Root [International] Rooting carrier looked I9505 (VM UK) and full backup?

[silverpetals]

Hello all.

Have done some of my own research on rooting (obviously!) but I'm still a little dubious as it's been a long time since I've rooted and put a custom ROM on a phone and even then I had some help.

I have a I9505 locked to Virgin Media (UK). As far as I know, a carrier lock has no effect on rooting but just want some clarification I suppose. Extra info if it's needed - I'm running 4.4.2, I9505XXUFNB9 baseband version and 3.4.0-481100 kernel version. I also want to make a complete system image to restore to if I need to use the warranty for whatever reason (I only got this phone in Feb) but I have no idea how to (I did try ADB backup but didn't get too far) or if it's even possible. I have backed up all data but I want the firmware really seeing as the phone is locked and most downloadable ones need your phone to be unlocked I believe? Correct me if I am wrong, as I said I've been out of the rooting game for some time so I'm not totally up to date with this stuff. I'm wanting to put Cyanogenmod on it after rooting seeing as that is what I have prior experience with.

Any recommendations for rooting this phone? Is there a way to make a complete system image that I can simply revert to if any issues arise? I realise I may be being a bit unrealistic here.

 

[ironass]

Hello all.

Have done some of my own research on rooting (obviously!) but I'm still a little dubious as it's been a long time since I've rooted and put a custom ROM on a phone and even then I had some help.

I have a I9505 locked to Virgin Media (UK). As far as I know, a carrier lock has no effect on rooting but just want some clarification I suppose. Extra info if it's needed - I'm running 4.4.2, I9505XXUFNB9 baseband version and 3.4.0-481100 kernel version. I also want to make a complete system image to restore to if I need to use the warranty for whatever reason (I only got this phone in Feb) but I have no idea how to (I did try ADB backup but didn't get too far) or if it's even possible. I have backed up all data but I want the firmware really seeing as the phone is locked and most downloadable ones need your phone to be unlocked I believe? Correct me if I am wrong, as I said I've been out of the rooting game for some time so I'm not totally up to date with this stuff. I'm wanting to put Cyanogenmod on it after rooting seeing as that is what I have prior experience with.

Any recommendations for rooting this phone? Is there a way to make a complete system image that I can simply revert to if any issues arise? I realise I may be being a bit unrealistic here.

Hello and welcome to Android Forums silverpetals!

Have a read through the Rooting Galaxy S4 - Dummies Guide in the sticky at the top of this forum as it should answer most of your rooting questions. Being carrier sim-locked does not affect the rooting process. To revert back to stock Samsung firmware, see #2.0 of the guide for how to locate your stock firmware details and also #1.5 of the 28 Galaxy S4 models - know yours? for how to download and flash it via Odin to un-root your phone.

 

[silverpetals]

Hello and welcome to Android Forums silverpetals!

Have a read through the Rooting Galaxy S4 - Dummies Guide in the sticky at the top of this forum as it should answer most of your rooting questions. Being carrier sim-locked does not affect the rooting process. To revert back to stock Samsung firmware, see #2.0 of the guide for how to locate your stock firmware details and also #1.5 of the 28 Galaxy S4 models - know yours? for how to download and flash it via Odin to un-root your phone.

Thank you, very useful indeed.
However I have a few questions about Knox which I hadn't considered before. My firmware does have Knox on it. Is it still possible to actually root it and flash a custom ROM to it? If so and I am right in thinking this will trip the flag, I'm guessing that even if I unroot my warranty will still be totally void as I believe it can't be reset to 0x0 again?

 

[dynomot]

Thank you, very useful indeed.
However I have a few questions about Knox which I hadn't considered before. My firmware does have Knox on it. Is it still possible to actually root it and flash a custom ROM to it? If so and I am right in thinking this will trip the flag, I'm guessing that even if I unroot my warranty will still be totally void as I believe it can't be reset to 0x0 again?

Yes it is possible to root and flash a custom ROM with Knox. It will, as you rightly say trip the knox flag.

The "Knox warranty void 0x1"status of a Knox tripped device is warranty wise, ambiguous. It is best for all intents and purposes to assume you've completely voided any remaining warranty you had left, however it may be the security of the device warranty that has been voided not the device hardware warranty. There are supposed examples where a Knox tripped phone has gotten a warranty repair and the official word from Samsung, well there isn't one.

Assume your have no warranty (or warranties) if you root and install a custom recovery, install a custom ROM and trip the flag.

Incidentally the Knox flag is reporting on the state of one bit on one of the chips. A bit can be on (1) or off (0) when you install something that alters the bootloader (for instance just rooting won't trip it, but installing a custom recovery will, as will a custom ROM) the bootloader alters the state of the bit to 1 - permanently and forever (this is called an eFuse) hence the flag altering from 0x0 to 0x1.