yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Galaxy Note 3 General] polish_pat:
This method allows you to upgrade to 4.4 on a currently unsupported W8 model, this method doesnt trip knox and it does allow you to downgrade back to 4.3 if needed. It also allows you to root and install custom recovery, but those last 2 do, as usual, trip knox. This method is safe, it rarely bricks anything, and when it does, its not the dreaded hard brick a lot of users are a victim of, it merely a softbrick easily fixable with odin

The downgrade process itself doesnt trip knox, only rooting and custom recovery trips knox, unless you find a way that doesn't, but this way does.

Sorry for the confusion about knox, i have clarified this in the OP

As for the bootloader, i'm not sure how that works, it's a bit out of my expertise. This method was posted in the T-Mo section, i just refined it, made it simpler and reposted it here after making sure it fully worked
[Galaxy Note 3 General] :
I see... :) I misunderstood your post - thought you could root and install a custom recovery without knox tripping.

Anyway, it's still incredibly cool to have a firmware that allows downgrading YET support kitkat. Don't think there is one for 9005 now :(
[Galaxy Note 3 General] polish_pat:
Shouldn't be much longer bud, hang on
[Galaxy Note 3 General] DDRFAN:
I don't know what I did, but I have knox as 0x0 and I have rooot.................
[Galaxy Note 3 General] Canadoc:
What root method did you use? Did you root first then use mobile Odin? Or did you flash kitkat then root
[Galaxy Note 3 General] DDRFAN:
I was rooted prior; flashed kitkat; and then rooted again using regular odin. For whatever reason my knox is still 0x0. I even verified I had root (through root checker; and using root apps) and then rebooting; knox was still 0x0.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] polish_pat:
it seems many users are reporting the same thing while using this method. Just checked on my friends note i mentionned in OP and he also still has knox 0x0 while being rooted
[Galaxy Note 3 General] Canadoc:
Do you mean you used cf autoroute in Odin?
[Galaxy Note 3 General] polish_pat:
yes
[Galaxy Note 3 General] DDRFAN:
Would you happen to know whether or not flashing a Custom Recovery would trip knox?
[Galaxy Note 3 General] polish_pat:
Not by using this method

Sent from Note 3 on Rogers
[Galaxy Note 3 General] obladi64:
What if I have already updated KK OTA? Can I apply CF-Root and CWM by ODIN 3.09 retaining knox 0x0?
[Galaxy Note 3 General] polish_pat:
I don't know. You'll have to break the ice for us. This method doesn't trigger knox because it has something to do with the bootloader, maybe the way we installed it, i'm not sure. If you used another way, my gut feeling would be to say the usual rules apply for knox trigger, which by definition mean you'll end up 0x1
[Galaxy Note 3 General] ponts:
Looks like I'm rooted 0x0 thanks polish_pat! Did you guys let SuperSU disable Knox?
[Galaxy Note 3 General] polish_pat:
no problem. I'm on Xnote now, i dont think i touched knox while being on official though
[Galaxy Note 3 General] ponts:
Just prompted for a SuperSU update from play store.....hmm mm.....do I? Just so paranoid of tripping know lol.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] polish_pat:
if it hasnt tripped it now, it wont trip it because of an update
[Galaxy Note 3 General] radicalisto:
Indeed.

My theory on this, because of the way this BL is signed (hence the allowable upgrade / downgrade) it has somehow not activated the KNOX features 100% - If so, you guys are bloody lucky so and so's!!!
[Galaxy Note 3 General] milpro7:
Hey polish_pat... Just have a few questions.. New to this phone so need a few clarifications... Im based in India and have the International Galaxy Note 3 N900 which i have managed to root and wanted to try the upgrading to KitKat. Can you tel me if your method will work with my phone model? I aint sure of if W8 model that you mentioned will be similar to the one i have.

Thanks in advance.

Regards,

Milan
[Galaxy Note 3 General] polish_pat:
This method has been tested on W8 models, one person with an intl version tried it and ended up biricking. I do not think the indian version is W8 since most people seem to point to the fact that w8 is only found in america, north and south to be precise. You can always check on the box of your note 3, it should be clearly labelled.

Sent from Note 3 on Rogers
[Galaxy Note 3 General] milpro7:
Thanks for the Update

So that means i cant seem to use this method for now... Dunno when i would get a chance to use KitKat Official!!!!:fingers-crossed:

Also... can u tel me if it would be difficult to downgrade if i flashed custom roms which are on KitKat??
[Galaxy Note 3 General] polish_pat:
If you flash a custom rom on KitKat, you will not be able to downgrade. As of now, the bootloader allows only W8 owners to downgrade if this method was used. Although, if you REALLY want to upgrade to 4.4, you can go in dev section, look in the X-note 8.0 thread and there is a link that explains how to upgrade for international version. Good luck

Sent from Note 3 on Rogers
[Galaxy Note 3 General] amynjimmy:
Been waiting for this answer.... This is great. Thanks

MB865/ST-ATT/4.4.2 BMM

SM-N900W8/ST/Rooted knox 0x0

Kindle Fire HDX 8.9/ATT/Rooted
[Galaxy Note 3 General] evilvoice:
Can I ask where the files came from? Are they just from KitKat, or is it a hybrid of 4.3 and 4.4.2, like some files are from 4.3 while the main file is 4.4.2? Thanks
[Galaxy Note 3 General] Pierre118:
Is it possible to add 'W8 only' to the title of the thread? Each time i see it, i think finally :).....It confuses me everytime i see it.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] amynjimmy:
oooooohhhh ya worked like a charm.....no bloat from VT lol flashed cf autoroot

knox still 0x0

:laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh:

thanks pat for the walk thru and for all the others that had a hand in it....when i got everything loaded, un UNCHECKED the repartition as when i opened odinv3, it was checked.....no boot loops no problems....Im loving it...titanium is installled and i am restoring apps as we speak,,,cant wait to see battery life.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] Motokorth:
Worked great for me on my new Rogers N900w8 that was on MJ4
[Galaxy Note 3 General] rapozaum:
Dang, so envy of you guys.

Safe root + Kit Kat for n9005! NOW!

:p
[Galaxy Note 3 General] Snowman:
Hi polish_pat,

Thanks for your effort. It is appreciated!

Is there any way to verify the integrity of those files on the op via MD5 or at least file length?

I hate flashing files without at least knowing that the download was intact.

Also noticed that the AP download takes >3hours :(. Would be nice if we had another dl site.

Thanks.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] DrawnToLife:
The source of my fears.

Yeah.. I'm like, half way done downloading the AP, it's been 95 minutes.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] Oogar:
If we could just refer to this thread

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?p=49529628

That would be awesome. No need to split up the conversation.

[MENTION=4363415]polish_pat[/MENTION] could you link to it in the OP so we can point people in the right direction?

Not to mention I've put about a solid 24+ hours into getting this up and running and wouldn't mind the recognition :)

Thank you.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] polish_pat:
The MD5s are up...for ODIN and CF-Root please refer yourselves to their respective sources as i have the files unzipped on my PC so i can't verify them

My source was actually androidmx.net and not you, I actually never saw your thread until now. But i still gave you props for your work. No need to link to your thread as its much more complicated and all over the place if you ask me. No offence to you, just that i like to keep things short and sweet.

EDIT: i linked to your thread since you have NFC fix
[Galaxy Note 3 General] amynjimmy:
I have been running this flawlessly for the last day.... It is great my Knox is intact and all I had to look up was how to get write access to sd card which took. Me a 30 sec xml mod to do. Thus is great battery life excellent. I'm not gonna run any other roms right now cause this is so smooth.

MB865/ST-ATT/4.4.2 BMM

SM-N900W8/ST/Rooted knox 0x0 4.4.2

Kindle Fire HDX 8.9/ATT/Rooted
[Galaxy Note 3 General] polish_pat:
The stock is pretty smooth, there were some small bugs thats were kinda annoying like gallery was lagging and wifi took forever to connect after cold boot, but i switched to Xnote 8 and all is well. If you're gonna install any rom, thats the one
[Galaxy Note 3 General] amynjimmy:
I haven't had any problems with my wifi. The only problem I had was a small bug k the the SD card basically very happy with that. Were you able to flash recovery without triggering the Knox. I would like to put a recovery on the phone.

MB865/ST-ATT/4.4.2 BMM

SM-N900W8/ST/Rooted knox 0x0 4.4.2

Kindle Fire HDX 8.9/ATT/Rooted
[Galaxy Note 3 General] ponts:
Yes, I was able to and I'm 0x0. Running cwm.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] polish_pat:
To be honest, i don't give the last f*** about knox 0x1. This is my personal phone and knox, if you really understand what it does, is mostly for enterprise or IT guys to make sure the phone hasn't been fiddled with when the phone is connected to sensitive information like exchange servers or other company specific app. I've been knox 0x1 since chainfire released CF-Root for the Note 3 and i haven't looked back since.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] amynjimmy:
I understand that.... Really I do... My situation is different. I paid 738 bucks for my phone and it matters if I trash my warranty or not. I have had this phone for 2 months and am trying to keep warranty on tact. I an on Straight Talk BYOP..

Sorry but thanks for putting all this stuff ready to reach and understand. I appreciate ask for hard work.

MB865/ST-ATT/4.4.2 BMM

SM-N900W8/ST/Rooted knox 0x0 4.4.2

Kindle Fire HDX 8.9/ATT/Rooted
[Galaxy Note 3 General] DrawnToLife:
I've flashed stock 4.4.2, CF Auto-Root, CWM, and X-Note 8.0 twice each, as well as a bunch of kernels and am still 0x0 if that helps ease your mind :P
[Galaxy Note 3 General] polish_pat:
Thats the thing, there is so much panic about this knox thing, people have come and a general idea has been set that knox 0x1 void the warranty. IT DOESNT!!! There are so many account of people bringing their phone back to their carrier and to Samsung service centers with the efuse triggered and nobody was denied warranty. Like i mentionned, knox is a security system, not a warranty voider, it's not a white sticker that turn pink when it gets in contact with water, it a system that is able to tell IT guys that their employee has tried to temper with the phone and their information can be potentially intercepted.

People are freaking out over this knox thing, but even samsung says it:

Knox is aimed at businesses for IT specialists, it will not void the phone's consumer warranty. It was first though that knox could possibly be aimed at preventing consumer tempering with the phone because of the aggressive nature of it, but the fact is, when you have to send that phone in, you will get a replacement.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] amynjimmy:
Wow I didn't know that.... Thankyou for some in site into that. That makes sense though as proof of not tampering with the phone

MB865/ST-ATT/4.4.2 BMM

SM-N900W8/ST/Rooted knox 0x0 4.4.2

Kindle Fire HDX 8.9/ATT/Rooted
[Galaxy Note 3 General] polish_pat:
:o
[Galaxy Note 3 General] tech0815:
Sadly, the reality looks different. A lot of people get their warranty rejected by the official repair centers. Only one example:

http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=49758057&postcount=44

Also there is no clear statement of samsung, that Knox 0x1 will not void your warranty. Why?!
[Galaxy Note 3 General] polish_pat:
This is not reality, this is some guy that went fishing by chatting with some agent that has given him a generic response. Imagine how that went, he enters the chat room and talks about a efuse being triggered with the word warranty next to it, of course the guy is not going to tell him that they replace phones that have been tampered with, no OEM is going to "encourage" people to root and modify their phones, they will say that they don't honorr it. The reality is, a lot of people had their phones replaced with 0x1, this is not some "chat", this is reality, if they were really instructed to not honor those devices, i think all those people would have not had their phones replaced, including me.

It's also probably not stated anywhere because it's simply not true.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] majorsquirrel:
Hey,

I'm following the exact procedure in the OP, the files are in the right place in Odin, I'm using Odin 3.09, and I'm running stock 4.3 on Rogers. I have tried to update to KitKat a few times now and everytime it fails. I was originally running CM 11 nightlies but then I flashed back to stock and then tried updating. Still failed. Anyone have any ideas?
[Galaxy Note 3 General] polish_pat:
we need more detail...we can't trouble with just "it fails". What? When? Where? What did you do because if you followed this, it will work
[Galaxy Note 3 General] majorsquirrel:
So basically I followed all the steps. I downloaded the files via the links in the OP. I loaded them into the appropriate odin spots. I put my phone in download mode and then plugged it in. I then ran start. Here's the thing. It runs fine, all the way through and then the last step according to odin, the 'cache' step, takes a long time and then the progress box turns red and says failed. I have to hard reset my phone which automatically boots into download mode and the screen says, "firmware update failed. Please restore through kies"
[Galaxy Note 3 General] polish_pat:
Try this in order:

1- Make sure MD5 matches all files, if yes, go to 2, if no, you have your problem solved

2- Boot into recovery and clear cache, try process again

3- Flash stock rom via odin and see if it fails again, if it does, report back with odin log, if it doesn't, try process again and report back

Also, is your phone a W8 variant? I assume so cause youre from edmonton and have rogers on your profile, but just in case wanted to make sure.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] majorsquirrel:
I feel like an idiot. After I checked the MD5 numbers, the CSC file didn't match. I re-downloaded it, tried again and it's working. Thanks alot for your patience and your help :)
[Galaxy Note 3 General] polish_pat:
No problem bud, happens to the best of us!
[Galaxy Note 3 General] AlandEr0301:
SM-N900W8 Rooted

How many people have Knox 0x0 and 4.4.2 rooted with this method?, is safe use Cf-AutoRoot? ... dont trip Knox? ... Someone could upload a video proof?... and what happens if i have Knox 0x1? still working? ...

thanks in advance...
[Galaxy Note 3 General] amynjimmy:
Worked 100% for me... I was worried to but if u follow directions it really does work.... I was thinking of flashing the recovery to but have not been brake enough. I think pat States that we can flash both cfautoroot and the recovery with tripping Knox. Normally this would but the way these files work in this instance, it leaves Knox alone. But ONLY in this case with these files and 4.4.2.

MB865/ST-ATT/4.4.2 BMM

SM-N900W8/ST/Rooted knox 0x0 4.4.2

Kindle Fire HDX 8.9/ATT/Rooted
[Galaxy Note 3 General] polish_pat:
If you already had knox 0x1 and this made it 0x0, I'd probably be about 3500$ richer as thats the bounty for reversing efuse.

Sent from Note 3 on Rogers
[Galaxy Note 3 General] amynjimmy:
Pat... Should we use cwm or is there a version of twrp we can use?

MB865/ST-ATT/4.4.2 BMM

SM-N900W8/ST/Rooted knox 0x0 4.4.2

Kindle Fire HDX 8.9/ATT/Rooted
[Galaxy Note 3 General] polish_pat:
this has been tested with cwm. You are free to use Teamwin's recovery, i honestly don't think it will trigger knox but is it worth the risk to keep 0x0? You tell me
[Galaxy Note 3 General] donvito62:
Quetion

Hello Every Body.This Is My First Post Here :)

I Just Want To Ask: I Have Note3 N900W8 With v4.3 Jelly Bean Of Trinidad and Tobago.Can I Use This Methood?If Yes Wich Files Should I Use For Modem And CSC?Many Thanks In Advanced.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] amynjimmy:
lol...flashed cwm and yup still 0x0...im besides myself.. this is insane!!! so now i should try xnote....i made a complete backup of coursaae...gonna store a copy on my laptop
[Galaxy Note 3 General] polish_pat:
Search the internet for your carriers csc, for the modem extract it from your stock firmware you download from sammobile.com

This is just an example on how to extract a modem from a stock firmware:

Use winrar:

1- extract firmware, should output an MD5 file.

2- Rename that file from xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.tar.md5 to xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.tar

3- extract .tar firmware and locate modem.bin file

4- compress the modem.bin, it should give you a modem.zip

5- rename that modem.zip to modem.tar

6- You not have your flashable odin modem

:D told you!!!
[Galaxy Note 3 General] amynjimmy:
Don we have to find gapps or are they included in stuff anymore

Also what's with backing up end?

MB865/ST-ATT/4.4.2 BMM

SM-N900W8/ST/Rooted knox 0x0 4.4.2 w/cwm

Kindle Fire HDX 8.9/ATT/Rooted
[Galaxy Note 3 General] donvito62:
Many Thanks OP.Very Kind
[Galaxy Note 3 General] polish_pat:
No probs, if you need finding that csc file, just tell me your carrier and it'll be my pleasure to help
[Galaxy Note 3 General] donvito62:
i'll be very greatful to you then :)

it is:

AP: N900W8UBUBMJ4

CP:N900W8UBUBMJ3

(CSC:N900W8UUBBML1)

ALSO IS IT OK IF I FLASH THE CANADIAN ONE?

I THANK YOU VERY MUCH AGAIN.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] R3KHYT:
So this works for American phones only or also for European ones?

Also my AP ends on MK2...

Phone not rooted yet

Gesendet von meinem SM-N9005 mit Tapatalk
[Galaxy Note 3 General] amynjimmy:
Hey Pat. ..where is cwm putting the backups we make...mine is gone not is clockworkmod folder that I think it should be in

anyways, when it formatted my internal SD card I must have lost the save location so I need to do another backup so what I'm gonna do is take my self back to 4.3 and make a install video all the way thru installing cwm on our phone... Goes to. Show u should always save to. Ext SD cards from cwm.

MB865/ST-ATT/4.4.2 BMM

SM-N900W8/ST/Rooted knox 0x0

Kindle Fire HDX 8.9/ATT/Rooted
[Galaxy Note 3 General] rapozaum:
This thread is like a dream, except that you have to wake up screaming when you realize that's exclusive to the 900W8 version...

Anyway, that's an excellent job OP. I thin you deserve some recognition as this is really a big thing!

Cheers!
[Galaxy Note 3 General] polish_pat:
You can try to flash it, the worst thing that will happen is that you'll end up with bloatware from our carriers, the phone's functions should not be affected in any way. You can also try *#272*IMEI# and see if your CSC is available, do this after your phone has connected to the mobile network, and this will wipe your phone

W8 are found in north and south america, Europe has the 9005 or 9000

It should be, as you mentionned, in CWM folder.

My pleasure :good: For some reason, Canada is a great country to buy a phone in since none of our carriers have stupid demands that lock bootloader or region lock our phones. This was also the case with the S4, our S4s were rootable since day 1, but the american equivalent on ATT lets say, took months to root since the bootloader was locked.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] amynjimmy:
i went and reflashed thru odin the kitkat files because i need a good backup....i went and flashed..good passed but it came up telcel as carrier. i know you are supposed to dial *#272*YOURIMEI# and set your carrier....it comes up TCE and i try to highlight the carrier but it stays blank and no way to imput..any sugggestions??? and also what was your downgrading process
[Galaxy Note 3 General] polish_pat:
Post in the forum for help with your CSC. For the downgrade, just flash stock 4.3 firmware regularly through odin
[Galaxy Note 3 General] amynjimmy:
thanks ill worry about that later... i have my firmware file and do i need to flash that thru odin 3.09 or different version.. i havent used odin to return to stock yet so just curious...i reflashed the kitkat files that lead me to the telcel stuff...went and reflashed the cf files and the cwm files and then restored my backup of xnote 9...so i am good and back up again...still knox 0x0 which is amazing cause i have been flashign 6 diffenret ways for the last few hours trying to get back to stock...:eek:
[Galaxy Note 3 General] polish_pat:
Use 3.09 to downgrade, i think it's more KK friendly
[Galaxy Note 3 General] amynjimmy:
so then i would open the 3.09 that i went and flahed kk with and put the

N900W8VLUBMI5_N900W8OYABMI5_N900W8VLUBMI5_HOME.tar.md5

into the AP slot correct??? i did this and it would not pass would fail.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] hey_joe:
Is that the original firmware that came with your phone?
[Galaxy Note 3 General] amynjimmy:
yes it is...im redownloading the same file again from sammobile.,, we will see what happens

i went and reflashed thru the ap my firmware and when it rebooted got a black screen, do i have to try to reach factory reset or something??? now i have a flag about my sim being locked! lol never was b4...gonna try to reflash the vtr firmware thru ap agaion and then try to do a full wipe somehow.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] amynjimmy:
ok i went and took my firmwareand dropped it into the ap slot and it fails.

how do we reflash the BL back to the 4.3 version
[Galaxy Note 3 General] AlandEr0301:
Hi, Someone could upload a video, like a proof that this method is 100% safe?...

i dont want trip my knox XD ...
[Galaxy Note 3 General] polish_pat:
You don't reflash the bootloader. This is not how this method works. I just flashed 4.3 though odin and it worked without a hitch, seems to be working for most members that downgraded too. Try maybe an older ODIN, if not, look around the forum, many members have posted tutorials on how to downgrade. But anyways, why would you ever want to downgrade in the first place

No, nobody is going to do that. If you think 10 members have listed their success here, and many, many more in other threads, and you think all those people are liars, then stay on 4.3
[Galaxy Note 3 General] donvito62:
I Thank You Very Much OP :)
[Galaxy Note 3 General] amynjimmy:
when i flashed kk the first time, i had no problems...i thought that i might just try to do it again to ge the method down and when i went and flashed my firmware in odin 3.09 to go back to 4.3, it kept failing. i went and used my de la vega firmware and that flashed. when it is done cwm pops up and askes if u want root, i said no and then it goes to a black screen. no response or anything. Battery pull, odin mode, (phew thought i was bricked) and then reflashed everything kk, cf auto root, cwm. telcel images come up on boot and the phone boots with telcel csc and bloat. The *#272*imei# does not work, and so i thought i had done something wrong. I went and reflashed everything again and lo and behold, i get a sim pin unlock message along with the telcel stuff.My phone was bought unlocked?!?!? ( I almost threw my phone by this time....4 hrs into my delema) I read up on all the threads pertainsing to csc and sim unlock pins and finally found a thread about using [root]regionlock away. to unlock it. several more times of playing around and i finally got the region lock away to take the sim lock off, and then i restored my cwm backup of xnote 9 to get my phone back. WOW and thru all this, flashing so many differnet roms and backups, I spent 6 hrs of flashing and goofing around. My phone is stil OxO!!!!
[Galaxy Note 3 General] radicalisto:
The telcel csc simlocked your device hence the unlock prompt. Substituting it for your csc *should* work. I'm no expert in this but the w8 guys and [MENTION=4363415]polish_pat[/MENTION] can correct or guide on that.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] dragoncius:
Hey did you root via CF Root? I also have Mexican Note 3 N900W8.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] polish_pat:
Hahaha, thats actually pretty funny. I'm glad you're back, maybe stay on Xnote 9.0, it's a good rom. As for downgrading, i'm not sure why it wouldnt work, this entire thread has been sort of a miracle, the fact that all that, and you still retain 0x0 just blows my mind, i think that until official KK comes out, stay where you are, it's not a bad place to be after all