Rooting the SGS4 GT-I9505G on OSX shouldn’t be this hard, should it? But, it is.
- Setup VirtualBox (don’t forget the Extension Pack) with an XP Virtual Machine.
- Boot into this VM image by opening Virtual Box, and selecting the “IE8 - WinXP” image and pressing “Start”.
- Once booted, select Devices > Install Guest Additions from the (OSX) menu. Reboot the VM.
- Within the VM, download and install the Samsung Drivers. Follow “Installation 1”. Shut down the VM.
- Now, plug your SGS4 GT-I9505G into your Mac. Within VirtualBox, select the “IE8 - WinXP” image, and press “Settings”.
- Select Ports > USB, then click the ”+” symbol on the right. Select the “Samsung” option.
- This should add an item into the main window. Double click this new “Samsung” item. Clear out all fields except “Name”, and select “No” for “Remote”. Click “OK”.
- Now, ensure “Enable USB 2.0 (EHCI) Controller” is ticked.
- Click “Ok” to close this window.
- Unplug your phone, then start the VM again.
- Within the VM, download the CF-Root for this device: CF-Auto-Root-jflte-jfltexx-gti9505.zip.
- Unzip it into a folder. You should now have 3 files: “Odin3-v1.85.exe”, “Odin3.txt”, and “CF-Auto-Root-jflte-jfltexx-gti9505.tar.md5”.
- Double click “Odin3-v1.85.exe” to launch the flashing utility.
- Plug your SGS4 GT-I9505G into your Mac. The Windows VM should ‘detect new hardware’, and eventually an orange box should show on the left hand side of the Odin window.
- If you do not see this orange box, from the (OSX) menu, select Devices > USB Devices > Samsung to enable sharing of the USB device with the VM.
- Now, within the VM, click “PDA”. Select the “CF-Auto-Root-jflte-jfltexx-gti9505.tar.md5” you unzipped earlier.
- Click “Start”.
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Let Odin do its thing, and eventually the orange box will turn green saying “PASS!“. You should also see your phone reboot, and a pirate looking android symbol show briefly while rooting takes place.
If Odin appears to hang (often at “SetupConnection”), follow these steps:
- Unplug your phone
- Power off your phone
- Boot your phone into “Download Mode” by holding: Home, Volume Down, and Power
- Wait until the “warning” screen appears, then release the buttons
- Use Volume Up to acknowledge the danger
- Ensure Odin is still running
- Plug your phone back into the computer
- Let Windows install any drivers it may want to
- Once Odin shows the yellow/orange box again, hit “Start” and things should progress properly
- Once fully rebooted, unplug your phone, and check that the “SuperSU” app has been installed to your applications.
Success! Enjoy!