[GT-I9500] CF-Auto-Root

Check your device model ! Settings -> About device -> Model number. See the third post for exact supported model numbers. If your device is a totally different model, it will not work (may even brick) !


CF-Root is the root for "rooting beginners" and those who want to keep as close to stock as possible. CF-Root is meant to be used in combination with stock Samsung firmwares, and be the quickest and easiest way for your first root.

Donate
CF-Root has been available for many devices (Galaxy S1, Galaxy Tab 7", Galaxy S2, Galaxy Note, Galaxy Nexus, Galaxy S3, and many more) and has clocked over 13 million downloads. This is not even counting custom ROMs that already include it. Don't be a leech, buy me a beer (and use the "Thanks" button!). Imagine if every CF-Root user has donated me $1...

What's installed
- SuperSU binary and APK
- Stock recovery

Installation and usage
Flash the CF-Auto-Root package as PDA in ODIN (details on how to do that are in next post), and your device should reboot into a modified recovery (signified by a large red Android logo) and it will install SuperSU for you and restore the stock recovery, and reboot back into Android.

If you don't get to the red Android logo, boot into recovery manually ("adb reboot recovery", or boot while holding Power+VolUp+Home).

Using this root increases your flash counter. You should run Triangle Away (see below) after rooting to reset the counter. Note that if you want to run custom kernels or custom recoveries, your flash counter will be set to 1 at every boot. Either configure Triangle Away to reset the counter at every boot (Play version only) or only reset the counter when you need to go into warranty.

Did you see the red Android logo during rooting, but SuperSU does not appear? This may sometimes occur due to left-over files and settings, however, you can usually install SuperSU from Google Play at this stage and it'll just work.

Why isn't this just called CF-Root
The traditional CF-Root's included a custom recovery (CWM, TWRP, etc) and were meant for devices that had a single kernel/recovery combination. CF-Auto-Root doesn't include a custom recovery and is meant for devices that have kernel and recovery separate (so you can manually install any custom recovery you wish). The Auto part comes from the fact that a large part of the process is automated (though it constantly needs adjusting)

Not included - Triangle Away - ! NOT OPERATIONAL ON THE GT-I9500 !
Triangle Away can be used to reset the flash counter after installing CF-Root. The flash counter keeps track of how many custom firmwares you have flashed, as this voids warranty. (No idea what this about ? Read up on it, you will want to use this !)

Not included - adbd Insecure
As this CF-Root does not include a custom kernel, adb shell does not have root access by default (you can still get it by typing su inside the shell), nor is adb remount supported, nor will adb push and adb pull work on system files. adbd Insecure can be used to remedy this situation. (No idea what this is about ? Don't worry about it !)

CF-Auto-Root homepage
http://autoroot.chainfire.eu/

CF-Auto-Root main thread
[CENTRAL] CF-Auto-Root
For requests for new roots and generic discussion - please keep device specific discussion in the thread you are viewing now.

ODIN Installation (detailed)

Follow these instructions to the letter. Do not touch any buttons or checkboxes that are not listed below to touch!

- Download and unzip the CF-Auto-Root-....zip file (see posts below this one)
- If you end up with a recovery.img and cache.img file, you've extracted twice. You need to end up with a .tar.md5 file - don't extract that one
- (USB) Disconnect your phone from your computer
- Start Odin3-vX.X.exe
- Click the PDA button, and select CF-Auto-Root-....tar.md5
- Put your phone in download mode (turn off phone, then hold VolDown+Home+Power to boot - if it asks you to press a button to continue, press the listed button, or run adb reboot download command)
- (USB) Connect the phone to your computer
- Make sure Repartition is NOT checked
- Click the Start button
- Wait for Android to boot
- Done (if it took you more than 30 seconds, you need practise!)

NOTE: Sometimes the device does *not* boot into recovery mode and root your device. Just do the entire procedure again if this happens. If it still will not install root and such, make sure that in Odin "Auto Reboot" is not checked. Then after flashing, pull the battery, and boot with VolUp+Home+Power button to boot into recovery manually. This will start the install process.

New to Samsung? Unfamiliar with Odin? Think all the above is a hassle? Get used to it. It's very simple, and us Samsung folk use Odin (or Mobile ODIN ) for everything! It's so very very convenient once you get used to it. Notice the 30 second comment above? For experienced users, the entire process indeed takes only 30 seconds!

You may now optionally want to install and run Triangle Away to reset the flash counter.

2013.05.20 --- CF-Auto-Root

SuperSU: v1.30

Download

GT-I9500: CF-Auto-Root-ja3g-ja3gxx-gti9500.zip

Other models

International Qualcomm Snapdragon GT-I9505: http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2219803
Canadian: http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2293800
Sprint: http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2291827
T-Mobile: http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2294005
AT&T: Bootloader locked, do not use CF-Auto-Root on it
VZW: Bootloader locked, do not use CF-Auto-Root on it

Special thanks

Special thanks to supercurio, djembey, and avicohh for their assistance and testing. Tthis model deviates from all others in image format, took a while to figure out and fix, which would not have been possible without these guys.

History

2013.05.20: SuperSU v1.30
2013.03.03: SuperSU v1.25

I believe, Triangle Away is not possible anymore with stock bootloader on I9500.
Boot block now has hardware write protection till next power on and will be re-protected by bootloader with every boot.
see /sys/block/mmcblk0boot0/ro_lock_until_next_power_on

The possible workaround is to use engineering version of bootloader (can be googled), or hacked one (but probably won't be possible to flash through odin).
Engineering bootloader doesn't set ro_lock_until_next_power_on flag, but it has generic "SAMSUNG" logo instead of "Samsung Galaxy S4" (thus not for warranty claim)

no need to install that Kies crap for USB drivers, just get them from here: http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=961956