, incase, your Samsung galaxy phone is bricked/soft bricked.

How To Fix Odin Firmware Installation Failed at Hidden.img Issue on Samsung Galaxy Devices

Let me share a guide on how to quickly and easily fix the Odin firmware installation failing when it gets to the hidden.img file. Here’s an example of the error log in Odin when it fails to flash a firmware successfully and stops at the hidden.img. Your Samsung phone might display an error like “volume size is too big, invalid ext4 image”

<OSM> Enter CS for MD5..
<OSM> Check MD5.. Do not unplug the cable..
<OSM> Please wait..
<OSM> G920FXXU1AODE_G920FOXE1AODE_G920FXXU1AODE_HOME.tar .md5 is valid.
<OSM> Checking MD5 finished Sucessfully..
<OSM> Leave CS..
<ID:0/004> Added!!
<ID:0/004> Odin engine v(ID:3.1005)..
<ID:0/004> File analysis..
<ID:0/004> SetupConnection..
<ID:0/004> Initialzation..
<ID:0/004> Get PIT for mapping..
<ID:0/004> Firmware update start..
<ID:0/004> SingleDownload.
<ID:0/004> sboot.bin
<ID:0/004> NAND Write Start!!
<ID:0/004> cm.bin
<ID:0/004> boot.img
<ID:0/004> recovery.img
<ID:0/004> system.img
<ID:0/004> modem.bin
<ID:0/004> cache.img
<ID:0/004> hidden.img
<ID:0/004> FAIL!
<ID:0/004>
<ID:0/004> Complete(Write) operation failed.
<OSM> All threads completed. (succeed 0 / failed 1)

To fix the hidden.img error in Odin, here are the steps to follow.

What you need:

• The stock Samsung firmware file with .tar.md5 extension.
• Install a zip extractor like 7-Zip if you don’t have it installed on your computer already.

Now let’s proceed with the main steps.

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Step 1:

Open the folder where you saved the downloaded Samsung stock firmware or where you saved it. Click the “View” option in windows explorer and tick the “File name extension” option.

Now you will be able to view and edit file extensions.

Step 2:

Right-click the firmware file and select the Rename option. Now, remove the .md5 extension from the file name so that it ends with .tar only, as seen below.

Step 3:

Right-click the Samsung stock firmware file, under 7-Zip, select Extract to option.

The extraction process will take some time depending on the size of the file. When it’s done, open the extracted folder and check if the system.img file is not 0 KB or else you’ll need to extract again or with another zip extractor.

Step 4:

Scroll down and find the hidden.img file and then delete it. Yes, delete it, it’s the cause of WW2.

Step 5:

Press Ctrl+A to select all the files in the folder, then right-click on the files and select 7-Zip > Add to archive… option

Step 6:

On the new window, click the drop-down menu in front of Archive format and select tar and then click OK.

7zip will begin the compression process. Kindly wait till the whole process is completed.

Step 7:

When the compression is completed, you’ll have a new file with firmware name and .tar extension. Now, right-click this file and add .md5 extension to make it .tar.md5.

Step 8:

Ignore the warning and click Yes when prompted to ask if you want to save the changes made in the firmware file name.

That’s it, you have a new firmware file to flash to your Samsung galaxy phone. You can now use the tutorial here to install the firmware to your Samsung phone via Odin without getting the failed firmware installation hidden.img.

Alternatively,

You can fix the hidden.img error by following these steps:
1. Remove the .md5 extension from the file name so that it ends with .tar only.
2. Extract the .tar file to its own folder using 7zip.
3. Locate the “hidden.img” file.
4. Rename the “hidden.img” file by adding a “.tar” to it, so that you get “hidden.img.tar“.
5. Get your phone back into download mode:

Reboot it directly into download mode by pressing the volume up + home + power buttons for a few seconds.

6. Reset Odin, and connect the USB cable back to your phone. Odin should display “Added!!”.
7. Click AP and select the “hidden.img.tar” file you renamed before.
8. Click Start and wait for it to flash.

Img credits – droidviews.com