Few days back I found my first Android phone in a drawer, its an S2. I have great memories with it as it is my first Android phone, being an iOS user from years I always wanted to test the latest Android version that is Android 6 Marshmallow. So I had the Android phone now. Next thing was to get the latest operating system in it to test the Android Marshmallow. So I installed it and wrote a guide on how to install Android 6 marshmallow on S2.

General opinion of people is that installing latest operating system will decrease the performance as it has new and more features. but this concept is totally wrong the latest operating system which is Android 6.0.1 in this case is far better than Android 4.1.2 which is official operating system of Samsung galaxy S2. After installing Android 6.0.1 on my S2, I observed great performance boost, as Android Marshmallow is far better in optimizing apps and its time/ space efficiency is far better than Android 4.1.2. In layman words, S2 works way faster on Android 6 Marshmallow as compared to Android 4.1.2 jelly bean.

Now lets move on to the guide, I will be using CyanogenMod Custom ROM, AOSP of Android 6.0.1 in this guide. It will give experience of almost stock Android 6.0.1. Now lets move on to how to install Android 6 Marshmallow on S2.

How to Install Android 6 Marshmallow on S2

In the following guide, I will cover each and every details for the beginners who don’t have any clue about how to flash rom. And they have no experience of installing a operating system on any Android device before. One thing that you need to take care is that follow the guide below as it is. If things are not going as explained in the guide below, don’t try to explore new options that might brick your S2. But if you do exactly as briefed in the guide belows you have very less chances of going wrong.

In the following guide, I will flash ClockWorkMOD Recovery using Odin.Then make backup of your current ROM. Then flash CyanogenMod 13 Android AOSP on your phone, then install Gapps and factory reset your phone that’s it.

Pre-requisites:

Download Cyanogenmod 13 Android 6 Marshmallow firmware file from here.

from here. Download Samsung Drivers for Windows. (Link to download file is under the main heading). These drivers are to be installed on your PC, they are essential for your PC to recognise your device properly.

(Link to download file is under the main heading). These drivers are to be installed on your PC, they are essential for your PC to recognise your device properly. Download ODIN from the official site of ODIN. Or you can download the ODIN I used from this link. (Just go to the link and click on download through browser.

Download ClockWorkMod Recovery from here . Use the blue button to download the file.

. Use the blue button to download the file. Download Gapps (Google Apps) from here . As this guide is for S2 and we are installing Android 6.0 so select ARM,Android 6.0 and in the third column select whichever seems suitable to you. I selected nano version.

. As this guide is for S2 and we are installing Android 6.0 so select and in the third column select whichever seems suitable to you. I selected Download SuperSU Rooting Zip file.

Now let’s move on to the guide on how to install Android 6 marshmallow on S2:

First of all download the Samsung drivers for your PC and install them on your PC.

Now download and copy the CyanogenMod 13 Android 6 Marshmallow firmware file, Gapps and SuperSu rooting zip file in the internal storage or SD card of your phone. Note : keep in mind that some recoveries fails to flash from USB stick / SD card.

: Download and install ODIN on your PC. Next step is to get custom recovery menu so that you can install custom ROM. use this guide on how to install custom recovery on S2 using ODIN. There are other methods from which you can install custom recovery on your phone. One of them is to install ROM manager on your phone and select your phone model and tap on flash custom recovery. That’s it. You can use the guide above to see all the methods to flash custom recovery on your phone.

Turn off your phone and go to custom recovery. Press Volume up, Home and power button simultaneously for long time till you boot into custom recovery. First you will notice Samsung logo flash couple of times and you will see yellow sign under it. Don’t worry about it. Keep on holding the buttons till you see the custom recovery menu.

In the recovery menu. You will have to flash the SuperSu file to root your phone. Using volume buttons goto: I nstall from sdcard -> Choose zip from sdcard – > Now Select the CWM SuperSu.zip file. Let it flash. See the screenshot below.

-> file. Let it flash. See the screenshot below. Now you have to flash CyanogenMod Android 6 Marshmallow on your phone. Steps are same as above Goto Install from Sdcard -> Choose zip from Sdcard -> Select CM 12.1.zip file . It will take some time to flash.

Now you have to flash CyanogenMod Android 6 Marshmallow on your phone. Now you have to install Gapps. Steps are same as above Goto: Install from SDcard -> Choose zip from SDcard -> Select Gapps.

Now just few steps left. Go back to recovery menu and select wipe data/factory reset.

After that select the option “ Clear cache partition “.

“. Now in recovery menu goto: Advanced -> Select Wipe Dalvik Cache.

Select Now Go back to recovery menu and select reboot system now. It will take some time to reboot for the first time.

After your phone is done rebooting you will have Android 6 Marshmallow on S2.

If you have any query or issue in the guide above let me know in the comments. Also give us feedback regarding your experience of Android Marshmallow on your Samsung Galaxy S2. The CyanogenMod 13 version for S2 does not have many bugs, so you can use it as daily use ROM. Still if you have any problem in how to install Android 6 marshmallow on S2. Let me know. I will try my best to help you out.