How to Root the Samsung Galaxy S4 (I9505)

The Galaxy S4 is the new flagship device from Samsung in its ever popular Galaxy line and is on the cards to be released later this month.  The device will feature a quad-core 1.6GHz CPU with 2GB of RAM (making it faster than some older desktop PCs!), a 13MP camera, a great-looking 5-inch Super AMOLED touchscreen display.  But that’s not what this post is about; this is about the I9505 variant (which is available as of now) of the same device, which features a 1.9GHz quad-core CPU on a Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset.  The guide below should help you get it rooted in no time and you should be off instaling root-requiring apps very soon.

I.  Before You Begin

1.  This procedure is intended only for the I9505 variant of the Galaxy S4; do not try this on any other models of the Galaxy S4 or you’ll end up bricking your device!

2.  Charge your device to 75% or more and back up everything you feel is important before you begin.

3.  Install the necessary drivers before you start; if you haven’t already done so, use the Galaxy S drivers to get it done.

4.  This procedure is known to work on the XXUAMD2 firmware only; do not try this procedure if you have any other firmware version.

II.  Necessary Downloads

CF-Auto-Root-jflte-jfltexx-gti9505.zip [Download link available in this post]

III.  Rooting the Galaxy S4

1.  Extract CF-Auto-Root-jflte-jfltexx-gti9505.zip to a folder on your desktop.

2.  From the extracted folder, double-click on Odin3-v1.85.exe to run Odin.

3. Click on the PDA button in Odin, navigate to the location of CF-Auto-Root-jflte-jfltexx-gti9505.tar.md5, select it, and then click on Open to load the file into Odin.

5.  Shut down your device and put it into Download mode.  To do this, press and hold Volume Down + Power + Home buttons simultaneously and release them when you see the GT-I9505 logo.  Now, press Volume Up to confirm entry into Download Mode.

6.  Connect your device to your PC.  Odin should now recognize the device and the ID:COM field should light up yellow, signifying that Odin has detected your device without a problem.

7.  Make sure that only the Auto Reboot is checked under the Option section.

8.  Make sure that your Odin screen looks like the below screenshot and then click on Start.

Your device will reboot at the end of the procedure and you can see the SuperSU app in your app drawer, which means you now have root access!  If still in doubt, use the Root Checker app from Play Store to verify.

If this procedure helped you please thank/donate to the original developers here.

If you need help with this procedure, please ask in the comments below or in the forum.

This is part of our Android How To’s. We have how to’s on rooting, loading ROMs, and tons of other tips and tricks for your specific device or for Android devices in general! For all of our Android How To’s, head here.