As anyone running OS X or Linux would know, the only truly "supported" way of rooting an S4 talked about on XDA is using CF Auto Root and Odin to flash it. There used to be Motochopper, but that no longer works with recent versions of the S4 firmware.
I actually am familiar with the concepts of how flashing a device works, and upon seeing videos or pictures of selecting the CF Auto Root .tar.md5 file for "PDA" in Odin, I wondered if what was going on behind the scenes was as simple as just performing a regular flash to recovery or whatnot.
I downloaded CF Auto Root and extracted the .tar.md5 file. Why it has the .md5 extension, I'm still not sure. Perhaps it's just because Odin requires that extension? I don't know if it's actually important. Inside though, I found 2 files. They were cache.img.ext4 and recovery.img.
I did some research before posting, but didn't find anything definitive. However, I'm assuming that using Heimdall to flash would work. Because Heimdall interfaces with the device the same way Odin does, only Heimdall actually supports OSes other than Windows. Only problem is, Heimdall doesn't have a one-click "PDA" button to flash the .tar.md5 like Odin does. But would using Heimdall to flash the cache and recovery image files work? Is that all that needs to happen for the S4 to be rooted? Or does Odin also perform some additional function, some function which Heimdall wouldn't do automatically?
To make a tl;dr I guess, has anybody tried flashing cache and recovery image files from the CF Auto Root .tar.md5 file to a S4? Did it work? If so, was there anything special you had to do in order to get it to work? Any answers or insight from someone else would be greatly appreciated. If I could get this working with my S4 I might make a video tutorial so that then there's a good tutorial out there that works for OSes other than Windows.
I did it in heimdall. Worked perfectly
Sent from my SPH-L720
xchampx13 said:
I did it in heimdall. Worked perfectly
Sent from my SPH-L720
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You just entered in the recovery.img and cache.img.ext4 files as they were and flashed? You didn't do anything else?
superriku11 said:
You just entered in the recovery.img and cache.img.ext4 files as they were and flashed? You didn't do anything else?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please follow this link. I just did it a few mn ago, and it worked good. Had to do it twice (don't know why). Flash process takes only a few seconds. In case Heimdall hangs too long (> 1 mn) at " Releasing device interface" with no progress bar, power off your device and start again the process.
http://www.all-things-android.com/content/how-root-samsung-mobile-device
Related
I flashed my old Galaxy S4 with odin on a windows computer by doing the pda thing and choosing that .tar.md5 file i was to extract or whatever.
How would I do the same using Heimdall on a mac? That is all I will have when my new S4 arrives thursday morning (got stabbed and mugged for just my phone)
I dont wanna use the motochopper scripts because they hardbricked my phone twice once i rebooted the device. Is that my only option?
edit: for example I know you can flash a a kernal in Heimdall -kernal kernal.img but is this the same as rooting? I thought flashing a recovery image was rooting'?
Also where am I going to find that .tar.md5 file or whatever for a canadian (rogers) galaxy s4 sgh-i337m
Edit2: androidayos.com/2013/05/31/root-i337mumuamdj-samsung-galaxy-s4-sgh-i337m/ I found the guide to using odin, so I just wanna use that same file the "CF-Auto Root tar file." but in Heimdall. any tips?
Rooting and a recovery are two different things. You can find stock firmware on xda or sammobile.com. From sammobile you'll download a zip which contains the.tar.md5
Ps, this could help http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=42320391
Pps, there is a guide for the s4 which I can't find right now. Google "heimdall s4 xda"
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I957 using xda app-developers app
That much is simple to me, the question is which commands will i need to put in terminal to emulate what odin does to simply root my phone nothing more nothing less.
Nsomnia said:
That much is simple to me, the question is which commands will i need to put in terminal to emulate what odin does to simply root my phone nothing more nothing less.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Idk, I've never seen Odin root a phone before. Usually you odin a custom recovery and then flash super su-busybox in the recovery.
Edit, maybe you can glean what you need from this. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=42320391
jd1639 said:
Idk, I've never seen Odin root a phone before. Usually you odin a custom recovery and then flash super su-busybox in the recovery.
Edit, maybe you can glean what you need from this. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=42320391
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I cant post links but view this quickly from my OP androidayos.com/2013/05/31/root-i337mumuamdj-samsung-galaxy-s4-sgh-i337m/
thats rooting the phone with Odin
I need to learn what terminal commands ill need for Heidall in OSX to do the same thing as Odin in windows.
well i receive my new phone within the next 2-3 hours, so this is the last chanec for anyone thatjknows how to run this heimall tool on mac, to root it with that tar.gz file
Same boat
Nsomnia said:
well i receive my new phone within the next 2-3 hours, so this is the last chanec for anyone thatjknows how to run this heimall tool on mac, to root it with that tar.gz file
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
I'm in the same boat. I've tried the Mac OSX terminal motochopper method to try and root my Canadian, Rogers galaxy s4 (SGH-1337M) which installed the Superuser app but did not actually give me root access. I've downloaded Heimdall and have the correct tar.md5 file for my phone, but have yet to find any instruction or tutorial for how to use this file in Heimdall.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
[ Read the How To at the second post ]
Heya guys,
I just got yesterday my new Galaxy S5. I'm actually someone who is switching from the iPhone world to Galaxy.
I had a Note 2 in the past for some time and I'm sys admin so I'm a bit familiar with flashing and technical stuff.
Phone Information:
Model: SM-G900FD (or SM-G900MD?) (DuoS)
Country of Origin: United Arab Emirates
The phone came with stock rom 4.4.2. On the About Phone screen it shown SM-G900FD as model, directly from unboxing.
But when entering the Odin Mode it shows as product name SM-G900MD (which would fit the origin of course).
The first I did was downloading G900FDXXU1BNL9 (Android 5.0 SER (Russia)) and flash it with Odin. It works like a charm.
Then I tried dozen of different rooting methods, and failed every time, I spent I believe 10 hours on it already and flashed the phone about 30 times.
When flashing the stock rom, either the new G900FDXXU1BNL9 (5.0) or old G900FDXXU1ANF6 (4.4.2) it works like a charm.
The phone comes to life, Android is working fine.
As soon as I try to flash *any* other image, CWM, CF-Auto-Root or anything, it starts with "NAND Write Start!" and then in some seconds stops with "Complete(Write) operation failed." and the system ends up in a soft brick (Firmware upgrade encountered an issue. Please select recovery mode in Kies & try again.). I tried from every piece of software I could find many different versions. Different Odin versions. I tried Heimdall (Mac) and fastboot (Windows & Mac) without success. These two don't work at all with the phone. Heimdall can't correctly connect to the phone and download the PIT, I was reading its a bug with the newest bootloader of Samsung. And fastboot/adb can't see the phone, at all. While heimdall or odin can see the phone, so its not a driver issue that the OS can't recognize the phone.
I tried also different versions of CWM, CF-Auto-Root, either for SM-G900FD or SM-G900MD. No luck.
What I tried then was using towelroot, but it doesn't work with the newest Android. So I found a thread that stated to flash a old Kernel, which will give errors during booting but you can then root the phone with towelroot, and then flash the newest kernel back to the phone. I tried that, taking out the boot.img files from old and new firmware out and use a script to package them into .tar.md5 files and try to flash them with Odin. Even there, Odin reports FAIL! With the boot.img files from the stock images, which work fine flashing if I flash the entire stock image.
I tried also installing a old stock rom and try rooting it there with CWM/CF-Auto-Root. Same stuff, FAIL! flashing.
I'm a bit out of ideas right now. Does anyone ever encountered this? Or does have a hint on what could cause this problems?
Some threads I was reading (its a way more, but the list would be too long, I just add the most recent ones) and following:
[How to] Root for 4.4.2 and Flash rooted Stock Android 5.0 with KNOX 0x0?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=54745709&postcount=13
Galaxy S5 G900FD
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=55994495&postcount=102
[Script][Tool] how to create a tar.md5 file from img For Odin
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2446269
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you very much for any assistance. I hope there is a possibility to root this phone
Cheers,
Sven
PS: My KNOX Warranty Void is already increased, so the warranty is killed already.
[HowTo]
Heya everyone again,
I just wanted to say that the last hope I had to try did work finally.
As every flashing of single partitions (eg. recovery.img, cache.img.ext4 or boot.img) failed, I did the following:
1. Take the image you want to have, in my case it is Android 5.0 SER (G900FDXXU1BNL9) stock image, and unpack it
2. Take the CWM, I used philz_touch_6.26.2-klte.tar.md5, and unpack it
3. Move the recovery.img file from the CWM to the image you want to flash and replace the original recovery.img
4. Package all together into one image.tar.md5 file, in my case it would be the stock image with the replaced CWM recovery.img
5. Flash it with Odin, it worked at me!
6. Proceed with the default rooting procedure of CWM (copy SuperSU, boot recovery, install ZIP)
You are done!
Steps to package the image.tar.md5 file (I used Mac OS X Yosmite):
$ COPYFILE_DISABLE=1 gtar -H ustar -c NON-HLOS.bin aboot.mbn boot.img cache.img.ext4 hidden.img.ext4 modem.bin recovery.img rpm.mbn sbl1.mbn sdi.mbn system.img.ext4 tz.mbn > image.tar
$ gmd5sum -t image.tar >> image.tar
$ mv image.tar image.tar.md5
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The OS X tools (tar and md5) are NOT suitable! You should use brew install coreutils and use the gnu tar and md5sum commands. The OS X tar will produce a unusable tar file and Odin will crash, the OS X md5 produces a different output than md5sum (even when using md5 -r) and the verification will fail. When using Linux/Windows tar/md5sum tools all should be fine. If odin crashes when trying to flash it doesn't like how tar packaged up your file. Try a different tar version (better: operating different system).
I hope this helps people that encountered the same issue as me and they can now enjoy Android 5.0 with root on their SM-G900FD.
Cheers,
Sven
Well done!!
af2k said:
Heya everyone again,
I just wanted to say that the last hope I had to try did work finally.
As every flashing of single partitions (eg. recovery.img, cache.img.ext4 or boot.img) failed, I did the following:
1. Take the image you want to have, in my case it is Android 5.0 SER (G900FDXXU1BNL9) stock image, and unpack it
2. Take the CWM, I used philz_touch_6.26.2-klte.tar.md5, and unpack it
3. Move the recovery.img file from the CWM to the image you want to flash and replace the original recovery.img
4. Package all together into one image.tar.md5 file, in my case it would be the stock image with the replaced CWM recovery.img
5. Flash it with Odin, it worked at me!
6. Proceed with the default rooting procedure of CWM (copy SuperSU, boot recovery, install ZIP)
You are done!
Steps to package the image.tar.md5 file (I used Mac OS X Yosmite):
The OS X tools (tar and md5) are NOT suitable! You should use brew install coreutils and use the gnu tar and md5sum commands. The OS X tar will produce a unusable tar file and Odin will crash, the OS X md5 produces a different output than md5sum (even when using md5 -r) and the verification will fail. When using Linux/Windows tar/md5sum tools all should be fine. If odin crashes when trying to flash it doesn't like how tar packaged up your file. Try a different tar version (better: operating different system).
I hope this helps people that encountered the same issue as me and they can now enjoy Android 5.0 with root on their SM-G900FD.
Cheers,
Sven
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well done !!
i was looking for this root for my phone M-G900FD
until i read your thread ,so please upload the ready made file to root my phone as i am not experienced in this matter
waiting for your feed back
thanks
I had the same problem. I couldn't flash any other image whatever I did. And what I did was disabling reactivation lock within the settings. Worked since then.
free007 said:
please upload the ready made file
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I will look into this tomorrow and provide a ready image for this.
AlwaysAndroid said:
what I did was disabling reactivation lock within the settings. Worked since then.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It didn't work out of the box at me. I checked right now within the settings and the reactivation lock is disabled already.
So we seem to face different problems. I still don't understand why flashing anything but an entire firmware is failing.
Well done indeed, would love to get my hands on your modded ROM, as in Dubai with new Duos just purchased today.
Any problems with Wifi passwords not being stored on re-boot?
af2k said:
Heya everyone again,
I just wanted to say that the last hope I had to try did work finally.
As every flashing of single partitions (eg. recovery.img, cache.img.ext4 or boot.img) failed, I did the following:
1. Take the image you want to have, in my case it is Android 5.0 SER (G900FDXXU1BNL9) stock image, and unpack it
2. Take the CWM, I used philz_touch_6.26.2-klte.tar.md5, and unpack it
3. Move the recovery.img file from the CWM to the image you want to flash and replace the original recovery.img
4. Package all together into one image.tar.md5 file, in my case it would be the stock image with the replaced CWM recovery.img
5. Flash it with Odin, it worked at me!
6. Proceed with the default rooting procedure of CWM (copy SuperSU, boot recovery, install ZIP)
You are done!
Steps to package the image.tar.md5 file (I used Mac OS X Yosmite):
The OS X tools (tar and md5) are NOT suitable! You should use brew install coreutils and use the gnu tar and md5sum commands. The OS X tar will produce a unusable tar file and Odin will crash, the OS X md5 produces a different output than md5sum (even when using md5 -r) and the verification will fail. When using Linux/Windows tar/md5sum tools all should be fine. If odin crashes when trying to flash it doesn't like how tar packaged up your file. Try a different tar version (better: operating different system).
I hope this helps people that encountered the same issue as me and they can now enjoy Android 5.0 with root on their SM-G900FD.
Cheers,
Sven
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Looks like gtar needs to be installed separately.
$ brew install gnu-tar
This is what I was looking for...
I am not on OSX. Is there a possibility to get access to the modified image?
AT&T SGH-I337 UCUEMK2
Long story short, company is rolling out airwatch and I need to get rid of root. It's their phone, their policy. My issue is that all I have is a Mac. I've seen a few threads that link to the recovery firmware but it seems to be formatted only for Odin. Being on Mac, i'm limited to Heimdall which seems to use different files that I cannot find.
Can someone let me know where I can get the Heimdall firmware for my phone?
Thanks
Actually, you use the same firmware with Heimdall that you use with Odin. What you will start with is an "Odin flashable .tar (or .tar.md5) file". To use it with Heimdall, you will need to extract all the individual components from the tar archive. For example, you will then have files like boot.bin, sbl.bin, factoryfs.img, boot.img, data.img, hidden.img, modem.bin, etc. I'm not sure of the specific files for the S4, and I didn't open a tar archive to look, so whatever you find in the stock distribution is what you will need. Then you use them with Heimdall. There is a graphical interface and a command line tool. The command line tool may be a little more reliable. Some have had issues using Heimdall on certain versions of MAC OS.
Just wanted to post a followup. I used the instructions from here and I've got my phone back.
Thanks
I have a Galaxy S7 SM-G935FD International Edition which, thru a long sequence of missteps, I have gotten to the point where I can only get to the Samsung Logo Screen or the ODIN download mode (ie. no boot). I flashed TWRP 3.0.2-0-herolte, apparently successfully, by converting the zipped file I found to a .tar and using ODIN 3.10.7 on a Win10PC. But I am unable using any key sequence to get into any TWRP recovery mode - only the two modes above. I tried to convert the Superman rom on this forum to a tar also, but flashing stopped after Aroma at starting NAND write. In my many missteps, what I was trying to accomplish is to debloat and root the phone, at least to gain root access using Android adb. I was able to do this on my previous S6 Edge, but Samsung's vast security barriers have defeated me.
Steps to recover from this mess greatly appreciated ...... hopefully steps I can complete using ODIN ............ thx, Gus
gus_zernial said:
I have a Galaxy S7 SM-G935FD International Edition which, thru a long sequence of missteps, I have gotten to the point where I can only get to the Samsung Logo Screen or the ODIN download mode (ie. no boot). I flashed TWRP 3.0.2-0-herolte, apparently successfully, by converting the zipped file I found to a .tar and using ODIN 3.10.7 on a Win10PC. But I am unable using any key sequence to get into any TWRP recovery mode - only the two modes above. I tried to convert the Superman rom on this forum to a tar also, but flashing stopped after Aroma at starting NAND write. In my many missteps, what I was trying to accomplish is to debloat and root the phone, at least to gain root access using Android adb. I was able to do this on my previous S6 Edge, but Samsung's vast security barriers have defeated me.
Steps to recover from this mess greatly appreciated ...... hopefully steps I can complete using ODIN ............ thx, Gus
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Flash Stock Rom via ODIN.
Joku1981 said:
Flash Stock Rom via ODIN.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was unable to find a stock rom for the international. I found a zipped UK no carrier stock rom. Since ODIN doesn't flash zipped files, I unzipped and saved to a tar file using 7-Zip on Win10. Attempts to flash the tar file using ODIN crashed ODIN on the PC. I'm not sure what's wrong, as I used the same method to flash the zipped TWRP file, and finished with a "success"
I note that I have a message saying kernel is not seandroid enforcing. Somehow I think using ODIN to flash a stock rom is being blocked by some Samsung secutity feature I cannot identify and haven't overcome. Gus
Check this thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=3335065 I don't know if you have experience with Odin process. Google it preferably look at YouTube video, if you feel shaky on Odin concepts.
Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk
gus_zernial said:
I was unable to find a stock rom for the international. I found a zipped UK no carrier stock rom. Since ODIN doesn't flash zipped files, I unzipped and saved to a tar file using 7-Zip on Win10. Attempts to flash the tar file using ODIN crashed ODIN on the PC. I'm not sure what's wrong, as I used the same method to flash the zipped TWRP file, and finished with a "success"
I note that I have a message saying kernel is not seandroid enforcing. Somehow I think using ODIN to flash a stock rom is being blocked by some Samsung secutity feature I cannot identify and haven't overcome. Gus
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. "I flashed TWRP 3.0.2-0-herolte, apparently successfully, by converting the zipped file I found to a .tar and using ODIN 3.10.7 on a Win10PC." Reflash this FILE via ODIN coz you flashed wrong one and boot in it. Go to next step if doesn't work.
2. Flash Stock ROM via ODIN. SM-G935FD use the same firmwares that SM-G935F.
Careful with ODIN. Make sure you are running on the latest version, as I myself has problems using it for the Galaxy S7 Edge on an offer version
Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk
maybe my question will be weird lol...how can i sofbrick a s7 g930p to be exact and then i can just unbrick flashing the U firmware? thanks.
It has Android 4.4 on it, but LTE. So besides the old os still usable.
We tried Odin, it wants a .tar.md5, what is a good way to convert it to a .tar.md5, we did the tar tool for Odin, it made a small seperate .md5 file.Just want 1 file to flash, is there a easy way in Linux to do it?
Edawrd1978 said:
It has Android 4.4 on it, but LTE. So besides the old os still usable.
We tried Odin, it wants a .tar.md5, what is a good way to convert it to a .tar.md5, we did the tar tool for Odin, it made a small seperate .md5 file.Just want 1 file to flash, is there a easy way in Linux to do it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Look for and download the original firmware and flash via odin 3.13.1.
ze7zez said:
Look for and download the original firmware and flash via odin 3.13.1.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have lineage-15.1-20180708-UNOFFICIAL-core33g.tar.md5 (just .tar shows unless you go to properties, hmmm) anyway, I think that is it, Last few times I tried Windows says there is a prob. & stops it. does odin have a Linux versoin.