yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] jeriel05:
I followed this guide and now i'm rooted with bootloader unlocked but i'm running into a issue. I try booting into recovery to make a backup of the phone but clockworkmod recovery says its not able to mount backup path...... it's not detecting my sdcard for some reason. My card is a 64gb sandisk class 10. Any help will be appreciated.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] gbruyn:
I used the root keeper app and everything seemed to update fine. I still have root access and now am showing the 4.1.2 version. Is there anything wrong with using root keeper?
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] SempaiMatt:
CWM doesn't read cards formatted in exFAT. Backup your card and then format it in FAT32.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] jeriel05:
Thanks! You saved me time and possibly grief as well. A format to fat32 did the trick
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] gtdtm:
Thanks for the guide. It took me less than 10 minutes.

One suggestion that could be added to the OP is to use the PDA section for the flashes. The OP doesn't mention it, but the video did. Since I am new to ODIN I wasn't sure until I watched the video.

Excellent work though.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] moparfreak426:
It actually took me a while with that too. I didn't watch the video lol

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Xparent Skyblue Tapatalk 2
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] dweezle:
I have a couple of questions about the process. I have a Verizon i535, w/ 4.1.2 I would like to root my phone, but also may want to return my phone to Verizon for an upgrade to an S4, when they are released. I will try not to get flash happy with new ROMs until I know that I am keeping the S3 as my daily driver. All I want to do for the moment is to root and install TWRP.

Will using Odin 3.07 keep me from "unrooting" in a way that Verizon will not see my phone as having been "altered"?

Does the OP mean to say that I should first flash VRALEC bootchain to allow me to install a custom recovery and then, after it is installed and working properly, flash VRBMB1 to restore the original 4.1.2 Jellybean bootchain?

Is doing this going to possibly bugger the PIT in my phone? How do I ensure that I don't do that? What is the backup procedure for restoring the phone if the PIT does get wonky?

I really like the S3, so far (1 week). I liked my old Droid X, but the screen was going and that was a good "motivator" to move to the S3.

Thanks for the help[,
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] nicholi2789:
I used this method to unlock and root. Worked perfectly and was rooted in five minutes trying to decide what Rom to flash. I am now on Jelly beans build 14 and couldn't be happier. Thanks for this easy to follow guide!
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] Mikestony:
Nope :) I don't think so...you mean the flash counter? I don't remember if the flash counter is tripped with Odin or not. But there is an app that can reset that counter.

Yes.

I'm not sure...I haven't heard of that issue. The only issue, albeit small, is the recovery sometimes has a hard time installing. But then again, you just re-do it.

It's really easy, trust me :)
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] emtownsend:
Very important step missing in post #1... you must also flash the SU zip. This is not listed, and now I have an exclamation mark with "go to nearest Verizon store". So, I guess this counts as a soft-brick, huh? Someone please fix that for the next unsuspecting soul. I should have known better....
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] SlimSnoopOS:
That's listed in Step four, it can not be any clearer than it already is. Plus, Step one recommends downloading the "for root and unlocked bootloader" zip.

Edit: If you haven't yet fixed your soft brick, Odin flash the VRBLK3 tar then try these steps again.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] landshark68:
What he said. Plus the "take your phone to the nearest Verizon store" thing simply means your bootloader was still locked. Read the instructions very carefully and thoroughly, and then follow them very carefully and thoroughly.

Sent from the Shark Tank using XDA premium
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] Ryno77:
Finally decided to root and load a custom rom. Followed the steps here and had no issues whatsoever. Thanks for the great guide!
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] emtownsend:
Argh. My bad. That's what I get for doing a unlock/flash at 1AM! I was able to recover and I'm ready for another shot!

But... I still don't see it listed in step 4. Here is what I see:

(Not trying to be a pain, really!) I was not asked to "Disable recovery flash" either. I MUST be doing something wrong.... Going back to step 1!
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] longboardskier:
Step 4 is the step that you flash the file you chose from step one; preferably the one that's root (supersu) and unlocked bootloader.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] SlimSnoopOS:
I think quite a few people have been reporting that same thing throughout this thread. Did you flash TWRP? Cuz I doubt you'll see that message if you did.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] emtownsend:
I chose CWM 6023 Touch. So far, I am able to flash Chameleon ROM. Coolness. Yeah, no question that I had to answer, but successful anyway. Thanks! Are there any other 4.2.2 ROMs to suggest?
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] SlimSnoopOS:
Sounds great haha and I always suggest trying them all cuz nobody knows what you like better than you.

Happy flashing!
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] bbqsfire:
I wasn't going to root this phone for a change but after setting my friends phone running liquid smooth rom I knew I needed to. I ran through the instructions with this guide and I was rooted in no time. Thanks so very much for the guide.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] dweezle:
I have did what I intended. I rooted and installed TWRP. It did trip the custom binary download counter and now, when I boot the device, it goes through a "Samsung Custom" screen with an unlocked padlock icon. If I have to return the phone to Verizon for some reason, (Upgrade or warranty work), what will I need to do to get back to 100% stock. I did restore to the correct Jellybean bootchain VRBMB1 for my version 4.1.2.

The hardest thing for me was getting my fingers to get to all three of buttons, power, volume and home. If the phone was much bigger, it would have been a two person job.:laugh:
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] radpp16:
Working great! But what happens if I do factory data reset from settings menu?

Thanks
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] open1your1eyes0:
Root will stay, custom recovery will stay, unlocked bootloader will stay. This mod has nothing to do with your personal data, mods the actual OS and device blocks. Only way to remove it is manually remove root and overwrite recovery/bootloader back to stock or just flash a factory image (since it overwrites the entire device).
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] crobs808:
That's never going to happen. I was in the same situation as you. I downgraded to 4.1.1 in ODIN, used EZUnlock, flashed bootloader+recovery in ODIN, then flashes CyanogenMod (latest). Couldn't be happier.

I can always ODIN the 4.1.2 official if I want to return it.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] LIAM83:
who have original recovery 4.1.1 plese share here

thanks to all
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] SlimSnoopOS:
Check the other thread by the OP, it's linked in this thread's first post.

Edit: uhh, did you mean recovery or 4.1.1 rom? Stock recovery is easily reflashed using EZ Recovery.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] LIAM83:
oh man thanks i donk know about ez-recovery i do all via odin and create tar packgage but now try ez recovery thank bro
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] howellcp:
I've got the same issue about not being asked to disable flash deal but I tried to boot beans 15 and it was hung on beans boot screen. I'm assuming kernel didn't take. Tried to flash the boot zip again, no luck? Any suggestions?
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] crazy talk:
basic info: VZW GS3 running 4.1.1 (VRBLK3)

i flash the VRALEC file just fine. leave auto reboot on.

problem is when i go to flash the recovery i get a secure check failure. tried flashing CWM and TWRP and redownloaded both twice with no change. unsure of what to do in order to fix problem.

Odin screen shot: CLICKY

thanks for your help.

EDIT: before anyone mentions it, using Odin 3.07 compared to 3.04 has no impact.

Double EDIT: allowing OTA to 4.1.2 has no impact. proper VRALEC file flashes fine. recovery borks.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] kidhudi:
why did you put it on phone instead of PDA?
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] kwinders:
Always put file in "PDA" unless specifically told otherwise. I think "phone" it's for the modems? This could be bad for your device.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] funkpod:
Hey, trying to unroot and send my phone back to verizon.

Well, I am unrooted now, reset my counter, everything seems okay. totally stock.

EXCEPT it still says "Custom" and has a lock on the first screen!

How do I get rid of that?

))____

okay, never mind, it's gone.

i *think* that I fixed it by going into Stock Recovery, then did a factory reset and wiped cache.

ALSO, btw, odin 3.07 totally did not work. it was horrible.

Finally my buddy and i used Odin 1.85 and it worked like a charm.

fyi.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] gzsmooth:
Help please...

I can not get my phone to go into CWM recovery. Im currenty on 4.1.2

I have followed ea step without issues, Im using 3.07, using PDA. I make it thru step 3 and do the battery pull. Then hold up, home, power until it says booting recovery then let go but it just boots the phone up and never goes to my recovery. Ive tried CWM and TWRP neither works. Ive gone back thru the steps again but it didnt help.

Any ideas??
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] kwinders:
Only hold all three until phone vibrates then release power but hold other two until it boots into recovery.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] gzsmooth:
Thanks got it
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] cmegalodon:
this was a great post. tanks so much for making rooting so easy
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] axtn95:
Everything worked perfectly! Thanks

CWM didn't ask for Disable recovery flash, but it stuck anyway so no problems there!!
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] cmegalodon:
really frustrated.......

let me sum up my day:

i followed this thread to a t (or so i thought). i tried to install a rom abd got a message about invalid verizon software blha blah blah. After some searching, i realized that i soft-bricked my phone. i followed hero's guide to unbrick it and set it back to stock. perfect. i attempt to follow the instructions again. i got into recovery. but before i was able to select flash the Both Root and Unlocked Bootloader i accidentaly rebooted the phone (i hit the power button - i just got this phone the other day, hence new button placement). the phone works. i can get into odin. i can get into recovery. here's where it gets screwey - i try to install the cwm touch recovery from my sd card, i get a E:signature verification failed message in red. so now i try to start over. odin says fail. i tried going back to stock, but those .tar files fail too. i want to do a factory reset in recovery. before i do anything i regret, what are my options?

p.s. i started on 4.1.2
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] nicholi2789:
It sounds like you got a bad download for the Super Su/bootloader unlock file. I would download it again, use your computer this time. Once it's downloaded verify the md5 sum (its listed right next to the link on the first page of this post) then once you know you got a good download move it to your ext sd card and boot into recovery and try flashing it again. The only time i've got that message in CWM is when I had a bad download.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] LuvMyDroid:
I followed all the steps and it went off without a hitch. I did have one question though. I followed through to the final optional step of flashing VRBMB1 (Jelly Bean 4.1.2) bootchain. Is this one locked? I just wanted to know if I want it unlocked. would I need to flashed the unlocked one from earlier in the tutorial?
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] nicholi2789:
No that just returns you to the original partitions. You will remain unlocked, rooted, and with your custom recovery. When you finish this you will be fully ready to flash a Rom. All you will need to do is put it on your SD card and flash away.

Sent from my Galaxy S3 on Beans build 15 from tapatalk 2
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] LuvMyDroid:
Thanks! I'd been looking around for the past couple days trying to figure out how to check the device's locked/unlocked status. I just wanted to be clear before I made a mistake.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] nicholi2789:
Yeah I had that same question when i first did it too. There isn't really any concrete way to tell. But if you followed this thread step by step and did it successfully you are unlocked. Go flash a Rom! Lol. I recommend jelly beans build 15. It's amazing.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] cmegalodon:
i just d/l a new su/bootloader file. same response E:signature verification failed

now what?

---------- Post added at 12:17 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:17 PM ----------

should i try a new sd card?
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] nicholi2789:
No i don't think it's your sd card. It seems a few people are having problems with that file. I'm uploading my copy to Dropbox so I can share it with you guys. It will be up in a bit.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] cmegalodon:
did you get it uploaded? thanks
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] nicholi2789:
Yes I did. :) here it is:

http://db.tt/C8idrgQp

Let me know if that works for you.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] cmegalodon:
nope. same verification failure. grrrrrr...so frustrating

---------- Post added at 07:08 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:07 PM ----------

what about a wipe data/factory reset? i just don't want to brick the phone.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] nicholi2789:
That is weird. Did you flash CWMR or TWRP?
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] cmegalodon:
cwmr
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] nicholi2789:
So you go into CWMR and you press "install zip from sd card" then go to external SD card and find where your SUPERSU file is and hit install and it says signature verification failed?

Edit: also do you have use debugging enabled?
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] cmegalodon:
yeah. it begins to install then i get the signature verification error
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] nicholi2789:
And are you sure your in Clockworkmod recovery and not your stock recovery? In clockwork you should have a grey background with blue/purplish text, and it has a logo with a hat. It has a ton of options:reboot phone, install zip, backup restore, format system.

The stock recovery is just a little android figure with a few options.

I know when I first did it I had trouble getting Clockworkmod to flash, i had to try it three times.

Can you post a picture of your recovery screen?

I'm sorry, i just don't know how familiar you are with this stuff so I have to assume your brand new.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] cmegalodon:
the top line says: android system recovery <3e>

i am going to try to flash cwmr again. i need a few minutes
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] SlimSnoopOS:
Can't you just turn off signature verification in CWM?
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] nicholi2789:
I know you can in the older versions. Idk about the newer versions. Never had to do it.

When i followed this same root procedure a while back it never had this problem. I used the same files and didn't have any signature verification issues.

---------- Post added at 02:15 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:13 AM ----------

And it would say Clockworkmod touch recovery version xxxxx on the top if you had successfully flashed it.

Like i said I had trouble getting it to flash when i did it. Just make sure you've flashed the VRALEC boot chain first or it won't work.

I would advise watching g droidmmodderx's video that's linked there. It's alot more specific.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] cmegalodon:
HOLY CRAP!! that was painful. i can't thank you enough. it finally went through!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! now i can flash my rom. thank you thank you thank you
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] nicholi2789:
So you were able to successfully flash and get onto Clockworkmod?
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] cmegalodon:
yes it is all done. Thank you again. Cwmr reflashing was the trick. I've installed my first rom already and I am up and running. Thanks again.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] nicholi2789:
Good. I'm glad I was able to help you figure it out. Happy flashing. And as always, backup backup backup before you flash!
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] cmegalodon:
i always do
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] Ravanous:
Thanks for the guide. Just picked up my S3 tonight, coming from a Droid charge...

Rooted ant boot unlocked in about 15 mins following guide.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] Will32:
Great guide. Everything went fine on my son's vzw gs3. The only hiccup I had was when I was trying to boot into recovery right after I flashed it. I figured it'd be just like putting my Sprint gs3 into recovery but it's not quite the same. By the time I figured out the correct method, the stock recovery had been re written and I had to reflash twrp.

Here's what I did

1 flashed VRALEC file with odin (passed)

2 flashed twrp with odin (passed) and powered off.

3 tried to boot into recovery but accidentally let it boot all the way to the vzw boot animation, pulled battery.

4 correctly booted into recovery, but it was stock recovery, pulled battery.

5 flashed twrp with odin then booted into twrp finally.

6 flashed SuperSU_bootloader_fixed in twrp.

7 booted up, powered down

8 flashed VRBMB1 with odin (passed)

9 booted up

Will messing up in the recovery step affect the bootloader unlocking?

I did get an error from twrp when trying to back up the stock rom. It said that it failed when trying to make the TWRP directory on the external sd card. I was able to backup to the internal sd. I don't remember the exact error but it was like "cannot make /data/?/TWRP". Has anyone had an error like that?
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] nicholi2789:
I don't use TWRP. But I have never seen that before on CWMR. I would just suggest trying again. Make sure that your ext sd is correctly formatted.

Also, no messing up the recovery part isn't going to mess up the unlock. As long as you successfully installed the superSU file you are unlocked. Everybody messes that part up (myself included) it just sometimes doesn't take the first time when you flash the recovery. You just have to re flash it and try again.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] Aquila76:
May be an obvious question, but do you have a microSD card (external) installed in the phone? Also, I would recommend upgrading to the latest TWRP, 2.5.0.0. Download the GooManager app, run it, grant SuperSu access, hit Menu softkey, and choose "Install OpenRecoveryScript". That will prompt you to download and install the new version.

View attachment 1937602

From my Synergized S3
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] nicholi2789:
This method doesn't wipe your phone. If your follow the instructions and follow them all you won't lose your data. You can also choose the JUST root option detailed in the thread.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] Will32:
Thanks for the help. I had no space left on the sd card so twrp couldn't create a folder. I erased some stuff and now all is well.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] zlancerman:
Ok, so I just picked up an S3 yesterday and wanted to root it to run Titanium Backup Pro. I've followed the steps outlined in the first post to the "T" and I cannot flash the custom recovery. I've tried every combination I can think of and no matter what, no matter how many times, I always FAIL! the flash in Odin. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Coming off a Galaxy Nexus which was a breeze to root!
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] longboardskier:
Did you make sure you put it in the PDA spot?
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] zlancerman:
Yes I did. And I unchecked "Auto Reboot". And I tried flashing the recovery after the bootchain.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] SlimSnoopOS:
What's the error? Try posting a screenshot if you can and does the recovery file name contain any parentheses illustrating a duplicate download?
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] zlancerman:
I'll work on the screenshot. The filename of the recovery file is "CWM6023TouchVZW.tar.md5" - MD5 checksum matches. Thanks for giving me some of your attention!
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] dweezle:
I have followed the instructions here and I am rooted and have TWRP working. I ASSUMED that if I just used ODIN v3.07 again to flash back to VRBMB1, I would be back on my Jellybean 4.1.2 bootchain. Since it was not clear to me how to check if that was successful, I believed that I had been successful. Yesterday, I was looking in an app called Network Signal Info and on a tab they call "system info" bootloader is listed as "I535VRALEC". I checked the MD5 for the VRBMB1 bootchain file that I downloaded fron OP here and it checked out as matching. I did use PDA in ODIN and only had Auto reboot, and F. reset Time, checked. Odin said "PASS" in green letters at the top. I'm attaching screenshots of the final part of the Odin message and of the phone info on Network Signal Info. Any insight as to why I'm still showing as i535VRALEC Bootloader?
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] Remember Reach:
I'm getting this issue as well. Do I just unplug it and try again?
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] zlancerman:
I tried that a bunch of times to no avail. Let me know if it works for you!
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] Remember Reach:
I ended up just flashing another ROM. I went back to Carbon after I got one to boot but my middle hardware button wouldn't work for some reason.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] zlancerman:
So I was finally able to flash a new recovery using these instructions instead: http://rootzwiki.com/topic/29256-tutorial-rootrecoverybootloader-unlockicsjb-verizon-galaxy-s-iii/, which used a different bootloader file. So nice to finally be rooted again! I'll probably wait a little while before I jump into a new ROM.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] nicholi2789:
Just wondering, but would that cause an issue with flashing? I have a root66 tar that I was gonna use in the event of a brick and it has the (1) duplicate download on it. What's the problem with that?
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] SlimSnoopOS:
Causes an automatic fail in Odin. Just remove the "(1)" and it will flash fine. Any time you download a file multiple times and it includes parentheses, you need to remove it before Odin flashing.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] nicholi2789:
Aha, that's good information to know. Thank you.

So it only matters with odin? It wouldn't effect say a rom flash from recovery?
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] dweezle:
Anyone have an idea how I can return to the stock 4.1.2 bootchain? Am I misunderstanding the results?
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] SlimSnoopOS:
Have you tried reflashing the VRBMB1 bootchain? Also, clear data for that network app in case it caches that info from before the VRBMB1 bootchain flash.

I think so as well for recovery
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] nicholi2789:
Hmm.. Well my standard procedure when downloading a rom or other file is; I download it to my laptop, verify the md5 sum and save it. Create a folder for the rom and md5 sum and a link to where it's found, put them in the folder, then I copy it to my external HD (so I have a backup copy), then transfer to my phone. I've never paid attention to the duplicate number before and I'm sure I've flashed one before. Once I transfer the zip to my phone I usually rename it and put it in my Rom folder. That way I can better organize them.

I will just have to look out for that duplicate indicator from now on.

Good thing most roms are zips and not tars and I install them from recovery. Or else I would probably be pulling my hair out by now.

Thanks for the info Slimsnoop. Your always chock full of useful information :)