[T-Mobile, Samsung Galaxy SIII] DocHoliday77:
How To Root!!!

How To Root Your T999L

There are currently three methods I have confirmed working to gain root access. I will list them in recommended order.

Method 1 - The Root66 Way (RECOMMENDED)

Use Odin to flash the ROOT66 Firmware. Download from

my firmware thread

or

mrRobinson's original Root66 thread

. (Don't forget to thank mrRobinson for his hard work! He doesn't even have this device, but he still takes the time to fix us up with this firmware!)

Download the Root66 firmware. Several builds may be available, it is suggested that you use the latest version available, though you should read about any update before taking the plunge!!! (At the time of this writing, NC1 is the latest firmware for the T999L).

Flash in Odin 3.09 as you would any other firmware. (Place in the AP section) (If still using Odin v3.07, put the firmware in PDA instead of AP like in v3.09)

How to Flash Root66 (or any firmware) In Odin

Download and install the latest Samsung USB Drivers (see my sig)

Download and extract Odin 3.09 (see my sig)

Download the root66 firmware linked above.

Run Odin by double clicking the Odin.exe within the folder you extracted

Turn off your phone and boot into

DOWNLOAD MODE

(Volume Down + Home + Power Hold until phone powers up, then release and press Volume Up to enter Download Mode)

Once in Download Mode, connect the USB/Charger cable to the phone and plug into the USB port on your computer.

You should now see a COM# port listed toward the top-left of Odin (under ID:COM)

Click on the AP button (3.09) or PDA button (3.07) in the middle-right area of Odin.

Browse to and select the firmware you downloaded

Make sure Auto-Reboot and F. Reset Time are the only options checked and that AP (or PDA) is the only other thing checked.

TRIPLE CHECK your settings and that you have selected the correct firmware for your model phone and are using the correct options.

If you are using a laptop, make absolutely sure you are plugged in, or if on battery, that it is charged enough and will not go into sleep mode during flash.

Click Start to begin the flash. This can take a few minutes, so be patient!

Once complete, in the top-left box in Odin, it will say PASS and the phone should have automatically rebooted.

You may unplug the phone and close Odin if you wish.

Wait at least 5-10 minutes for the system to boot the first time and then build its cache! (It may seem to hang during boot, this is normal and you must be patient!!!)

DONE!!! :victory:

:highfive:​

Method 2 - The Recovery Way

Use Odin to flash either CWM or TWRP custom recovery. (

use the latest available d2tmo or d2lte version. d2ltetmo versions will have some compatibility issues with certain Roms/Mods

)

Reboot to the custom recovery.

Flash your preferred superuser app and binary.

You can download Odin, SuperSU, Superuser, TWRP and CWM from my signature.

How to Flash Recovery In Odin

Download and install the latest Samsung USB Drivers from my signature

Download and extract Odin 3.09 from my signature

Download your preferred recovery in a .tar or .tar.md5 format. (you can get these from my signature.)

Run Odin by double clicking the Odin.exe within the folder you extracted

Turn off your phone and boot into

DOWNLOAD MODE

(Volume Down + Home + Power Hold until phone powers up, then release and press Volume Up to enter Download Mode)

Once in Download Mode, connect the USB/Charger cable to the phone and plug into the USB port on your computer.

You should now see a COM# port listed toward the top-left of Odin (under ID:COM)

Click on the AP button in the middle-right area of Odin.

Browse to and select the Recovery you downloaded

Make sure Auto-Reboot and F. Reset Time are the only options checked and that AP is the only other thing checked.

TRIPLE CHECK your settings and that you have selected the correct recovery and are using the correct options.

If you are using a laptop, make absolutely sure you are plugged in, or if on battery, that it is charged enough and will not go into sleep mode during flash.

Click Start to begin the flash.

Once complete, in the top-left box in Odin, it will say PASS and the phone should have automatically rebooted.

You may unplug the phone and close Odin if you wish.

DONE!!! :victory:

You may now reboot into your custom recovery and flash the SuperSu.zip to gain root!

:highfive:
​

Method 3 - The Motochopper Way

Use the MotoChopper Exploit

Thread and instructions here:

[ROOT] Root Samsung Galaxy S4 with Motochopper

Yes this tutorial is for the S4, but it will work for the T999L as well.

Note: I dont recommend using Motochopper simply because it will be patched against soon. (most likely the next update) So IMO its best to just learn a method you can use again in the future.

Now, Before you do anything else!!!!

BACKUP YOUR NV-DATA!!!

This will create an On-Device backup of your IMEI and other NV Items.

Do this and you will not have to keep track of any files as it will be backed up internally, permanently.

You only have to do this ONCE! It will not go away when you flash Roms, Recoveries, Firmware, etc!

Download and Install the

Terminal Emulator

from the Play Store.

Open Terminal Emulator and enter the following:

su
reboot nvbackup

The device will reboot and backup all necessary data. That's it!!!

Restoring your NV-Backup

If you do lose your IMEI, all you have to do is open Terminal Emulator and enter the following:

su
reboot nvrestore

​