yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] kb8no:
The only way you will get a custom recovery or ROM is to use safestrap. Then you can only use TW ROM's. Safestrap, if you don't know and if I may editorialized, is a trick to install a ROM in an exploit of a directory of the stock ROM. It's kind of interesting. You can play in this virtual playground with lots of restrictions. Some love it. I tried it and was uncomfortable with the added complications and stick to rooting the stock ROM. Where you are now is where I have accepted as my only real option imposed on me by Verizon and Samsung.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] 2Code:
So Kb8no, since you using stock recovery and stock rom, how would you debloat and back up your apps and settings? I am also curious if you would find latest safetrap version has less restrictions than earlier versions to warrant another try?
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] kb8no:
You're asking the right questions like all of us who happily and freely rooted our phones, tried different custom recoveries, played with the latest custom ROM's, disliked stock ROM's, and favored AOSP.

Then came Samsung and some service providers with military encryption and Knox. I actually think Motorola had the first military encrypted recovery. They rained on our parade. Many many people bricked their phones not understanding the rules of the game had changed. You could theoretically choose a phone carefully when buying a new one but some service providers (Verizon & ATT) let out a new upgrade and slid in the locked boot loader on a routine upgrade. I believe the Tmo S4 which is the same phone has an unlocked boot loader.

You can install Titanium since it is rooted and back up your apps and settings but why bother if you are on the highest ROM you will ever get? So maybe Samsung will throw out a Lollypop on the S4 but that will be the end. My S3 will never get Lollypop.

So you will never debloat your stock ROM. You can freeze a few apps with Titanium but there are mine fields and freezing an innocuous app can kill your ROM. Its all trial and error. The bloat is so huge on TW you won't touch it. I just gave up and admitted we were had. At least we're rooted but they will block that exploit and if they give us a Lollypop we may never get root.

So go ahead and try safestrap. I feel stock TW works OK. There is grief still at the loss. My son just got a OnePlus One off plan. There you actually own and control your phone. :sigh
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] 2Code:
Your VZW and my AT&T S4 are rooted running 4.4 4 with NJ4 locked bootloader. If either VZW or AT&T roll out an OTA ROM upgrade to say lolilop, will our rooted devices take the OTA upgrade? Will the OTA upgrade block root access? How do prevent automatic OTA rom upgrade?
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] kb8no:
Exactly the right question. Don't take any upgrades until you are sure you retain root. Samsung and the carriers want you to take an upgrade that blocks the root. There is an upgrade app you can freeze with titanium. I'll find its name for you tonight. Then follow the S4 threads to see what yo do.

And sorry. I have ATT S4 and VZW S3. Sorry I got it jumbled. General principals are the same but details are a little different. Most think S4 will get Lollypop but S3 is at the end of the line.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] kb8no:
So to the best of my weak abilities, here is what I freeze and what I think it does.

AT&T Software update : no rom update

Knox Notification Manager :

Knox Store

Knox Migration agent:

shuts off Knox like you failed to do when you installed SU.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] 2Code:
kb8no, r u freezing these apps with titanium backup pro ?
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] kb8no:
Exactly.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] tailgunner9:
Reason I always take my card Out when messing with phone or a backup of it. Sorry for your Loss!!
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] StoneyJSG:
Wow, reading all these posts make me wonder how do you guys do it? No clockwork mod or custom kernel let alone not able to boot a non touch wiz ROM.

When I got my S4, I got lucky. I bought it brand new on ebay off contract/out of pocket. When it arrived I expected it to have Android 4.4.x on it. To my surprise however, it was (and still is) running Android 4.2.2 on the MDL bootloader, one of the 2 bootloaders that can use the LOKI exploit.

Coming from a Galaxy S2 (after upgrading via my carrier to an S3), it really made my day.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] godd:
Padlock unlocked

I followed instructions to update to NJ4 from NI1 (first option - downgrade to NB1, take an update to NJ4 (I actually updated from a file via stock recovery) , flush NC kernel, towelroot, then flush NJ kernel ) but something went wrong - now I see unlocked padlock when rebooting. I tried to reinstall SuperSU but it does not help. Any idea what did I wrong and how to get rid of it? Thanks.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] chitown835:
Go into supersu and full unroot then reboot two times. .it should go away then
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] godd:
Yea, I tried that already - did not help.

I also tried to repeat the process - flashed NB1, then updated to NJ4 stock (at this moment everything looked fine) , then when I flashed NC kernel and ran towelroot, custom padlock appeared .

I also tried option#2 with Safestrap- installed Safestrap, flashed NJ4 rooted stock etc, same thing - ended up with custom status.

I am definitely missing the obvious or do some steps slightly different then it needed.

Perhaps should try to do the full circle one more time.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] michaelnm:
I'm having a problem with safestrap. I got my S4 from At&t with NJ4 already installed. I successfully rooted and then installed safestrap. It did it's thing and installed the recovery fine. But if I try to reboot to recovery any way other than through the app, it takes me to the stock recovery with a red triangle over the Android, after a screen with the Samsung logo and a unlocked padlock with "custom" under it. The safestrap app also says "Safe System: Not Active". Did I do something wrong? Any help would be appreciated. This is my first time rooting in about 3 years, so I'm kinda a noob with galaxies.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] mrputtputt:
i've been at this process almost the entire afternoon. I can't get NJ4 via OTA because I'm on T-mobile, so I loaded it via ext sd card after downgrading to NB1 via ODIN. My problem is when I downgrade back to NC1, phone still shows it's on NJ4. I've done this TWROOT thing in the previous version (NI1 -> NC1 -> root -> NI1) successfuly. Even if phone shows NJ4 still, wifi suddently does not work. So I load NJ4 via SD card again to start over. I've also loaded NB1 via ODIN a few times too, and then side-load NJ4.

Any reason I can't downgrade to NC1 just to root coming from a side-loaded NJ4?

I"m reading up on safestrap now.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] destructionj:
If I remember correctly then your build wont change just by loading the kernel file. If you try to root NJ4 the towel root application will say something like (YOUR DEVICE IS NOT SUPPORTED) so... you put the phone into download mode then flash in the NC1 kernel(normal that Wi-Fi is lost) then reboot and the Towelroot-v3.apk build (which don't require internet) should now root the device. After the root is complete you put the phone back into download mode and flash the NJ4 kernel back in and the phone should now function correctly. This is what I did and it worked no problem. If towel root runs then I wouldn't pay much attention to the build numbers in the settings. Kernel NC1 wasn't designed to work with NJ4 that's why the phone may act funny with the NC1 kernel loaded.

losing Wi-Fi is normal and considered part of the rooting process if your on NJ4 because the kernel and rom don't match. Towelroot-v3 don't require internet access in order to root and that's why the Towelroot-v3 was selected in op directions. You regain Wi-Fi once the NJ4 kernel is re flashed back into the phone.

If you are having problems getting Wi-Fi then you can use safestrap to re-load the correct base module file for your base rom. So if you did the OTA side loaded SD card method to obtain NJ4, then the base rom is NJ4 and you may need to find and load the (ATT_NJ4_Modules.zip) into the phone with safestrap. Even if your running a different rom such as T-Mobile, you would still need to load the correct module(NJ4) file for your kernel. Im sure there is someone with more knowledge on this matter but my understanding is that you cannot truly change the kernel on locked boot loaders however this method works to root the phone you just need to put the right kernel back once rooted..
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] electricpete1:
can't get Wifi (needed to run towelroot)

Hi guys. I Odin'd to stock NB1 then flashed update to NJ4 successfully. (I had previously been rooted but lost root along the way).

Then I Odin'd the NC1 kernel successfully (at least I think so, even though phone still says NJ4).

Now I'm trying to run towelroot but it needs internet. I can't get wifi so I can't run towelroot.

I restarted several times. One time I noticed it said unauthorized changes detected...restart to remove unauthorized changes. Didn't know what to do but still restarted several more times... no wifi can't towelroot.

Please suggest a course of action from here (I'm trying to end up rooted NJ4 with safestrap)
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] destructionj:
you have to run Towelroot-v3 which dont require a internet connection. put it on your phone before you flash back to NC1 then run it then flash back.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] electricpete1:
Thanks, I did have v3. I had my SIM card removed. I retried with SIM card making sure I had data connection, then works like a champ.

Thanks muniz_ri for some amazing instructions to get things done and also to guut for his all things thread. Great stuff here.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] Skardale:
I come from Apple but i really enjoy how android is. I had my iPod Jailbroken and still have it that way. But now i want my Galaxy s4 rooted also. Before i start this process could someone kindly explain step 3 in the original post? I wanna make sure i understand everything correctly before i try this, cause dont wanna loose my only phone!

Thanks!
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] jd1639:
Which step 3. The one that talks about Odin? You'll want to know Odin. It can save you're phone.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] Skardale:
Yes the first step three

"3. Place your phone into "Download Mode" (press and hold the "Home", "Volume Down", and "Power" keys until the phone powers on and displays warning screen, then press "Volume Up" key) and flash the I337_NC1_Stock_Kernel using Odin's PDA slot(AP in Odin v3.09+)."

Wanna make sure I understand that part before anything 0.0
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] jd1639:
It's fairly strait forward. Download Odin, use 3.09. Open it up and on the right you'll see some boxes that you can browse to files. One will be AP. You'll want to browse to where you downloaded the nc1 kernel. There are some check boxes under options, just make sure you don't have re-partition checked. That's about it

Odin can be used to flash your firmware if you mess something up. So it's a good tool to know how to use.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] Skardale:
When i Downloaded odin from OP it gave me 3.10 not 3.09
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] jd1639:
That's fine. It works the same. It's a .rar. Use winrar or 7-zip to extract it
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] Skardale:
I use winrar all the way lol. Thank you for your time. Ill reply back on my success or failure :D
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] jd1639:
No problem!
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] Skardale:
This is what it gave me

<OSM> Enter CS for MD5..

<OSM> Check MD5.. Do not unplug the cable..

<OSM> Please wait..

<OSM> I337_NC1_Stock_Kernel.tar.md5 is valid.

<OSM> Checking MD5 finished Sucessfully..

<OSM> Leave CS..

<OSM> All threads completed. (succeed 0 / failed 0)

Please ignore this post idk how to delete it....had my phone pugged into the wall...
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] jd1639:
Lol, that'll do it
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] Skardale:
It worked...But sadly forgot why i wanted to root my phone lol...idk any good root apps to have x.x and youtube only has videos for a year or more old on some.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] jd1639:
A couple of good ones to consider

Adaway, you'll have to Google it but it'll get rid of adds

Titanium backup, you'll be able to delete, better to freeze, bloatware on the phone

Root explorer, good for seeing what's on and managing files on your device.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] Skardale:
Thanks :D ill look into them! Do u know any that will let me edit game files? Like lets say on the game "Inflation RPG" unlimited gold?
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] jd1639:
Sorry,I don't play games. I'm an old guy:D
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] Skardale:
Thats fine thanks
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] churapa:
Could you please take a look at the latest LolliPop 5.0.1 ROM for I9505 and see if you can help us SafeStrap users.

Your help and input is highly thanked and appreciated beforehand.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] gravitywell:
I've read through most of the post, and I hope I'm not asking a redundant or noob question...

Alright, I know it's kind of a noob question...

I had an older S4, it was rooted and I loved swapping ROM's almost weekly. I dropped it, and the replacement was one of the ATT Locked phones.

The same device (The locked one) was updated OTA to 4.4.4 NJ4 at some point. Now I'm looking at this thread and I see rooting and safestrap instructions.

Can I simply do the normal root and have access to flash ROMS like I had once upon a time, straight to my phone and not have Safestrap? Or am I still going to be constricted to using SS?
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] Xenocide83:
I have attempted to follow the directions in the OP as well as searching the forums for answers to my issue but have not found any. I am currently on NJ4 and downgraded the kernel as stated but when I attempt to install TowelRoot it states the application was not installed. I have Unknown sources ticked and Verify apps unticked in Settings -> Security so I am not sure why the apk is not installing on my phone. Any suggestions?
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] skumar_V:
Thank You.

Thank you, was able to upgrade to 4.4.4
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] Long Island NOOBIE:
Fantastic root method for sgs4-at&t

[How-To] Root I337_NJ4 - 4.4.4 instructions were followed step by step and within ten minutes time I was rooted! Works without a flaw!! THANK YOU !!!
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] MakoSDV:
I tried to follow Safestrap instructions, but it didn't work.

I intended to use this as a way to upgrade from 4.2.2 to 4.4.4 because the OTA option was never made available to me. However, now I'm stuck at the boot screen.

I got into the Android recovery and wiped the cache and even did a factory reset, but I'm still stuck at the boot screen. I have no idea what to do now?!?!?
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] jd1639:
Flash the nb1 tar file in Odin. That'll put 4.4.4 on the drive and get you up and running again. Look in the general forum for the tar. http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?p=50912149
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] MakoSDV:
That worked. I'm setting the phone back up now. Thanks a lot!

I'll follow the normal (non-Safestrap) rooting instructions after the phone finishes initializing.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] talvigi:
Muniz_ri thanks to you and other guys on the forum Jack_ssi, Apopleclic1 i have been able to install/update my AT&T galaxy S4 i337 to 5.0.1 the Lollllllipop, I salute you guys from the bottom of my dancing heart.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] david240894:
Hi everybody.

I have an s4 with 4.4.2 kk ucufnb1 i buy the phone with kitkat's factory.

My question is: if i flash the 4.4.4 or 5.0.1 ota updates i will back to 4.4.2 factory firmware using odin??
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] A0425A:
Will this process still work if the phone has already been updated to OC3 via OTA. I just picked up a second S4 from CL cheap but forgot to ask what it was running. Since the guy was already at the meet location I felt obligated to buy. Still got s great deal I think.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] jd1639:
Thought I saw somewhere on here that you can still downgrade to nb1 with Odin
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] A0425A:
So hypothetical could one root OC3 using this method, and then use safestrap to load stock 4.4.4 ROM? I don't mind stock KitKat but don't care for Lollipop.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] dave oh:
Am on nc1 , please I need zip to update to nj4 .

Thank you. I need stock not root
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] muniz_ri:
In light of the new 5.0 update I am having this thead closed. Please find the new Keep Root thread here: http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=59970133&postcount=1
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] oka1:
................THREAD CLOSED .........................
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] muniz_ri:
No problem. And yes, I was aware that the safestrap recovery continues to work using that method. It's just the app that crashes.

Edit: Uploaded new Safestrap.apk that resolves this issue. Refer to Safestrap thread in General Section for the link.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] fegarciaii:
Worked like a charm using SafeStrap method! Thanks much!! :good: Only problem is, can't write/edit anything on the SD card. None of the "fixes" work anymore.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] elegantscorpio:
Thanks for the rooted ROM

Thank you so much for posting this.

I have a simple question, how do I backup just the user data in safestrap? It backs up the whole ROM, can you guys help?

Thanks

---------- Post added at 03:58 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:49 PM ----------

Never mind, found it!
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] SoonerLater:
Does a TAR of I337UCUFNJ4 exist for download?
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] RockRatt:
The update is a .CFG file. It consist of .p files that are PATCH files. For it to work correctly it requires all the apps/modems/etc to match the Sha1 checksum I believe.

If you are pure stock with nothing deleted or changed you can download the .cfg file, rename it update.zip and flash it in recovery (stock recovery I believe as well). You would also need to be on NL1 I think unless someone uploaded the .cfg file that went from NB1 to NJ4 (I think I read some were able to do this that were on stock NB1).

So as far as I know there is NOT a FULL .tar to be used in odin
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] FuNKSioN:
stock 4.4.2 rooted. unrooted from within SuperSU, took the OTA, downgraded kernel, rooted with TowelRoot, restarted, installed SuperSU, upgraded kernel, all is working 100%

thanks!
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] Whiteouttonight:
Hey guys, Im wanting to upgrade to 4.4.4 NJ4 and keep root (obviously) . I am currently sitting on rooted NC1, from way back when. I rooted then using Safestrap and still have it installed on my device. I also have the towelroot.apk installed but never got around to using it for anything, since the lcd was destroyed for a couple months. But, finally caved in and spent $175 and got a new screen installed. Great to be back on my S4, instead of my S2 I had found in a drawer. I also see that you need the NC1 kernel to do the root described in post one. What exactly should I do to go directly from my rooted NC1 to get to rooted NJ4. Do I need to up or downgrade first, or is there a direct method.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] vaidyaabhishek:
NI to NJ?

has anyone tired to go from NI1 (instead of NC1?) to NJ1 this method?
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] extjsguy:
Infact I have the same question ?Any response is appreciated
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] Raistlin1:
Do we need to have safestrap installed prior to upgrading to NJ4? If its not installed can it be done after OTA is done? If I dont plan on flashing anything can i still root and not install a custom recovery using these instructions?

This would be for my wifes S4 and i have never used safestrap before, so not familiar with it. I would like to update her phone and root it for now and then maybe install safestrap later on if i want to flash anything for her.

Thanks
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] muniz_ri:
No, yes, and yes.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] Raistlin1:
Perfect, thanks.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] Asxetos:
Is there anyway to fix the "Custom Status" appearing on boot after rooting the NJ4 update?

It showed also after rooting NI1 but went away after a poweroff.

Its not important but its annoying...
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] vengeance1281:
Thanks a lot!

I had to do it the long way since I forgot the put the NJ4 file on my ext-sdcard before wiping with Advance Wiping on Safestrap.

Had to Odin NB1, take the OTA then did the first method. :good:
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] Whiteouttonight:
After you get root install Xposed, and Wanam Xposed then you can set "Custom Status" to "Official" cosmetically.

"Ok what did I get on here for.. o yea" Well since my question has not been answered as of yet(need Direct NC1 to NJ4 root method) I'm just gonna take the long route unroot take, the OTA up date then upgrade and root from there... unless there's anyone who can answer my ?
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] muniz_ri:
Use the safestrap method in the OP.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] jww9618:
I tried flashing from nj4 to nc1 and it didn't work. I'm still on 4.4.4 and nj4. I'm now getting a security notice that says unauthorized actions have been detected. The bigger issue is that my WiFi won't turn on. I've tried clearing cache in recovery mode and doing a factory reset but nothing will work. This was the first time I've tried to root my phone and I'm not sure how to get WiFi back. Any help is much appreciated.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] muniz_ri:
Re-review the instructions to determine which step you missed.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] jww9618:
I don't think I successfully flashed the NC1 kernel. However, I am fully rooted right now but my wifi isn't working. Should flashing NJ4 again fix this?
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] mic141414:
never mind i re read the 1st post and found the answer
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] dtindall8705:
Worked

So I now have root access. Thank you.

My only issue is I cannot install TWRP or CWM. or get to stock recovery at all. I only get the "Download mode" screen that I used with ODIN. Any ideas?

Thanks
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] Whiteouttonight:
Gracias! LOL I dont know How I missed that option on the original post. I think my eyes jumped down to the "Notes" section following "Alternative Method for Safestrap Users". DUH, on my part.

Now Fully rooted and on NJ4, should I Disable the KNOX apps in the Apps menu... or are they fine.

Note to OP:

Step "6. Flash the I337_NJ4_Stock_Kernel in Odin's PDA slot(AP in Odin v3.09+). " returned as "FAILED", for me the first time I tried it, got worried then tried a second timeand had no problem. I only mention it in case others have the same problem or if it's an issue that needs to be known. But as I said the second time same Kernel "Passed"

Thanks again for you Contributions and Effort.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] shilofax:
So after reading a few replies, I presume wifi is working as intended as long as the steps listed in the OP are followed exactly?
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] mic141414:
I followed this guide today and so far wifi working with no problem
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] muniz_ri:
Correct, the process has been proven to work reliably on numerous firmware updates. Users experiencing problems should retrace their steps to determine the step/s they overlooked.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] Whiteouttonight:
Yep, Wifi works perfect for me, I rarley use 4GLTE unless im in the car so WIFI is must for me. Also the Xposed module "S5 SystemUI Theme" for the Note 3 works on this new S4 stock rom aswell. So now I got a quasi S5 looking S4(smiles).