Install LineageOS on
Samsung Galaxy S III Neo (Sony Camera)
s3ve3gxx
Do not continue after something fails!
Basic requirements
- Read through the instructions at least once before actually following them, so as to avoid any problems due to any missed steps!
- Make sure your computer has
adb
. Setup instructions can be found here. - Enable USB debugging on your device.
- Make sure that your model is actually listed in the “Supported models” section here (exact match required!)
- Boot your device with the stock OS at least once and check every functionality.
Warning: Make sure that you can send and receive SMS and place and receive calls (also via WiFi and LTE, if available), otherwise it won’t work on LineageOS either! Additionally, some devices require that VoLTE/VoWiFi be utilized once on stock to provision IMS.
- 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
There are two possible hardware configurations of this phone regardless of model number. Some phones were released with a Sony IMX 175 rear camera sensor, while others with a Samsung s5k4h5yb rear camera sensor. As such, we’ve separated this device’s builds into two separate builds. The procedure to distinguish which to use is as follows:
- Make sure to be on the latest stock firmware of your variant (you can check updates with Settings, Updates);
- Make sure the rear camera is working on the stock ROM;
- Open the phone app and dial
*#*#34971539#*#*
to access to the hidden menu; - Tap on ‘Phone/Cam FW Check’ and take note of the numbers shown in the notification:
- For
E08QT
, install the s3ve3gjv builds - For
B08QT
, install the s3ve3gxx builds
- For
If neither of these match, please make sure you installed the correct firmware version.
Special requirements
GT-I9301I = I9301IXCUARA1
/ GT-I9301Q = I9301QXXUAHN1
, otherwise the instructions found in this page will not work.
The current bootloader version can be checked by running the command getprop ro.bootloader
in a terminal app or an adb -d shell
from a command prompt (on Windows) or terminal (on Linux or macOS) window.
Preparing for installation
Samsung devices come with a unique boot mode called “Download mode”, which is very similar to “Fastboot mode” on some devices with unlocked bootloaders. Heimdall is a cross-platform, open-source 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.
- Download and install the appropriate version of the Heimdall suite for your machine’s OS
- Windows: Extract the Heimdall suite zip and take note of the new directory containing
heimdall.exe
. You can verify Heimdall is functioning by opening a Command Prompt or PowerShell in that directory and runningheimdall version
.- If you receive an error, install the Microsoft Visual C++ 2015-2019 Redistributable Package (x86) on your computer.
- Linux: Extract the Heimdall suite zip and take note of the new directory containing
heimdall
. Now copyheimdall
into a directory in $PATH, a common one on most distros will be /usr/local/bin. For examplecp heimdall /usr/local/bin
. You can verify Heimdall is functioning by opening a Terminal and runningheimdall version
. - macOS: Mount the Heimdall suite DMG. Now drag
heimdall
down into the/usr/local/bin
symlink provided in the DMG. You can verify Heimdall is functioning by opening a Terminal and runningheimdall version
.
Note: These Heimdall suite distributions were built by LineageOS Developers Nolen Johnson (npjohnson) and Jan Altensen (Stricted), as the Heimdall suite executables distributed on the official Heimdall website were outdated and the repo mostly abandoned. Modifications were made to make it build and function on modern OSes. - Windows: Extract the Heimdall suite zip and take note of the new directory containing
- Power off the device, and boot it into download mode:
- With the device powered off, hold Volume Down + Home + Power.
- Now, click the button that the on screen instructions correlate to “Continue”, and insert the USB cable into the device.
- For Windows users only: install the necessary drivers. A more complete set of instructions can be found in the Zadig user guide.
- If nothing relevant appears, try uninstalling any Samsung related Windows software, like Samsung Windows drivers and/or Samsung Kies.
- Run
zadig.exe
found in your extracted Heimdall directory.Note: For the interested, source and documentation for zadig.exe can be found here. - Choose Options » List all devices from the menu.
- Select device with USB ID 04E8 685D from the drop down menu.
- Click Replace Driver, then selecting Install Driver from the drop down list built into the button.
- If you are prompted with a warning that the installer is unable to verify the publisher of the driver, select Install this driver anyway. You may receive two more prompts about security. Select the options that accept the warnings and allow you to carry on.
- On your machine, open a Command Prompt or PowerShell (Windows) window, or Terminal (Linux or macOS) window, and type:
heimdall print-pit
- If the device reboots that indicates that Heimdall is installed and working properly. If it does not, please refollow these instructions to verify steps weren’t missed, try a different USB cable, and a different USB port.
Installing Lineage Recovery using heimdall
- Build a LineageOS installation package. The recovery will be built as part of it!
Important: Other recoveries may not work for installation or updates. We strongly recommend to use the one linked above!
- Power off the device, and boot it into download mode:
- With the device powered off, hold Volume Down + Home + Power.
- Now, click the button that the on screen instructions correlate to “Continue”, and insert the USB cable into the device.
- On your machine, open a Command Prompt or PowerShell (Windows) window, or Terminal (Linux or macOS) window, and type:
heimdall flash --RECOVERY recovery.img --no-reboot
Tip: The file may not be named identically to what stands in this command, so adjust accordingly. If the file is wrapped in a zip or tar file, extract the file first, because Heimdall is not going to do it for you. - A transfer bar will appear on the device showing the recovery image being flashed.
Note: The device will continue to display
Downloading... Do not turn off target!!
even after the process is complete. - 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 Volume Up + Home + Power. When the blue text appears, release the buttons.
Note: Be sure to reboot into recovery immediately after installing the custom recovery. If you don’t the stock ROM will overwrite the custom recovery with the stock recovery, and you’ll need to flash it again.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
- Build a LineageOS installation package.
- If you are not in recovery, reboot into recovery:
- With the device powered off, hold Volume Up + Home + Power. When the blue text appears, release the buttons.
- 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).
- Return to the main menu.
- 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
.Tip: Normally, adb will reportTotal xfer: 1.00x
, but in some cases, even if the process succeeds the output will stop at 47% and reportadb: failed to read command: Success
. In some cases it will reportadb: failed to read command: No error
oradb: failed to read command: Undefined error: 0
which is also fine.
Installing Add-Ons
arm
architecture), you can download it from here.
This add-on needs to be installed before booting into LineageOS for the first time!- Click
Apply Update
, thenApply from ADB
, thenadb -d sideload filename.zip
for all desired packages in sequence.
When presented with a screen that saysSignature verification failed
, clickYes
. 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.