Team Win Recovery Project (TWRP) recovery tool is one of the most popular custom recovery tools in the Android world. Packed with various unique features, TWRP recovery is the favourite tool to install custom ROMs, kernels and system tweaks. Team Win has made sure to include many features not found in other recoveries like in-built theme manager, file manager apps, onscreen keyboard, etc.
Very recently senior XDA developer emwno ported the TWRP recovery (experimental build) to Samsung Galaxy S4 models I9500 and I9505. This tutorial will focus on installing TWRP on Galaxy S4 I9505 (for SGS4 i9500, check this post).
Don't forget to ensure:
- that your Windows PC has USB drivers for your smartphone installed.
- to disable KIES before initiating installation process as it would disturb the installation.
- enough battery power is juiced up in your Galaxy S4.
How to install TWRP Recovery on Samsung Galaxy S4 I9505:
Required files: download the latest version of TWRP recovery for Galaxy S4 I9505 from here and the Odin3 v3.04 on your PC. Extract the Odin file into a folder and run the exe.
- Switch off your Galaxy S4 i9505.
- Boot the device into Download mode: reboot the phone by holding Volume Down, Home and Power buttons simultaneously.
- Once in Download mode, connect the S4 to PC using a USB cable. Odin will detect the smartphone and ID:COM on Odin box will turn yellow along with an ADDED!! message.
- Click on PDA button and locate the tar.md5 file from the firmware folder installed earlier. Do not make any changes in default settings of Odin. Just make sure that re-partition is unchecked.
- Click on the START button to start the installation process. When it is completed successfully, your Galaxy S4 will restart automatically and you will get a PASS message on Odin.
- Disconnect your phone from computer.
Ta da! TWRP recovery is now installed on your brand new Samsung Galaxy S4.
Note: if Odin shows a FAIL message instead of PASS, or get stuck at some place: simply close the Odin, disconnect S4, pull out the battery from the smartphone for a few seconds. Now put the battery back to the device and reboot it into Download mode and then install the firmware again.
