[Galaxy S 4 i9506 Android Development] DeHAWK:
ALL 4.2.2 SYSTEM FILES REMOVED - 4.2.2 Bootloader users should now use the 4.3 KNOX OUT version.

The following 2 files are ONLY for 4.2.2 bootloaders in case you need them.

Link for stock kernal image from the the XXUAMJ2 firmware.

GT-I9506_v422_Kernel Image

Link for stock recovery image from the the XXUAMJ2 firmware.

GT-I9506_v422_Recovery Image

4.3 Section.

This section is for those running on 4.2.2 and 4.3 bootloaders. If you're on 4.2.2 bootloader, jump to KNOX OUT flashing instructions, but I recommend to continue reading...this because of the flashing of the CSC!!!

Remove all KNOX from your GT-I9506 phone.

Read only this if running 4.3 Samsung original.

Did you just purchase a GT-I9506, hoping it was running Android 4.2.2 without the Samsung KNOX...just to find out it was already updated to Android 4.3 with all the nice KNOX functions activated?

Or did you, by accident, accept an update from Samsung and suddenly KNOX was activated in there?

Well, It doesn't matter how KNOX got into your phone, what really matters is how to get rid of it again.

I'm now able to offer a method, which will completely remove all KNOX and others of its security related functions from your phone, running on Samsung original 4.3 firmware. This made possible after spending 6 hours on-line with xda-member Toutatibal, who made all the test flashings. He was running Samsung original 4.3 with ALL it's KNOX functions activated and wanted to get it all out of his phone. He was also fully aware of the consequences regarding the KNOX warranty. Because this WILL trigger the KNOX bit found in Download mode, which will then look this:

Current Binary: Custom

System Status: official

Knox Kernel Lock: 0x0

Knox Warranty Void: 0x1

Qualcom Secure Boot: ENABLE

RP SWREV: S1, T1, A1, A1, P1

Write Protection: ENABLE

The above only applies to 4.3 bootloaders.

On the 4.2.2 bootloader nothing happens. No KNOX will be tripped.

WARNINGS!

Do NOT try this if you use your phone as a business/work phone, which requires KNOX to be in there!

Do NOT try to flash anything else that the files mentioned here! - Believe me, we HAVE tried...

NOTES!

Consider this as an update, because it's definitely NOT a downgrade to become KNOX free.

What you need, is to get the file below here, KNOX OUT. It contains almost the same insecure kernel and system as we used to upgrade from 4.2.2 to 4.3 without having to flash the complete upgrade package and get the KNOX. It has now proven to be useful on Samsung original 4.3 too, since it's same files we're dealing with.

Furthermore you will need the correct CSC/Hidden package for your region, important. These can be found further down, below the KNOX OUT files. We found out, that just flashing the CSC files isn't enough, it requires the whole package to work. Don't ask me why, I haven't the slightest idea...it worked with CSC only when going from 4.2.2 to 4.3. During the work on the French phone, xda-member Toutatiball and I tried everything and we couldn't get it to work...until he tried the combined CSC/Hidden package.

I also recommend you to have the original Samsung 4.3 image file for your region/provider available, if something should go wrong...

As I wrote in a post, we were NOT able to get it working until Toutatibal flashed his own French original 4.3 firmware. Even with the original 4.3 Nordic Open it didn't work, strange - since this was the firmware he was using before without any problems.

So as you can see, it doesn't require much to get KNOX free, it just requires to done the in a special way.

So due to the problems we had on the French phone, I do recommend you to flash your OWN original 4.3 region/provider firmware first. This to avoid any problems that might or could turn up. If you're already on the correct firmware, continue reading.

If you're using any kind of Custom Recovery, flash your OWN original 4.3 region/carrier firmware first.

Since this image contains an insecure kernel, your phone will show a little red warning at the top of the boot screen whenever the phone is reset, powered on or placed on charge in OFF mode. This is only an information and doesn't mean anything!

Are you ready now?

4.3 KNOX OUT Flashing instructions.

All the following applies to both 4.2.2 and 4.3 bootloaders

Things you need to know before flashing: This image contains an insecure kernel. I had to build my own kernel to make this work on both the 4.2.2 and 4.3 version. It doesn't contain any signs of KNOX, if you really want KNOX; flash Samsung 4.3 original firmware.

All the security in this 4.3 is as on 4.2.2, Status for SE for Android: Permissive.

No security policy updates will happen and set your system to Enforced mode. Samsung was able to push updates to your phone before, but not any more.

Since this image contains an insecure kernel, your phone will show a little red warning at the top of the boot screen whenever the phone is reset, powered on or placed on charge in OFF mode. This is only an information and doesn't mean anything!

OK lets do it and get KNOX free.

It's VERY important that you carefully follow these steps one by one and don't forget anything!

If you fail, the whole process might fail and you will then have to flash the original 4.3 firmware and start all over again.

Fire up Odin on your PC.

Select PDA and selcet the unzipped file you just downloaded.

Make sure Auto Reboot square is

unmarked

.

Put your phone in Download mode.

Connect phone to PC and wait for Odin recognize it.

Press Start...and wait for Odin to do it's flashing.

You can see when Odin has finished its job by reading the text messages. Now remove phone from PC.

Now you must go DIRECTLY to DOWNLOAD mode again.

In Odin, press Reset and the old text will disappear.

Now press PDA again and select the unzipped CSC/Hidden file for your region you have just downloaded.

Make sure Auto Reboot square is

unmarked

. (This will be auto marked when you press Reset.)

Connect phone to PC and wait for Odin recognize it.

Press Start...and wait for Odin to do it's flashing.

You can see when Odin has finished its job by reading the text messages. Now remove phone from PC.

Now you MUST go directly to RECOVERY MODE - IMPORTANT!

While in recovery mode, phone now installs the CSC and hidden files and should then reboot.

If everything went out as expected, you should now after a couple of minutes be presented with the set-up screen.

Congratulations; your phone is now 100% KNOX free, it's rooted, De-Odexed/Zip-aligned and support init.d scripts.

You can now remove the carrier bloatware you want.

Please report problems and suggestions in the thread.

Below you can find the download links.

Latest 4.3 System image. Made on the latest XXUBNE1 firmware.

Includes the latest insecure kernel, build on 1014-07-06.

Made some 'minor' changes since the previous version. System is still Pre-rooted, this done by Chainfires SU and SuperSU version 2.0. BIG thanks to Chainfire for his work making this available for the Android community.

Busubox v1.22.1 installed by default. This verison made by Stericson, also BIG thanks to him for his work.

Kernel now has working init.d support. This means you are now able to execute scripts placed in the system/etc/init.d/ folder, while booting. Make a Google search for more info about init.d scripts for this device.

(The NFC Payment forced closed fixed.) not sure about this...

Made some minor system tweaks.

System is as always, totally KNOX FREE, De-odexed/Zip-aligned.

This version do NOT contain any CSC, please read further down regarding the CSC. You will need the CSC, otherwise your keyboard will FC constantly.

Please note: I have removed over 600MB from the system image, mostly unnecessary crap. Please read the section further down: Regarding Full Version Image.

Latest 4.3 KNOX OUT - Stable release.

Known issues: Strange behaviour of the CSC sometimes changing to default English, but I'm working on it...

GT-I9506 4.3 XXUBNE1 - Stable, slim and Pre-rooted <--------- Download link. Updated 2014-07-06.

Previous 4.3 KNOX OUT - Stable release.

- Kept if anything should go wrong...

Known issues: None.

GT-I9506 4.3 XXUBML6 - Stable, slim and Pre-rooted <--------- Download link. Updated 2014-03-17

Regarding Full Version Image.

The Full System Version has been replaced by a shared folder, containing almost all the apps I've removed from the Slim Version. The only files you WILL NOT find in this folder, is KNOX, FOTA , the Polaris Viewer files+libs and a few more you don't want...

The files are not packed in any way and can therefore be downloaded directly to the phone, the choice is yours.

Instructions:

Download link to the 43 Removed APKs folder, found below.

Download to PC or directly to your phone.

If downloaded to phone, go directly to step 4.

Connect phone to your PC, wait for PC to recognize it.

Copy the desired files to your External / Internal SD-Card.

Now using e.g. Root Explorer, note that it will start-up in your ROOT, copy the desired files to ROOT/system/app/

After copying, check and set file permissions, should be 644 octal or rw-r--r--.

Now reboot your phone and the selected app(s) will be automatically installed, ready for use.

Please report back it something doesn't work as expected.

4.3 Removed APK's from XXUBNE1 folder link

GT-I9506 4.3 Removed APK's from Slim Version. <--------- Download folder link. Updated 2014-07-03.

From the previous 4,3 version, in case it's needed. 4.3 Removed APK's folder link

GT-I9506 4.3 Removed APK's from Slim Version. <--------- Download folder link. Updated 2014-03-17.

Please make all reports in the thread, I don't have time to answer all the PM's.

Best regards and happy flashing

*********** ATTENTION ***********

Updated 2014-07-03

Below you will be able find my latest released 4.3 kernel build for 4.2.2 and 4.3 bootloaders.

Kernel is almost the same as the one found in the my system image.

This download link will be updated whenever I make changes to my 4.3 kernel.

Changes will be announced in the thread.

Download link for my latest 4.3 kernel for 4.2.2 and 4.3 bootloaders.

GT-I9506 4.3 - Latest 4.3 kernel for 4.2.2 and 4.3 bootloaders. <--------- Download link. Updated 2014-07-06.

Only flash this kernel, if you're already running my latest 4.3 system image.

Download link for the previous 4.3 kernel, only for 4.2.2 bootloader.

From before the 4,3 XXUBNE1 system This is case anything should go wrong. Only use this if already running my system image.

GT-I9506 4.3 - Previous 4.3 kernel for 4.2.2 bootloader. <--------- Download link. Updated 2014-06-11.

Download, Unzip using 7-Zip and flash as PDA in Odin v1.85, no need to make a factory reset.

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Before we go any further, I will here provide you guys with the latest and previous 4.3 STOCK Kernels and the 4.3 STOCK Recoveries.

All taken from the Open Nordic 4.3 firmware. I've been asked to provide these files and here they are:

Latest 4.3 Stock Kernel link:

GT-I9506 4.3 - Open Europe Stock Kernel from XXUBNE1. <--------- Download link. - Updated 2014-07-05.

Latest 4.3 Stock Recovery link:

GT-I9506 4.3 - Open Europe Stock Recovery from XXUBNE1. <--------- Download link. - Update 2014-07-05

Previous 4.3 Stock Kernel link:

GT-I9506 4.3 - Open Europe Stock Kernel from XXUBML6. <--------- Download link. - Updated 2014-05-15.

Previous 4.3 Stock Recovery link:

GT-I9506 4.3 - Open Europe Stock Recovery from XXUBML6. <--------- Download link. - Update 2014-05-15.

Download, Unzip using 7-Zip and flash as PDA in Odin, no need to make a factory reset.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Regarding 4.3 CSC

IMPORTANT INFORMATION: If you try to flash a 4.3 CSC file with a Custom Recovery or Custom Recovery installed e.g. CWM, it WILL fail. Some Custom Recoveries are NOT able to flash 4.3 CSC files correctly. I strongly recommend you to flash the 4.2.2 Stock Recovery and the use Odin to flash, any version should work flawless.

Therefore; Flash stock 4.2.2 Recovery, can be found further up, before flashing your CSC. You can later, after a successfully flashed and installed CSC, install your desired Custom Recovery again.

When you flash the above 4.3 image, you WILL loose your CSC, containing your carrier specific data settings. Therefore, you must flash your own CSC ONLY (cache image) in the same flash as the 4.3 system image. If you don't do this, you might end up with a constantly Forced Closed on the keyboard, making it impossible to use. Same thing happens if you try to flash using a Custom Recovery.

In Odin you must put my 4.3 system image in PDA and your specific CSC Only image in CSC. (Only use CSC ONLY files! - If you try to flash the HIDDEN as CSC, it will FAIL!!

You can later, if you want to, flash the hidden image as PDA. But from my point of view, it's NOT necessary to flash the hidden image.

When I get my hands on more cache and hidden files, I'll make them available for download here so you are able to flash your specific CSC file together with the my 4.3 system image in Odin. Until then, if you want a specific CSC file to flash with the 4.3 system image, send me a zip file containing the following 2 files: hidden.img.ext4 and cache.img.ext4, cache.img.ext4 is the one that you will need!

These files can be found in your original firmware downloaded from e.g. Sam Mobile.

Below is a list over those combined CSC/Hidden packages I can currently offer for the 4.3 KNOX OUT system, but more will follow.

TELBNB2--------> Combined CSC/Hidden image for GT-I9506TELBNB2 - Australia - Telstra.

VAUBNB4--------> Combined CSC/Hidden image for GT-I9506VAUBNB4 - Australia - Vodafone.

VFGBML1--------> Combined CSC/Hidden image for GT-I9506VFGBML1 - Austria - Vodafone/A1.

VFGBML1--------> Combined CSC/Hidden image for GT-I9506VFGBML1 - Czech Republic - Vodafone.

FTMBML1--------> Combined CSC/Hidden image for GT-I9506FTMBML1 - Frence Telecom - Orange.

DTMBNA1--------> Combined CSC/Hidden image for GT-I9506DTMBNA1 - Germany - T-Mobile.

VFGBML1--------> Combined CSC/Hidden image for GT-I9506VFGBML1 - Germany - Vodafone.

VNZBNC3--------> Combined CSC/Hidden image for GT-I9506VNZBNC3 - New Zealand - Vodafone.

NEEBNE1--------> Combined CSC/Hidden image for GT-I9506NEEBNE1 - Nordic - Open, all Nordic carriers. <--------- Download link. Updated 2014-07-06.

TENBML2--------> Combined CSCHidden image for GT-I9506TENBML2 - Norway - Telenor.

OLBBNA1--------> Combined CSCHidden image for GT-I9506OLBBNA1 - Singapore - SingTel.

OLBBNA1--------> Combined CSCHidden image for GT-I9506OLBBNA1 - Singapore - Starhub.

OLBBND1--------> Combined CSCHidden image for GT-I9506OLBBND1 - Singapore - XSP.

VFGBML1--------> Combined CSC/Hidden image for GT-I9506VFGBML1 - Spain - Vodafone.

HTSBML1--------> Combined CSC/Hidden image for GT-I9506HTSML1 - Sweden - 3.

If you're unable to find the right CSC/Hidden file for your phone, then send me the following 2 files.

hidden.img.ext4 and cache.img.ext4, and I'll make you a Odin flash able file.

Don't forget to specify region/country and provider.

These files can be found in your original firmware downloaded from e.g. Sam Mobile.

Now follow these quick steps:

Unpack the downloaded .zip file.

Now unpack it once more (the .md5 file), you can use 7-Zip for this.

All files will now be unpacked from the image.

7-Zip will give you an error regarding end of archive, just ignore it.

Select the above 2 mentioned files, Zip them and send me a link where to get them, e.g. your Google Drive. I'll then make the necessary changes and place the links here

XDA:DevDB Information

[GT-I9506] Pre-Rooted 4.3 kernel. Slim systems/De-Odexed.

Contributors

DeHAWK

Kernel Special Features:

Version Information

Status: Stable

Current Stable Version: KK 4.3

Stable Release Date: 2014-03-01

Current Beta Version:

Beta Release Date: None.

Created 2014-01-04

Last Updated 2015-05-01