In this guide, we will show you the steps to make a switch from Magisk to KernelSU. Initially, we had the SuperUser app for gaining administrative privileges which has its glory days for quite a length time frame before being ultimately replaced by Magisk. People chose the latter over the former due to the fact that it carried out all the tweaks systemlessly [and only due to its slew of additional goodies such as the modules repository, Magisk Hide, etc].
But now, the landscape is slowly changing once again, this time mainly due to the caveats associated with rooting. Confused? let me explain. The thing is nowadays when you root your device, there are a slew of drawbacks that you have to face, with the Play Integrity failure being the top-most problem.
The direct consequence of the same is the inability of the banking and payment app to function along the expected lines. Making matters worse is the fact that in some cases, even passing this test does no good for these apps. This is because most of these apps now do extensive and stringent Magisk checks on your device. But that’s just about it.
They only check for Magisk and not for any other rooting alternative apps like KernelSU or APatch! Therefore, to make the most of this opportunity, many users are now making a switch from Magisk over to KernelSU. If you are also planning to do the same, then this guide will help you out. Follow along for the steps.
How to Switch from Magisk to KernelSU
Before starting, please take a backup of all the data on your device, just to be on the safer side. Droidwin and its members wouldn’t be held responsible in case of a thermonuclear war, your alarm doesn’t wake you up, or if anything happens to your device and data by performing the below steps. NOTE: We are opting for the LKM rooting method for KernelSU as it will be universally applicable across all Android devices. If you instead wish to go with the GKI approach, then do have a look at our detailed guide on the said topic.
- First off, launch Magisk, and remove all the modules.
- Then tap on Uninstall Magisk > Complete Uninstall.
- Next up download the stock firmware for your device.
Make sure to download the same version which is installed on your device. You can verify the same by having a look at Build Number/Version Number.
- Then extract the firmware and get the boot/init_boot.
Use boot.img if your device came with Android 12 or older version out of the box, else use init_boot.img. For extracting Xiaomi's Fastboot ROM and Pixel's Factory Image, use 7ZIP, for OnePlus- use the Fastboot Enhance Tool.
- Next up, transfer the boot/init_boot file to the device.
- Once done, now download & install the KernelSU app.
- Then launch it and tap on Not Installed > Select a file.
- Choose the boot/init_boot > Next > it will be patched.
- The patched file will be placed in the Downloads folder.
- Now download & extract Android SDK Platform Tools.
- Next up, transfer this patched file to the platform tools.
- Now enable USB Debugging & connect the device to PC.
- Open CMD inside the platform-tools folder and type in:
adb reboot bootloader
- Your device will now boot to the Fastboot Mode [drivers].
- Now type the below command to flash the boot/init_boot
fastboot flash boot patched_boot.img fastboot flash init_boot patched_init_boot.img
Reference Image - Then use the below command to boot to the OS
fastboot reboot
- Now launch the KernelSU app and verify the result.
That’s it. You have now successfully made a switch from Magisk to KernelSU. With that said, there are just a couple of things worth keeping in mind:
- As opposed to Magisk, there’s no built-in Zygisk in KernelSU. So you’ll have to flash the ZygiskNext module to enable it in KernelSU.
- Likewise, when you are rooted vi Magisk and launch a root-supported app, you get the SuperUser request, taping on Grant will give the app the required root access. However, things work a little bit differently here. In the case of KernelSU, you won’t get any SuperUser prompt, instead, you’ll have to grant root access to the required apps from within the KernelSU’s SuperUser tab [select the app and enable SuperUser].
So on that note, we round off this guide. If you have any queries concerning the aforementioned steps, do let us know in the comments. We will get back to you with a solution as soon as possible.
