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Rooting with Mac Snow Leopard

I have not only searched this forum, but have searched everywhere that I could think of for an answer. I finally decided to root and unlock my bootloader. My biggest problem is this:
1. My Mac is running 10.6.8 (Snow Leopard). The required Java files that you have to download only work with 10.7 (Lion) and higher. I have not been able to find a work around for this yet. I prefer to use this method with Adam's Casuals software.
2. I also have a virtual machine with Windows 7. I finally got all of the drivers installed and tried Noxious Ninja's method http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1792342 and that program just runs through without doing anything. I have verified that all files and drivers are installed and that the phone is actually connected to my virtual machine.
I really don't want to give Apple another penny of my money or I would go buy Lion upgrade. I also don't support pirating, so, that option is off of the table as well even though we are talking about the greediest, most evil company out there. I am seriously debating on selling my MacBook Pro and getting a PC at this point.
Any help is greatly appreciated.

Apple is really greedy because their upgrades are $20 compared to $100 + windows upgrades. They are kinda greedy but its the same way bill gates got rich. Anyways i would just say update to Mtn Lion. Only $20 and works good. Rooted my phone with Casual on Mtn Lion.

I was running leopard and was able to root and unlock my bootloader by using Adam outlers root tool. I found it on Droid Life. I searched these forums but couldn't find the threads location. I deleted the email with the link but if I find it I'll post it. Search for Adams unlock tool because I rooted using the same program
Found the link I used
http://www.droid-life.com/2012/08/15/unsecure-bootloader-can-now-be-flashed-to-verizons-galaxy-s3/#more-79368

Thanks, I will try it when I get back home
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda premium

aypeeootrek said:
I was running leopard and was able to root and unlock my bootloader by using Adam outlers root tool. I found it on Droid Life. I searched these forums but couldn't find the threads location. I deleted the email with the link but if I find it I'll post it. Search for Adams unlock tool because I rooted using the same program
Found the link I used
http://www.droid-life.com/2012/08/1...-be-flashed-to-verizons-galaxy-s3/#more-79368
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay, I tried this and can't seem to get it to work either. It loads up fine but does not connect so I don't have the option to do anything else. I have checked and made sure that nothing else is running between the phone and computer. I was using Android File Transfer which was working very good, but turned it off and still no go. That lets me know that I do at least have a good connection between the Mac and S3.
Does anyone know of anything that I can try?

Nobody else has run into this problem? I have spent the better part of last night and this morning and still have not been able to find an answer. I just can't figure out why Android File Transfer will work perfectly and the Casual program will not even connect. I even double checked to make sure that my computer was up to date with software updates. The only thing that isn't up to date is obviously I am running Snow Leopard instead of Mountain Lion.

HHF2 said:
Nobody else has run into this problem? I have spent the better part of last night and this morning and still have not been able to find an answer. I just can't figure out why Android File Transfer will work perfectly and the Casual program will not even connect. I even double checked to make sure that my computer was up to date with software updates. The only thing that isn't up to date is obviously I am running Snow Leopard instead of Mountain Lion.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is USB Debugging on in Developer Options and using the OEM USB cable?

Yes, my daughter came by with her PC and I rooted it without any issues. I would still like to know why I couldn't get those issues resolved.
Now, back to reading so I can back up my IMEI and figure out which ROM to flash! I am also thinking of flashing the newer radio to see if reception improves.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda premium

HHF2 said:
Yes, my daughter came by with her PC and I rooted it without any issues. I would still like to know why I couldn't get those issues resolved.
Now, back to reading so I can back up my IMEI and figure out which ROM to flash! I am also thinking of flashing the newer radio to see if reception improves.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad you got it working, I would recommend Paranoid Android Rom for Stock it runs the smoothest i think and you have the option of using tablet mode.

I ran into the same problem you ran into with Casual not seeing my phone but that was on Lion on my MBP. My iMac running Snow Leopard worked fine without any problems. I asked Adam about this and he said its an issue with the Apple hardware, some see the phones and some don't, it's hit or miss luckily for me one of my systems recognized the phone.
= sent from my Unlocked VZW S3 =

Okay, I found out the issue. Hopefully this will help someone else that has the same problem. The problem came from Easy Tether. I found a page after all of the digging that worked for me (couldn't get adb to work right either) http://stackoverflow.com/questions/6026948/cant-find-android-device-using-adb-devices-command is the page that tells you how to disable it so that adb can communicate with it. I just backed up my IMEI with abd and am feeling pretty good!

[Q] Need help rooting VZW S3 after new jelly bean update 4.1.1 12/14/12 on a MAC

Hey everyone
I've been looking everywhere on how to root the s3 after the new ota update on a mac. Alot of the instructions seem to be geared towards pc users and i want to make sure i do it right and dont brick my phone (crucial for work). Reason i want to root it is to finally have google wallet which i also need help with on installing, i dont mind if its an old version of GW. Also i want to get rid of the wifi notification and add the wifi button to the top of the notification bar. And finally im going on vacation on 1/2/13 and would like to unlock my s3 for use overseas on an international network.
Like i said people i have the new jelly bean update and want to root the s3 on a mac, your help would be much appreciated

FingerBlastJ said:
Hey everyone
I've been looking everywhere on how to root the s3 after the new ota update on a mac. Alot of the instructions seem to be geared towards pc users and i want to make sure i do it right and dont brick my phone (crucial for work). Reason i want to root it is to finally have google wallet which i also need help with on installing, i dont mind if its an old version of GW. Also i want to get rid of the wifi notification and add the wifi button to the top of the notification bar. And finally im going on vacation on 1/2/13 and would like to unlock my s3 for use overseas on an international network.
Like i said people i have the new jelly bean update and want to root the s3 on a mac, your help would be much appreciated
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ive been trying for a month now to get this Mac issue going but with no success. I rooted using the Casual method (only works on 4.0.4) and since then my phone has been a horror show. I stayed on Stock for a week with Root and had the worst battery and random reboots ever. I then did a clean flash of Synergy and every other day was a horror show for me. I gave it a good week to settle but was still getting major heating of the phone and bad battery. I did delete the Blobs folder as per a guide that i read and i noticed a little but of a difference. I went back to stock via the Mobile Odin method and it worked great. I now did the OTA and now have stock 4.1.1 and have been looking around to re-root and start all over. I only did the OTA because i feel its going to be some time before a Mac guide will be available. I have had great success with rooting and tinkering with every Rom that came out for my Incredible since it was first launched until 2 months ago when i finally upgraded. So no im not that much of a noob lol.. Everything is geared for PC which in a developers sight blows my mind that both platforms are not supported yet given that this phone has been out for a good amount of time. I did take someones advise and downloaded a trail version of Parallels which will allow you to use the PC method on your Mac. I do not want to pay the full $80 to be able to freely use Odin on my phone so i am also hoping that someone figures this out. There should be a guide for PC ROOT and Mac ROOT. Try Parallels 14 day trial. I was able to get it to work on my Mac and its pretty easy to install. Im going to give it a few days on Stock just to make sure that my battery wasnt the real issue that i was having. I think that maybe the Casual method did something to mess up my phone. Not sure how cause it is such an easy method. Hope this helps.

ancora76 said:
Ive been trying for a month now to get this Mac issue going but with no success. I rooted using the Casual method (only works on 4.0.4) and since then my phone has been a horror show. I stayed on Stock for a week with Root and had the worst battery and random reboots ever. I then did a clean flash of Synergy and every other day was a horror show for me. I gave it a good week to settle but was still getting major heating of the phone and bad battery. I did delete the Blobs folder as per a guide that i read and i noticed a little but of a difference. I went back to stock via the Mobile Odin method and it worked great. I now did the OTA and now have stock 4.1.1 and have been looking around to re-root and start all over. I only did the OTA because i feel its going to be some time before a Mac guide will be available. I have had great success with rooting and tinkering with every Rom that came out for my Incredible since it was first launched until 2 months ago when i finally upgraded. So no im not that much of a noob lol.. Everything is geared for PC which in a developers sight blows my mind that both platforms are not supported yet given that this phone has been out for a good amount of time. I did take someones advise and downloaded a trail version of Parallels which will allow you to use the PC method on your Mac. I do not want to pay the full $80 to be able to freely use Odin on my phone so i am also hoping that someone figures this out. There should be a guide for PC ROOT and Mac ROOT. Try Parallels 14 day trial. I was able to get it to work on my Mac and its pretty easy to install. Im going to give it a few days on Stock just to make sure that my battery wasnt the real issue that i was having. I think that maybe the Casual method did something to mess up my phone. Not sure how cause it is such an easy method. Hope this helps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
when someone tells me how to do it and if i need to use parallels i will, thanks for the advice

Get win7 on a vm, and download a stock rooted jellybean rom(in the development section) gwallet now has a installer (themes and apps section)
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda premium

CovXX said:
Get win7 on a vm, and download a stock rooted jellybean rom(in the development section) gwallet now has a installer (themes and apps section)
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i dont want to get win 7 and i dont know what vm stands for, i guess im more of a noob than i thought lol but a rooted jb rom with gw on it would be nice, i need help with mac, ppl cmon!!!

I was trying the root/unlock procedure for TWJB this week on my Macbook Pro and gave up and used my Windows 7 desktop instead. The key to the problem here is that you need to be able to flash a few things in odin mode. While there is Heimdall for the Mac and Linux, the current (binary/stable) releases don't support the SGS3 US variants, so it's a dead end. Maybe one of these years I'll get un-lazy and try compiling the 1.4 alpha from source (which purports to support our devices), but since I had a Windows machine handy anyway, I went the path of least resistance.
If someone out there has successfully used Heimdall with a Verizon SGS3, please let us know. I'd still like the ability to do this on my Mac.

FingerBlastJ said:
i dont want to get win 7 and i dont know what vm stands for, i guess im more of a noob than i thought lol but a rooted jb rom with gw on it would be nice, i need help with mac, ppl cmon!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
VM: virtual machine
https://www.virtualbox.org/
http://www.vmware.com/products/fusion/overview.html
http://www.parallels.com/

compulov said:
I was trying the root/unlock procedure for TWJB this week on my Macbook Pro and gave up and used my Windows 7 desktop instead. The key to the problem here is that you need to be able to flash a few things in odin mode. While there is Heimdall for the Mac and Linux, the current (binary/stable) releases don't support the SGS3 US variants, so it's a dead end. Maybe one of these years I'll get un-lazy and try compiling the 1.4 alpha from source (which purports to support our devices), but since I had a Windows machine handy anyway, I went the path of least resistance.
If someone out there has successfully used Heimdall with a Verizon SGS3, please let us know. I'd still like the ability to do this on my Mac.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it doesnt sound hopeful at all after your post lol
but there is no way im goin out and buying anything windows for any reason whatsoever
i guess stock JB it is

FingerBlastJ said:
it doesnt sound hopeful at all after your post lol
but there is no way im goin out and buying anything windows for any reason whatsoever
i guess stock JB it is
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ok ive been pretty impatient with this only pc thing so i downloaded VM 5 and got a 30 day free trial. Now im downloading windows xp 32 bit iso but only 1 problem. i dont know how to mount it on to VM and get windows up and running. this is just the first obstacle of many to come once i get help from you guys on how to run windows on my mac and then root my s3.

FingerBlastJ said:
ok ive been pretty impatient with this only pc thing so i downloaded VM 5 and got a 30 day free trial. Now im downloading windows xp 32 bit iso but only 1 problem. i dont know how to mount it on to VM and get windows up and running. this is just the first obstacle of many to come once i get help from you guys on how to run windows on my mac and then root my s3.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ok guys, i ran VM and i think i rooted my s3 but i have no way of verifying unless you guys tell me how. But now that i am rooted and not bricked, can you guys help me on unlocking my phone as well as getting google wallet up and running and also removing that wifi reminder out of the notification section and getting the wifi icon in the notification bar
much appreciated!

FingerBlastJ said:
ok guys, i ran VM and i think i rooted my s3 but i have no way of verifying unless you guys tell me how. But now that i am rooted and not bricked, can you guys help me on unlocking my phone as well as getting google wallet up and running and also removing that wifi reminder out of the notification section and getting the wifi icon in the notification bar
much appreciated!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ok i got gw wallet working.
But some issues to report.
when i go into more setting and into mobile networks to see if i have cdma lte and global available, it says that "unfortunately, the process com.android.phone has stopped."
now to use my phone globally i need to get into that section.
a few other bugs is that sometimes i get nfc issue notification
also i tried removing the wifi thing in my notifications my setting the value to 0 in sql editor and it didnt work.
Please help ppl!

Just an observation

My sister has this phone and its pretty cool, still love my epic more though. ahem anyway. I've been part of the community at the Epic 4G for some years now and I have realized the importance of gathering the few devs you have and going towards a common goal, only then will you achieve more than what you've been able to do so far.
I see an unofficial CM7, unofficial CM9, and unofficial CM10 and unofficial CM10.1
My suggestion? Depreciate CM7 or finish that with your devs from their respective talent. If that gets depreciated/fails, you as devs of this community will learn from it and grow that much stronger/smarter from it.
Of course, from here I'd try to fix CM9, although, if it takes you more than 3 months to make it to stable, move on and depreciate it as well, you devs are more than capable and by no means should you feel this is under a time-constraint but set your volounteer goals and stick to it, or allow new devs to step in.
If CM9 proves to be a challenge, and you weren't able to progress much, might I suggest you make sure you've made the jump from the 2.6.7 kernel and move on to making yourselves the 3.x.x kernel? You'll be able to use it on ICS and it will prove helpful for Jelly bean 4.1.2/CM10..
CM10 will be yet again another task for you guys, although imo, crucial if you plan on fixing CM10.1
Again, this is just an observation and I did not research for the possibility that you guys may already have a mostly-working 3.x.x kernel. I sure wish I could help you guys, I know the brains that would assist, and I have the pc power to give it a shot, but yeah. I hope you guys have your testers giving you logcats.
Good luck guys!
GS4G Devs working on CM Builds, pm me what you're doing to help, what you guys are stuck on, and I'll forward it to the appropriate geniuses who have already dissolved those issues on different variants of your phone myself.
I wish nothing but the best to all of you, you have a sweet phone, and you all deserve official CM Support like the rest of us.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using xda premium
Note Bene: FYI, your Heimdall One-Click solution is useless on 64-Bit setups unless you go through the hassle of using Heimdall FrontEnd. Also, I suggest you update the stock tar of your latest GB Odin, while unreliable for some, we should not be left to dry with just a download link from the outdated multi-upload site. I had to dig deep to find an odin tar that worked for this.

Heimdall works perfectly on my 64bit windows 8. I know only on an Ubuntu issue.
sent from me

No heimdal one clicks work fine on 64-bit ubuntu. Now with the updates ubuntu could have broken a function but 12.04 was working fine for me.
This post will be met with a lot of hostility, so be prepared. There is limited people working here since this isnt a very popular phone. Some people share everything while others keep everything they can to themselves. Its a good stepping stone phone and is capable of running JB. But there are plenty other devices with more developers and rom porters. Most people get this phone because its the best phone offered for the monthly 4G plans. Not sure what T-mo is offering now but a year ago this was the only phone with atleast a 4inch screen they offered for the monthly prepaid plans.

itzik2sh said:
Heimdall works perfectly on my 64bit windows 8. I know only on an Ubuntu issue.
sent from me
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No dice on Windows 7 64-Bit. All proper drivers installed? Check. Brand New Cable used? Check. Odin (while rare) worked better for my new laptop. (All 3.0 ports) which may not be a factor, but yeah.
eollie said:
No heimdal one clicks work fine on 64-bit ubuntu. Now with the updates ubuntu could have broken a function but 12.04 was working fine for me.
This post will be met with a lot of hostility, so be prepared. There is limited people working here since this isnt a very popular phone. Some people share everything while others keep everything they can to themselves. Its a good stepping stone phone and is capable of running JB. But there are plenty other devices with more developers and rom porters. Most people get this phone because its the best phone offered for the monthly 4G plans. Not sure what T-mo is offering now but a year ago this was the only phone with atleast a 4inch screen they offered for the monthly prepaid plans.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I see, and yes, its not meant to be taken as ordering around or anything, I'm just a bystander from a different section who has seen and closely followed progress of development and as I see how fragmented your android development section seems to be, it just seems like something to post as an observation. Mostly 2-3 people got our phone to official cm support status, so don't feel discouraged guys. Your devs could always reach out to the other dev community for direction, but anyway I hope you guys get official soon.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using xda premium

If you cant get it to work on windows7 64 look at lumin30s guide. He has a program that will remove any samasung drivers so you can install the ones from heimdal. It sounds like that is the problem. Also make sure you are not using the same port for heimdal as you did for odin.

Yeah... Heimdall works for me on 64-bit Windows 7 and Windows 8 both. So if it doesn't work for you, it's something on your setup, not an issue with Heimdall itself.

just so you know, use the usb ports on the back of the pc. the ones on the front have been known to cause problems and not recognizing the device. that is of course if you are trying to use the front ones.
sent from within pure darkness

eollie said:
If you cant get it to work on windows7 64 look at lumin30s guide. He has a program that will remove any samasung drivers so you can install the ones from heimdal. It sounds like that is the problem. Also make sure you are not using the same port for heimdal as you did for odin.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I used and troubleshooted with different ports, it just is so stubborn. I'll take a look at it. It's weird because I've used Heimdall before.
Theraze said:
Yeah... Heimdall works for me on 64-bit Windows 7 and Windows 8 both. So if it doesn't work for you, it's something on your setup, not an issue with Heimdall itself.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's got to be my setup then, although, just the fact that I had the samsung drivers, it being properly recognized, and then heimdall not recognizing it sure fooled me at who to blame.
GFX.myst. said:
just so you know, use the usb ports on the back of the pc. the ones on the front have been known to cause problems and not recognizing the device. that is of course if you are trying to use the front ones.
sent from within pure darkness
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh dear, I don't think I've used a desktop for programming/flashing (nothing wrong with that though). All of it on laptops.
By the by, it sure did seem easy to blame heimdall everything else checked out. Although I've already odin'd the T959V phone, I'll still check out the guide. I'll run some command lines and uninstall everything that has to do with android to see if that may allow Heimdall to recognize it in download mode.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using xda premium

Mine is on laptops as well. And note that with Heimdall, I believe it was supposed to be using the drivers from Heimdall (from zadig) rather than from Samsung. Believe I'm using the WinUSB driver type. Hope it helps. Also, remember to reboot after installing...

Theraze said:
Mine is on laptops as well. And note that with Heimdall, I believe it was supposed to be using the drivers from Heimdall (from zadig) rather than from Samsung. Believe I'm using the WinUSB driver type. Hope it helps. Also, remember to reboot after installing...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Explains why I figured front-end heimdall worked fine (usage of zadig) as opposed to the packaged version. Makes sense. New laptop so zadig was probably not a priority in my work apps. Lol thanks.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using xda premium

Shinydude100 said:
I used and troubleshooted with different ports, it just is so stubborn. I'll take a look at it. It's weird because I've used Heimdall before.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The SGS4G is a real finicky phone things that work for other samsung phones just fail on it. Most of the time it is a driver issue. And for a select few they just cant use heimdall.
Shinydude100 said:
By the by, it sure did seem easy to blame heimdall everything else checked out. Although I've already odin'd the T959V phone, I'll still check out the guide. I'll run some command lines and uninstall everything that has to do with android to see if that may allow Heimdall to recognize it in download mode.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Again my response above the SGS4G is a real finicky phone. I even think AdamOutler mentioned it in one of his posts/videos at how super finicky it is. I know I avoided it for so long because the first couple times I tried it it would fail. Ive helped a couple people that just could not get it to work on their laptop. Most people that have issues are using laptops and for some reason there is nothing that can be done to get it working. You might fall into that category for this device.

No Way to Unbrick on a Mac?!?

Call me paranoid, but after reading the thread on Unbricking that got bumped a couple days ago, I'm a little afraid I might one day brick my device. Even though I take all the precautions, it looks like bad luck has set upon a handful of guys, and I feel like it might happen to us all one day. I'd feel at ease, after reading that thread, however I don't have a PC and I have virtually no way of getting my hands on one!! Is there no way to do this on a Mac? Is any dev working on this or able to point me to instructions in case this happens to me? I just want to be ready..
Kinda surprised I couldn't find any threads on this.

The only way you can brick this phone is if you stupidly flash a ROM not meant for this phone. Please know the difference between soft brick and hard brick. Also there isn't any proven method to un-brick a soft bricked S 3 for the MAC. The last time I checked the MAC is a PC made by Apple running its own OS just like an iPhone is a smartphone, an iPad is a tablet and an iPod is an MP3 player but that is an whole other story.

Best response you'll get is to try using Heimdall, if it's working for our phone, if you absolutely must use Mac. Not many people have been trying that from what I see and I doubt there will be any change either. Besides that, find someone with a Windows PC and fix any issue you have.
And I completely agree with jmxc23.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app

npro1464 said:
Call me paranoid, but after reading the thread on Unbricking that got bumped a couple days ago, I'm a little afraid I might one day brick my device. Even though I take all the precautions, it looks like bad luck has set upon a handful of guys, and I feel like it might happen to us all one day. I'd feel at ease, after reading that thread, however I don't have a PC and I have virtually no way of getting my hands on one!! Is there no way to do this on a Mac? Is any dev working on this or able to point me to instructions in case this happens to me? I just want to be ready..
Kinda surprised I couldn't find any threads on this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You could use a virtual machine that runs windows. But yes, your options are very limited when trying to work with this phone on a mac.

You need a JTAG to unbrick!

mandiw777 said:
You need a JTAG to unbrick!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is for hard bricking. The OP is talking about soft bricking the device there IS a difference between the two.

jmxc23 said:
The only way you can brick this phone is if you stupidly flash a ROM not meant for this phone. Please know the difference between soft brick and hard brick. Also there isn't any proven method to un-brick a soft bricked S 3 for the MAC. The last time I checked the MAC is a PC made by Apple running its own OS just like an iPhone is a smartphone, an iPad is a tablet and an iPod is an MP3 player but that is an whole other story.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So as long as I don't flash a non VZ rom I should be good and shouldn't get a soft brick? I don't mind having to boot into recovery to fix something, but having to find a PC might cost me a day or two without a phone, and a big fight with my wife. It might be worth my money to invest in Parallels..
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

npro1464 said:
So as long as I don't flash a non VZ rom I should be good and shouldn't get a soft brick? I don't mind having to boot into recovery to fix something, but having to find a PC might cost me a day or two without a phone, and a big fight with my wife. It might be worth my money to invest in Parallels..
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you're a consistent flasher, at some point you will need to use Odin. Maybe not enough times to justify spending money to solve your problem, but you're going to have to borrow someone's PC or use windows eventually unless someone comes up with some Mac development

That sucks. If I reset the flash counter does that help prevent this at all?
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

npro1464 said:
That sucks. If I reset the flash counter does that help prevent this at all?
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Resetting the flash counter is utterly pointless until you need to exchange the phone via warranty. So, no it does not.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app

So there is no way to fix a soft brick with heimdall? Ive been looking everywhere for a guide or any help. Im stuck at a softbrick and have no access to a windows computer. Any advice?

j.minds said:
So there is no way to fix a soft brick with heimdall? Ive been looking everywhere for a guide or any help. Im stuck at a softbrick and have no access to a windows computer. Any advice?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Download a Windows 8 or 7 trial and install bootcamp.
Surge1223

[Q] Getting a samsung focus. How I do I get started with ROM'ing and homebrew?

Hi, a friend of mine upgraded his phone today (Samsung Focus) and got a Lumia 920. I've never used windows phone before and have always been an android user, but I'm getting frustrated to say the least with it, and there are alot of features on android that I simply don't need, and I need a smooth and stable new OS to tinker with. So my friend recommended I atleast give WP7 a try and I'm buying it from him tommorow. I'm extremely excited to try out this beautiful OS, and being the tinkering kind of person, I want to start messing with it as soon as I get my hands on it.
My question is, how do I get started? The phone is already on 7.8 and jailbroken, atleast according to my friend. I want to know what are the advantages of a ROM on windows phone, how do I install the ROM, how do I recover from any mishaps (bricks, etc.) and the sort.
Also, I eventually wanted to test out homebrew and all, but maybe it's just me, but WP7 doesn't seem to be very Mac friendly (and my only computer, a macbook can't upgrade to 10.7, which Zune is available for...). So anyway to install home-brew without the use of a computer?
Thanks for the help, guys! I can't wait!

For the homebrew thing, you could just dualboot windows and OS X? Than you can just use windows for windows phone. As for the other thing I don't think there are roms for the focus (it's a us version of the international omnia w right?)
Sent from my One V using xda premium

lars1216 said:
For the homebrew thing, you could just dualboot windows and OS X? Than you can just use windows for windows phone. As for the other thing I don't think there are roms for the focus (it's a us version of the international omnia w right?)
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It's the at&t one, unlocked, jailbroken and on 7.8...
So all the roms in the development section of the Focus are for the Omnia W??
as for dual booting, I guess I could, but I'd rather keep that as a last resort. Do I have no other option?

Don't know anything about macs so I don't know, just threw it out there as an option. And the focus has it's own section? Didn't know that, guess they should work then.
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lars1216 said:
Don't know anything about macs so I don't know, just threw it out there as an option. And the focus has it's own section? Didn't know that, guess they should work then.
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How do I go about flashing it...on a mac? Or do I need a windows? If so, how do I flash on windows?
Also, for the apps, I guess this Xap Handler program seems to do the trick without requiring a computer, how do I get that on my phone?

I'm sorry you'll have to wait for someone else for that. The only windows phone device that I have is the omnia W which doesn't have any custom roms as far as I know of (and I haven't felt the need either since 7.8 stock is good enough for me)
By the way on Linux my omnia W is recognized as any other USB device so I can just drag and drop files there. On windows you are forced to use zune. Maybe it works the same on mac as on Linux? Than that problem would be solved I guess.
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ReDDs3D said:
Hi, a friend of mine upgraded his phone today (Samsung Focus) and got a Lumia 920. I've never used windows phone before and have always been an android user, but I'm getting frustrated to say the least with it, and there are alot of features on android that I simply don't need, and I need a smooth and stable new OS to tinker with. So my friend recommended I atleast give WP7 a try and I'm buying it from him tommorow. I'm extremely excited to try out this beautiful OS, and being the tinkering kind of person, I want to start messing with it as soon as I get my hands on it.
My question is, how do I get started? The phone is already on 7.8 and jailbroken, atleast according to my friend. I want to know what are the advantages of a ROM on windows phone, how do I install the ROM, how do I recover from any mishaps (bricks, etc.) and the sort.
Also, I eventually wanted to test out homebrew and all, but maybe it's just me, but WP7 doesn't seem to be very Mac friendly (and my only computer, a macbook can't upgrade to 10.7, which Zune is available for...). So anyway to install home-brew without the use of a computer?
Thanks for the help, guys! I can't wait!
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Don't quote me on this but the only way I think you can fully brick a phone is by installing the wrong rev version rom..
Install CleanRom 3.10a here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1528984
If you have a Rom installed which supports apps to be installed from inside the browser you should be able to install apps without a PC.
I have to say Im 17 and I have bricked my phone atleast 3 times by messing with the registry and I UNBRICKED IT EVERYTIME AND IS STILL FULLY FUNCTIONAL up to this day. All you have to do is backup and reflash the ROM if the phone is bricked. THERE ARE 2 VERSIONS OF SAMSUNG FOCUS.. 1.3 AND 1.4 . FLASHING THE ROM FOR THE WRONG VERSION WILL CAUSE A PERMANENT BRICK FOR WHICH IT CANT BE RECOVERED..
Some Tips:
1. Before reflashing always have atleast 60% battery
2. Check your version of focus under the battery
Check out more info in the focus section http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=780