Disclaimer:

This guide is for total noobs (I am one myself). Until the information here can be confirmed by an experienced person please don't bet on the fact that this information is 100% accurate. I studied and put together bits and pieces of information that I found everywhere, tried it and it worked. I will mention the sources. Even though its probably not a good idea for a noob to write any sort of guide, these were taken from working sources, I have tried it myself and all works flawlessly.



About me:

I write open source software and also write documentation.



Why:

I wrote this tutorial as I found the scattered information all over kinda confusing on the subject of flashing, wiping and ROMS.



Who's it for?

You already know what you want to do, but don't know where to start.

THIS IS A WORK IN PROGRESS.

Getting Started - Rooting

(Incorrect usage may make your phone unusable.)

Before you start using Odin, make sure all the Kies* services on your desktop is stopped. (On Windows, you can press Ctrl+Alt+Delete, go to task manager, services and stop it from there). Infact you should consider uninstalling Kies altogether as it is really not needed if you are going to root. There are more than enough backup software that does not add the bloatware.

The Steps:



1) Download the Latest Odin

2) Download recovery of your choice CWM, Philz, TWRP

3) Follow The steps to Flash Philz recovery (But for the recovery of your choice)

Easy

Backing up

Open Titanium Backup At some point it will ask for root access, you will need to allow it root access. Click on Backup/Restore. It will show you a list of software. Click the ok tick top right. It will now show a list of actions you can take. You will now [ RUN ] Backup all user apps+ system data. It will flip to a new screen, click top right ok tick again. The backup process will take a few minutes. After the backup completes, we will need to copy it to a safe place, just in case something else goes wrong.

With above explained, there are more optimized Titanium Backup methods, this is a must read:

You could also backup your whole system from the boot menu of ClockWorkMod / custom recovery - which you will already have if you used the rooting method above. Have a look at this short yet very informative video to do just that:

Easy

Settings->More Settings->Mobile Networks->Access Point Names. Click on each and write down its settings.

Backing up EFS folder

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Easy

ROM - Hunting for a new rom

************************************************** ************************************************** ********

My ROM is not YOUR ROM

************************************************** ************************************************** ********

[INTERNATIONAL GALAXY S3 ONLY] [DONT USE THIS ROM ON ANYTHING ELSE THAN INTERNATIONAL VERSION (IT WONT WORK)]

Allshare Play

awesomeness

I would NOT go for Cyanogenmod at the moment.

Easy

Wiping & Flashing - Cleaner Flashing Method

[I will try and confirm all my findings below]

At this stage I don't know how to wipe the phone if you are going to use the alternative Odin flashing method explained below, this I have done, tried and tested, working fine:

Copy your ROM inside an easy locatable phone folder by browsing to it, from your PC and copying it to your phones folder using your micro USB cable. I strongly recommend using your External SD card as some roms may wipe your internal SD card leaving you without any ROM to update.. that will be very sad. Boot into recovery (Vol up + Home + power from off) You will see a new Unix like screen appear, use volume + and - to navigate up and down, home button is enter, and soft touch back button back is back. Next we will wipe the phone (if your ROM does not have special instructions on wiping this is a standard method). Goto Wipe Data/Factory Reset -> Yes Goto Wipe Cache Partition -> Yes Goto Advance -> Wipe Dalvik Cache -> Yes Next Select Install Zip from SD Card (You may also mount External SD card and load ROMS from external SD card (I can recommend this)) It will take a while... Reboot, and hope to god all is good.

I can confirm above works perfectly, I have flashed HD Revolution ROM successfully using above method.

BUT PLEASE BE WARNED: HD Revolution recommends using Super Wipe, the instructions are unclear, it says you must copy it to the your sd card, if you do this and copy it to your internal sd card all will be wiped including your images, I think you are screwed then. Rather copy them to your EXTERNAL SD card and choose zip from EXTERNAL SD card.

Be aware, this video shows that you should UNLOCK your bootloader, some phones wont boot after this, don't do it except if you know you have to.

Medium

ALTERNATIVE Flashing - With Odin

Medium

Restoring your data

Quote: Many people carry out a backup before installing a custom rom and didnt really understand what kind of backup they should of carried out and have just gone with what they have seen, WRONG!!! when it comes to custom roms there is only one type of backup you can do.



Custom roms have their own system files and dont like other system files being installed over it, you will definitely have rom problems if you carry out this kind of restore from a backup over a custom rom.



When using Titanium Backup its important not to use the settings - backup all system data and backup all user apps + system data, you cant use these with a custom rom, so dont try this kind of backup, this kind of backup is to restore your phone back to its previous state, should something go wrong with the rom installation.

Easy

Getting rid of bloatware

Very Easy

Unrooting and getting back your Warranty!

Oops, if you are stuck on a crossroad and you think you might have bricked (term used to define the fact that you made your phone unusable) your phone, following this tutorial will help you out:

Easy

Thanks to everyone

Odin Greatness!

CF-Root

SuperSu

CWM

CWMManager

ClockworkMod (WTF, this is omg awesome!)

Titanium Backup

Adfree

Congrats on your new firmare!

FAQ

Quote: Originally Posted by JiiNDER Originally Posted by Hey I want to thank you so much for your guide! It actually makes rooting a lot easier. I had one question though, if I root and a new official firmware comes out, can I still update to the latest stock rom with Kies even though I will lose my root.

It all depends what ROM you loaded, if its not the default factory ROM or based on it, you will have to follow the instructions of the CUSTOM rom provider on how an upgrade should be achieve. Else simply use the newest default rom and simply re-root, should be a very quick to do. Also, dont use KIES if you have already rooted, rather use ODIN and follow the instructions. NOTE: KIES, if left running will make ODIN behave incorrectly.