How to Root Galaxy S4 GT-I9505 With Qualcomm Processor Via Odin(One click firmware root guide)

ust days ago, I posted a tutorial on how you can easily root the octa Exynos 5  processor tagged gt-i9500 of Samsung galaxy s4 here. Now am happy to tell you that after a series of tests, a recognized XDA Developer Chainfire noticed that while you could “inject” the su binary into the firmware, the device would immediately reboot when that same binary was executed. Therefore the old true and trusted method of rooting previous Samsung galaxy phones is not applicable with the galaxy S4. Today, I am going to drop a tutorial on how to root Galaxy S4 GT-I9505 Qualcomm

However, after much testing, Chainfire figured out a way to root the device using his tried-and-true CF-Auto-Root process and posted the method that is flashing with odin.

***WARNING***

This currently only works on the GT-I9505 (Qualcomm LTE) version of the S4, with Odia finding that there are issues with the Exynos 5 Octa version For the method to root the exynos variant, visit my link above. As is always the case, be warned that there is a risk in performing any procedure such as this on your device. Let’s hope that Samsung hasn’t decided to really turn their noses up at the development community.

Don’t Miss: Universal guide on how to root/jailbreak/unlock your smartphone

Before you root your phone take note of this: Once you have rooted your android device, your device warranty will get void; However, you can reclaim the warranty by applying official firmware update or by unrooting the device.

To check if you have successfully rooted your device or not simply install an app called “Root Checker” t available for download on Google PLAY store.

Pre Requisites & Requirements:

1. Make sure your device have at least 60% battery power. [ to Check Battery Percentage in Android Device press settings>>Battery or download any battery optimizing app from google play e.g]
2. You already have USB Driver Installed for Galaxy S4 in your PC.
3. Make sure USB Debugging is enabled. [ You can do this by pressing settings>.developer options>>USB debugging]

5.  Download the rooting file  download CF-Auto-Root-jflte-jfltexx-gti9505.zip

Steps to Root Your Galaxy S4  S4 GT-I9505 With Qualcomm(LTE) Processor Via Odin

File Required(Download by clicking on it)

1. download CF-Auto-Root-jflte-jfltexx-gti9505.zip
2. Odin 3.07

STEPS:

1. Extract Firmware zip file that you downloaded already from above link, you will get a .tar
2. Extract Odin zip file and you will get Odin3 v3.07.exe along with few other files.
3. Power off your phone. Wait 5-6 seconds for vibration to confirm complete switch off.
4. Now, put the Galaxy S4 GT-I9500 phone in Download Mode by pressing and holding down the Volume Down and Home buttons while pressing the Power button until you are welcomed by a green robot indicating you are in Download Mode.
5. Now run Odin3 v3.07.exe  as an Administrator because Admin privileges is required to complete the process smoothly.
6. Now connect your Galaxy S4 GT-I9500 with your PC using a USB cable. A message will arrive under Odin’s message box in the bottom left saying “Added!!”. If you don’t get the same then you should try another USB port (try USB port located in back in your desktop PC). If that too doesn’t work then you should then reinstall the driver. If you successfully see the “Added!!” message in Odin then you are ready to go in the next step. You should also see COM port with a number in Yellow if you successfully added your device.
7. Select these files in Odin at respective tabs from extracted  firmware folder :
   1. Click the PDA Button, and select the .tar file here with *code* appearing in its name
8. In Odin window, make sure Auto Reboot and F. Reset Time checkboxes are selected .flash the included .tar.md5 as PDA using Odin, and make sure repartition is not checked. You should see a red Android coming up, and your device will be rooted. If the device boots normally without the red Android, reboot into recovery manually to trigger the process.
9. Double check everything that we mentioned in Step 7 & Step 8 above. Now, once satisfied hit the START button to begin the flashing process.
10. Once flashing completed, the phone will reboot and you will see a PASS message with green background in the left-most box at the very top of the Odin. You can then unplug the USB cable to disconnect your device from the computer

THE DEVELOPER CHAINFIRE HAS THIS TO SAY:

To continue on with all this talk about the S4 and root, I’ve just rooted the XXUAMD2 firmware (dated April 2) for the I9505.

If you’ve followed the story so far, you know there has been trouble rooting the S4’s until now. android was set restrictive on some firmware (easily circumvented) and aside from that, we had the mystery reboots. You could have the su binary and apk’s installed just fine, but once you used the su binary to gain root access, the device would reboot.

We’ve done nothing special for this firmware – SEAndroid was set to permissive on this firmware, and it doesn’t suffer from that reboot issue. This is as plain a root as all the CF-Auto-Root’s for any other Galaxy device, or other methods to inject root by flashing a custom kernel/recovery/system.

We simply don’t know if this is the final retail firmware, so we don’t know if this will work on final retail.

I do believe this is the first S4 root that was actually tested working, hurray!