[Verizon Galaxy S 5 General] bjf189:
hello i have put together a bunch of information about getting root on the S5 (SM-S903VL) though i cannot take all the credit.

I simply pulled info from different threads into one to make things less confusing and more simplified. so be sure to thank [MENTION=5723969]parrotgeek1[/MENTION] on how to convert and [MENTION=4262344]mortj19[/MENTION] for providing the link to the "testing" firmware. The downside to this is you will be downgraded to 4.4 kitkat from 6.0 marshmallow. Also your phone might read it as SM-G900V instead of SM-903VL in "About Phone" This will enable people to root the S5 that some want so badly and to have a pretty stable system (im still checking everything over myself) so lets begin...

NOTE: I am not responsible for any damage or data loss that may occur. proceed at your own risk.

I have swapped the system.img and cache.img that was originally in this thread to the G900V for better compatibility and most importantly to allow WIFI TETHER

WARNING: YOU WILL BE ABLE TO USE WIFI TETHER BUT IN STRAIGHT TALKS POLICIES, IT STATES THAT TETHERING IS PROHIBITED AND IF CAUGHT, STRAIGHT TALK CAN TERMINATE YOUR ACCOUNT WITHOUT NOTICE OR WARNING. YOU'VE BEEN WARNED. TETHER AT YOUR OWN RISK.

Known Issues (So Far)

-SHealth crashing consistently (disable it to fix or remove after rooting)

-After reboot, Wifi password is forgotten and needs to be re-entered - since swapping over to G900V, im not sure if this is an issue anymore. need someone to confirm if it does or doesnt since im on a custom rom now and cant.

-mobile data does NOT work until the system and cache are transferred to the device

Fingerprint sensor- has something to do with incorrect test keys. i do not have enough understanding on how to patch this to get it working again. so sorry. if anyone is able to get it working, please post and ill update the thread with the correct changes.

LINKS UPDATED!

Things needed are:

A PC with phones drivers installed

Odin 3.12.3 - https://mega.nz/#F!Ugh2CaRa!YcYsAQy-OG6hW3PPNA9TuQ

System Img. built from G900V - https://mega.nz/#!EkonBKAR!Xp_CCqMKgijpEFA_h0id6yn9NttPwTgArlLTU82rKWs

Cache Img. built from G900V - https://mega.nz/#!glAHmJgS!L4gHDv6y8M4_feSz1cDHqWtsMoeO7wvAj9HwWOzxAVk

sdk-tools - move this folder to the root of your C:/ drive - https://mega.nz/#F!gswwxSiY!Qx2dm6GlfL5vLwD2oQaV7A

4.4 Test firmware - https://xdaforums.com/galaxy-s5/general/downgrade-to-4-4-2-factory-test-t3530449

Towelroot Apk - towelroot.com

kingroot Apk - kingroot.net

external SDCard (make things easier)

NOTE: download everything on a PC to make instructions easier to follow

Step 0: Move system.img and cache.img to the ROOT of your internal storage of your phone and kingroot,towelroot to your SDcard

Step 1: Put phone in download mode by shutting the phone off then turning it back on by holding the volume key up + Home button + power button

Step 2: NOTE:THIS STEP WILL WIPE EVERYTHING ON YOUR PHONE SO BE SURE TO BACKUP! Run Odin.exe and click AP in the program and select the 4.4 test firmware and click start. let it finish and the phone boot into system

step 3: Install kingroot and run it and let it root the device. If it fails just try again (You get a network error if you try to use towelroot at this point.

step 4: open up command prompt on your PC and type the following:

CD C:/sdk-tools

adb shell

su (grant permissons on prompt on your phone)

stop

dd if=/sdcard/cache.img of=/dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/cache bs=10485760

(give it a minute or two to say its transferred)

dd if=/sdcard/system.img of=/dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/system bs=10485760

(give a minute or two to say its tranferred)

reboot recovery (if it says an error like not found like mine did. just pull the battery out after disconnecting phone from your PC and manually reboot into recovery and it will load some stuff in the backround. after that it will reboot again but BEFORE it does be sure to hold the buttons again to get into recovery)

step 5: go down to factory reset and perform the reset to prevent a bootloop

step 6: reboot into system

step 7: install towelroot and tap "make it rain"

step 8: login to google play store and install supersu

step 9: open supersu and install the binary.

step 10: install root checker from the play store to verify root

its bit of a long process but if you want root bad enough on the SM-903VL like i did. i would say its well worth it. so far i have installed safestrap for the G900V (verizon) and it works.(if you install safestrap, dont forget it requires to have busybox installed) ive tested two roms so far. MOAR rom doesnt boot. only get a black screen. acherom works just fine though. (dont try to install twrp recovery or you will get the "take to verizon store error" and have to odin back to stock 903VL and start all over. i assume its from it having a locked bootloader. this is pretty much word for word on how to do this correctly thats why its so long but its quite simple. I have just took a few steps out so you dont have to worry or bother about doing any converting.

any problems give a post and see if we can resolve it to make this a more stable system

NOTE: IF YOU GET A RANDOM KERNEL PANIC DURING THE PROGRESS OF THIS, JUST DO OVER AGAIN.. SOMETIMES IT WILL GO UNDER PANIC ON THE FIRST TRY AND WILL NEED ODIN BACK TO STOCK.