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How To: Root the Samsung Galaxy (Updated 04/05/10)

December 2, 2009 in Android How To's, Featured, How To's, Samsung Galaxy How To's, Video

I. Before You Begin

1. Make sure your device is in USB Debugging mode (goto Settings > Applications > Development and turn it on)

2. If you are looking for the Samsung Behold 2 procedure it has been moved here.

How To Root the Samsung Behold 2

II. Setup ADB and Drivers

Follow this procedure to get ADB setup on your Galaxy.
How To Setup ADB/Install USB Drivers

III. Flash the Recovery Image

1. Download the recovery image package and extract all the contents to your AndroidSDK\tools folder (same folder as the adb program).

Recovery Image (THIS FILE AS BEEN REMOVED THANKS TO MEGAUPLOAD AND THE FEDS, IF SOMEONE CAN FIND IT’S REPLACEMENT PLEASE CONTACT US SO WE CAN ADD IT FOR OTHERS TO USE, THANKS!)

2. Open the command prompt by typing cmd into the search box in your Start Menu.

3. In the command prompt, type the following (hitting enter at the end of every line):

cd\
cd AndroidSDK\Tools\
fastboot flash recovery recovery.img

It should say waiting for device.

4. Now, plug in the phone via USB and then turn it off. Turn it back on by holding down End, Send, and OK and keep holding them until it says fastboot on the phone’s screen.

5. The command prompt on the computer should continue and then the phone should boot into normal mode.

6. Now turn the phone off, then back on by holding down Volume Down, Send, and End until the recovery screen comes up.

7. The phone will boot into recovery mode and should show the custom recovery screen. If so, then continue typing the following:

adb push RECTOOLS.tar.gz /sdcard/
adb shell sync
adb shell reboot recovery

The phone should again reboot into recovery mode but this time with a lot more options.

8. In the recovery menu, select Enable Root (SU), then select Reboot Device.

The phone should reboot at this point back into normal mode. You are all set, you now have root access and a custom recovery image.

If you want to load a Custom ROM now, head over to our How To Load a Custom ROM on the Samsung Galaxy procedure.

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83 responses to How To: Root the Samsung Galaxy (Updated 04/05/10)

  1. jonas said on March 10, 2010

    Does this work for the samsung galaxy spica?

    thx.

  2. teecee said on March 11, 2010

    hey unlockr, how long would you need the behold 2 for? Im willing to send you mine, but you gotta delete some crap off it for me too and get it back asap

    • TheUnlockr said on March 11, 2010

      Teecee,

      Would only take me a day and I’d ship it back the next day. Send me an email through the contact us and we can figure it out.

  3. Jlai said on March 14, 2010

    Hey, i’ve followed all the directions but i don’t think i have rooted, could this be because i updated the phone with T-mobile’s update??

  4. Patrick M. said on March 20, 2010

    It worked GREAT!!! and it was easy to do. The only problem I had was getting my serial number to show up at first, Here’s a tip for anyone using the Behold 2 and having problems getting your serial number to show up, go to settings-about phone-additional settings-Mass storage only . MAKE SURE MASS STORAGE ONLY IS UN-checked and your serial number should show up fine after that. Now I’m on to how to flash a recovery image,, wish me luck!!!! Thanks Unlockr, I use this site soooo much, your tutorials are just the best!

  5. robert said on March 27, 2010

    is there a video for this yet?

  6. rey said on March 28, 2010

    to many things to do, all that sdk adb could not get to work,that video would help alot.

  7. rey said on March 28, 2010

    i did the g1, that one was alot easier.there has to be a easier way to do this.

  8. Jeevone said on March 31, 2010

    Will this work with Android 1.6 on the JC6 ROM ?

    • TheUnlockr said on March 31, 2010

      Jeevone,

      Until we get a video up (which means I have a phone in hand) it’s all based on others words. I should be getting a phone this week and will do this procedure and make sure it works correctly then put up the video if you’d rather wait.

  9. Al said on April 20, 2010

    When i try to push RECTOOLS i get this: error: device offline

    • tom said on July 13, 2010

      I also get this error, I was wondering if anyone had found a way around this.?

      thanks

    • t3k said on February 22, 2011

      I also had this problem. To fix, I unplugged the usb and plugged it back in. That’s it! Everything else went smoothly! :) Good luck!

  10. Mark said on April 25, 2010

    The Android SDK site specifically says that you cannot use the Samsung behold 2 drivers on a 64 bit system…. so we’re all SOL I guess.

    • TheUnlockr said on April 25, 2010

      Mark,

      The Behold 2 won’t work (we say that in the before you begin of the procedure). BUT this is the Galaxy, not the Behold 2. I did this procedure fine on my x64 computer.

  11. Bench said on April 28, 2010

    I’m trying to root my Galaxy, and am following your procedure.
    Finding the phone with the ‘adb devices’ command goes well and gives me the serial.
    I’m following all the steps, until step 4 all goes well but then on step 5 it stops. The cmd prompt on my computer doesn’t go any further then waiting for device…
    Do you have any idea why? Something i did wrong?

  12. edmandroid said on June 12, 2010

    hi guys

    I cannot use this for my samsung galaxy spica i5700, need help please

  13. sean said on June 17, 2010

    this was 10x shorter and easier than rooting the g1. Those stuck touchwiz icons pissed me off. i’m happy to say i’m now running the tweeked 1.5 version and the phone is way more responsive to typing n naving. great job. however, there’s this kernel issue i’m trying to resolve to let me use tetherwifi. other than that everythings purrfecto.

  14. Matt said on July 1, 2010

    When I boot my phone in Fastboot mode it only lasts about 15 seconds before it continues booting the phone regularly which doesn’t give me enough time to install the fastboot drivers. As I’m in the process of selecting the fastboot driver it continues to boot and it says on my computer “device disconnected”. Any idea why this is happening?

  15. Paul said on July 3, 2010

    I’m assuming the above guide is for the “i7500″ only? If so, how close to 7/21 do you think you will have a guide for the i9000 (T Mobile Vibrrant)? Or, is the above guide for any Samsung Galaxy? Thanks, Paul

  16. jarvis said on July 23, 2010

    How do i download the galaxy s drivers? I tried everything but i still cant get it …Anyone got an answer?

    • Avatar Image

      David Cogen said on July 23, 2010

      Jarvis,

      This is not for the galaxy s. Its for the galaxy. Expect a galaxy s procedure separately.

  17. LeonTH said on July 25, 2010

    after I entering fastboot flash recovery recovery.img and set phone to fast boot, nothing happens. (

  18. Sanjii said on August 5, 2010

    I got the same problem as LeonTH.

    Then the idea came up to keep the device manager open while doing different steps.
    When I plug it in while my phone is on, the device manager lists it under ‘ADB interface’ (and the command ‘adb devices’ lists it as ‘ device’).
    When I plug it in while it’s in fastboot mode, the device manager lists it under ‘ohter devices’ as ‘android 1.0′.
    (The same happens when I keep it plugged in while entering fastboot mode.)

    And if I keep it plugged in after it’s rebooted, it’s listed as ‘ADB interface’ again after android is started.
    (Another thing: after it’s rebooted, if I use the command ‘adb devices’ it’s listed as ‘ offline’. It goes back to ‘ device’ after it’s plugged out and plugged back in.)

    (during all of this cmd is still ”)

    I think the problem is that, during fastboot mode, it’s listed as ‘android 1.0′.

    Don’t you think? And does any of you have a solution for this?

    Gtz,
    Sanjii

  19. Brent said on August 29, 2010

    I have rooted and tethered my att galaxy s capitvate but when i try to connect my win 7 laptop via wireless, my laptop doesnot connect. please help. also, can i connect to my ps3 and how? i would appreciate all comments. again i only rooted my phone and downloaded astro and barnacle. they seem to be working fine and seen but not connecting?

  20. Cybirian said on January 17, 2011

    I also got the problem that when doing a fast reboot my desktop shows : Waiting for device

    I do not read any resolutuion here yet.

    I have Android 1.6 on my I7500

  21. Cybirian said on January 17, 2011

    I also got the problem that when doing a fast reboot my desktop shows : Waiting for device

    I do not read any resolutuion here yet.

    I have Android 1.6 on my I7500

  22. t3k said on February 22, 2011

    Thanks! Worked like a charm! Any ideas how to unlock nand?

  23. romeo said on June 27, 2011

    will this work on the behold ll??

  24. Pravchuk said on October 5, 2011

    I lost the CD that had been given within the box for the galaxy i7500. and so my adb doesnt show any serial numbers when i enter “adb devices” in cmd. Could you please upload it on the net? Me and many others with driver problems will be ever so thankful to you…..plzzzz upload the CD onto the internet.

  25. Cira995 said on November 4, 2011

    can someone send me whole folder (AndroidSDK) on my mail…cuz i dont have all stuff which are on this video… ?     cira995@yahoo.com       thanx !

  26. F_razaq said on January 2, 2012

    cant get it to work!!!!
    got as far as III.3. but then says ” ‘fastboot’ is not recognised as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file.”
    Help pls!

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