Finally rooted! :)

[UJ95x]

Just finished rooting my S4 and it was a lot easier than I'd expected once I knew the steps. Thanks to everyone who helped me by answering my nooby questions. Now to flash CM
Edit: Just finished installing CM, how do I get GAPPS?

 

[Mike_Joachim]

Just finished rooting my S4 and it was a lot easier than I'd expected once I knew the steps. Thanks to everyone who helped me by answering my nooby questions. Now to flash CM
Edit: Just finished installing CM, how do I get GAPPS?

Can you walk me through it? Haha

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[UJ95x]

Can you walk me through it? Haha

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What model do you have?

 

[thehoz]

Is there a way to unroot yet?

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[UJ95x]

Is there a way to unroot yet?

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There has been for a long time

 

[trucky]

Just finished rooting my S4 and it was a lot easier than I'd expected once I knew the steps. Thanks to everyone who helped me by answering my nooby questions. Now to flash CM
Edit: Just finished installing CM, how do I get GAPPS?

Gapps - CyanogenMod

Google Apps - RootzWiki

 

[thehoz]

There has been for a long time

From what I've read on xda, there is root, but no recovery or easy to get back to stock (other than taking it to the Samsung guy at best buy). Last time I rooted I couldn't upgrade the os until I unrooted.

Anyway, where can I find a way to unroot? I have MF3. Thanks.

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[paintdrinkingpete]

From what I've read on xda, there is root, but no recovery or easy to get back to stock (other than taking it to the Samsung guy at best buy). Last time I rooted I couldn't upgrade the os until I unrooted.

Anyway, where can I find a way to unroot? I have MF3. Thanks.

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When in this general section of the S4 forum, it's important to note your model/carrier when asking questions about this sort of thing, since there are big differences among the different S4 variants. It sounds like you may be on AT&T? If so, then you are for the most part correct.

Best place to get answers to questions like these is to check the threads over on the dev forum for your device over at XDA...

AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 Android Development - xda-developers

EDIT: the XDA dev forums are not a good place to post noob questions, either use the "general" section or ask over here. None the less, that's a good place to go to read up on the threads pertaining to your device and the root methods available.

 

[Chief G-Hawk]

It's been a little over a month since I upgraded my phone to Samsung G S4, so it definitely came with the mf3 (coming from an iPhone 4S). I have been contemplating on rooting my device but there are couple of things that I'm afraid of. I've been reading that once you root, you automatically void warranty? Is this true? What if you unroot and put it back to normal?

I know that with the iOS devices, if it's jailbroken, and the phone needs service because something is not working (like hardware failure), one can easily do a factory restore to lose the jailbreak and of course the genius guys at the apple store won't know that it was jailbroken.

Now I got my phone from Best Buy Mobile, and got the Geek Squad Protection plan (paying 9.99 a month) so it pretty much covers anything from water damage to screen crack, So any accidental damage done by user is covered. With the exception of lost & stolen, and if the device is fully destroyed (like if you put a bullet through the device, etc) or it was completely submerged in water. But of course I'm not sure if rooting will void that one as well.

Personally I like my phone the way it is now, the only thing I really want is to get rid/hide the bloatware that it came with, of course being a super user would be nice. However, I don't want to take the risk of brick my phone. Although I still have my iphone 4S as my back up device but I can not go back because after looking at the 5 inch screen, it makes my iphone 4S screen so small and harder to read.

Any Advice? I still have lot more questions to ask but I think I'll go from here. Any experts out here are open to help me out.

I have the AT&T model. Also I currently have a macbook pro. But of course it's boot camped with Win. 7. I mean if there is a OS X version of the rooting process that would be great, if not I can just switch to win. 7

 

[thehoz]

EDIT: the XDA dev forums are not a good place to post noob questions, either use the "general" section or ask over here. None the less, that's a good place to go to read up on the threads pertaining to your device and the root methods available.

You can say that again. You're right, it is AT&T s4. Every time I hear about a possible unroot I check over there. I want root, but as the other poster said, I want to be able to go back to stock in case I need warranty service. So, I wait on. Thanks.

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[UJ95x]

It's been a little over a month since I upgraded my phone to Samsung G S4, so it definitely came with the mf3 (coming from an iPhone 4S). I have been contemplating on rooting my device but there are couple of things that I'm afraid of. I've been reading that once you root, you automatically void warranty? Is this true? What if you unroot and put it back to normal?

I know that with the iOS devices, if it's jailbroken, and the phone needs service because something is not working (like hardware failure), one can easily do a factory restore to lose the jailbreak and of course the genius guys at the apple store won't know that it was jailbroken.

Now I got my phone from Best Buy Mobile, and got the Geek Squad Protection plan (paying 9.99 a month) so it pretty much covers anything from water damage to screen crack, So any accidental damage done by user is covered. With the exception of lost & stolen, and if the device is fully destroyed (like if you put a bullet through the device, etc) or it was completely submerged in water. But of course I'm not sure if rooting will void that one as well.

Personally I like my phone the way it is now, the only thing I really want is to get rid/hide the bloatware that it came with, of course being a super user would be nice. However, I don't want to take the risk of brick my phone. Although I still have my iphone 4S as my back up device but I can not go back because after looking at the 5 inch screen, it makes my iphone 4S screen so small and harder to read.

Any Advice? I still have lot more questions to ask but I think I'll go from here. Any experts out here are open to help me out.

I have the AT&T model. Also I currently have a macbook pro. But of course it's boot camped with Win. 7. I mean if there is a OS X version of the rooting process that would be great, if not I can just switch to win. 7

Yes, it voids your warranty but they won't know you rooted it if you reset the binary counter with triangle away. I have asked about the insurance covering my phone if it is rooted and they said as long as I can get it back to stock when I take it in they'll fix it (T-Mobile premium insurance plan) If you want to go back to stock, DO NOT FACTORY RESET. You have to flash a stock firmware ROM again

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[Mike_Joachim]

What model do you have?

Galaxy s4 verizon

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[UJ95x]

Galaxy s4 verizon

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I don't know how to root that model, I think there was an issue with the boot loader, not sure if it was resolved though.

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[paintdrinkingpete]

You can say that again. You're right, it is AT&T s4. Every time I hear about a possible unroot I check over there. I want root, but as the other poster said, I want to be able to go back to stock in case I need warranty service. So, I wait on. Thanks.

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I know the issues with the AT&T version are very similar to the Verizon version (which I have), but I'm not completely familiar with AT&T's. The Verizon version does have an "unroot" method, so I would assume the AT&T one does as well...but I'm honestly not sure if the factory images are available to allow it or not.

Galaxy s4 verizon

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I don't know how to root that model, I think there was an issue with the boot loader, not sure if it was resolved though.

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The bootloader issue has not been resolved for phones with the latest update (ME7)...root can be achieved, but no custom recovery, which means no ROMs (which, to relate to the original post of this thread, means no CM). There is some new dual boot option worked on, but I'm not sure if that's ready for prime time just yet.

The actual process to root can be found here: [STICKY] How to Root Your Verizon Galaxy S4 MDK or ME7 - xda-developers

Again, this will let you run apps that require root, like Titanium backup, and remove bloatware and such, but you won't be able to flash ROMs or anything like that.

If you ever needed to "unroot" you could just flash the ME7 factory image: [LINK][ODIN][TAR][VZW] SCH-I545 VRUAME7 Factory Image - xda-developers

 

[UJ95x]

I know the issues with the AT&T version are very similar to the Verizon version (which I have), but I'm not completely familiar with AT&T's. The Verizon version does have an "unroot" method, so I would assume the AT&T one does as well...but I'm honestly not sure if the factory images are available to allow it or not.





The bootloader issue has not been resolved for phones with the latest update (ME7)...root can be achieved, but no custom recovery, which means no ROMs (which, to relate to the original post of this thread, means no CM). There is some new dual boot option worked on, but I'm not sure if that's ready for prime time just yet.

The actual process to root can be found here: [STICKY] How to Root Your Verizon Galaxy S4 MDK or ME7 - xda-developers

Again, this will let you run apps that require root, like Titanium backup, and remove bloatware and such, but you won't be able to flash ROMs or anything like that.

If you ever needed to "unroot" you could just flash the ME7 factory image: [LINK][ODIN][TAR][VZW] SCH-I545 VRUAME7 Factory Image - xda-developers

A question about unrooting...Does it completely remove the custom ROM and custom recovery or does it just install a ROM that is like stock firmware?

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[paintdrinkingpete]

A question about uprooting...Does it completely remove the custom ROM and custom recovery or does it just install a ROM that is like stock firmware?

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Generally, when unrooting, you're reversing all steps...installing stock image, stock recovery, locking bootloader

EDIT: So, yes, it completely removes the custom ROM

 

[UJ95x]

Generally, when unrooting, you're reversing all steps...installing stock image, stock recovery, locking bootloader

EDIT: So, yes, it completely removes the custom ROM

How would I flash the stock image I made by backing up with TWRP?

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[paintdrinkingpete]

How would I flash the stock image I made by backing up with TWRP?

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Pretty much the same way you made the backup...just boot to TWRP and choose the restore option.

Please note, however, that simply restoring this back will NOT completely unroot you (if that's why you are asking), as you will still have unlocked bootloader and custom recovery installed. I'd advise checking the forums for the model S4 you have to see more detailed instructions on exactly how to do that if you wanted to.

2nd Note: A lot of folks don't realize when they first get into rooting that backups made in CWM or TWRP take up a LOT of space (several GB), and often it is written to internal storage by default. Both CWM and TWRP have means to direct the backups to SD card, which recommend. After a while, you'll want to check your storage and delete old backups if they're taking up too much space.

 

[UJ95x]

Pretty much the same way you made the backup...just boot to TWRP and choose the restore option.

Please note, however, that simply restoring this back will NOT completely unroot you (if that's why you are asking), as you will still have unlocked bootloader and custom recovery installed. I'd advise checking the forums for the model S4 you have to see more detailed instructions on exactly how to do that if you wanted to.

2nd Note: A lot of folks don't realize when they first get into rooting that backups made in CWM or TWRP take up a LOT of space (several GB), and often it is written to internal storage by default. Both CWM and TWRP have means to direct the backups to SD card, which recommend. After a while, you'll want to check your storage and delete old backups if they're taking up too much space.

Yeah, I didn't like CM as much as I expected. My battery life isn't as good (odd) and it takes up almost 5GB so I only have 4 left. So I would boot into TWRP, restore stock image and then unroot with Odin? I can deal with the occasional Touchwiz hiccups, stock android isn't for me :\

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[Michael_M_Gregg]

I have the sprint version. Can you walk me through how to root it.

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