How to Root Galaxy T-Mobile Galaxy S3!

zedomax

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So, let's root our Sprint Galaxy S3 SPH-L710 or T-Mobile Galaxy S3 SGH-T999, it only takes about 5 minutes, very safe to do.

Step 1. Hold down Volume Down, Home Center, and Power buttons together for about 20 seconds until your phone resets and shows you an option to get into download mode.

Step 2. Next hit Volume Up button to enter download mode.

Step 3. Once in Download mode, you can connect your micro-USB cable from your Galaxy S3 to your computer.

Step 4. Next, download GalaxyS3RootSprint.zip and unzip, you should find all the files you need.
Download GalaxyS3RootSprint.zip

Step 5. Next, make sure you have drivers installed, you should see "Samsung Mobile USB CDC Composite Device" in Device Manager. ?If you don't, simply download Samsung Kies and install it. ?(Then unplug, plug the micro-USB cable.)

Step 6. Double-click on odin3 v1.85.exe file to start ODIN. ?You should see a yellow highlighted box with a COM number. ?The number doesn't matter just so long as you see a yellow box. ?If you don't see yellow box, your drivers are not installed correctly OR try killing Kies in Task Manager as sometimes it can interfere.

Step 7. Choose "PDA" and choose "clockworkmod.TAR" file in GalaxyS3RootSprint folder. ?Then hit "Start".

Step 8. In about 10 seconds, your phone will reboot and give you ClockworkMod Recovery.

Step 9. You will get a "PASS!" if everything went correctly.

Step 10. Once your Galaxy S3 reboots, copy over the file?CWM-SuperSU-v0.87.zip?from the folder?GalaxyS3RootSprint?to the internal storage or SD card of your phone.

Step 11. Reboot into ClockworkMod Recovery by holding down Volume Up, Center Home, and Power button together for about 10 seconds.

Step 12. Once in ClockworkMod Recovery, choose “install zip from sdcard”.

Step 13. Next choose “choose zip from sdcard” or “choose zip from internal sdcard” depending on where you put the file in Step 6.

Step 14. Choose?CWM-SuperSU-v0.87.zip.

Step 15. Choose “Yes”.

Step 16. Once it’s done flashing the file?CWM-SuperSU-v0.87.zip (the Superuser zip file), simply reboot and enjoy a fully rooted Galaxy S3.

Step 17. You will find SuperSU app once rebooted.

Step 18. You can now run rooted apps!

FAQ

Q: Does this root method erase my settings and apps?
A: No, it doesn’t touch a thing, very safe to do.

Q: I ended up in Kernel panic mode, what do I do?
A: Relax, that’s same as ODIN download mode, simply run Heimdall again and flash the files again, it will work.

More questions? ?Please leave in the comment section below for help from author and other users.
<h2>More on this Root Method</h2>
This root method simply installs ClockworkMod Recovery to the recovery partition and installs Superuser zip file, very safe to do. ?With Galaxy S2, recovery partition was part of the kernel and was a bit dangerous but with Galaxy S3, Samsung has made recovery parition separate from the kernel, making it much safer just like how Galaxy Nexus works.

Congratulations! ?You've rooted your Galaxy S3! ?That was easy right?
FAQ
Q: Does this root method erase my settings and apps?
A: No, it doesn't touch a thing, very safe to do.

Q: ODIN does not start on my computer, what do I do?
A: Sometimes various Windows programs and drivers interfere with ODIN, try closing/killing any programs before running the program. ?If that does't work, just use another computer.

Q: I ended up in Kernel panic mode, what do I do?
A: Relax, that's same as ODIN download mode, simply run ODIN again and flash the files again, it will work.

Q: Does rooting break my phone in any way?
A: No, this root method actually does not change your Galaxy S3 except install custom recovery and give you root. ?Everything else on your phone will stay the same.

More questions? ?Please leave in the comment section below for help from author and other users.
More on this Root Method
This root method simply installs ClockworkMod Recovery to the recovery partition and installs Superuser zip file, very safe to do. ?With Galaxy S2, recovery partition was part of the kernel and was a bit dangerous but with Galaxy S3, Samsung has made recovery parition separate from the kernel, making it much safer just like how Galaxy Nexus works.

Credits - NoobNL

For detailed step-by-step instructions with photos, see here:
http://galaxys3root.com/galaxy-s3-root/how-to-root-sprint-galaxy-s3-sph-l710/
 

sjsgalaxys3

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Jun 25, 2012
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Everything worked fine, Odin passes, etc. until it is time to get into recovery.

The phone does not rebott into recovery mode and when II press the volume up, home and power and the phone does not kick into recovery, if I let go of a button, it restarts.

I see Super Su on my phone and if I clcik on this it says that a binary file is not working. I am going to download the entire package again, maybe there was a lapse in the download who knows and will update.

Thanks in advance
 
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Paul627g

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Nice work thanks! Does this root AND unlock the bootloader?

Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2
There is no bootloader on the SGSIII...

The described method above will place ClockWorkMod recovery on your device and then you follow thru with flashing the SuperUser zip file in CWM to obtain root access.

Don't forget to make a Nandroid backup before you start changing things :)
 

closers7

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There is no bootloader on the SGSIII...

The described method above will place ClockWorkMod recovery on your device and then you follow thru with flashing the SuperUser zip file in CWM to obtain root access.

Don't forget to make a Nandroid backup before you start changing things :)

Thanks for the explanation! Coming to T-Mobile from VZW and the Galaxy Nexus.


Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2
 

javier180

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Jul 4, 2012
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So for the G S3 there is no way to brick our phones if we manage to screw up. I'm new to this and would like to learn how to root
 

gordonzhao

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Strange in my case, recovery detects my ext microsd, but it won't show it as an option as "install from external storage." But aside from that it worked out very well by putting the tar in the built in storage. Thanks.
 

enderschosen

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I'm fairly new to the android scene and curious as to what the benefits of rooting are? I understand flashing to different roms to get a different experience or use a different skin for your android device, but once you root is there like a different android market to download apps that need rooted devices to run on?
 

gordonzhao

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Strange in my case, recovery detects my ext microsd, but it won't show it as an option as "install from external storage." But aside from that it worked out very well by putting the tar in the built in storage. Thanks.

Anyone else experiencing the same as I? Recovery only gives the option to install from internal sd and not the ext sd??