How to install stock Verizon Lollipop on phone with unknown unlocked boot loader?

[bobdrad]

At some point in the past an unlocked boot loader was installed on my phone, but I don't know which one. When I boot into the boot loader, it doesn't display any name or version number, but it does say to press Volume Down to install custom OS. I get an unlocked padlock icon with the word "Custom" when I power up.

I currently have 4.3 installed on my sch-i545. I want to install the latest stock Verizon Lollipop OS, but retain root. Is this possible?

 

[Rukbat]

Root applies to the ROM - you root the ROM, not the phone, so updating the ROM and retaining root is changing something without changing it. So, no, you can't. (Some updates can retain root, if you're running SuperSU and put it into survival mode before you update, but not many can.)

As far as flashing Lollipop, download a ROM (the latest one SamMobile has is 4.4.2, so Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4 - XDA Forums may be your best bet), then follow our [Samsung] How to flash Stock ROM via ODIN guide. As long as you can get into download mode (Home+Volume Down+power from a power off state), you can flash a ROM. Even pressing Volume Down at the point you get may get you to the download partition. Either way is enough to flash a new ROM.

(I don't think you have an unlocked bootloader - the Verizon and AT&T bootloaders were locked from 4.3 on and there's a lot of money waiting for anyone who can come up with a way to unlock them. What youprobably have is a locked bootloader and a custom ROM.)

AFAIK, there's no rooting method for Verizon Lollipop yet that won't trip Knox, but check XDA - I haven't looked in a long time, because I'm not interested in a user interface designed to kill batteries in phones with Amoled screens.

 

[bobdrad]

IC. I think I have a custom recovery, but not an unlocked bootloader. Does that help here?

 

[Rukbat]

It might, if you can find a ROM that's a TWRP or CWM backup (depending on which custom recovery you have - they're not interchangeable). It would make it easier to boot into recovery and restore a backup, or install a ROM from a zip file. But installing one using Odin isn't difficult either - in fact, by the 4th or 5th time you do it, the only danger is dying of boredom.

 

[bobdrad]

As I see it I'm stuck because there is no stock Verizon lollipop ROM available yet, and even if there were, it can't be rooted at this time.