Samsung Galaxy S24 FE stuck after One UI 9 update with AccessDenied error

samsung one-ui android troubleshooting mullvad

After updating my Samsung Galaxy S24 FE to One UI 9, I ran into a frustrating issue.

The update installed successfully and the phone rebooted normally. The One UI 9 welcome screen appeared, but every time I pressed Next, the phone opened a page containing:

<Error>
  <Code>AccessDenied</Code>
  <Message>Access Denied</Message>
</Error>

Symptoms

  • The update completed successfully.
  • The phone booted normally.
  • The One UI 9 welcome wizard appeared.
  • Pressing Next opened an XML error page.
  • The Back button returned to the previous screen.
  • It was impossible to reach the home screen.

What did NOT help

I tried:

  • multiple reboots;
  • different Wi‑Fi networks;
  • mobile data;
  • another hotspot.

The issue remained exactly the same.

What solved the problem

I disconnected the phone from all network connections:

  1. Turned off Wi‑Fi.
  2. Turned off my hotspot.
  3. Removed the SIM card.
  4. Rebooted the device.
  5. Completed the One UI wizard completely offline.

The wizard finished successfully and the phone booted to the home screen.

After that I reinserted the SIM card, re-enabled internet access, and verified that everything worked normally.

Possible root cause

I use Mullvad VPN, although I cannot confirm with certainty that it caused the problem.

My theory is that the One UI post-update wizard tried to load an online Samsung resource and received an AccessDenied response instead.

When the device was completely offline, the problematic network step was skipped and the setup finished successfully.

Conclusion

Before attempting a factory reset:

  • Remove the SIM card.
  • Disable Wi‑Fi.
  • Disconnect all internet access.
  • Reboot the phone.
  • Complete the update wizard while offline.

This resolved the issue completely on my Galaxy S24 FE and allowed me to keep all my data intact.