[JayWill]

The Samsung Galaxy SII Epic 4G Touch has been officially updated to ICS, but the process to root the phone remains the same. The current method to add root privileges to the stock firmware is by using a PC and Samsung's Android flashing utility program called Odin.

Credits:

sextape - for providing the leak to the full system TAR
sfhub - original Odin One-Click creator for the Epic 4G Touch
garwynn - for providing this round of pre-rooted Odin One-Click packages
rwilco12 - for advice and hosting
rainmotorsports - for great hosting support the past many months

When you root a Samsung device, you are basically flashing pre-rooted system software to the phone. If you later flash non-rooted system software to the phone, you effectively remove root. In other words, rooting this phone is not exactly an ON/OFF kind of thing as common sense might imply. It all depends on whether or not whatever you are flashing at the time has the SuperUser binary baked into it.

So, to root the current official firmware, first go here ...

LINK:

Just follow the excellent instructions in the thread. If you are currently on a stock ICS ROM, you can choose the "Preserve User Data" version of the One-Click package, and all of your Applications and App Data will be saved.

Instructional video on flashing the FI27 Odin One-Click:




Thanks as always qbking77 for your awesome instructional videos!!!

[Paul627g]

Thread stickied since this is the newest method.

Thanks JayWill !

[mboyd1]

Hi,

Don't mean to ask a silly question, but I am very new to this. I just wanted to ask if the information you have out on the board is for rooting for the first time of the GS II (Epic 4g touch) or is that information for someone who had something prior and they lost root with update? OR is it for both/either one? I just want to make sure before I do this, I cannot afford to brick my phone and therefore be without anything. I've seen so many messages of people desperate for help b/c this has happened to them.

Any help or answers you could provide would be helpful. Thanks

[dtm_stretch]

Hi,

Don't mean to ask a silly question, but I am very new to this. I just wanted to ask if the information you have out on the board is for rooting for the first time of the GS II (Epic 4g touch) or is that information for someone who had something prior and they lost root with update? OR is it for both/either one? I just want to make sure before I do this, I cannot afford to brick my phone and therefore be without anything. I've seen so many messages of people desperate for help b/c this has happened to them.

Any help or answers you could provide would be helpful. Thanks

This method is actually both. If you are trying to fix your phone because it is not functioning properly (ie not booting, fc's, etc) you will flash the version that will wipe all user data. If you just want to root from stock you will flash the version that "preserves user data."

[pjacobson492]

Need a little help! I'm new to this and not sure how to do this on a Mac. Please help!

Thanks!

Pete

[JayWill]

Need a little help! I'm new to this and not sure how to do this on a Mac. Please help!

Thanks!

Pete

You need to use Heimdall instead of Odin. Here is sfhub's instructions from the thread I linked ...

Mac/Linux - Install 7-zip, then use it to unpack the individual ODIN components in Reference Section B (below). If Heimdall fails flashing all 3 files together, try doing them individually. Skip the remaining instructions that are windows specific (steps 3, 4, 6).

Here is the link to Heimdall:

[pjacobson492]

Thanks!

[willistheyounger]

This works great but now i have the stock android boot screen is there a way to go back to the sprint one

[JayWill]

This works great but now i have the stock android boot screen is there a way to go back to the sprint one

This was caused by installing the EL29 kernel + Rogue CWM repack. The Rogue kernel was modified to add bootanimation.zip support, which causes the phone to call a different binary file to play the boot animation. Unfortunately, I'm not aware of a stock Sprint E4GT bootanimation being available in ZIP form. So you'd either need to use another bootanimation.zip, or go back to the stock kernel (no custom recovery).

Samsung made this all a pain by using their own proprietary bootanimation file type.

[upinarms41]

Thank you all for posting such great information for those of us who would otherwise not be able to figure this out!

I'm kindly seeking some answers (that I know others can certainly make use of) regarding the SPRINT s2 EL29 and Mac using heimdall which I haven't found after having searched for 3 straight days. For some reason, there is no tutorial

THANK YOU IN ADVANCE FOR ASKING THESE TEDIOUS QUESTIONS--YOU ARE A LIFE SAVER.

1) Many s2 rooting tutorials reference installing drivers via Kies BEFORE rooting. They also say to be sure to quit out of Kies completely before moving on to the other steps. Cool, I get it. It is unclear, however, as to whether
a) the phone needs to be on/off/download mode, and
b) whether I need to do anything to initiate Kies updating my drivers.

2) All EL29 rooting tutorials use Odin on PC. Mac users must use heimdall. Some reference unzipping archives using 7zX or Ez7z, which I get. But none that I have read/watched make reference to where this comes into play with heimdall (before/after/during) or whether the two are integrated at all. Please give guidance!

3) The best tutorial I have seen on using heimdall (although the video example runs it in linux, the commands are the same on the Mac in Unix) calls for a .tar file -- although it is unclear if that build is for Sprint, EL29, etc. All of the files I've seen specific to the EL29 root have NOT been .tar files--is there a tar file specific to SPRINT EL29 kernel (ideally the build that WON'T wipe my current apps as I want to avoid have to reinstall anything/re-sync my contacts if at all possible) for use with heimdall, or am I completely lost here?

PLEASE GIVE GUIDANCE!!! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU IN ADVANCE!

[AndrewRich]

As it happens, I just finished rooting my Sprint GS2 EL29 using my Mac. I ran into many of the same questions but was able to puzzle out the answers. Hopefully this will be helpful to you.

1) Many s2 rooting tutorials reference installing drivers via Kies BEFORE rooting. They also say to be sure to quit out of Kies completely before moving on to the other steps. Cool, I get it. It is unclear, however, as to whether
a) the phone needs to be on/off/download mode, and
b) whether I need to do anything to initiate Kies updating my drivers.

I followed the linked from the first post on this thread and it didn't mention Kies at all, so I didn't do anything with it.

2) All EL29 rooting tutorials use Odin on PC. Mac users must use heimdall. Some reference unzipping archives using 7zX or Ez7z, which I get. But none that I have read/watched make reference to where this comes into play with heimdall (before/after/during) or whether the two are integrated at all. Please give guidance!

Do all of this before you start with Heimdall.

Download the Windows EXE files numbered B1, B2 and B4 from the "B) (Individual) STOCK EL29 ODIN Components" section of the in the guide thread. If you want the stock ROM get B3 as well. As they are Windows self-extracting EXEs, you'll need a Mac application that can extract them; the page linked from the guide includes several suggestions. I tried a few and settled on . It seemed to be the most Mac-like, where the others were not.

Extract each of the EXEs with Keka. The result will be a set of .tar.md5 files with the same names. What I did next may not be necessary, but it worked for me: rename each of the .tar.md5 files to .tar and extract the contents to a subfolder. You'll have zImage (the Kernel), modem.bin (the Modem) and factoryfs.img (the Factory FS). I think Heimdall can actually handle untarring these files on its own, but I'd already done that.

3) The best tutorial I have seen on using heimdall (although the video example runs it in linux, the commands are the same on the Mac in Unix) calls for a .tar file -- although it is unclear if that build is for Sprint, EL29, etc. All of the files I've seen specific to the EL29 root have NOT been .tar files--is there a tar file specific to SPRINT EL29 kernel (ideally the build that WON'T wipe my current apps as I want to avoid have to reinstall anything/re-sync my contacts if at all possible) for use with heimdall, or am I completely lost here?

For Heimdall, I just followed along with the included Readme and used the graphical frontend. I did have to download the .PIT file from my phone first, and I was only able to successfully flash one image at a time (which was mentioned in the guide thread). I did them in the order Kernel, Modem, Factory FS but I don't know if that's important. The phone will reboot in between each one so you'll have to put it back into Download mode again each time. I used the "Detect" button in the Utilities tab in Heimdall to verify the connection before each flash, but again, I'm cautious.

After flashing all three images and the last reboot, my phone is back up and running like nothing happened. In fact, I didn't see any obvious way to verify that it had been rooted at all. In the Market, I found a simple app named . I installed and ran that and was presented with...



Now I just have to figure out what to do with it. I'm hoping to find a way to remove some of the stock crapware (that "Media Hub" thing) and possibly install an ad-blocker, and a scheduled reboot.

Anyway, I hope this answers your questions. Good luck!

[sfhub]

This was caused by installing the EL29 kernel + Rogue CWM repack. The Rogue kernel was modified to add bootanimation.zip support, which causes the phone to call a different binary file to play the boot animation. Unfortunately, I'm not aware of a stock Sprint E4GT bootanimation being available in ZIP form. So you'd either need to use another bootanimation.zip, or go back to the stock kernel (no custom recovery).

Samsung made this all a pain by using their own proprietary bootanimation file type.

For GB-based Rogue, you can toggle between Android logo and the Sprint animation using this update.zip:



This if available in the FAQ section of the Auto Root thread in case someone needs to find it in the future.

[JayWill]

For GB-based Rogue, you can toggle between Android logo and the Sprint animation using this update.zip:



This if available in the FAQ section of the Auto Root thread in case someone needs to find it in the future.

Awesome thanks sfhub. I didn't know you had made a flashable ZIP to switch back to stock bootanimation. Out of curiosity, what does this ZIP do? I was thinking it may copy the samsungani binary over the bootanimation binary and rename it, but I wasn't sure if that were possible without breaking something else.

Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk

[dtm_stretch]

Snip

Nice write up, I would have love to help but I don't use a mac. Glad someone could help him out.

[sfhub]

Awesome thanks sfhub. I didn't know you had made a flashable ZIP to switch back to stock bootanimation. Out of curiosity, what does this ZIP do? I was thinking it may copy the samsungani binary over the bootanimation binary and rename it, but I wasn't sure if that were possible without breaking something else.

Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk

It toggles between using /system/bin/bootanimation and /system/bin/samsungani.

The Rogue setup always looks for /system/bin/bootanimation. If you point that to /system/bin/samsungani then the Sprint 4G animation will be used.

[upinarms41]

Thank you so much for this in-depth response AndrewRich--by far the most comprehensive (and only) true guide to the rooting the Sprint S2 EL29 with a Mac. I hope to give it a try tonight, tomorrow at the latest. You are a gentleman and a scholar!!!

[m4f1050]

Will this put the yellow triangle when booting?

[JayWill]

Will this put the yellow triangle when booting?

No it will not. The package contains the stock EL29 Samsung kernel. Flashing a non-Samsung signed kernel is what triggers the triangle and increases the custom binary flash count.

[m4f1050]

No it will not. The package contains the stock EL29 Samsung kernel. Flashing a non-Samsung signed kernel is what triggers the triangle and increases the custom binary flash count.

Ok, thanks. confirmed, no Triangle!

[Tekniq29]

Maybe you can help me too. Way too many problems to list. This is what I did and would like the simplest way to get my phone back to how I walked Out of the store with it and how it was up until I did this. But all indid so far was this so hopefully there is a simple fix. Like my man up there I've spent hours and days looking for a straight forward way to do this. Please include links if possible. I am on a Mac. Imcouldmget access to a PC and use ODIN but I didn't want to royally mess it up or something by mixing the two. Either method or program please help. Mac using the program I began with (heimdall) sounds healthier lol but let me know.

[spaceman71]

these are .exe files? they will work on a mac?

[dtm_stretch]

these are .exe files? they will work on a mac?

You need to use heimdall, if you look to the previous page there is a guide.

Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk 2

[Rockdog97]

After flashing all three images and the last reboot, my phone is back up and running like nothing happened. In fact, I didn't see any obvious way to verify that it had been rooted at all.

Now I just have to figure out what to do with it. I'm hoping to find a way to remove some of the stock crapware (that "Media Hub" thing) and possibly install an ad-blocker, and a scheduled reboot.

Anyway, I hope this answers your questions. Good luck!

I just did the revert from ICS back to GB (EL29) and noticed that I now have a 'SuperUser' icon.. so I guess that means that i'm rooted.

Like you, now that I am rooted, what do I do with it and how to removed the bloatware that most of us want to get rid of (Media Hub, Social Hub, etc..)...

I have not installed anything other than to follow the
[ODIN][TAR] SPH-D710.EL29_CL852097 (EL29 Modem/Kernel/ROM - Full Restore - Rooted)
process to restore GB..

Any help would be most appreciated.

[Phenom]

Is this rooting method still valid with ICS update? Did I read correctly that you can root and preserve all the user data?

[JayWill]

I just did the revert from ICS back to GB (EL29) and noticed that I now have a 'SuperUser' icon.. so I guess that means that i'm rooted.

Like you, now that I am rooted, what do I do with it and how to removed the bloatware that most of us want to get rid of (Media Hub, Social Hub, etc..)...

The best way, in my humble opinion, is by using the root only application Titanium Backup. With it, you can backup an App, then uninstall it. This way, if you decide you want it back, it's a simple button click to restore it. I believe you can backup and restore one App at a time using the free version. If you purchase the paid version, you can do batch backup and restores.

You can also download a free File Explorer that has root privileges. ES File Explorer is a good one. With it, you can navigate to your /system/app folder and delete the bloatware you don't want.

I do prefer Titanium Backup though.

Is this rooting method still valid with ICS update? Did I read correctly that you can root and preserve all the user data?

No, the current links will actually take you to rooted EL29 Gingerbread. I'm going to update the OP right now with updated links and information.