Rooting Galaxy S2 - Dummies Guide

[Hawker]

Congratulations Chorozonix!

Please feel free to mention my name to your girlfriend... in case she has a sister!

c'mon now butty. The chances of him having a girlfriend who's sister is blind+deaf with no sense of smell and a penchant for an alcoholic senile old gingerbread-loving pervert with a bad foot and a cheese fetish are bordering on slim to none.

If I were you, just be grateful Chorozonix clicked your Thanks button!

 

[ironass]

c'mon now butty. The chances of him having a girlfriend who's sister is blind+deaf with no sense of smell and a penchant for an alcoholic senile old gingerbread-loving pervert with a bad foot and a cheese fetish are bordering on slim to none.

One lives in hope... besides, I'm good with seeing eye dogs!

 

[ironass]

Might be worth mentioning that for those of you who have updated to ICS via Kies and now wish to root your phones, this guide still applies.

 

[cybaree]

hi i have done everything, Step 1.

Ensure that your phone is fully charged.

On your phone, go to... Settings > Applications > Developement > USB debugging and check the box.

Put your phone into Download mode by turning it off completely and then press and hold the following buttons... Volume Down + Home (centre hard key) + (lastly) Power. Continue to hold these buttons until your phone boots into the Warning! screen asking you to press volume up if you want to continue or volume down to cancel. Press volume up.

Step 2.

Right click on Odin3 v1.85 and select, "Run as Administrator", to open it.

With Odin3 v1.85 displayed on your PC screen, click on the PDA button and navigate to the CF-Root Tar .zip file, that you placed on your home screen, and select it.

Make sure that Re-Partion is unchecked and that Auto Reboot, F.Reset Time and PDA are checked and that the PDA box now contains your .tar file.

Step 3.

Connect your phone, still in Download mode, to the PC using the USB lead. If you have successfully connected to Odin3 v1.85 you should see the ID:COM box in Odin turn yellow.


now the box does not go yellow what is going on i download the CF-Root-SGS2_XW_XEN_KK2-v5.0-CWM5.tar, I have a i9100xwkk2 so i guess this is right? please help my phone has not been nice to me since i started to back it up.
really want it rooted so i can remove all the crap optus put on it that i can not remove now, also want better battery life.
why is it not going yellow???

thanks in advance

 

[ironass]

Did you complete this step in post #1 and did it connect to Kies?

Samsung Kies. This is a PC Suite for the Galaxy S2. Dowload and install to your PC as you will require the drivers that come bundled with it, to connect your phone to the PC and Odin3 v1.85.

Download for Windows, here:-

Kies Samsung

When you have downloaded and installed Kies, connect your phone via the USB lead to ensure that it is working. If you encounter any problems connecting your phone to Kies, see this trouble shooting guide here:-

http://androidforums.com/3254687-post172.html

 

[cybaree]

I downloaded kies and updated it also, then connected phone, it showed my phone. Did I forget anything?

 

[Hawker]

I downloaded kies and updated it also, then connected phone, it showed my phone. Did I forget anything?

Only about 99% of this guide!

 

[cybaree]

Only about 99% of this guide!

Lol i am silly I did do it all right except after putting into download mode I didn't press volume up to continue lol, rooted now must have been tired last night lol sorry. and thanks. which rom is best to use I really wanna get rid of the bloatware optus has put on.

 

[ironass]

Lol i am silly I did do it all right except after putting into download mode I didn't press volume up to continue lol, rooted now must have been tired last night lol sorry. and thanks. which rom is best to use I really wanna get rid of the bloatware optus has put on.

You're not the first to do that, (or not do that as the case may be).

Congratulations on rooting cybaree!

Before rushing into anything, please read the rest of post #2 and make a Titanium and nandroid backup.

You don't have to put a custom ROM on to get rid of bloatware, as mentioned in post #2 but if you really want one, may I suggest CheckROM RevoHD v6. A Gingerbread ROM that is very stable and popular. I'm not recommending an ICS ROM as, IMHO, they are not without their problems still and probably not a good choice for a first time flasher.

 

[khun wim]

You're not the first to do that, (or not do that as the case may be).

Congratulations on rooting cybaree!

Before rushing into anything, please read the rest of post #2 and make a Titanium and nandroid backup.

You don't have to put a custom ROM on to get rid of bloatware, as mentioned in post #2 but if you really want one, may I suggest CheckROM RevoHD v6. A Gingerbread ROM that is very stable and popular. I'm not recommending an ICS ROM as, IMHO, they are not without their problems still and probably not a good choice for a first time flasher.

Hi Cybaree, don't feel silly, I did exactly the same. But the guide is exellent and I agree with the CheckROM RevoHDv6, works like a champ

 

[ironass]

Hi Cybaree, don't feel silly, I did exactly the same. But the guide is exellent and I agree with the CheckROM RevoHDv6, works like a champ

Hi khun wim!

Yes, I remember now, you did do the same and I posted this afterwards:-

I have updated the, "Dummies Guide", with a couple of things to try and prevent this happening again... (actually, I copied and pasted a bit of Hawker's post ).

How wrong was I?

EDIT Have now put it in bold and red.

 

[emylo]

Hi

All rooted in about 5 minutes flat, thank you for this great guide it's been emotional

 

[ironass]

Hi

All rooted in about 5 minutes flat, thank you for this great guide it's been emotional

Congratulations emylo!

Now, just read the rest of post #2 and make a nandroid and Titanium backups.

Welcome to the wonderful world of rooting!

 

[FiveBodyBlade]

Ironass, you are a goddamn hero! Not being the least bit sarcastic. Yours is the guide I used which both: 1) best explained terms I was (and still kind of am) unfamiliar with, and 2) best described the rooting process and post-rooting tips.

Thank you so very, very much, and thanks also to all the posters, senior members, mods, etc. for asking pertinent questions and elucidating the mysteries of everything Android. It's completely beyond me how some people can teach/discover for themselves so much about complex technology--from mobile phones to computers to cars to anything that's not a pulley or lever--and are always willing to help others out.

Again, many thanks! :adore:

 

[ironass]

Congratulations on rooting your phone FiveBodyBlade! :congrats:

WOW!

What can I say?

I'd like to take the credit for the, "Dummies Guide", but there are those on this forum who know, only too well, that I am as thick as two short planks! :stupido2:

It's really an amalgam of lots of different posts, from all over the web, that I tried to bring together to form as safe a method of rooting the SGSII, for absolute beginners, that I could possibly write.

Before posting the original draft I had to run it by other, more experienced forum members, such as Slug, Hawker and Shotgun84... who were only too keen to point out the errors in it!!!

Thanks to their, and others, help, we arrived at a "Dummies Guide", that didn't actually brick your phone.

Since publishing it, I've updated it constantly to keep abreast of events and to take into account things that people were finding difficult about it. For instance, one young lady PM'd me and said that she did not know how to extract a .zip file. Something I hadn't thought of.

So, what you see now is a culmination of effort and, hopefully a guide that people can refer to, at their leisure, that not only roots your phone but also gives you some ideas as what you can do with it afterwards.

So, on behalf of everybody concerned, thank you very much for your post and good luck with your rooted Galaxy SII.

 

[Scootmien]

I have to say, I read post #1 and #2 and you've laid out the Rooting procedure clearly and succinctly. For that you have my thanks.

A couple of questions though if I may as i'm about to root my phone and i'm a bit nervous (actually, very nervous).

I'm running an SGS2 with ICS 4.0.3 and XWLP7 kernel. I've got the latest version of Odin and Kies is up and running fine and the phone connects perfectly.

I've downloaded CF-Root-SGS2_XW_XEN_LP7-v5.4-CWM5, which I believe to be a close-to-stock rooted kernel and compatible with my phone as it currently stands and I have a USB Jig ready to go too.

I have a couple of questions and I know the answers are on here but I just do not want to brick a brand new phone by being an idiot, so i'd like to ask them plain and simply just so i don't screw up, if I may please?

If a new version of ICS is released, say 4.0.4 and/or beyond, can I use Kies to update my phone please? All the signs i've read seem to say no and that I would have to use another program called CWM (Which I think stands for ClockWork Mod). How difficult is this procedure please? It looks like CWM is here - https://play.google.com/store/apps/...xLDEsImNvbS5rb3VzaGlrZHV0dGEucm9tbWFuYWdlciJd


Whilst rooting looks to be very easy, providing I follow all the steps carefully as laid out in the initial posts, flashing a new ROM looks to be a potential ballache though. As does using CWM to update the firmware if a new version of ICS is released for my carrier/phone.

If I wanted to return it to stock, I guess I would flash the XWLP7 from here - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1075278 pretty much using exactly the same method used to root it. Is that right please?

Sorry for being a noob. Be gentle!

 

[Shotgun84]

If you root, your phone will no longer be recognised by kies so if you want to update your phone to another official firmware you will need to use Odin again. You just download the file and flash it the same way as the cfroot kernel you use to root.

It is custom roms which you instal using cwm. There is a good guide to flashing checkrom here
http://androidforums.com/galaxy-s2-international-all-things-root/481620-checkrom-v6-dummies-guide-installation.html

This can be applied to almost all roms as the method is the same.

I wouldn't recommend using that app from google play as ROM manager doesn't play very nicely with the gs2. Cwm will be installed automatically when you root with the cfroot kernel, which is the right one by the way.

 

[Scootmien]

If you root, your phone will no longer be recognised by kies so if you want to update your phone to another official firmware you will need to use Odin again. You just download the file and flash it the same way as the cfroot kernel you use to root.

It is custom roms which you instal using cwm. There is a good guide to flashing checkrom here
http://androidforums.com/galaxy-s2-...0-checkrom-v6-dummies-guide-installation.html

This can be applied to almost all roms as the method is the same.

I wouldn't recommend using that app from google play as ROM manager doesn't play very nicely with the gs2. Cwm will be installed automatically when you root with the cfroot kernel, which is the right one by the way.

Brilliant, thanks for the quick reply, I really appreciate it.

Here goes...

 

[Scootmien]

It worked without a hitch. Rooted now!

The USB jig put the phone in download mode but it won't get rid of the warning triangle unfortunately. Even after following the video tutorial carefully it's still showing the triangle. Shame, as I wanted it gone.

EDIT: Damn, I just found out that USB jigs don't work on ICS. Apart from using Triangleaway app, is there a USB jig that works on ICS please?

 

[Shotgun84]

The jig doesn't work with the new bootloader so all you need to do its flash the old one using Odin then the jig will work. It can be downloaded from here
[ROM+Guide]Official i9100 Firmwares KL1/2/3/LA2,4/LB2,LPE/Q/7/2/F/S/4/7/G Download - xda-developers

Its in the middle of post #2 under the DXKH2 firmware.

 

[Scootmien]

The jig doesn't work with the new bootloader so all you need to do its flash the old one using Odin then the jig will work. It can be downloaded from here
[ROM+Guide]Official i9100 Firmwares KL1/2/3/LA2,4/LB2,LPE/Q/7/2/F/S/4/7/G Download - xda-developers

Its in the middle of post #2 under the DXKH2 firmware.

Thanks Shotgun. All sorted. Triangle gone and happy with Root on the phone now.

Now to spend a bit of time looking into the various ROMs available.

Thanks for your help.

 

[ironass]

Congratulations Scootmein! :congrats:

Welcome to the asylum. :nurse:

 

[ironass]

Have updated post #1 to include the, "GT-i9100G", variant in the rooting guide.

 

[pascalT]

Thanks!

 

[Augine]

Hi guys, what if my galaxy s 2 is this


model: GT-I9100G
Version: 2.3.6
Baseband: I9100GXXKL4
Kernel: 2.6.35.7dpi@DELL164#2
Build: gingerbread.xxLB1

Which kernel should I use?