[Galaxy Note II General] sunny2303:
Benefits of referring to this Guide

One stop for someone coming from stock rom ( so from rooting till flashing all steps covered)

To the point at the same time detailed instructions

All custom ROMs (TW/MIUI/AOSP/CM/AOKP) covered

All relevant links posted for ready reference (like ROM list, Rooting guides etc)

AOSP/Cyanogenmod/AOKP based ROMs:

Step - 1

Read... Read and then Read... :

It’s always helpful to do a Google search a bit before you decide to flash a ROM. Read a little about Rooting, Custom ROMs like AOKP/CM10/CM10.1 and how they are different from your Samsung provided ROM. It will help you to be aware of potential risks attached and the benefits it brings to the table. It will also save a lot of time later, which you may spend wondering why a particular thing is not available or not in the same manner as it is on your stock ROM. And on the way you may pick up some handy tips such as CM10 would require your external sd card to be formatted to fat32, exfat won’t work etc.

So, PLEASE READ..

If you have read enough and decided to flash a custom ROM, then the tool in the below mentioned post will help you to root your Note II N-7100.

WARNING:

FLASHING A CUSTOM ROM MAY RAISE YOUR FLASH COUNTER AND WILL VOID YOUR WARRANTY. IMPROPER FLASHING MAY POTENTIALLY BRICK YOUR DEVICE. SO PLEASE PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK. ME OR ANY OTHER DEVELOPER MENTIONED IN THIS POST WILL ASSUME NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE SAME.

Step - 2

Root your Note II:

Rooting gives you absolute authority (and shall I mention responsibility too :)) over your device to deal with it the way you decide. You want to modify, flash a custom ROM or remove system app bloatware etc, you will need root rights. There are two safe methods to choose from for rooting your Note II:

1. Mskip’s Note II GSM toolkit

2. Chainfire's CF-Auto-Root

In case you have already rooted your Note II and have a working custom recovery, then please ignore Step -2.

Ensure you have a working custom recovery:

Please ensure you have a working custom recovery like Clock Work Mod (CWM) or Team Win Recovery Project (TWRP) recovery on your Note II before you proceed with flashing any ROM. Aforementioned Toolkit will give you option to root with CWM. So ensure you do that. Working recovery means that you have tested the recovery and it works fine. To check this, you may flash any small CWM flashable zip.

Step - 3

Back Up:

Its always advisable to do a nandroid backup of your existing ROM, just in case anything goes wrong while flashing new ROM or you wish to revert back for any reasons. This backup option, saves everything including ROM, settings, apps and data as it is at the time of backup.

For doing Nandroid backup,

1. Enter into recovery mode (3 key combo viz. Vol up + Home + Power or any app like ROM Toolbox lite )

2. Go into Backup and Restore (You can use vol up & down to scroll and power key to select)

3. Select Backup

Backup will take place and when it finishes, you will be back to options. Choose reboot now.

If you only wish to backup your applications, you may use paid apps like Titanium Backup Pro which can backup app + data (Please be aware restoring app + data may result in app fcs on some ROMs and developers generally advise restoring only apps).

Alternatively, you may use a simple free tool available on playstore called App2zip . It creates a flashable zip of all apps which you want to backup and places on your internal sd card. Its recommended to keep a copy of this zip on external sd as a safety measure. After you have installed your new ROM you can simply flash this zip from recovery and you get all your apps back. Please note, app data will not be backed up.

It is highly recommended to keep a copy of all backup files (Nandroid, Titanium or App2zip) on your PC.

Step - 4

Download compatible ROM:

Please ensure you have downloaded a ROM which is compatible with your device. Since your device is Note II N-7100 you should ensure you download a ROM which is compatible with Note II N-7100. Flashing ROM meant for any other variant or device may potentially brick the device.

Please refer here for available ROMs for N7100. ROMs and Kernel Repository - N7100

Once you have downloaded the ROM compare the MD5 sum of downloaded file with that of one given on download site. MD5 sum helps you identify any probable data loss issue which might have happened during the download process and as a result of which you might be at a risk of flashing a incomplete/inaccurate download. To mitigate this risk, simply check MD5 sum (This can be easily checked with the help of ES file explorer/ Root explorer apps) and compare it with MD5 given on download site. These 2 minutes can save 2 hours of re-flashing for you :)

Step - 5

Download JB gapps:

Please ensure you have latest JB gapps downloaded on your sdcard (internal or external) before you start flashing ROM. You can download it from goo.im. In case, anyone of you wishes to be able to sync Picasa web albums to Gallery/Quick pic, look for gapps-jb-picasa-XXXXXXXX-signed.zip from goo.im These will have to be flashed after you have flashed JB gapps first.

Step - 6

Do a clean install/Full wipe:

What is clean install/Full wipe? Clean install/Full wipe means installing with 3 wipes, viz.

Wipe Data/Factory Reset

Wipe Cache partition

Wipe Dalvik Cache (Under Advanced menu )

All of these options can be found under recovery mode. A clean install almost assures of a hassle free installation. It ensures there are no residues of previous ROM, which may conflict with current ROM & cause some painful disruption in operations. Thus, for smooth operation of new ROM full wipe is strongly recommended.

Step - 7

Flash the downloaded ROM zip:

Please read instructions of OP of the ROM you are flashing, at every flash. It’s possible that flashing instructions may change, so don’t assume that since you have flashed earlier version of same or similar ROM in a particular way it’s going to be same. To flash downloaded ROM -

Enter recovery mode ( I hope by now you know how to do that)

Select install zip from sdcard (it will be in the folder where you placed or downloaded it, so look for that folder)

And then select - Yes - Install xxxxxx.zip

After install has finished, you will be back to options. Do the following -

Wipe Cache

Wipe Dalvik cache

Time to flash, JB gapps...

Repeat the same procedure as flashing ROM but this time instead of ROM zip select the JB gapps zip which you had downloaded. In case, you need Picasa sync flash that zip after you have flashed JB gapps. Do the following -

Wipe Cache

Wipe Dalvik cache

Fix permissions

Please do not forget to flash gapps or else you will not find Play Store, when you boot up your ROM.

REBOOT... and you are good to enjoy CM10/AOKP based ROM on your Note II :good:

Please note S-Note or other Samsung apps won’t work on Cyanogenmod/AOKP or for that matter any other ROM which is not TouchWiz based.

There are enough and able replacement apps available on play store, please feel free to use them. If you find some apps really good, please pm me so that I can share it with other users as well.

Samsung/ Touchwiz (TW) based ROMs:

If you don’t want to miss Samsung proprietary features then you may consider rooting your phone and using a Samsung based custom ROM with it.

All steps except the one's related with gapps remain the same. You do not need to flash gapps separately on Samsung/Touchwiz based ROMs.. In a nutshell, DO NOT DOWNLOAD & FLASH GAPPS IF YOU ARE FLASHING A SAMSUNG/TOUCHWIZ BASED ROM

If you follow these instructions completely, it is very unlikely that you face any difficulties.. You should be comfortably enjoying a custom ROM on your Note II :)

If you have got any suggestions, please feel free to post it in the thread.

If this tutorial has helped you, please do not forget to press the "Thanks" button.
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Thanks

Chainfire

Mskip

dr.ketan

Abhisahara

Ahalford

Antiochasylum

Chasmodo

Toxicthunder

Utacka

All XDA developers

My friends & mentors who have guided me all through

Any other person who has contributed and whom I have missed