Database Users

Unroot after rom flash?

I'm interested in flashing the Google Play Edition Rom to my Galaxy S4 I9505.
The walk throughs seem simple enough.
I've noticed that you need to root your phone it install the roms. After install is it possible to Unroot your device once your running the GPE rom? As I know some apps such as banking apps don't run on rooted devices.
Thanks
Sent from my GT-I9505 using xda app-developers app

grifflee said:
I'm interested in flashing the Google Play Edition Rom to my Galaxy S4 I9505.
The walk throughs seem simple enough.
I've noticed that you need to root your phone it install the roms. After install is it possible to Unroot your device once your running the GPE rom? As I know some apps such as banking apps don't run on rooted devices.
Thanks
Sent from my GT-I9505 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you need to lock ur phone back I mean unroot
Just use triangle away app then flash the stock odin version of your phone with specific region.
And you can get it from sammobile
Sent from my SM-N900 using Tapatalk

You don't necessarily have to run stock to run "unrooted", because even some custom ROMs come without superuser priviledges. If you're talking about a specific ROM that comes stock rooted (which most are), then you might be able to get by if you simply disallow root access to that specific program. Otherwise, there are apps like Hide My Root which are supposed to help you do what you're trying to accomplish. If I were you, I would set it up and try it out on the actual program(s) you're worried about. It would be a shame to stay on stock just because you weren't sure if it would work.

You can temporarily unroot your device using super user app itself.. check it out in settings

Thanks a lot for all of the replies, you've been a great help.
I've not got round to rooting or flashing the GPE rom yet might do it this week.
This is my 1st time doing this so a little uncertain on some little things.
I know about uprooting, getting TWRP running, using Odin, then flashing the ROM. but just read that the ROM needs a new modem file flashing. Can you do this through TWRP or as I'm thinking do it through Odin after I've got the ROM up and running?
Thanks again for all your responses guys, been a great help
Sent from my GT-I9505 using xda app-developers app

[Q] Is it currently possible to root an AT&T Galaxy S4 (1337) on 4.4.2?

I updated my Galaxy S4 (1337 AT&T) to 4.4.2 KitKat, without realizing that I risked the possibility of not being able to root my phone for a while. Is there any way to root my phone right now? If not, when do you think a root method will be available? I use on a mac running OSX Mavericks at the moment so if there are any methods specifically for macs then please do let me know. Thank you! :laugh:

You can downgrade to a semi-working 4.3 firmware and then flash a pre-rooted 4.4.2 rom using safestrap. Although this method requires you to use odin at the end so idk if odin works for mac or not.
Further details discussed here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2692825
There is no traditional root method available, but the root-workaround is an excellent solution to gain root access.
This "index" thread will tell you all you need to know concerning roms, root, etc. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2616221

4ndroid99 said:
You can downgrade to a semi-working 4.3 firmware and then flash a pre-rooted 4.4.2 rom using safestrap. Although this method requires you to use odin at the end so idk if odin works for mac or not.
Further details discussed here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2692825
There is no traditional root method available, but the root-workaround is an excellent solution to gain root access.
This "index" thread will tell you all you need to know concerning roms, root, etc. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2616221
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, when do you estimate a traditional root method will arrive for my phone?

There is no estimate. For future reference, asking for any kind of estimated time is generally frowned upon as the insanely hard working devs here on xda have a ton of stuff on their plates BEFORE you add in actually working on any device. Not trying to sound like one of those asshats that gets all bent out of shape about people who ask for an eta, just giving you the heads up.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

frgnvola said:
Thanks, when do you estimate a traditional root method will arrive for my phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, with a working root method already available, most devs see no reason or motivation to do something redundant. Since root access is already available.
If our bootloaders were unlocked, then we would be able to use Chainfire's CF-autoroot method.

If I root like this, will I still be able to install custom roms?

frgnvola said:
If I root like this, will I still be able to install custom roms?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, but you are limited to using Safestrap and Touchwiz ROMs.
Sent from my SGH-I337 running Blackbox 3.0

Heimdall is generally used on the macs--I haven't needed it but you can google and get familiar--I found numerous sites and some are on xda. Always good to read all you can and kinda reconfirm what one site may say or find out it wasn't right for you.
if you haven't this link should help you get adb working on mac
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1917237
best advice was already given by 4ndroid99's link and also get very familiar with SafeStrap for your build. Threads for that are on our forum here also. You can't flash custom recoveries, just what SafeStrap provides.
Also, I have never had luck on my iMac with Keis and my rooted s4--recommend not using it
Good Luck--:good:

[Q] Help root and recovery inst for Galaxy S4 ATT SGH-I337 Run Android ver 4.4

Good afternoon my friends,
This is the deal, I consider myself an OK guy when it comes to rooting and installing custom roms. However, I have hit a wall trying to root and install a recovery on my AT&T Galaxy S4 (SGH-I337) currently running 4.4.2. Long story make it short, my spouse updated through AT&T OTA and now I can't root nor install recoveries. I've been tackling this for over a week and it seems I can't get nowhere. What I got so far is that after the update is impossible to root and thus recoveries are near to impossible, is that true? I hate using AT&T bloated versions. I want to install Cyanogenmod 11 or Paranoid Roms. Help please! Thanks in advance!

Matias1982 said:
Good afternoon my friends,
This is the deal, I consider myself an OK guy when it comes to rooting and installing custom roms. However, I have hit a wall trying to root and install a recovery on my AT&T Galaxy S4 (SGH-I337) currently running 4.4.2. Long story make it short, my spouse updated through AT&T OTA and now I can't root nor install recoveries. I've been tackling this for over a week and it seems I can't get nowhere. What I got so far is that after the update is impossible to root and thus recoveries are near to impossible, is that true? I hate using AT&T bloated versions. I want to install Cyanogenmod 11 or Paranoid Roms. Help please! Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can't use CM, Paranoid, or any AOSP ROMs now. Look at the NB1 downgrade thread and the KitKat Magic Toolkit.
Sent from my SGH-I337 running BlackBox 3.0

Matias1982 said:
Good afternoon my friends,
This is the deal, I consider myself an OK guy when it comes to rooting and installing custom roms. However, I have hit a wall trying to root and install a recovery on my AT&T Galaxy S4 (SGH-I337) currently running 4.4.2. Long story make it short, my spouse updated through AT&T OTA and now I can't root nor install recoveries. I've been tackling this for over a week and it seems I can't get nowhere. What I got so far is that after the update is impossible to root and thus recoveries are near to impossible, is that true? I hate using AT&T bloated versions. I want to install Cyanogenmod 11 or Paranoid Roms. Help please! Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am no expert, but I can tell you what I know. If you do the At&t OTA update it will update your bootloader to NB1. This current bootloader has yet to be exploited for a way to root. Just wait patiently till the time the developers out there figure out a way to open the bootloader back up. I have read of way to install safestrap. However I have also read mixed reviews of the safety of your device. Best of luck to you.

Thanks! I'm going to wait to see if the community exploit this bootloader soon. I have also read a mix of opinions from good to bad trying to downgrade so it can be rootable.

[Q]Want GPE, but can't get custom recovery - Help please! :(

Hey guys... Before I get into this, I would like to say that i'm very new to this whole rooting thing, so please forgive me for my lack of knowledge on various terms and such, and I'm a first time user here at xda.
What's written below might get a little bit complicated so i will try to make it as detailed as possible. Please bare with me here.
So I have a Samsung Galaxy S4 sgh-i337 (AT&T) running on android 4.4.4 (with touchwiz, you guys know the deal). I really wanted stock android lollipop, because I really like the look and feel to it. When I decided to root the phone, I went through many tutorials and I tried many different methods, and none of them worked. The phone still worked fine, but SuperSU was not installed and Root Checker said the phone was not rooted. After scouring the internet, I found one tutorial that had my S4 type and the same version. At that point I realized that my android version was hindering my rooting process. The tutorial used Odin to flash a kernel (NC1), root the phone using towelroot, install SuperSU, (Root Checker too to check if it worked), and then flashing the original kernel again (my original kernel was NJ4). After following this process, my phone was rooted, and everything worked fine.
As I said before, I wanted a GPE ROM, and so I needed a custom recovery. I decided to install CWM, since most GPE ROMs used this specific recovery. Again, I followed many different tutorials, and after each and every one, I would try to go into Recovery mode, and it would just launch the stock recovery. I found another tutorial on another website that involved flashing the recovery from an app in the google play store, so I decided to try it out. I now regret this as it led to more problems. I followed these instructions, and when launching into recovery mode from that point on, I get the yellow triangle with the error message "System software is not authorized by AT&T"
Sure, I could get around it by going into download mode from there, canceling, and it would reboot like normal, and the phone still worked, but I needed to get ride of that error message.
Once again doing my research, I figured out that if I flash a stock firmware specific to my phone, it will reset the phone (the only stock firmware available has android version 4.2.2, which is a really popular version, and is compatible with most custom recoveries and ROMs, so I decided to flash the firmware, as it would also change the version back, right?) When I flashed it using Odin like the directions said, it failed. i then figured out that it failed because my binary counter is not 0. I looked into resetting the binary counter for the AT&T S4, and I found Triangle Away. However, in order to reset your binary counter, you need an unlocked bootloader, and the AT&T S4 (sgh-i337) has a locked bootloader (I don't want to use Triangle Away if it's going to brick my phone, i'd rather unroot and keep touchwiz than brick). In the process of finding this out, I also figured out that the only custom recovery that you could use on a locked bootloader S4 sgh-i337 is SafeStrap. But i heard when using SafeStrap you are limited as far as ROMs go? Would I be able to get a GPE 5.0 Lollipop ROM with SafeStrap? Cause if not I might just unroot using SuperSU and software update my phone (will that fix the error when trying to get to Recovery mode?) Also, if I install Safestrap, will it fix the error message?
Again, sorry for my inexperience in all of this, and thanks for staying with me here. Any help and additional information on what I should do (or any GPE Lollipop ROMs I should use that are compatible with my phone and version and such), as well as any links to tutorials are greatly appreciated (also, keep in mind that all of the vocab I know when rooting is used in this post, I am not aware of most other terms - again, forgive me).

You wrote a lot but I'm not sure what state your device is in right now and what you want to do. But as you've found out, safestrap is the only custom recovery you can use. And touch wiz based roms are the only ones you can use. Afaik there are no 5.0 custom roms you can use at this time.
Sent from my Nexus 9 using XDA Free mobile app

jd1639 said:
You wrote a lot but I'm not sure what state your device is in right now and what you want to do. But as you've found out, safestrap is the only custom recovery you can use. And touch wiz based roms are the only ones you can use. Afaik there are no 5.0 custom roms you can use at this time.
Sent from my Nexus 9 using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh, thanks for the help! The phone currently works fine, and it is rooted, but when I go into Recovery Mode it gives me the yellow triangle with the error... Will installing SafeStrap fix that? Regardless, thanks for the help, really do appreciate it!

jd1639 said:
You wrote a lot but I'm not sure what state your device is in right now and what you want to do. But as you've found out, safestrap is the only custom recovery you can use. And touch wiz based roms are the only ones you can use. Afaik there are no 5.0 custom roms you can use at this time.
Sent from my Nexus 9 using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Also, if i were to update the phone to the next version (i heard there is a way to bump the S4 up in android version) would that reset the error in Recovery Mode? And I also heard that with SafeStrap, you are limited to ROMs on the same android version as the one on your phone? I really like 5.0, but if it's not possible to get it as the moment (and I haven't found any 5.0 ROMs for the sgh-i337 yet - you were right) i might just unroot using SuperSU and just update my version, unrooted and all. I'd rather have my phone be nice and clean than to have root on it with a corrupted recovery mode, and not make use of the root at all (I've seen other ROMs and I prefer 5.0). I might just try to make the phone feel as close to stock as possible by using more google apps and such (keyboard, messages, etc.). Regardless, thanks for the help and additional input, really do appreciate it!

EvilLemon said:
Also, if i were to update the phone to the next version (i heard there is a way to bump the S4 up in android version) would that reset the error in Recovery Mode? And I also heard that with SafeStrap, you are limited to ROMs on the same android version as the one on your phone? I really like 5.0, but if it's not possible to get it as the moment (and I haven't found any 5.0 ROMs for the sgh-i337 yet - you were right) i might just unroot using SuperSU and just update my version, unrooted and all. I'd rather have my phone be nice and clean than to have root on it with a corrupted recovery mode, and not make use of the root at all (I've seen other ROMs and I prefer 5.0). I might just try to make the phone feel as close to stock as possible by using more google apps and such (keyboard, messages, etc.). Regardless, thanks for the help and additional input, really do appreciate it!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would recommend you flash the nb1 tar file in Odin. That'll bring your device to like new. Then you can let it ota nj4. There are root methods for nc1 and nj4. See this
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=56453100
Sent from my Nexus 9 using XDA Free mobile app

jd1639 said:
I would recommend you flash the nb1 tar file in Odin. That'll bring your device to like new. Then you can let it ota nj4. There are root methods for nc1 and nj4. See this
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=56453100
Sent from my Nexus 9 using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks so much! I followed the instructions and now my phone is back to normal, Recovery mode and all! Really do appreciate it, thanks!

EvilLemon said:
Thanks so much! I followed the instructions and now my phone is back to normal, Recovery mode and all! Really do appreciate it, thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No problem. I'm glad you got it working again
Sent from my Nexus 9 using XDA Free mobile app

[Q] New to rooting and other related definitions

Dear XDA-Dev members,
I'm sorry in advance for my English, but I'll try my best.
For a long time, I never really wanted to root my phone, mainly because of the risks. That all changed lately and now I'm willing to root it, especially for the extra possibilities. I've been searching for a while now and found many different methods of rooting and a lot of definitions I'm not really aware of. So I got a few questions and I hope someone is willing to help me with this.
What exactly do definitions like, ROM, Stock ROM, flashing, whiping and root-related definitions mean? I guess it's some important knowledge for when I want to root my phone.
How do I know what builds are suitable for my phone? I recently updated to Android Lollipop and wish to keep that. I noticed a lot of functions are missing (Samsung???).
What exactly is the XPosed Framework and its modules I've been reading about?
Which method would be the easiest to use for rooting for the first time?
... And for installing a custom Android build?
My current installed apps/games/launcher (Apex), will these be gone? Or can they be restored?
Are there any other important things I need to know?
I don't have an external SD card yet, but I really need to get one, as my internal storage is getting kinda full.
At last, I've included my device information here: imgur.com/a/eKm1F (can't post the link directly due to XDA's anti-spam-thingy)
I really hope someone is willing to help me. Thank you in advance!

Start by reading this:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2419762
- What exactly do definitions like, ROM, Stock ROM, flashing, whiping and root-related definitions mean? Can be easily found by a simple google search
- What exactly is the XPosed Framework and its modules I've been reading about? Can also be found by a simple search.
- How do I know what builds are suitable for my phone? I recently updated to Android Lollipop and wish to keep that. I noticed a lot of functions are missing (Samsung???). Every up to date custom rom is based Lollipop. And no there are no functions missing.
- For rooting you should use cf auto-root i9505. Type it in the search bar in the right corner of your screen.
- For installing custom roms you need a custom recovery. Use Philz of TWRP.
Last tip. Start reading and just do it. You can't destroy your phone.

Thank you. But once again, how do I know what custom rom is suitable for my device?
I'll read all the links posted.

rcth said:
Thank you. But once again, how do I know what custom rom is suitable for my device?
I'll read all the links posted.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Everyone rom that's in the I9505 section.

Xpose is not available to lollipop yet.
Check the most popular Roms and start from there.
If u are already at Lolipoo , You'll probably need to update the bootloader to the same of the rom u intent to flash.
U must learn how to use ODIN. U could easy flash a pre rooted rom from ODIN.
Roms, bootloaders, modems and kernel is what u can change.
Bootloader only if needed, modem also.
Roms and kernels I do keep up to date.
Start with Imperium ROM maybe.
Flash by ODIN a recovery, like TWRP, reboot recovery, wipe everything and flash the rom.
Pretty simple but u must read a lot to not get lost in the way.
Welcome
Since is your first time. Search for IMEI backup. I've never used my backup but heard some scary stories about lost imei.
Start safe!
Sent from my GT-I9505 using XDA Free mobile app

Xposed is available for Android 5.0.1 but is still being tested and refined.
Before attempting to do ANYTHING, install Wanam EFS Backup and back up the IMEI. Losing the IMEI is not fun.
Other than that, start reading and stop asking what the best ROM is. The best ROM is the one that meets your needs.

How long does it usually take for xposed to update to android 5.1?
Sent from my GT-I9505 using XDA Free mobile app

rcth said:
How long does it usually take for xposed to update to android 5.1?
Sent from my GT-I9505 using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When it's done.

Strephon Alkhalikoi said:
Xposed is available for Android 5.0.1 but is still being tested and refined.
Before attempting to do ANYTHING, install Wanam EFS Backup and back up the IMEI. Losing the IMEI is not fun.
Other than that, start reading and stop asking what the best ROM is. The best ROM is the one that meets your needs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My phone is currently on 5.0.1. Can I install Xposed and its modules after I've rooted my phone? If so, which download should I take?
Sent from my GT-I9505 using XDA Free mobile app

Yes.
Look in the Xposed thread.
I don't use Xposed on my S4 as the ROM I use has built-in virtually everything I would have used Xposed for. Xposed for my Android 2.3.7 device is a different story. I need it there for the Master Key fix, since I no longer update the custom ROM I made for the device.

Hi,i root my phone.please what next.
Sent from my Infinix-X551 using XDA Free mobile app