[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge Guides, News, & Di] 4DGeorge:
Successfully Rooted Nougat on S7 G930V (Verizon)

Much gratitude and appreciation to all those who burn the midnight oil creating the tools, techniques, and custom code, that empowers the rest of us to share in the discovery!

Thank you!

While I DID suffer the pain of having to reset my thoroughly configured device (172 apps) back to factory settings, I WAS able to successfully root my Verizon S7!

Mobile device specifics:

SM-G930V (non-edge S7)

Build number: NRD90M.G930VVRS4BQC9

Hardware version: REV0.6

Starting Point:

Host PC: Windows 10 Pro x64 Creators update v.15063, 32 GB RAM, 8-core 4.2 GHz

Android 7.0, security patch level May 1, 2017, with all OTA updates and patches as of 2017-05-30

All apps fully updated from both the Google PlayStore and Samsung Apps.

Created backup using Samsung's Smart Switch to the PC. (yes... I know... barely useful!)

Mistake number 1, 2, 3, (and a few more) right here: Having rooted numerous other devices without having to factory wipe them, I neglected to create individual backups or exports of several important apps. If I had, restoration would have been significantly easier. (Nova Launcher, SMS Backup, Google Authenticator, certain Social Media environments, financial apps, etc.)

Which is the primary reason I want root: To be able to create a full image backup as well as incrementals beyond the point-in-time cloned image.

Download/Setup Prerequisites:

Odin3+v3.12+(PrinceComsy).zip

ENG-Root-USA.zip (used S7_Qualcomm.tar)

S7Root_Unroot_SU_2_79.zip (for ADB and secondary root script)

The Resulting Procedure (that worked):

Verified connectivity within both ADB and ODIN

Power-cycled phone into Download Mode (Vol down, Home, Power)

Used ODIN to flash the S7_Qualcomm.tar

(The phone reboots but never gets past the Verizon logo)​

Power-cycled phone into Android System Recovery (Vol UP, Home, Power) wiped the cache partition and rebooted

(The phone reboots but still doesn't gets past the Verizon logo)​

Power-cycled phone into Download Mode (Vol down, Home, Power)

Used ODIN to flash the S7_Qualcomm.tar (yes, do it again)

(The phone reboots but still doesn't gets past the Verizon logo)​

Power-cycled phone into Android System Recovery (Vol UP, Home, Power), selected Wipe data/factory reset, again wiped the cache partition, and rebooted

(The phone reboots and this time continues past the Verizon logo and into factory setup) YAAY!​

Went through the initial ROM setup, just far enough that I could connect via ADB.

With ADB connected execute the root.bat script (from within S7Root_Unroot_SU_2_79.zip)

(I chose option 2 Install Root With Tweaks)​

After another reboot I let the Google restore continue on with putting the basics back on the device.

After the Samsung security pieces updated, the config of two root-needing apps (Titanium and SuperSU) encountered a few errors.

I chose to reapply the root.bat script via ADB when a reboot did not resolve the issues.

From here on out all operations continued as expected (without rooting related roadblocks).

From here I was able to have Google complete its semi-backup from online and then applied the backup created with Samsung's Smart Switch, which got a few more pieces in place and working. Everything else was manual setup and configure all over again.

At the end of day one of working with the phone, the battery life is definitely being impacted, even after configuring for power saving, putting apps to sleep mode, and using Kernel Adiutor to verify CPUs are set to conservative. Beyond that, however, the device is stable and running great!

I hope the above steps help keep at least some of you out of a lengthy and frustrating "WTF do I do know?" session.

FYI: Prior to executing the above recovery steps, I tried getting out of the no-boot-past-Verizon-logo issue with more than 11 different suggested procedures, including flashing various different boot.tar files, including Samsung_G930x_QC_Rooted_BOOT.TAR which resulted in the phone being stuck in a reboot loop at the Samsung power-on logo. Using various different USB cables and ODIN versions was also tested without success.

From start to finish took me from 4pm until 2am yesterday just getting back to a mostly setup phone. Another two hours today were spent reconfiguring additional missing pieces (like Google's Authenticator). I'm sure I'll find numerous other pieces over the next two weeks I'll have to put back as I make the rounds across all my environments.

My worst case scenario was to apply the original factory Android 6 image and work my way up from there to Android 7 and beyond. Yuk!

Of the numerous instructions I found online, this is the one I used for reference in the above outlined steps:

droidviews-com / root-galaxy-s7-s7edge-snapdragon-variant-on-android-nougat

Insert Brief Rant Here

These online/automated Android (and iOS) backups are a joke!

As an IT consultant in the corporate world for the last 20 years, when we backup a system we get the whole thing all the way down to every-little-end-user-detail! I can plug in a new (or fully wiped) system with absolutely zero file system or OS on it, boot it from a utility disk or flash drive, and clone onto it the equivalent of a factory Android ROM, then push a backup set on top of that, reboot it once, and it's back up and running 100% with the end user's every little detail back in place from the previous night's backup!

It's the year 2017 already! We shouldn't still be dealing with such core infrastructure basics like this anymore. You can believe backups and restores within corporate giants like Google, Amazon, Samsung, Microsoft, Apple, and others are way nicer and effective than this!

End Brief Rant

Again, a great big

Thank You

to all those who participate in creating and providing for us the tools, software, and education, to move beyond the "stuck in stock" and into the "Because Race Car" world! :cool: