Phones

Rooting Samsung Galaxy S II

This is a step by step guide on how to root a Samsung Galaxy S II.

RISK: Please follow this guide at your own risk. I (Yahia Hegazy) will not be liable if the phone gets damaged or bricked during the process.

1. Download T-Mobile Galaxy S II drivers here and install them onto the PC
2. Once the drivers are installed and running, download ODIN.
   1. Make a new folder on your desktop called ODIN and extract the ODIN zip file to this new folder.
3. Download SuperUser.zip file here.
   1. Connect the phone to the computer. Mount the SD Card as a flash drive and copy the zip file to the SD Card.
4. Now power off the phone, remove the back cover and pull out the battery.
5. After the battery has been pulled, place it back in, connect the USB cable and reboot the phone into Download Mode by holding the Volume UP + Volume Down buttons and turning on the phone.
6. Once in Download Mode, open the ODIN folder and double click to launch ODIN application
7. A Com Port will be highlighted in yellow. This proves the phone is connected with the PC.

1. Download ClockworkMod Recovery for T-Mobile Galaxy S II and place the .tar file in ODIN folder
2. Click on the PDA tab on ODIN (as shown above image) and select recovery-cmw-hercules.tar (as used in this example or any other CMW file).
3. Click START and wait for ODIN to complete the flashing process.
   1. Once done, the phone will automatically reboot.
4. Let the phone reboot into system and once you can see the launcher, power off your phone again and take out the battery.
   1. Place battery back into the phone and reboot your phone into Recovery Mode. In order to boot into Recovery Mode, unplug the USB cable and press and hold Volume UP + Volume Down buttons and turning on the phone.
   2. Once in Recovery Mode, navigate to Install Zip from Internal SD Card option using the Volume Up or Volume Down keys and using the Power Button as the select key.
   3. Once done installing, reboot phone.
5. Finally, go back into Recovery Mode and go to Backup and Restore. Backup the phone. It is vital to do so.

References:

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1549692

http://www.addictivetips.com/mobile/root-t-mobile-samsung-galaxy-s-ii-s2-via-odin-guide/

http://theunlockr.com/2011/12/01/how-to-root-the-samsung-galaxy-s-ii-all-versions/

http://www.redmondpie.com/remove-pre-installed-first-party-t-mobile-samsung-apps-from-galaxy-s-ii-with-automated-debloater/

http://galaxys2root.com/t-mobile-galaxy-s2-faq/