Whether you are new to root, or an old hat at it, following these simple steps will get you root access on your device. That means you're going to have access to the file system, system settings, be able to flash custom ROMs, get wifi tethering working, and all that good stuff.
I can confirm that this process worked for me and others on the Samsung Galaxy S II Epic 4G Touch running build FH29 of the Samsung software (you can see what build you are on by going to settings and about phone). I nor anyone else where will accept responsibility if your device ends up bricked. That shouldn't happen, but in the event that the stars align and the gods deign your device to be sacrificed, you're going to be SOL (because if you brick by rooting you are technically going to violate your warranty and may not be able to return it). Also, I accept no credit, I'm not worthy, I didn't make odin, kies, the kernel or the su zip -- that was all done by people a lot smarter than I.
Before we get started, you are going to need a few things:
Got all that? Good. Plug your phone into your PC and make sure that the drivers are all installed and that your PC can recognize your phone.
Unplug your phone and pull the battery. Put the battery back in and hold Vol - and Power at the same time and release when you see the SGS2 logo. Then you should get a screen warning you about the evils of custom operating systems -- hit Vol + to continue and plug your device into your computer (note for all the newbs: this is what is referred to as booting into download or odin mode).
Open Odin back up and it should recognize your phone (you should get like a yellow window on the left side). Hit the PDA box and select the AGAT kernel you downloaded. Make sure that it is in the PDA box (that's important) and not another one. Also the only other boxes that should be checked are auto reboot and reset time. Check to make sure all of the foregoing matches up, then check it a second time. Screwing something up with odin and and will mess up your shiny new phone. Hit start and it should go through the process of flashing the kernel to your device.
When that's done, disconnect your device, pull the battery again. This time, boot by pressing Vol + and power -- this will get you into the custom recovery that was flashed along with the kernel (and once more for the newbs, this is booting into recovery mode). Choose mount usb storage and move the superuser binary over to the sd card. Then go to the main menu of the recovery, select install zip, then install from sd card (external) and select the super user binary zip file and flash it. This will install superuser on your device. Then reboot like normal.
You should see a yellow triangle on your boot screen -- this is normal. This basically tips off Samsung or whoever that you have flashed something over Odin via a PC. I can confirm that triangle away in the play store removed it from my device, but your mileage may vary.
When your device boots, you should now have root access. Make sure that the Superuser program is installed, and you should be all set. You're ready to flash other kernels, custom ROMs, etc. At this point I would STRONGLY ADVISE you to reboot into recovery (vol + and power) and make what is called a nandroid (a backup of your device) -- just go into backup and restore in recovery and hit backup. Then when that is done, copy the nandroid to your PC so that you have everything backed up in case you need it. You should always do this before flashing anything, that way you have a way to possibly revert back if something goes bad.
That should be it! A couple of final pointers:
Edit: I can confirm that this process also works for FI22 and FL24. It should also work for any TW build, though you may want to grab the corresponding kernel here (i.e., if you're running a JB stock rom, make sure you get a JB kernel). I would also mention that, if you have 4g service, most custom kernels will bork your 4g speeds. You're only going to get 4g speeds with stock kernels or AGATs repacks (which are on the linked page). The repacks are just stock kernels with custom recovery that will leave your 4g speeds alone. So if you want fast 4g speeds, get a repacked kernel. If you don't have 4g or don't care about speed on it, you can get any compatible kernel you want.
But, as noted above, if something screws up or isn't working right, just flash back to stock and try again.
I can confirm that this process worked for me and others on the Samsung Galaxy S II Epic 4G Touch running build FH29 of the Samsung software (you can see what build you are on by going to settings and about phone). I nor anyone else where will accept responsibility if your device ends up bricked. That shouldn't happen, but in the event that the stars align and the gods deign your device to be sacrificed, you're going to be SOL (because if you brick by rooting you are technically going to violate your warranty and may not be able to return it). Also, I accept no credit, I'm not worthy, I didn't make odin, kies, the kernel or the su zip -- that was all done by people a lot smarter than I.
Before we get started, you are going to need a few things:
- Download and install Samsung Kies to your PC
- Download Odin to your PC and extract it into a directory such as C:\Odin
- Download AGAT's Kernel for the SGSII
- Download the Superuser flashable zip file
Got all that? Good. Plug your phone into your PC and make sure that the drivers are all installed and that your PC can recognize your phone.
Unplug your phone and pull the battery. Put the battery back in and hold Vol - and Power at the same time and release when you see the SGS2 logo. Then you should get a screen warning you about the evils of custom operating systems -- hit Vol + to continue and plug your device into your computer (note for all the newbs: this is what is referred to as booting into download or odin mode).
Open Odin back up and it should recognize your phone (you should get like a yellow window on the left side). Hit the PDA box and select the AGAT kernel you downloaded. Make sure that it is in the PDA box (that's important) and not another one. Also the only other boxes that should be checked are auto reboot and reset time. Check to make sure all of the foregoing matches up, then check it a second time. Screwing something up with odin and and will mess up your shiny new phone. Hit start and it should go through the process of flashing the kernel to your device.
When that's done, disconnect your device, pull the battery again. This time, boot by pressing Vol + and power -- this will get you into the custom recovery that was flashed along with the kernel (and once more for the newbs, this is booting into recovery mode). Choose mount usb storage and move the superuser binary over to the sd card. Then go to the main menu of the recovery, select install zip, then install from sd card (external) and select the super user binary zip file and flash it. This will install superuser on your device. Then reboot like normal.
You should see a yellow triangle on your boot screen -- this is normal. This basically tips off Samsung or whoever that you have flashed something over Odin via a PC. I can confirm that triangle away in the play store removed it from my device, but your mileage may vary.
When your device boots, you should now have root access. Make sure that the Superuser program is installed, and you should be all set. You're ready to flash other kernels, custom ROMs, etc. At this point I would STRONGLY ADVISE you to reboot into recovery (vol + and power) and make what is called a nandroid (a backup of your device) -- just go into backup and restore in recovery and hit backup. Then when that is done, copy the nandroid to your PC so that you have everything backed up in case you need it. You should always do this before flashing anything, that way you have a way to possibly revert back if something goes bad.
That should be it! A couple of final pointers:
- I would also advise investing in the program "Titanium Backup" in the market. This will allow you to backup and restore apps selectively, and best practice is to make a full titanium backup of all your apps and settings in addition to the nandroid backups. Never hurts to be safe.
- Finally, if for whatever reason you need to go back to stock, or you don't want to be rooted anymore, there is a way to do it! Just grab the stock rom here (courtesy of Mark112887), unzip it and extract the tar.md5 file. Open up odin and flash the tar.md5 just like you flashed the AGAT kernel. It will take longer, but when you reboot your phone should be just like it was when you got it from Boost.
Edit: I can confirm that this process also works for FI22 and FL24. It should also work for any TW build, though you may want to grab the corresponding kernel here (i.e., if you're running a JB stock rom, make sure you get a JB kernel). I would also mention that, if you have 4g service, most custom kernels will bork your 4g speeds. You're only going to get 4g speeds with stock kernels or AGATs repacks (which are on the linked page). The repacks are just stock kernels with custom recovery that will leave your 4g speeds alone. So if you want fast 4g speeds, get a repacked kernel. If you don't have 4g or don't care about speed on it, you can get any compatible kernel you want.
But, as noted above, if something screws up or isn't working right, just flash back to stock and try again.
