Thank you for stopping to answer my question...
tl;dr version: See bold section below.
The "I have time" version:
First of all.. I'm an old hand at root/custom mods/recoveries... but, the KNOX stuff and latest enterprise concerns have put me a little behind. I was running TWRP and CM11 on my S3 when I updated to a Note 3.
I had read up on the root and safestrap techniques, and it was my understanding that any MJ* builds could achieve root... but would also trip the KNOX counter. So... when I got the Note3 last week, I made sure it came with MI9, the original firmware. I went home that night, and tried using Universal Root De La Vega (URDLV) to root it, since the standard RDLV method had been redacted from the Verizon Note 3 forum, and redirected to URDLV. Anyway... URDLV didn't work. It kept failing no matter what I tried. I read over 100 pages of the forum, and still couldn't achieve more than a few soft bricks. I also did not want to use the Kingo or vRoot methods because of reasonable doubt that there is malicious intent behind them.
So... I found a reference to the original RDLV technique from the original MI9 release, and tried it with success.
I'm now rooted, with not a hint of MJ7 or MJE on my phone... running a stock install of MI9 with safestrap 3.71. I believe SuperSU removed some knox stuff during install, and I used Titanium Backup to freeze the FWUpdate app to prevent OTA.
Now, finally for my questions:
Having a rooted MI9 stock install currently... Can I update my phone to a newer build, or to a custom ROM based on a newer build... without tripping the knox counter or using Kingo / vRoot?
If the only "updates" that came through the OTA were patching root/knox, then I don't care if I ever update... but, I understand that they also improved the modem/radio... and that matters to me, since I need the *best* reception on my phone, or I'll drop calls on the daily.
Any help and/or advice is greatly appreciated!
Thank you in advance for your time and attention.
DrPhant0m said:
... So... when I got the Note3 last week, I made sure it came with MI9, the original firmware.
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Click to collapse
How were you able to do that?
IMO radio/firmware releases almost never do anything perceptible to call quality or drops, and especially not signal strength - that's pretty much an impossibility. But, even if you don't share in that opinion, you should **wait until you actually have a problem** with calls before giving something up for nothing. (That is, don't assume that a radio firmware update will have any perceptible differences.)
It is my impression that anti-rollback provisions were introduced sometime after the MI9 release (I don't know if that was MJ7 or MJE), so I suppose there is a small possibility that you could cobble together an Odin flash bundle that contains only signed (factory versions of MJ7 or MJE) Android components :
recovery.img, boot.img, cache.img.ext4, system.img.ext4, sec_csc.zip
This would leave in place all the MI9 boot gearing (NON-HLOS.bin, modem.bin, sbl1.mbn, aboot.mbn, rpm.mbn, tz.mbn) so that a failure to boot or any other such troubles would not prevent you from flashing back to full-MI9 using the 100% stock MI9 Odin tarball.
This is speculative & I don't know if anybody has tried it; it is possible that the kernels won't boot with the older bootloader gearing. (My phone came with MJ7, so I certainly haven't tried it). But if it worked, it might be possible to enjoy newer (MJ7/MJE) software releases without losing rollback capability.
As for the RDLV stuff, maybe the right approach is to read your way through some of those older RDLV threads (October?) and contact via PM some of the members who successfully used the original RDLV kit - they probably still have the kit laying around. Just let them know what your situation is and that you aren't looking for spoon-feeding, just the original RDLV root kit.
I remember reading something about a vulnerability in the original MI9 bootloader (beyond the anti-rollback stuff) that makes it valuable to keep if possible, given the current state of affairs with MJ7/MJE, which is to say: no custom kernels and no custom recoveries. But I can't remember what the MI9 aboot vuln was right now; I only remember that it is kinda significant.
However, there are customized Touchwiz ROMs available for MJ7 or MJE that may be installed with Safestrap - they use the Stock kernel/boot image and leave the factory stock recovery alone.
Even the URDLV stuff is not supported on MJ7 or MJE and apparently can lead to hard-bricks with MJE; most folks that are rooting MJ7 or MJE have been using kingo or vroot. You went to the trouble of getting MI9 - maybe we should see what kind of mileage you can get out of it before you take the plunge into "forever locked down" land.
bftb0
Edit I forgot to answer the question you posed in your subject line - it is my impression that RDLV/URDLV methods:
- Knox-safe on MI9 only
- Trips Knox Warranty Flag to 0x1 on MJ7
- Doesn't work at all with MJE
There were also reports of strange brickings involving attempted Odin Stock MI9 rollbacks following the use of RDLV/URDLV, but my memory is fuzzy on this topic - you should probably do a lot more reading while you get acquainted with your device. Either that or do all your experimenting within 13 days of purchase
bftb0 said:
How were you able to do that?
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Click to collapse
Thank you for your in-depth response!
I literally just called BestBuy, and asked if they had any Black Note 3s, and if they could check the sticker on the box and see if the "S/W Version" ended in MI9, or other. They had 3 MI9s. I was as surprised as you.... but I'm sure none of their iPhones have been on the shelf longer than a few days.
As for the rest of the information you gave me... I'll try to respond to each section in short order.
Updating radio/modem:
I've rarely seen a benefit from updating radios and basebands and the like as far as reception goes... but I saw in one post that MJE was preferable because they fixed a lot of stuff. I drop a lot of calls... so I didn't know if that was considered "having a problem" that might be fixed with an update.
anti-rollback:
Yes. I believe that Verizon/Samsung blacklist the previous bootloader upon OTA, resulting in a soft brick if you try to rollback. I don't know the details of how... but I do know why. This is one reason why I'm so cautious to OTA above MI9. I know I can't go back.
Custom Odin file:
I could follow directions to do it... but I'm not prepared to be the first. I don't have the understanding of the purpose of each file packed in the tarball necessary to make one on my own. In fact... a post in the URDLV thread gave instructions (user was GalaxHE or something) on unpacking a stock and a modified tar, swapping some files, and then baking a new tar (all using the cygwin script terminal)... and I couldn't finish the process because some of the files weren't in my Verizon tars... and I didn't know enough to be sure that it was OK to move on without it. I wasn't going to march on leaving out files... that seemed like a brick and knox trip waiting to happen. The user that posted the process said to try it without the files, but I wasn't willing to "try" anything, I wanted to be sure. My device was only like 12 hours old at the time.
Acquiring an original RDLV kit:
I'm not quite sure why you suggested this part. I've already used the original RDLV files to achieve root on my phone. Actually, there was a site that had pre-modded MI9 files to download and flash in Odin, rather than using the URDLV script to make them yourself. (I don't know why this isn't more popular, other than the dev getting more credit for it... which of course, (s)he deserves.) I'm rooted on MI9, with safestrap 3.71 installed. Is there still a reason for me to acquire the old RDLV files? What good would they serve me?
MI9-specific vulnerability:
This is the first time that I've heard advice to keep MI9 because as it has special benefits. (From a root/rom standpoint, at least) In fact, if you browse the installation steps for most of the Note 3 ROMs, you'll see most of the devs instruct you to update to MJE, and then re-root using Kingo or vRoot. I HAVE heard (and took advantage of) a vulnerability with the ability to turn on wifi tethering after seeing a "stop right there... you're not paying for this feature" message. Could this be the MI9-specific vulnerability you were thinking of? If there are others, I'd love to know them.
URDLV on MJ7 and MJE:
The URDLV page is in the Note 3 General (carrier-agnostic) area... so there are people from all over the world posting in it, including the OP. I didn't see anywhere in the URDLV forum that specifically said it didn't work with MJ7 or MJE, unless either of those is a 4.4.2 release... and I'm pretty sure they're not. I read nearly the entire thing while trying to root my MI9. (at least the most recent 75%) You can see several of my posts from last week there, including my final success story of using the old RDLV technique. I saw others that were getting the same failures that I was on MI9, and maybe a few on newer builds, though I was ignoring the newer MJ* stuff. I'm not sure if I saw any success stories on the newer builds.
Now... in the OP of the URDLV page there's information on how and if it will work... and my interpretation is this: URDLV WILL work on "MJ4 or higher" releases, but will result in a KNOX trip. It also says that it will NOT work on kitkat (4.4.2) releases. It says that first, in large red letters. Again... I don't think Verizon has released 4.4.2 yet... so I presumed that all verizon releases were rootable, though MJ7 and MJE would trip knox. ---This is actually what made me wait until I found an MI9 before buying one... but I didn't yet know the codes, and I didn't make the connection that I was redirected to URDLV, and what I was reading didn't necessarily help me with a Verizon phone. The OP is referring to all Note 3s... and not specifically about those from Verizon.
Before I bought my phone, I assumed that URDLV would work, based on the OP... I knew I'd need some tech savvy to do the scripting stuff... but I had confidence. It wasn't until URDLV kept failing that I looked through the rest of the thread in detail. It seemed to me that no one with a Verizon Note 3 could get root at all... and everyone that took the time to post an update resorted to Kingo or vRoot. Whether they were fully aware of the risks, or if they did it on blind faith, I can't be sure. That's a different story... see my "Kingo/vRoot" section below.
Conclusion?
So... it seems to me that I might as well stay on MI9. I'm fine on a stock rooted ROM for now, though it pains me because I was always crack-flashing different ROMs and nightlies on my S3. I'll have to swallow it for now, though. Like I said before... if the reason for the OTAs were to patch the rooting techniques... then Verizon can shove MJ7/MJE. I will be in a quandary, though, when the kitkat OTA comes out, which would give me a reason to update. I was on CM11 (4.4.2) on my S3, and it was nice that KitKat supported NFC payments natively, and Verizon couldn't do a damn thing to stop me from using Google Wallet's tap and pay.
Thanks again for your time and attention. I still welcome others to comment, though.
Kingo/vRoot (my aversions to them)
The jury is still out on whether it steals info from your phone for nefarious use... but I've avoided it because it sounded like they could take enough of the information from your phone to clone it (like they do on TV... lol) and use anonymously. On the bright side... If they're phishing thousands of phones, then who knows if your number will ever get picked. I hate to sound paranoid or anything... but there's a big possibility of profit from selling valid information for cloning phones... sold on in less-than-legal forums like silkroad. "I knew a guy" a long time ago that used to buy credit card numbers online, and use a magstrip writer to overwrite blank giftcards that you can pluck off the shelf in a grocery store. He bought a lot of stuff on other people's dime. This would not be too different... except for the fact that instead of your CC company calling you and saying you've been compromised and a new card is in the mail... your phone number could be used to detonate a bomb or something in a terrorist activity. That's not cool.
DrPhant0m said:
I literally just called BestBuy, and asked if they had any Black Note 3s, and if they could check the sticker on the box and see if the "S/W Version" ended in MI9, or other. They had 3 MI9s.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Post that store's zip code!!!
DrPhant0m said:
Custom Odin file:
I could follow directions to do it... but I'm not prepared to be the first. I don't have the understanding of the purpose of each file packed in the tarball necessary to make one on my own. In fact... a post in the URDLV thread gave instructions (user was GalaxHE or something) on unpacking a stock and a modified tar, swapping some files, and then baking a new tar (all using the cygwin script terminal)... and I couldn't finish the process because some of the files weren't in my Verizon tars... and I didn't know enough to be sure that it was OK to move on without it. I wasn't going to march on leaving out files... that seemed like a brick and knox trip waiting to happen. The user that posted the process said to try it without the files, but I wasn't willing to "try" anything, I wanted to be sure. My device was only like 12 hours old at the time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Could you post a link to that thread? The Odin tarballs are simply just plain old "tar" archives with a MD5 signature of the whole tarball appended on to the end. (tar will ignore that extra "junk", but Odin will read it only to make sure you didn't accidentally give Odin a truncated file.). What I was suggesting was unpacking a 100% stock Odin tarball, removing all the low level boot software, re-packing only the stock "OS" components (listed in my prior post) and then re-adding the MD5 sig to the new tar file.
This is very simplistic, and it is quite possible that someone has already tried it - and it is even possible that it could still trip Knox or even hard-brick the phone as there are all sorts of Trustzone "attribution" applets running on the phone (TIMA, RPM, apnhlos, etc) So, if you were not willing to do a "within-14-day warranty return" ... then it is off the table. (otoh, maybe that BestBuy still has some MI9 phones left ).
DrPhant0m said:
Acquiring an original RDLV kit:
I'm not quite sure why you suggested this part. I've already used the original RDLV files to achieve root on my phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
sorry - I must have missed the part about you already having root. my bad!.
DrPhant0m said:
MI9-specific vulnerability:
This is the first time that I've heard advice to keep MI9 because as it has special benefits. (From a root/rom standpoint, at least) In fact, if you browse the installation steps for most of the Note 3 ROMs, you'll see most of the devs instruct you to update to MJE, and then re-root using Kingo or vRoot. I HAVE heard (and took advantage of) a vulnerability with the ability to turn on wifi tethering after seeing a "stop right there... you're not paying for this feature" message. Could this be the MI9-specific vulnerability you were thinking of? If there are others, I'd love to know them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This was something specific in the bootloader (sbl1 or aboot, I can't remember). BTW, that tethering hack persists into MJ7 as well - you don't even need to be rooted to take advantage of it. It is a App-level defect, not something involving the bootloader(s) software.
DrPhant0m said:
URDLV on MJ7 and MJE:
The URDLV page is in the Note 3 General (carrier-agnostic) area... so there are people from all over the world posting in it, including the OP. I didn't see anywhere in the URDLV forum that specifically said it didn't work with MJ7 or MJE, unless either of those is a 4.4.2 release... and I'm pretty sure they're not.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think the OP of the URLDV thread lists specifically-supported variants of the Note 3, rather than saying "you can't use it on these models". The SM-N900V was not in that list the last time I looked.
bftb0
bftb0 said:
Post that store's zip code!!!
bftb0
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Click to collapse
haha... if MI9s are as hard to come by as you say they are... it's in my best interest to keep them all for myself. :angel:
Just kidding... The BestBuy was in Tarentum, Pennsylvania. Western PA isn't full of Amish people like the rest of PA is, but I'd still think that there'd be enough tech-minded people to clear out the MI9 stock. I guess they're all hipsters. They were selling nothing by iPhones while I was there. I'm not complaining though.
Could you post a link to that thread?
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Click to collapse
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=49047469&postcount=1127 That's in the URDLV thread. I wrote GalaxHE a PM asking him about the process. If you're still interested, PM me and I can give you the scoop on what he said back. I was already rooted by the time he responded, though, so I didn't act on what he said.
This is very simplistic
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm confident I could create the tar.md5 file... it's just that my phone is at stake, and I don't know what the consequences are.
possible that it could still trip Knox or even hard-brick the phone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
...I rest my case. lol
So, if you were not willing to do a "within-14-day warranty return" ... then it is off the table.
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Click to collapse
The guy that sold me the MI9 knew why I wanted an MI9, and told me that they check the knox counter and the "official" status in download mode, so I better keep it "all zeros and official" if I had to take it back. I could try my luck at another BestBuy, but what I'm saying is that if I hardbrick the phone... I can't claim ignorance and return it within 14 days. They'll see the trip flags, unless I brick it SO bad that they can't even get into download mode...
This was something specific in the bootloader (sbl1 or aboot, I can't remember). BTW, that tethering hack persists into MJ7 as well - you don't even need to be rooted to take advantage of it. It is a App-level defect, not something involving the bootloader(s) software.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If it comes back to you, let me know. I'm curious now, and like I said... I'm seeing mostly posts saying to apply the OTA update and then re-root... rather than "keep MI9 because it's better for [reasons]."
I think the OP of the URLDV thread lists specifically-supported variants of the Note 3, rather than saying "you can't use it on these models". The SM-N900V was not in that list the last time I looked.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Check that again...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=46818366&postcount=1 (updated 1/13/14)
There is no list of model numbers that are or are not supported. Instead, it literally says:
What devices are supported?
Just about every Samsung device with KNOX! (Excluding Exynos based devices)
Samsung has caught on and has started patching bootloaders, you can still root, but you will trip KNOX.
If you are running MJ4, MJ7, MK1, MK2 or higher you can still root, but you will trip KNOX!​
Also, the very first text in the OP is in big, bright red letters, saying
4.4.2 has been patched, URDLV will NOT work!
(this was likely the most recent edit)
Sooooo, my evaluation based on the facts that
Verizon has not yet released a 4.4.2 patch...
The Verizon releases have been MI9, MJ7, and MJE... and
My Note 3 has a Qualcomm, not Exynos chip
... was that MI9 could be rooted with URDLV without tripping knox, and the other two (MJ7 and MJE) could ALSO be rooted via URDLV, but it would trip knox. Since there is no 4.4.2 OTA from verizon yet... URDLV should work for ALL Verizon phones.
This seemed like sound logic, before I actually TRIED it, and found it not to work on MI9, and presumably on the others.
So... that was a helluva post, there, wasn't it? I'm not even sure where I stand here. Are we clear on everything? That last part about URDLV specifically stating which (if any) Verizon models were supported was probably the biggest issue that I wanted to clear up... My interpretation of the OP could be way off... but it led me to believe that URDLV would work on my phone. It is "Universal" after all...
DrPhant0m said:
Check that again...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=46818366&postcount=1 (updated 1/13/14)
There is no list of model numbers that are or are not supported.
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Click to collapse
Sorry - my bad again. I shouldn't try to recall all this gibberish from my head. I was mis-remembering Chainfire's "CF-Auto-Root" thread (e.g. post #3) or perhaps his site where some variants of SM-N900* are supported but not others.
Note that in designgear's URDLV thread he says (1st post)
designgears said:
If you are running MJ4, MJ7, MK1, MK2 or higher you can still root, but you will trip KNOX!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the "or higher" is a little vague here... e.g. MJE > MJ7. I couldn't find (with a quick search) a post here in the Verizon Note 3 forum where someone said "I tried {U}RLDV with MJ7 and it tripped my Knox"; otoh, I did find a few posts where folks claimed that was indeed the case (that it succeeds in rooting, but also trips the Knox warranty flag).
good luck with your phone.
p.s. FYI you can return items to BestBuy via mail. Or if you hard-brick it so that download mode no longer works, there's nothing to be inspected on the screen. just sayin
.
A new strategy has been proposed for individuals in my position (and that is "on a rooted early firmware with knox untripped")... and targeted toward individuals that want to try to avoid the Kingo and vRoot methods due to a potential security risk of your device information.
The strategy goes loosely as follows:
Prerequisites: Rooted early firmware installed (MI9, for instance), superSU installed, (assumed) knox counter = 0x0
Upgrade to the paid version of SuperSU, which has an option for "OTA survival" intended to preserve root through an OTA. (turn on this option)
Remove any custom recovery, including safestrap
Apply the MJE update through the settings menu (which does not, in and of itself, trip the knox counter, but would normally remove root)
Hope that when your MJE-equipped Note 3 boots up again, SuperSU delivered on its promise, and preserved root through the OTA process without tripping the knox counter.
"Hope" in that last bullet is an operative word. Obviously, no guarantees are provided. You may end up unrooted, and thereby worse off than you started... with your only recourse being the use of some method of rooting, and sacrificing either your knox counter, the security of your device information, or possibly both... (!!!)
With little experience to really back up the following claim... I'd think that the ideal situation would be to start on a fresh install, with nothing other than the preinstalled software and SuperSU installed. To me, this would be the most likely to succeed, as there would be the least variables unaccounted for.
Any thoughts on this approach?
Update MI9?
@DrPhant0m - I am currently in the same position as you just described in your original post. I rooted early using RDLV and my build is MI9. I wasn't too concerned with making a lot of changes until I see that Kit Kat is now out and I'm considering the upgrade. Did you follow the strategy you outlined below or are you still on MI9 build?
DrPhant0m said:
A new strategy has been proposed for individuals in my position (and that is "on a rooted early firmware with knox untripped")... and targeted toward individuals that want to try to avoid the Kingo and vRoot methods due to a potential security risk of your device information.
The strategy goes loosely as follows:
Prerequisites: Rooted early firmware installed (MI9, for instance), superSU installed, (assumed) knox counter = 0x0
Upgrade to the paid version of SuperSU, which has an option for "OTA survival" intended to preserve root through an OTA. (turn on this option)
Remove any custom recovery, including safestrap
Apply the MJE update through the settings menu (which does not, in and of itself, trip the knox counter, but would normally remove root)
Hope that when your MJE-equipped Note 3 boots up again, SuperSU delivered on its promise, and preserved root through the OTA process without tripping the knox counter.
"Hope" in that last bullet is an operative word. Obviously, no guarantees are provided. You may end up unrooted, and thereby worse off than you started... with your only recourse being the use of some method of rooting, and sacrificing either your knox counter, the security of your device information, or possibly both... (!!!)
With little experience to really back up the following claim... I'd think that the ideal situation would be to start on a fresh install, with nothing other than the preinstalled software and SuperSU installed. To me, this would be the most likely to succeed, as there would be the least variables unaccounted for.
Any thoughts on this approach?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sky Masters said:
@DrPhant0m - I am currently in the same position as you just described in your original post. I rooted early using RDLV and my build is MI9. I wasn't too concerned with making a lot of changes until I see that Kit Kat is now out and I'm considering the upgrade. Did you follow the strategy you outlined below or are you still on MI9 build?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you have MI9 bootloader? There's an engineering bootloader floating around if you are feeling adventerous.
ryanbg said:
Do you have MI9 bootloader? There's an engineering bootloader floating around if you are feeling adventerous.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No. I have the original tar files that was needed for the root and the unroot files. Do you know what this engineered bootloader does / contains? And what build are you on?
Sky Masters said:
@DrPhant0m - I am currently in the same position as you just described in your original post. I rooted early using RDLV and my build is MI9. I wasn't too concerned with making a lot of changes until I see that Kit Kat is now out and I'm considering the upgrade. Did you follow the strategy you outlined below or are you still on MI9 build?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sky,
First... DO NOT INSTALL THE OTA UPDATE TO NC4. More info later.
Now that I've gotten that out of the way... I'm currently up to NC2, Android 4.4.2. It's great, and I recommend you do the same as I did.
Find the NC2 leaked ROM from BeansTown here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2726558
Follow the directions EXACTLY... watch the video(s) of someone else doing it FIRST and make sure you have no questions. Use an MD5 checker to ensure that your files are PERFECT... and watch the video(s) AGAIN as you do it yourself. (This is what I did, and I had 0 problems)
You can stop here if you want. You'll have a rooted phone that is 99.999% stock KitKat, and you won't have to employ any particularly shady methods to get there.
But... since you'll have safestrap installed, you can opt install other custom 4.4.x Touchwiz-based ROMs like HyperDrive or BajaROM. I spent at least a month on the stock NC2 leak from BeansTown before I ventured out. I'm on BajaROM right now, and I like it. I had phone volume issues with HyperDrive.
Again... do not install the NC4 OTA update. Don't ever install ANY OTAs, in fact. NC2 is special, and it should probably be the last firmware you install on your phone, unless someone very important tells you otherwise. It is somewhat of a "test" release with a few features that Verizon would not normally want consumer phones to have. Most of these are only useful to devs, but they eventually trickle down to us in the form of modifications to kernels, bootloaders, etc. The most notable feature to most uses is that you can downgrade back to MJE if you want. No other Verizon Note 3 firmware will allow you to downgrade at all. Though, if it all worked for you, I don't know if you'd ever want to.
So... that's my recommendation. What concerns do you have? Feel free to ask any questions. I'll answer if you "thank" me on this post. lol
Sky Masters said:
No. I have the original tar files that was needed for the root and the unroot files. Do you know what this engineered bootloader does / contains? And what build are you on?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You don't need your original RDLV tar files. There's a brief period where you take a leap of faith by installing NC2, and you will abandon MI9 forever, since you can only roll back to MJE, and not all the way to MI9. So, you won't be able to use the RDLV files again. If you land on MJE with problems... you need to re-root, and you'll have to use Kingo or some other somewhat shady method. So, it's not without consequence. The risk is low, though, if you follow all the directions carefully and only make safe, calculated decisions. Now is a good time for me to mention that I assume no responsibility for any mishaps. What you do with your phone is your prerogative. If you don't want to take any risks, then disregard my posts. But, really... it'll be fine. :good:
The "Engineering" firmware referred to earlier is likely the NC2 leak that I mentioned, used as the base for Beans's stock rooted ROM from April.
Thanks for sharing the info and the directions. I am going to try it out tonite and I'll let you know how it goes. I was hoping that I wouldn't have to update to 4.4.2 but with all the comments I've been reading, it seemed like I was missing out!
DrPhant0m said:
You don't need your original RDLV tar files. There's a brief period where you take a leap of faith by installing NC2, and you will abandon MI9 forever, since you can only roll back to MJE, and not all the way to MI9. So, you won't be able to use the RDLV files again. If you land on MJE with problems... you need to re-root, and you'll have to use Kingo or some other somewhat shady method. So, it's not without consequence. The risk is low, though, if you follow all the directions carefully and only make safe, calculated decisions. Now is a good time for me to mention that I assume no responsibility for any mishaps. What you do with your phone is your prerogative. If you don't want to take any risks, then disregard my posts. But, really... it'll be fine. :good:
The "Engineering" firmware referred to earlier is likely the NC2 leak that I mentioned, used as the base for Beans's stock rooted ROM from April.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
@drphantom - Thanks again for leading me to those instructions my man!! Worked like a charm and I'm trying out the BajaROM.
DrPhant0m said:
Sky,
First... DO NOT INSTALL THE OTA UPDATE TO NC4. More info later.
Now that I've gotten that out of the way... I'm currently up to NC2, Android 4.4.2. It's great, and I recommend you do the same as I did.
Find the NC2 leaked ROM from BeansTown here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2726558
Follow the directions EXACTLY... watch the video(s) of someone else doing it FIRST and make sure you have no questions. Use an MD5 checker to ensure that your files are PERFECT... and watch the video(s) AGAIN as you do it yourself. (This is what I did, and I had 0 problems)
You can stop here if you want. You'll have a rooted phone that is 99.999% stock KitKat, and you won't have to employ any particularly shady methods to get there.
But... since you'll have safestrap installed, you can opt install other custom 4.4.x Touchwiz-based ROMs like HyperDrive or BajaROM. I spent at least a month on the stock NC2 leak from BeansTown before I ventured out. I'm on BajaROM right now, and I like it. I had phone volume issues with HyperDrive.
Again... do not install the NC4 OTA update. Don't ever install ANY OTAs, in fact. NC2 is special, and it should probably be the last firmware you install on your phone, unless someone very important tells you otherwise. It is somewhat of a "test" release with a few features that Verizon would not normally want consumer phones to have. Most of these are only useful to devs, but they eventually trickle down to us in the form of modifications to kernels, bootloaders, etc. The most notable feature to most uses is that you can downgrade back to MJE if you want. No other Verizon Note 3 firmware will allow you to downgrade at all. Though, if it all worked for you, I don't know if you'd ever want to.
So... that's my recommendation. What concerns do you have? Feel free to ask any questions. I'll answer if you "thank" me on this post. lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sky Masters said:
@drphantom - Thanks again for leading me to those instructions my man!! Worked like a charm and I'm trying out the BajaROM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad to help! I'm also honored to provide you with your first "Thanks" on xda!
NC2 is great. The only complaints I've heard is that some people have worse reception, but I can tell you with confidence that my reception is MUCH better, so it must be a regional thing. I used to drop my calls in 2-3 places every day on my commute... and I think I've only dropped like 5 calls TOTAL since I upgraded to NC2. If you have reception issues, you can always downgrade just the radio and keep KK and your ROM... but again, I never had to do that.
I'm hoping that 4.4.3 brings Google Wallet tap to pay functionality... and that there's an easy upgrade path while keeping root.
Good luck!
Related
Hi everyone, I have about 7 days left on my "14 day return policy" from the Sprint store. I love XDA and it's been a HUGE help to me in the last few years. I like the phone, it's pretty snappy, and the camera is great. But I can't use a phone without root (who can??) and eventually Samsung will stop pushing updates to this phone so I'm going to need to flash custom ROMs (cyanogenmod did wonders on my last phone, the Galaxy S1). I also know that I can't mount SMB or CFS shares without flashing a kernel that supports it and I'm not sure if the S4's official firmware supports the ability to do so (which I believe requires root anyway, so I guess I answered my own question.
I have a couple of questions about the S4 that I'm hoping someone who has experience can tell me about this.
1) Can I root using VRoot and NOT trip the Knox warranty bit?
2) After rooting, can I install a recovery (I've read that Philz CWM recovery works but can't find definitive answers on this).
3) Should I even care about the Knox software?
I don't need to use the phone in an enterprise environment, but I also don't want the phone's bootloader locked to Samsung firmwares if it means I won't be able to install custom FW's or kernels.
Should I return the phone? I'll pay the $35 restocking fee just to save myself from having to deal with Samsung's (and this my opinion) bonehead move of abandoning its developer userbase.
Any and all responses would be appreciated. Thanks for reading and helping!
epi4gtn said:
Hi everyone, I have about 7 days left on my "14 day return policy" from the Sprint store. I love XDA and it's been a HUGE help to me in the last few years. I like the phone, it's pretty snappy, and the camera is great. But I can't use a phone without root (who can??) and eventually Samsung will stop pushing updates to this phone so I'm going to need to flash custom ROMs (cyanogenmod did wonders on my last phone, the Galaxy S1). I also know that I can't mount SMB or CFS shares without flashing a kernel that supports it and I'm not sure if the S4's official firmware supports the ability to do so (which I believe requires root anyway, so I guess I answered my own question.
I have a couple of questions about the S4 that I'm hoping someone who has experience can tell me about this.
1) Can I root using VRoot and NOT trip the Knox warranty bit?
2) After rooting, can I install a recovery (I've read that Philz CWM recovery works but can't find definitive answers on this).
3) Should I even care about the Knox software?
I don't need to use the phone in an enterprise environment, but I also don't want the phone's bootloader locked to Samsung firmwares if it means I won't be able to install custom FW's or kernels.
Should I return the phone? I'll pay the $35 restocking fee just to save myself from having to deal with Samsung's (and this my opinion) bonehead move of abandoning its developer userbase.
Any and all responses would be appreciated. Thanks for reading and helping!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am not worried about the Knox bit. Mine is tripped and it's not preventing anything, AFAIK. I can still install Sammy firmwares, ROM's that are at the correct version/level, mods, apps, etc. It seems it's really only a flag for enterprise users. I agree it kind of sucks, and I'm not a fan of it, but it doesn't seem to be causing any real harm at this point warranty or service wise. Some say it may prevent Samsung from honoring the warranty, but I'm not sure that's true, based on reading the forums.
As far as Samsung stopping pushing firmwares to this phone, that should be a long way off since this is their flagship smartphone at this point. It's a great phone and I've been very happy with mine, which I got the weekend they were released. Rooted, stock rom, hotspot mod. So much better phone than my old HTC Androids!
jejb said:
I am not worried about the Knox bit. Mine is tripped and it's not preventing anything, AFAIK. I can still install Sammy firmwares, ROM's that are at the correct version/level, mods, apps, etc. It seems it's really only a flag for enterprise users. I agree it kind of sucks, and I'm not a fan of it, but it doesn't seem to be causing any real harm at this point warranty or service wise. Some say it may prevent Samsung from honoring the warranty, but I'm not sure that's true, based on reading the forums.
As far as Samsung stopping pushing firmwares to this phone, that should be a long way off since this is their flagship smartphone at this point. It's a great phone and I've been very happy with mine, which I got the weekend they were released. Rooted, stock rom, hotspot mod. So much better phone than my old HTC Androids!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is just a thought... but... check your phone, when I got mine not too long back it still came with 4.2 on it. If yours still has 4.2 you wouldn't have to worry about knox as long as you didn't take the OTA. You could root it and rom it all you wanted.
Yes you should return the phone. That way you **** all the people who return their phones for legitimate warranty/insurance reasons with higher costs.
Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk
frostedunit said:
Yes you should return the phone. That way you **** all the people who return their phones for legitimate warranty/insurance reasons with higher costs.
Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't done any type of rooting or modification to the phone yet. That's the reason I'm asking, I haven't tripped the counter. I'm just aggravated by not having root and being able to remove this crapware. I wouldn't be ****ing anyone. Please don't be a ****.
jejb said:
I am not worried about the Knox bit. Mine is tripped and it's not preventing anything, AFAIK. I can still install Sammy firmwares, ROM's that are at the correct version/level, mods, apps, etc. It seems it's really only a flag for enterprise users. I agree it kind of sucks, and I'm not a fan of it, but it doesn't seem to be causing any real harm at this point warranty or service wise. Some say it may prevent Samsung from honoring the warranty, but I'm not sure that's true, based on reading the forums.
As far as Samsung stopping pushing firmwares to this phone, that should be a long way off since this is their flagship smartphone at this point. It's a great phone and I've been very happy with mine, which I got the weekend they were released. Rooted, stock rom, hotspot mod. So much better phone than my old HTC Androids!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is great news, can you point me to the tool you used to root the phone? I've read the Chinese VRoot method doesn't trip the counter, but installs "Superuser" which can subsequently be removed and replaced with SuperSU. I think using SuperSU and something like DroidWall to monitor the device to make sure nothing fishy is going on will help us determine whether or not VRoot is really malware (I've read comments saying that it's some kind of spyware but I'm not sure of the technical prowess of those commenters).
What recovery are you using to flash custom ROMs?
And as asked in a previous post-- Did you root before taking the OTA? Or did you take the OTA and do you see the Knox Warranty Bit marked as 0x1 in the stock recovery?
Thanks for the replies, appreciate all the info guys!
epi4gtn said:
I haven't done any type of rooting or modification to the phone yet. That's the reason I'm asking, I haven't tripped the counter. I'm just aggravated by not having root and being able to remove this crapware. I wouldn't be ****ing anyone. Please don't be a ****.
This is great news, can you point me to the tool you used to root the phone? I've read the Chinese VRoot method doesn't trip the counter, but installs "Superuser" which can subsequently be removed and replaced with SuperSU. I think using SuperSU and something like DroidWall to monitor the device to make sure nothing fishy is going on will help us determine whether or not VRoot is really malware (I've read comments saying that it's some kind of spyware but I'm not sure of the technical prowess of those commenters).
What recovery are you using to flash custom ROMs?
And as asked in a previous post-- Did you root before taking the OTA? Or did you take the OTA and do you see the Knox Warranty Bit marked as 0x1 in the stock recovery?
Thanks for the replies, appreciate all the info guys![/QUOTE
I used an app from thePlayStore called Triangle Away to reset the counter. You have to be rooted, but it works perfectly. Just an FYI.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
epi4gtn said:
I haven't done any type of rooting or modification to the phone yet. That's the reason I'm asking, I haven't tripped the counter. I'm just aggravated by not having root and being able to remove this crapware. I wouldn't be ****ing anyone. Please don't be a ****.
This is great news, can you point me to the tool you used to root the phone? I've read the Chinese VRoot method doesn't trip the counter, but installs "Superuser" which can subsequently be removed and replaced with SuperSU. I think using SuperSU and something like DroidWall to monitor the device to make sure nothing fishy is going on will help us determine whether or not VRoot is really malware (I've read comments saying that it's some kind of spyware but I'm not sure of the technical prowess of those commenters).
What recovery are you using to flash custom ROMs?
And as asked in a previous post-- Did you root before taking the OTA? Or did you take the OTA and do you see the Knox Warranty Bit marked as 0x1 in the stock recovery?
Thanks for the replies, appreciate all the info guys!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dont use vroot. Until some dev can pin point what the chinese root method actually does. And if your on 4.2.2 your ok but once ota to 4.3 then you have knox bootloader meaning you cant downgrade firmwares. It wont stop you from changing kernels and roms. Knox flag just voids your warranty with samsung but if you have insurance with sprint they can care less about it tripped. I updated to 4.3 and tripped the knox amd I havent seen no problems really. Btw please make research this has been talked about lately too much.
SoFaKiNgStOkeD said:
epi4gtn said:
I haven't done any type of rooting or modification to the phone yet. That's the reason I'm asking, I haven't tripped the counter. I'm just aggravated by not having root and being able to remove this crapware. I wouldn't be ****ing anyone. Please don't be a ****.
This is great news, can you point me to the tool you used to root the phone? I've read the Chinese VRoot method doesn't trip the counter, but installs "Superuser" which can subsequently be removed and replaced with SuperSU. I think using SuperSU and something like DroidWall to monitor the device to make sure nothing fishy is going on will help us determine whether or not VRoot is really malware (I've read comments saying that it's some kind of spyware but I'm not sure of the technical prowess of those commenters).
What recovery are you using to flash custom ROMs?
And as asked in a previous post-- Did you root before taking the OTA? Or did you take the OTA and do you see the Knox Warranty Bit marked as 0x1 in the stock recovery?
Thanks for the replies, appreciate all the info guys![/QUOTE
I used an app from thePlayStore called Triangle Away to reset the counter. You have to be rooted, but it works perfectly. Just an FYI.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That only works if your on 4.2. It wont reset the knox bootloader counter.
Sent from my SPH-L720 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
epi4gtn said:
This is great news, can you point me to the tool you used to root the phone? I've read the Chinese VRoot method doesn't trip the counter, but installs "Superuser" which can subsequently be removed and replaced with SuperSU. I think using SuperSU and something like DroidWall to monitor the device to make sure nothing fishy is going on will help us determine whether or not VRoot is really malware (I've read comments saying that it's some kind of spyware but I'm not sure of the technical prowess of those commenters).
What recovery are you using to flash custom ROMs?
And as asked in a previous post-- Did you root before taking the OTA? Or did you take the OTA and do you see the Knox Warranty Bit marked as 0x1 in the stock recovery?
Thanks for the replies, appreciate all the info guys!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, my Knox bit it tripped/set. It is 0x1 on the download screen. Can't view it in recovery. I just used CF Auto Root after going to 4.3. Should be easy to search and find that thread. I'm on the stock rom with tweaks.
Using TWRP recovery, but I've tried several, including Philz and OUDHS. It seems Philz is the flavor of the month, so you might want to go with that just to be safe.
I did not root before taking the OTA. I don't think I'd try it that way. I was rooted, but went back to stock to take the update. If you get back to stock, reset the custom bits on your download screen (triangle away and RTN's seem to do that, but might have to do more than one), recover your apps/data and then take the OTA, it should be the most sure fire method. Then root, custom recovery, nandroid backup and play from there.
jejb said:
Yes, my Knox bit it tripped/set. It is 0x1 on the download screen. Can't view it in recovery. I just used CF Auto Root after going to 4.3. Should be easy to search and find that thread. I'm on the stock rom with tweaks.
Using TWRP recovery, but I've tried several, including Philz and OUDHS. It seems Philz is the flavor of the month, so you might want to go with that just to be safe.
I did not root before taking the OTA. I don't think I'd try it that way. I was rooted, but went back to stock to take the update. If you get back to stock, reset the custom bits on your download screen (triangle away and RTN's seem to do that, but might have to do more than one), recover your apps/data and then take the OTA, it should be the most sure fire method. Then root, custom recovery, nandroid backup and play from there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you, I plan to just use CF-Auto-Root to root the phone. I'm starting to care less about the Knox bit getting tripped.
I came across this post by rawintellect that seems to have everything I'd need out of the phone, rooted/deodexed MK2 with all the bloat removed, BUT it says in the description that the Knox Bootloader is removed *EDIT: After thinking about the statement some more, I think he means the Knox bootloader is NOT included in the rom, but this raises another question, can I install it on a phone WITH the knox bootloader?), so I'm afraid of attempting to flash it because as I understand it, it's impossible to replace the knox bootloader.
Here's the post: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=48516106
This individual seems to have gotten everything working: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=48516106&postcount=88
Do you know if anyone is able to flash Philz through Odin successfully on the MJA/knox bootloader?
I took mine back after I took the OTA. I was honest about why I was returning it, that the firmware introduces restrictions and annoying features (I cited the multiple WiFi security warnings in particular) I was not willing to accept, and the independent store I was dealing with gave me an exchange to a new phone with 4.2. I first asked if they could downgrade the phone to 4.2, including the bootloader, they researched that option, finding it impossible.
If they had not given me the exchange, I would have picked a different color and done it that way.
Try this Guide
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2572000
MrTasselhof
Hello everyone,
So, I've been looking into the status of unlocking the bootloader for MF3 updates (I downloaded it and read too late that they locked the bootloader in the update, sneaky bastards) and it appears this issue still hasn't been fixed. From what I understand, Dan Rosenberg waited until the Verizon update was released before he revealed the Loki exploit but, from what I've read, this exploit does not work on the MF3 update.
My question is now what is it that stops this from working with the MF3 version? Wasn't that the initial point of the release was to solve this particular issue?
I'm trying to understand some of the specifics as I've read a number of articles and links (both in XDA as well as others) and I'm still a bit confused as to where we're at with this. From what I can see, it doesn't appear there is any workaround in sight if the Loki exploit doesn't fix it. Am I more than likely stuck with a locked bootloader for the life of this phone?
Realistically, I am still able to get root access, so it's really not the end of the world but I'd definitely like to be able to flash custom roms if I wanted to. It sounds like I can indirectly do that via Safestrap (does it basically just protect all the crucial stuff that can break the fuse on the device and allow you just use TW based roms, just not custom kernals, is that correct?). But as of now, I believe that's my only option, if I understand correctly.
I realize a number of these issues have been addressed probably a number of times but, due to the amount of details and updates that seem to be changing, I just want to make sure I have a good understanding of everything so I know what my options are. If anyone wants to address this, I'd appreciate it but if these have all been answered a million times in one form or another, I understand that as well.
Thanks for your help!
(I put my questions in bold just to draw attention to them so anyone reading it doesn't have to search through my message to find them to address them, I'm not trying to come off like I'm yelling).
jbrookley said:
Hello everyone,
So, I've been looking into the status of unlocking the bootloader for MF3 updates (I downloaded it and read too late that they locked the bootloader in the update, sneaky bastards) and it appears this issue still hasn't been fixed. From what I understand, Dan Rosenberg waited until the Verizon update was released before he revealed the Loki exploit but, from what I've read, this exploit does not work on the MF3 update.
My question is now what is it that stops this from working with the MF3 version? Wasn't that the initial point of the release was to solve this particular issue?
I'm trying to understand some of the specifics as I've read a number of articles and links (both in XDA as well as others) and I'm still a bit confused as to where we're at with this. From what I can see, it doesn't appear there is any workaround in sight if the Loki exploit doesn't fix it. Am I more than likely stuck with a locked bootloader for the life of this phone?
Realistically, I am still able to get root access, so it's really not the end of the world but I'd definitely like to be able to flash custom roms if I wanted to. It sounds like I can indirectly do that via Safestrap (does it basically just protect all the crucial stuff that can break the fuse on the device and allow you just use TW based roms, just not custom kernals, is that correct?). But as of now, I believe that's my only option, if I understand correctly.
I realize a number of these issues have been addressed probably a number of times but, due to the amount of details and updates that seem to be changing, I just want to make sure I have a good understanding of everything so I know what my options are. If anyone wants to address this, I'd appreciate it but if these have all been answered a million times in one form or another, I understand that as well.
Thanks for your help!
(I put my questions in bold just to draw attention to them so anyone reading it doesn't have to search through my message to find them to address them, I'm not trying to come off like I'm yelling).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When Samsung released the MF3 update they used a two-prong attack to close the Loki exploit... those being
1. Closing the exploit in the code itself.
2. Blowing a qFuse on the board to prevent us from flashing any firmware lower then MF3.
I don't really want to get into the technical aspects of how this happened... I'll let someone else answer it if they wish.
jbrookley said:
Hello everyone,
what is it that stops this from working with the MF3 version? Wasn't that the initial point of the release was to solve this particular issue?
Am I more than likely stuck with a locked bootloader for the life of this phone?
does it basically just protect all the crucial stuff that can break the fuse on the device and allow you just use TW based roms, just not custom kernals, is that correct?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nighthawk gave the short answer for the first two. Also, it's possible the update mentioned may have been the MDB>MDL update or verizon equivalent.
Technically even MDL people are stuck with a locked bootloader, but they have an exploit. People are working on an exploit for MF3+, but I can't say how likely it is one will be found.
Safestrap lets you do anything a normal recovery can except flash kernels. This is why you can only flash TW ROMs, as the AOSP and TW kernels are not compatible. Kernels would trip the bootloader checks. However, to add a bit to this and the last answer, something called kexec is in progress of being implemented into Safestrap. The exploit found allows loading unsigned modules, which in turn allows loading a kexec module, which would then load a kernel over the stock kernel while in the boot process. So if this works, it would be the next best thing to a bootloader exploit in that it would give us the same result, though I don't know if kernels will require tweaks to load in kexec.
DeadlySin9 said:
Nighthawk gave the short answer for the first two. Also, it's possible the update mentioned may have been the MDB>MDL update or verizon equivalent.
Technically even MDL people are stuck with a locked bootloader, but they have an exploit. People are working on an exploit for MF3+, but I can't say how likely it is one will be found.
Safestrap lets you do anything a normal recovery can except flash kernels. This is why you can only flash TW ROMs, as the AOSP and TW kernels are not compatible. Kernels would trip the bootloader checks. However, to add a bit to this and the last answer, something called kexec is in progress of being implemented into Safestrap. The exploit found allows loading unsigned modules, which in turn allows loading a kexec module, which would then load a kernel over the stock kernel while in the boot process. So if this works, it would be the next best thing to a bootloader exploit in that it would give us the same result, though I don't know if kernels will require tweaks to load in kexec.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for taking the time to explain that!
A somewhat related question, if my S4 ever gets an OTA update for 4.3, should I deny the update in case they create more obstructions for updates or should I take it since that's the only way my phone will get 4.3 at this point?
jbrookley said:
Thanks for taking the time to explain that!
A somewhat related question, if my S4 ever gets an OTA update for 4.3, should I deny the update in case they create more obstructions for updates or should I take it since that's the only way my phone will get 4.3 at this point?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe the kexec exploit is being worked on for mk2? But I'm not too sure you will have to review the threads.
Sent from my GT-I9505 using xda premium
jbrookley said:
Thanks for taking the time to explain that!
A somewhat related question, if my S4 ever gets an OTA update for 4.3, should I deny the update in case they create more obstructions for updates or should I take it since that's the only way my phone will get 4.3 at this point?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
[email protected] said:
I believe the kexec exploit is being worked on for mk2? But I'm not too sure you will have to review the threads.
Sent from my GT-I9505 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is MK2 exclusive since the MK2 root method gives access to kernel memory and allows it. However, once on MK2 you should definitely not take any and I'm not sure whether the security policy updates are safe or not.
I know this is probably been asked 100 times already, but while I've found a lot of comprehensive guides about rooting the Nexus 7 I can't find the same thing for the S4. I'm going to buy one soon, and since I'm in italy it should be the GT-I9505 version.
I want to root the telephone, install a custom rom (I don't know which one, I'll have to check later) and be able to revert to the stock settings/rom so that I can avoid to void the warranty. Every guide I checked used a different software, or was specifically about the AT&T or Verizon model, or just didn't include how to do all the things aforementioned, so please, someone link me the best guides on rooting the S4 and being able to revert the telephone to stock settings (I imagine installing custom roms has specific guides for every rom, so no need for that).
Really, really thanks to anyone who answers.
Hi..
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2419762
AnaMajhol said:
Hi..
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2419762
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks but I read the FAQ already, that's partially why I felt stupid opening this thread, not even the noob-friendly FAQ answered everything.
So, I use chainfire auto-root to root the device, and then with Odin I can eventually unroot it in case I need the warranty?
Soory for the double post, but I need new answers about this topic.
I'll use CF auto root to root the device, but this trips the knox flag and nullifies warranty. How do I avoid that? I heard of a Triangle awayy app which resets the Triangle Counter or something like that and I don't think it's the same thing. How do I root while keeping my warranty?
Also, how is the app which reverts the device custom rom to the stock rom called? I always hear different names, it's a bootloader, or recovery mode or now another thing all together, I just need to eventually revert the custom rom to the original rom in order to avoid breaking the warranty if possible.
Last question, feel free to disregard this one because I can search it somewhere else: if I use a custom rom, how do I keep up to date with the official Android builds/functions? Ie, 4.5 comes out and I have Cyanogen, do I have to wait for a new Cyanogen update which brings the Android 4.5 features or am I missing the point entirely?
Again, thanks.
cloudropis said:
Soory for the double post, but I need new answers about this topic.
I'll use CF auto root to root the device, but this trips the knox flag and nullifies warranty. How do I avoid that? I heard of a Triangle awayy app which resets the Triangle Counter or something like that and I don't think it's the same thing. How do I root while keeping my warranty?
Also, how is the app which reverts the device custom rom to the stock rom called? I always hear different names, it's a bootloader, or recovery mode or now another thing all together, I just need to eventually revert the custom rom to the original rom in order to avoid breaking the warranty if possible.
Last question, feel free to disregard this one because I can search it somewhere else: if I use a custom rom, how do I keep up to date with the official Android builds/functions? Ie, 4.5 comes out and I have Cyanogen, do I have to wait for a new Cyanogen update which brings the Android 4.5 features or am I missing the point entirely?
Again, thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You don't avoid tripping the knox flag. And you can't reset it. If your phone has Knox and you want to root it, you have to trip the knox flag. Period.
Here is everything you could possibly ever want to know about Knox.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2470635
And yes, you have to keep updating the custom roms to get the latest features. Odds are VERY strong that the custom roms will have the updates before the carrier based ROMs OTA's come out.
Skipjacks said:
You don't avoid tripping the knox flag. And you can't reset it. If your phone has Knox and you want to root it, you have to trip the knox flag. Period.
Here is everything you could possibly ever want to know about Knox.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2470635
And yes, you have to keep updating the custom roms to get the latest features. Odds are VERY strong that the custom roms will have the updates before the carrier based ROMs OTA's come out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Got it. So a lot of people still root their phones even if it voids their warranty huh? I guess that the benefits must be greater then the cons (for one, being able to use my Dualshock 3 without cables is way enough, maybe the eventual repair centre won't notice, or maybe I'll just keep a freaking eye on my phone).
Again, I couldn't find an answer in the Rooting thread's first post, so to be safe rather than sorry I'll ask here: The device update is ready, it upgrades Android to 4.4.2 (currently 4.3, but if I got it right the KB shouldn't give me problems because I am not changing rom), does CF autoroot work anyway? Knox flag or not? I dropped the idea of using a custom rom, so I just need to know if I can still root it with CF.
cloudropis said:
Got it. So a lot of people still root their phones even if it voids their warranty huh? I guess that the benefits must be greater then the cons (for one, being able to use my Dualshock 3 without cables is way enough, maybe the eventual repair centre won't notice, or maybe I'll just keep a freaking eye on my phone).
Again, I couldn't find an answer in the Rooting thread's first post, so to be safe rather than sorry I'll ask here: The device update is ready, it upgrades Android to 4.4.2 (currently 4.3, but if I got it right the KB shouldn't give me problems because I am not changing rom), does CF autoroot work anyway? Knox flag or not? I dropped the idea of using a custom rom, so I just need to know if I can still root it with CF.
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It strongly depends on which part of the world you live.
In the EU the store you bought it from still has to fix it. Samsung in the Netherlands has stated that rooted phones etc will still have warranty.
Lennyz1988 said:
It strongly depends on which part of the world you live.
In the EU the store you bought it from still has to fix it. Samsung in the Netherlands has stated that rooted phones etc will still have warranty.
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Click to collapse
I live in italy and I highly doubt warranty is intact after rooting, so heh.
In case someone missed it, this is the last question before I'm satisfied and can let this thread be closed: if I do the official update which brings the device's Android version to 4.4.2, can I still root it? I'm not saying the upgraded Android is a problem, I'm just asking if that specific update perhaps brought some security changes or something which don't allow rooting or make it harder.
Sorry but I'm bumping again I really need this.
Bump again
You can root it.
I have a question. I have a Verizon Galaxy Note 3. I was wondering if it was possible to flash a custom ROM on my phone If I don't care about tripping Knox after being ignorant and updating to the Official KitKat firmware from Verizon. I've been searching for an answer for this for about a week and I'm not sure if I'm just wording it wrong. The only thing I got close to an answer to this question was someone said that you couldn't do it without tripping knox. I'm guessing that isn't correct being how motivated these phone companies seem to keep their crap installed on my phone. I really don't care about tripping knox and my warranty. I just want to get rid of flipboard and samsung push service off my phone. Can someone please point me in the right direction.
Your problem is you took the official OTA and no one has made a root method that works for it. Plus your bootloader incremented with the update. Which means if you try to flash a lower level one you'll soft brick at a minimum.
Before you took the update you could have rooted and flashed away. Tripping Knox counter only matters if you care to warranty your phone through Verizon or Samsung. If they see the counter at 1x0 or higher they know you've flashed illegal software at least once. They'll deny service. If you don't care. And don't ever intend to warranty or sell the phone. Then you're fine.
However. Like I said. Once you took the update. Unless you were able to keep root using super user survival mode or whatever. You're pretty screwed til someone finds a new exploit.
Sent from my GlaDos Baked Potato
Legato Bluesummers said:
Your problem is you took the official OTA and no one has made a root method that works for it. Plus your bootloader incremented with the update. Which means if you try to flash a lower level one you'll soft brick at a minimum.
Before you took the update you could have rooted and flashed away. Tripping Knox counter only matters if you care to warranty your phone through Verizon or Samsung. If they see the counter at 1x0 or higher they know you've flashed illegal software at least once. They'll deny service. If you don't care. And don't ever intend to warranty or sell the phone. Then you're fine.
However. Like I said. Once you took the update. Unless you were able to keep root using super user survival mode or whatever. You're pretty screwed til someone finds a new exploit.
Sent from my GlaDos Baked Potato
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Thank you for for the reply. That pretty much confirmed what I was suspecting about flashing a different ROM after foolishly updating to KitKat. I had my phone rooted before, but I unrooted it when I was done cleaning up the bloat. You are right about soft bricking the phone. When I tried reverting back to jellybean, it would soft brick my phone and I would have to have to install a back up of the PIT file using ODIN. I'm going to do some more research to see how the authentication process works for these ROM files. There has to be away to modify the contents of the ROM unless there is a predetermined data size and the phone stops the write process. Again thank you for your time and good luck.
Search again, by the way, you can do it now... Just wanted to let you know in case you stopped reading here
Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk
I've had my SGS4 on Sprint since release date. Rooted immediately, and have had it that way ever since. Looks like many of the root methods no longer work for the later build phones.
So... Can someone please point me in the direction of the root method for a new NG2 firmwared phone? I'm about to go get my replacement phone, and I don't want to even imagine staying on the Stock Sprint ROM...
I'd still like to know, for others that have a new post-MDL firmware phone...
But I got lucky. My replacement phone from Geek Squad was MDL. So CF Auto-Root, Install TWRP, Install NG2 Modem Only TAR file, and then load my favorite ROM. Restore my TWRP backup. And I'm right back where I was before the switch. Yay!
Cf auto root has worked for all updates. From MF9 to NG2.
long_tall_texan said:
Looks like many of the root methods no longer work for the later build phones.
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I think maybe you're confused with the Knox warranty flag? Knox was introduced post-MF9 and if it is tripped (by rooting with CF for example), Samsung claims that they won't honor the warranty (although I still don't think we know of a case where this has actually happened?).