How to Root your Verizon Galaxy S4
Description: This is a simple guide that will allow you to easily root your Verizon Galaxy S4 device without having to wipe your device or flash a full prerooted factory image. This method works using a leaked prerelease kernel (provided by user
sextape) and root method (provided by user
djrbliss). Only change is I have modified the Motochopper root method to use the latest SuperSU instead.
Video Demo of the Full Process (Courtesy of DroidModd3rX)
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***WARNING: DOES NOT WORK ON THE OFFICIAL VRUAME7 UPDATE***
Do not flash that update or you will permanently lose root with no way of flashing back!
A bounty has started for finding a new root method on the updated build
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Step 1 - Preparation
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- Download and Install Samsung Official USB Drivers - Link
- Download and extract ODIN v3.07 - Link
- Download the VRUAMD2 Prerelease Kernel - Link
- Download the Stock VRUAMDK Kernel for your phone - Link
- Download and extract the Motochopper Root Exploit Tool - Link
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Step 2 - Flashing VRUAMD2 Prerelease Kernel to remove Root block
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- Boot phone into ODIN mode
- Flash the VRUAMD2 Prerelease Kernel using ODIN v3.07 ***in PDA section only*** (See here for guide on flashing)
- Boot back to Android and verifying everything is still working and kernel has flashed successfully
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Step 3 - Rooting Your Device
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- Go into Settings > More > About phone > tap "Build number" about 7 times until it unlocks Developer options
- Verify in Developer options setting on your device that you have "USB debugging" checked
- Verify in Developer options setting on your device that you have "Verify apps via USB" unchecked
- Verify in Security setting on your device that you have "Unknown sources" checked
- Verify in Security setting on your device that you have "Verify apps" unchecked
- Connect your phone to your computer and open "Run.bat" file from the location you have extracted motochopper to
- You will see a message on the phone asking you to accept the new computer connection (select to always allow and select OK)
- After motochopper runs and your phone reboots on its own, check if SuperSU has any update in the Play Store
- Open SuperSU app and let the binary update itself to the latest ***VERY IMPORTANT OR YOU WILL LOSE ROOT ON STEP 4***
- Once complete, just open a root application and verify that is able to access root properly
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Step 4 - Restoring Stock Kernel
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- Boot phone into ODIN mode
- Flash the Stock VRUAMDK Kernel using ODIN v3.07 ***in PDA section only*** (See here for guide on flashing)
- Boot back to Android and verifying everything is still working and kernel has flashed successfully
- After your phone boots back to Android, you should now be fully rooted and on the fully stock original firmware that came on your device
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Step 5 - Restoring Custom Recovery (Optional)
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- Make sure you are rooted first using the above 4 steps first
- For official TWRP Recovery follow the steps in this thread (or download from Goomanager):
- For official ClockworkMod Recovery just download ROM Manager app and install from there
- For CWM-based Recovery follow the steps in this thread:
- For OUDHS Gesture Touch CWM-based Recovery follow the steps in this thread:
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Please note: Credit for this method goes entirely to the users who have created these tools and provided the files. I am only bringing together all these files and creating a simple guide for everyone to follow.
