CSC or HOME CSC? Which File You Should Flash in Odin
On older Samsung Galaxy devices released before 2016, the firmware used to have just one file with .tar.md5 extension. Though Odin3 v3.07 and lower versions had Bootloader, PDA, Phone, and CSC, and Phone fields, we needed to flash single-file firmware by adding it only to the PDA sections only. Later, Samsung split its firmware files into four binaries, and thus on Odin v3.09 and newer BL, AP, CP, and CSC were introduced. Now, there are 2 types of CSC files in the firmware folder: CSC and HOME CSC. So which CSC binary should you flash in Odin- CSC or HOME CSC? In this article, we’ll try to answer this question.
Just take a look at the side-by-side comparison of Odin3 v3.06 and Odin3 v3.14.1 and you will how Odin and thus Samsung firmware has changed over time.
Thus, the old fields on Odin have changed as showed below:
- Bootloader ⇒ BL
- PDA ⇒ AP
- Phone ⇒ CP
- CSC=
- CSC
- HOME_CSC
If you are an old Samsung device user, you probably don’t need a tutorial to understand the difference between CSC or HOME CSC. However, these two CSC files inside the firmware folder may cause a lot of confusion to the new user.
What is CSC?
Before we explore the difference between CSC and HOME CSC, let’s find what CSC is. CSC or Country/Carrier Specific Product Code or Consumer Software Customization is an important component of Samsung firmware binaries. The CSC file on Samsung contains essential information such as-
- Carrier branding: A CSC may be country or carrier-specific. Samsung releases the same model of a smartphone to Tab with different CSCs. For instance, if you use an unlocked or unbranded Samsung Galaxy phone in the UK, its CSC would be BTU. However, if your device is locked to a network operator, it could be VOD (Vodafone), TMU (T-Mobile), ORA (Orange), XEU (EE & Three), etc.
- System Languages: These include the availability of the popular languages used in a geographical area. For example, if you own a Samsung phone in Mexico and flash the firmware meant for India with INS as CSC, you won’t be able to set Spanish, Nahuatl, or Mixtec as your phone’s system language and keyboard.
- Localizations: Samsung ships its devices with geo-specific or bloat apps relevant to a country or region. Localization also determines the calendar settings and local festivals.
- APN Settings: Access Point Name settings include all configurations to make a mobile device work with the network carriers of a region or country. Without these configurations, you may not be able to enjoy seamless GSM, GPRS, 3G, or 4G mobile networks.
- Samsung FUS: CSC also contains key info to help Samsung’s Firmware Update Server to connect to the correct update channel and roll out the proper software update to your Galaxy device via OTA.
CSC and HOME CSC – The Difference
When you extract the Samsung firmware zip file, you’ll find 5 binaries inside it. You can use the Frija Samsung firmware download tool or other sources to download CSC, HOME CSC, BL, AP, and CP files for Odin.
AP, BL, CP, CSC, and HOME CSC files
It’s very easy to add the corresponding firmware binaries to respective fields in Odin. You may get confused about whether you should flash CSC or HOME CSC in Odin. Here’s how these two CSC files differ from each other. Once you understand the purpose of CSC and HOME CSC, you’ll have no confusion.
If you want Odin to wipe all third-party apps, data, and settings and perform a factory reset while installing the firmware, you should add the CSC binary to Odin. When your Samsung phone or Galaxy Tab boots up, your device will be in the same state (on software level) as it was when you purchased it. You’ll have to set up your device and log into your Samsung and Google account again. The image, video, audio, and all other files present on the internal storage will be deleted. Flashing the CSC binary will result in a clean installation. If you feel that your phone is slow and experience any lag or misbehavior, wiping the phone might help fix those issues.
HOME CSC
If your purpose is to just re-install the firmware or update your Samsung device’s software without wiping your apps, all user data, and settings, you should go with the HOME CSC binary. Choosing this file will only affect the software version of your phone while keeping everything intact.
Check CSC or Samsung Country Code
It’s very easy to find out the current CSC of your Samsung device.
- Open the Settings on your device.
- Go to About phone > Software information.
- Look for Service Provider SW Ver. there.
- You’ll find the CSC of your Samsung Galaxy phone.
- As you can see, the CSC of my Galaxy Note 10+ is OXM and INS (India) as the active CSC.
If the CSC of your Samsung device is OXM it means it has Multi-CSC firmware installed on it. OXM is a group of CSCs that contains multiple sub-CSCs inside it. It means that you can easily change the CSC of your Galaxy phone or Galaxy Tab.
If you are curious why the INS CSC is mentioned four times ( INS / INS,INS / INS ) in the screenshot above, here’s the explanation. Actually, there are two formats in which CSC is shown on Samsung devices and it depends on the fact whether your device is a single or dual SIM variant.
- Single SIM models: XXX ¹ / XXX ² / XXX ³
- Dual SIM models: XXX ¹ / XXX,XXX ² / XXX ³
The first CSC value refers to the Active CSC¹ on your phone. The middle part shows whether your phone is a single or dual-SIM² model. The third and the last CSC value shows the country or region for which the phone has been manufactured³. Thus, INS / INS,INS / INS , shows that the active CSC on my Note 10+ is INS; it supports 2 SIM cards from any Indian operator; it has been made to be sold in India.
Change CSC on Samsung without Root
Warning: Changing the CSC on your Samsung device will wipe all the data and rest it to the factory state.
1. Via System Menu
It’s very very easy to change or switch the active CSC on a Samsung smartphone or Galaxy Tab if it has a Multi-CSC firmware on it.
- Open your phone’s dialer.
- Type *#272* Device_IMEI_Number # to open the system configuration menu.
- When I used this secret code, I found a list of 82 CSC codes. Remember, my phone has a Multi-CSC firmware.
- Look for the CSC you want to install and tap the Install button.
Change CSC on Samsung
2. Using Samsung Odin
This method is a little complicated and requires some effort.
The CSC configuration on your Samsung devices determines if it is unlocked or locked to a network provider. While it’s possible to use a different SIM card on some carrier-locked phones, there are others on which you just can’t use a SIM card from any other network operator than the one it’s locked to. Suppose you own the Verizon (VZW) variant of the Galaxy S20 and you try to flash the CSC meant for TMO (T-Mobile), you’ll either gen an error in Odin, or you’ll end up with a bricked phone.
So, in what cases a CSC change might help? In case you live in Italy and purchased a used unlocked phone online from a Russian user, you may not find the Italian language on your device. By flashing a firmware binary with ITV CSC, you can have Italian on your phone. Also, if you use a phone with Russia CSC in Italy, you won’t receive software updates from Samsung.
Note: If your Samsung phone has a locked bootloader or it is SIM-locked, you won’t be able to change the CSC of your device.
If you want to change your phone’s CSC, here are the steps:
- Download a Multi-CSC (OXM) firmware or the firmware with ITV CSC. You can use the Frija Tool for that. Since Frija works with Windows only, you can use Samloader to download firmware on Mac or Linux.
- Download the latest Samsung Odin tool and unzip it.
- Install the latest Samsung USB driver on your PC.
- Extract the downloaded firmware ZIP on your desktop.
- Launch Odin.
- Turn off your device and boot it into the Download Mode. You can do so by pressing and holding the Volume Down + Power buttons at the same time for 2-3 seconds.
- Connect your phone to the PC using the USB cable provided by Samsung.
- When your device is detected by Odin, click the BL, AP, CP, and CSC sections and add the corresponding firmware files to them. Do not flash the HOME CSC but the CSC (only) binary.
Install BL, AP, CP, CSC in Odin
Done! You have successfully changed the CSC on your Samsung Galaxy device. Alternatively, you can also flash the CSC file only but in that case, make sure you download the firmware for the same software version as already installed on your device. You’ll still have to download the full firmware because you can download the HOME CSC or the CSC file separately.
List of Samsung CSC
If the primary CSC of your Samsung device is OXM, OXA, OXX, OXE, or OLB, your phone or tablet has Multi-CSC firmware. In such a condition, it is the secondary CSC that tells you about the country code of your Samsung Galaxy device. Below is a list of Samsung CSC codes along with the country, region, or carrier they denote too.
Country
Samsung CSC (Country Codes)
You can modify several aspects on your Samsung and any Android device and get useful information about it using these ADB Shell commands.
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Thanks for all these information. Unfortunately, none of both methods you describe in order to change CSC work on my phone (Galaxy S9 SM-G960U_OYN_ATT):
– *#272etc doesn’t produce any results;
– Frija nor Samfirm can find any firmware with SM-G960U XAS, ATT, OYN, XEF nor OXA (I live in France actually and I’m trying to clean my phone, apparently coming from the US, from all AT&T crap).
Can you help me?
AT&T and Verizon models come with locked bootloaders and therefore you won’t be able to change the CSC. Please note that you won’t be able to flash any other firmware other than the same CSC as the current one. That’s why VZW and AT&T suck.
Frija is not able to download the firmware for SM-G960U (ATT) because the network provider has blocked it.
As for getting rid of the AT&T garbage on your Galaxy S9, it’s possible. Follow, my tutorial to uninstall the system apps or AT&T bloatware on your device: https://technastic.com/remove-samsung-bloatware-safe-to-remove-apps/
Thank you very much for your help. Take care
Rakesh, These tutorial write-ups are better (more complete and well-written) than most others that I have seen anywhere. Congratulations for your attention to detail!
I have both a question and a comment regarding the “older Samsung Galaxy devices” that you mention at the top of this article. Specifically, I have a Galaxy S5 (SM-G900T) (CSC=TMB) on Android 6.0.1, the firmware version last-released by Samsung and T-Mobile (G900TUVU1GQC2)
April 2017. My (still beautiful) phone is one of the pre-2016 Samsung dinosaur types whose firmware is packaged as a single *.tar.md5 tarball file rather than as the four tarball files into which newer-device firmware is split.
Here is my problem. Although you kindly suggest that users of older phones may not need your excellent explanation of “CSC” vs “HOME_CSC”, just the opposite is true. Why? Because “CSC” vs “HOME_CSC” is buried in the single tarball firmware file of older phones and thus we older users never had a choice to worry about. Or, probably better said that we never had a choice whether or not to “dirty flash.”
Fortunately I rarely need to reflash firmware and thus forget the basics after a couple of years, until a problem occurs and then I must go through the dreaded nightmare of starting with a new /data partition, re-rooting, re-installing the apps that require root to lock down my phone, reconfiguring, etc.
But what I cannot remember is whether my /data partition was in the past lost due to factory resetting before flashing to stock with Odin or was caused simply by flashing the single-tarball firmware due to that firmware having a “CSC” rather than a “HOME_CSC”. The full file name of the stock firmware download is *_HOME.tar.md5.zip. Unzipped, it is *_HOME.tar.md5.
And, maybe I am answering my own question, but just a comment about a statement on your companion article “CSC or HOME_CSC, Which File Should You Flash in Odin.” You said “An Android smartphone relies on components like bootloader, data, vendor, key storage, EFS, user data, system, modem, kernel, and recovery. All Android firmware contain these elements as .img inside them. Samsung firmware files keep them packed with specific encryption that can be decrypted by official flash tools like Odin before installation.” However, I was able to unpack the *_HOME.tar.md5 tarball using 7-Zip, and found the 11 binaries that make up the stock firmware. (aboot.mbn; boot.img; cache.img.ext4; modem.bin; NON-HLOS.bin; recovery.img; rpm.mbn; sbl1.mbn; sdi.mbn, system.img.ext4; and tz.mbn. Thus, given that no data.img or userdata.img, etc. exists, it must be that flashing the stock firmware without first factory resetting is actually a “dirty flash” and that my data partition will survive.
But please let me know if you disagree or have any other suggestions. Also, you may want to consider revising the mentioned companion article to eliminate references to Odin’s decrypting the .tar files as it appears that these are not encrypted, at least on the old Galaxy S5/Android 6.0.1 firmware. It appears that Odin simply extracts the binaries from either one tarball (old-style) or four tarballs (new-style). Either way, Odin knows what partitions to place the binaries into. My problem is that I don’t know how to divide these 11 binaries into four tarballs in order to make Odin work like it does for newer phones. The more that I think about it the more convinced I am that the “CSC” vs “HOME_CSC” is a switch to (1) either flash the modem/radio files (“CSC”) or not (“HOME_CSC”) and (2) do a factory reset (wipe /data) or not.
Many thanks for your work!
Hi Bruce, you have written almost an article as a comment! LOL
Anyway, I owned a Galaxy S5 back in 2016 and still remember the feel of the dotted back panel. The very reason I mentioned that “the users of older phones may not need the explanation of “CSC” vs “HOME_CSC” binaries was due to the fact that older firmware contained all components inside a single tar(md5) file and most users don’t need to extract them. As for the factor that determines whether an older Samsung phone will be wiped after flash or not depended on whether you choose a firmware with a different CSC or not. Since yours is a TMO variant, it’s carrier locked and therefore you can’t flash a firmware with a different CSC. To have a clean flash, we always recommended (on my old website ‘droidviews.com’ which has been stolen from me by a scammer named Eric Porat from Brooklyn 10 months ago) performing a data factory reset.
I have always owned an unlocked Galaxy phone with INS or INS CSC. Whenever I flash the firmware with a different CSC other than what I was supposed to install, my phone was wiped automatically.
Coming to firmware encryption, Samsung switched to LZ4 encryption and it can be decrypted by Odin v3.13.1 and above only. MD5 is only there to ensure the integrity of the firmware and you can flash the firmware even after manually removing it.
As for flashing old firmware in the “new style”, you can’t do that because of the change in firmware structure and lack of support on the part of the old phones itself.
I hope I was able to clear your doubts. Please let me know if you need any other help. Thanks for your encouraging appreciation, Bruce!
Yes, very clear Rakesh. Thanks again and keep up the good work!
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