[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] chadwicky:
[GUIDE] Root / Unlock bootloader / CWM recovery Nandroid & IMEI backup / ROM Flashing

Here is a very extensive yet concise and user-friendly guide for rooting, unlocking the bootloader, setting up Clock Work Mod recovery, performing a nandroid backup, backing up your IMEI data, and flashing a custom ROM.

I'm a Professional Writer and find that many of the more tech-savvy nerds (love you guys) have difficulties effectively communicating technical instructions and how-to guides. I created this full walk-through to help those who don't wish to dedicate hours of research into flashing a custom ROM onto their Samsung Galaxy S III Verizon Wireless (d2vzw) devices.

Please say thank you and leave feedback if you find this guide useful.

Samsung Galaxy S III (Verizon Wireless) d2vzw

1. Root Device

2. Bootloader Unlock

3. CWM Recovery

4. Nandroid Backup

5. IMEI Backup

6. ROM Flashing

Root Device

1. Download Samsung USB Drivers . (http://tinyw.in/Fdozhttp://tinyw.in/Fdoz)

2. Install Samsung USB Drivers.

3. Download the Root 7z file(s). (http://goo.im/devs/invisiblek/i535/Root%20Debug%20FS.7z)

4. Unzip the .7z file to a folder of your choice. If you don't have an Unzipper on your PC download and install WinRAR (http://www.win-rar.com/download.html?&L=0)

5. Plug in the VZW Galaxy SIII via the OEM Micro-USB cable.

6. On the device make sure USB debugging is enabled: Settings > Developer Options > USB Debugging (checked).

7. On the device make sure Unknown Sources is enabled (Settings > Security > Unknown Sources (checked).

8. Make sure no other apps are running on the device (e.g.; Android devices, emulators, tethering programs , etc.).

9. Open the extracted Root Tool folder from step 4.

10. Double-click on RootDebugfs.bat.

11. Type the number 1 and press Enter.

12. Follow the command prompt instructions (pressing any key when prompted and verifying choices with y when necessary). The device will reboot multiple times. Do NOT remove, disconnect, power-off, or touch device during this process. It may take a while.

Now the device should be successfully rooted with SuperUser installed.

Bootloader Unlock

1. Download EZ-Unlock onto the Android OS.

NOTE: At this time (9/25/11) only v1.2 is confirmed to work without problems with the newest OTA Verizon update. Check: http://rootzwiki.com/topic/32456-app-920-ez-unlock-14-easiest-way-to-unlock-your-bootloader/ for different versions than the one available on the Google Play Store. This guide will use EZ-Unlock V1.2 (direct-download: http://www.mediafire.com/?0oa6ylr8wskvr9q.

2. Run the Superuser app one time (installed during the Root Device process).

3. Open EZ-Unlock (Allow Superuser access if prompted).

4. Press the Unlock button.

5. Press Yes to confirm unlocking the bootloader.

You should hear the "That was easy" audio clip if your sound is turned on. The Device Status should now read "Unlocked".

CWM Recovery

1. Download and install EZ-Recovery onto the Android OS (Search the Google Play Store for "EZ-Recovery").

2. Open EZ-Recovery (Allow Superuser access if prompted)

3. Pan over to Recovery.

4. Select the Recovery radio option.

5. Tap the associated drop-down and select CWM 6.0.1.0.

6. Tap the Flash! button.

A pop-up notification should indicate that the CWM flash was successful.

Tapping Reboot Recovery will now allow you to boot into the CWM if you wish to flash custom ROMs, make backups, etc.

Nandroid Backup

1. Boot into CWM recovery (One method to do this is to use the EZ-Recovery option to Reboot Recovery, as mentioned in step 6, above).

2. Select Backup to External SD Card.

3. Process will take a few minutes but once complete you will have the backup stored on your external SD Card. Recommend backing this up somewhere besides your device / SD Card as well.

You now have a full backup (nandroid backup) of you device.

IMEI Backup

1. Download Connectbot from the Google Play store onto the Android OS.

2. Open Connectbot (Allow Superuser access if prompted).

3. Select local from the dropdown menu.

4. Type in a nickname (this is not important).

5. Tap the enter <-- key.

6. Once connected, type "su" and tap the enter <-- key.

7. Tap Allow if prompted to grant Superuser access.

8. Type "dd if=/dev/block/mmcblk0p11 of=/sdcard/efs.bin" and tap the enter <-- key.

9. Once the process completes you may close Connectbot.

10. Now navigate to your internal SD card (using a file browser).

11. Copy the newly created "efs.bin" file to your external SD card and/or another location for safe keeping.

You now have a backup of your IMEI information.

ROM Flashing

1. Determine which ROM you wish to install (See Section 3 and Section 4 from this thread: http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1762709).

2. I use the ParanoidAndroid Jelly Bean ROM and have found no problems with it.

3. Download one of the ROMs to your internal SD card (this will be a .zip file).

4. If you choose a CM10/AOSP/AOKP like ParanoidAndroid you should also download to the internal SD card one of the associated Gapps file as found in the thread linked in step one. This file bundles all of the Google Apps and is highly recommended.

5. Using the EZ-Recovery app (see the CWM Recovery section, above) reboot into the CWM Recovery tool.

6. Select wipe data/factory reset to wipe / reset device.

7. Navigate to the advanced menu.

8. Select Wipe Dalvik Cache to wipe the Dalvik Cache.

9. Return to the previous menu screen.

10. Select install zip from sdcard.

11. Select choose zip from sdcard.

12. Navigate to and select the .zip ROM file chosen from step 3, above.

13. Once the process completes the ROM should be successfully installed.

14. If applicable (see step 4, above) repeat steps 10-11 and select the Gapps file to install instead.

You can now reboot the phone and it should load the newly installed ROM.