Install LineageOS on
Samsung Galaxy S4 (SCH-R970, SPH-L720)

Basic requirements

1. Read through the instructions at least once before actually following them, so as to avoid any problems due to any missed steps!
2. Make sure your computer has adb and fastboot. Setup instructions can be found here.
3. Enable USB debugging on your device.
4. Make sure that your model is actually listed in the “Supported models” section here (exact match required!)
5. Boot your device with the stock OS at least once and check every functionality.
6. LineageOS is provided as-is with no warranty. While we attempt to verify everything works you are installing this at your own risk!

Important Information

Samsung devices come with a unique boot mode called “Download mode”, which is very similar to “Fastboot mode” on some devices with unlocked bootloaders. Odin is a Samsung-made tool for interfacing with Download mode on Samsung devices. The preferred method of installing a custom recovery is through Download Mode – rooting the stock firmware is neither necessary nor required.

Installing Lineage Recovery using Odin

1. Build a LineageOS installation package. The recovery will be built as part of it!
2. Locate the built recovery.img file, open a Command Prompt in the folder where the file was found, and TAR the file by running tar --format=ustar -cvf recovery.tar recovery.img
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   Tip: You can open a command prompt in any folder by right-clicking on empty space while holding Shift and selecting “Open Command Prompt here” or “Open PowerShell window here” from the context menu.
   warning

   Important: Other recoveries may not work for installation or updates. We strongly recommend to use the one linked above!
3. Power off the device, and boot it into download mode:
   • With the device powered off, hold Home + Volume Down + Power.
   • Now, click the button that the onscreen instructions correlate to “Continue”, and insert the USB cable into the device.
4. Download and install the necessary drivers.
   • Download the newest Samsung drivers from here. You will need to create a Samsung account and login to download them.
   • Install SAMSUNG_USB_Driver_for_Mobile_Phones.exe.
5. Download this version of Odin.
6. Extract “Odin_3.13.1.zip”.
7. Run Odin3 v3.13.1 found in the newly extracted “Odin_3.13.1” folder.
8. Check in the top left of the Odin window that you see a valid device, it will show up as something like COM0.
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   Tip: The COM port, or the number succeeding COM, may be any valid number.
9. In the left side of the Odin window, you will see an “Options” tab, click it, and then un-check the “Auto Reboot” option.
10. Check the box labeled next to the button labeled “AP”, and then click the “AP” button.
    • In the menu that pops up, select the newly downloaded (or built) custom recovery .tar or .tar.md5.
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    Tip: The filename may vary depending on your device, and the version of your custom recovery.
11. Click “Start”. A transfer bar will appear on the device showing the recovery image being flashed.
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    Note: The device will continue to display Downloading... Do not turn off target!! even after the process is complete.
12. Manually reboot into recovery, this may require pulling the device’s battery out and putting it back in, or if you have a non-removable battery, press the Volume Down + Power buttons for 8~10 seconds until the screen turns black & release the buttons immediately when it does, then boot to recovery:
    • With the device powered off, hold Home + Volume Up + Power. Let go of Power immediately when the phone vibrates, but keep holding the two other keys.
    info_outline

    Note: Be sure to reboot into recovery immediately after installing the custom recovery. If you don’t the custom recovery will be overwritten on boot.
    info_outline

    Note: If your recovery does not show the LineageOS logo , you accidentally booted into the wrong recovery. Please start at the top of this section!

Installing LineageOS from recovery

1. Build a LineageOS installation package.
2. If you are not in recovery, reboot into recovery:
   • With the device powered off, hold Home + Volume Up + Power. Let go of Power immediately when the phone vibrates, but keep holding the two other keys.
3. Now tap Factory Reset, then Format data / factory reset and continue with the formatting process. This will remove encryption and delete all files stored in the internal storage, as well as format your cache partition (if you have one).
4. Return to the main menu.
5. Sideload the LineageOS .zip package but do not reboot before you read/followed the rest of the instructions!
   • On the device, select “Apply Update”, then “Apply from ADB” to begin sideload.
   • On the host machine, sideload the package using: adb -d sideload filename.zip.
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     Tip: Normally, adb will report Total xfer: 1.00x, but in some cases, even if the process succeeds the output will stop at 47% and report adb: failed to read command: Success. In some cases it will report adb: failed to read command: No error or adb: failed to read command: Undefined error: 0 which is also fine.

Installing Add-Ons

1. Click Apply Update, then Apply from ADB, then adb -d sideload filename.zip for all desired packages in sequence.
   When presented with a screen that says Signature verification failed, click Yes. It is expected as add-ons aren’t signed with LineageOS’s official key!

All set!

Once you have installed everything successfully, you can now reboot your device into the OS for the first time!

• Click the back arrow in the top left of the screen, then “Reboot system now”.