Last Updated on March 31, 2017 by Mathew Diekhake

A custom recovery is made by third-party developers. It’s that way for all of you people using the Samsung Galaxy S5. It’s also that way for everyone using any other device out there running Android. Once you install a custom recovery, it immediately replaces the stock recovery. You cannot have both running at the same time. There are three main custom recoveries one can choose: Philz Touch, CWM recovery and the TWRP recovery. Philz touch and TWRP have one thing in common: they both are touch-based recoveries. The difference between a touch recovery and a non-touch recovery is that you can press button on the display of your smartphone when using the touch recovery. The other options is to navigate using the Volume keys on the device.

Samsung Galaxy S5

The Files You Need

  1. Download the CWM recovery from here.
  2. Download the Odin custom recovery flashing tool from here.
  3. Download the Samsung USB Drivers for mobile phones from here.
  4. These are the steps to installing a custom recovery on the Samsung Galaxy S5 smartphone with the model number SM-G900F. You can check that model number by heading to the Menu > Settings > About Device > Model Number. Make sure you have the same number or else it will brick your device.
  5. Following the guide and installing a custom recovery does void any warranty you have remaining. You can return back to a stock recovery later and the warranty should work again. Most of the time you can find that stock recovery inside the same folder as the stock ROM you might download from a source online such as Sam Mobile.

Installing the ClockworkMod recovery on the Samsung Galaxy S5 SM-G900F

  1. Download the CWM recovery and the Odin flashing tool and move the two files over to the desktop of the computer.
  2. Once you download the files, they should end up in the ‘Downloads’ folder, which is the Windows default folder for anything you download. Find that folder and click and drag the two files from that folder over to the desktop.
  3. Right-click over the files one at a time. Select the ‘extract here’ option from the new menu you get after applying the click.
  4. Now that the files are extracted, you can use the executable files inside.
  5. Completely power down the Samsung Galaxy S6 by long-pressing the Power button.
  6. Reboot the Samsung Galaxy S5 to download mode.
  7. Connect the Galaxy S5 to the computer using the USB cable after you have it in the download mode.
  8. The Odin ID: COM port should light up and change colors. That’s letting you know the USB drivers are working.
  9. Click the AP button (or PDA) and upload the CWM recovery file that’s on your desktop. You should be able to browse the desktop when searching for the file.
  10. Once you can see the custom recovery file extension is loaded in the Odin app, click the Start button.
  11. Wait for some minutes until the Odin app is done flashing your device with the custom recovery.
  12. Keeping watching until you see the pass message on the Odin apps display; your phone will also reboot automatically if you have the Auto reboot button checked in the Odin app.
  13. Now you can unplug the smartphone from the computer and use your recovery.
  14. To boot into the custom recovery, shut the Samsung Galaxy S5 smartphone down and reboot holding the Volume Up + Home + Power keys at the same time. Now select the recovery option from the menu by navigating with the Volume keys and selecting with the Power key.

Furthermore, now you may find out how to enter custom recovery mode on the Samsung Galaxy S5 smartphone so you can use the recovery for flashing custom ROMs.