[Galaxy Note 3 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] ul71m0:
It is really few click process to root and install custom recovery. And than with it you can do nandroid backup and play with custom roms. But my advice is leave it as is because its hard to find rock stable rom, its just not worth it. If i just knew i would have never do it.

If you want to root i have uploaded all the files that you will need here:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/61307734/odin + cf-root + twrp.zip

In that archive there are:

- Odin307.zip - You will need to unzip this and start Odin3 v3.07.exe

- CF-Auto-Root-hlte-hltexx-smn9005.tar.md5 this is file that you will use for rooting no need to uncompress anything

- openrecovery-twrp-2.7.2.0-hltetmo-4.4.img.tar this is file that you will use for custom recovery, again no need to uncompress anything

So if you want guide how to root here are steps taken from original thread:

- Download archive that i linked above and unzip it

- (USB) Disconnect your phone from your computer

- Start Odin3-vX.X.exe

- Click the PDA button, and select CF-Auto-Root-....tar.md5

- Put your phone in download mode (turn off phone, then hold VolDown+Home+Power to boot - if it asks you to press a button to continue, press the listed button, or run adb reboot download command)

- (USB) Connect the phone to your computer

- Make sure Repartition is NOT checked

- Click the Start button

- Wait for Android to boot

- Done (if it took you more than 30 seconds, you need practise!)

And for custom recovery, steps are pretty much the same as above you just use twrp file instad of cf-auto-root here is original thread again here are steps:

- Extract the archive i attached here

- (USB) Disconnect your phone from your computer

- Start Odin3-vX.X.exe

- Click the PDA button, and select openrecovery-twrp-2.7.2.0-hltetmo-4.4.img.tar

- Put your phone in download mode (turn off phone, then hold VolDown+Home+Power to boot - if it asks you to press a button to continue, press the listed button, or run adb reboot download command)

- (USB) Connect the phone to your computer

- Make sure Repartition is NOT checked

- Click the Start button

- Wait for Android to boot

- Done (if it took you more than 30 seconds, you need practise!)

After you have done this 2 things you will have rooted phone with custom recovery and than you can create nandroid backup before you start playing with custom roms.

To enter recovery mode you will turn off phone, then hold VolUp+Home+Power to boot into recovery mode and there you just select Backup. And just to be safe select all partritions:

- Boot

- Recovery

- System

- Data ( this one you will skip when creating backup for me because i dont need your data :) )

- Cache

- EFS

- Modem

And than just slide do backup and wait it to finish and reboot it to system. You will have folder called TWRP next time you attach your device to a computer, and in it there is subfolder backup where you backup files are stored. Than you can use dropbox or something like https://www.wetransfer.com/ to share file with me.

If you need any help with this PM me i will be glad to help you with whole process, but its pretty simple, i have done it lots of times so far no problems.