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

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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
  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.
  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.
  11. Click “Start”. A transfer bar will appear on the device showing the recovery image being flashed.
  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.

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.

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”.

Get assistance

After you’ve double checked that you followed the steps precisely, didn’t skip any and still have questions or got stuck, feel free to ask on our subreddit or in #LineageOS on Libera.Chat.