Root for Verizon Galaxy S4

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

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

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

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

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

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:

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.