Last Updated on March 31, 2017 by Mathew Diekhake

A custom recovery is most useful when you are installing a custom ROM on the Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphone. Once you have the custom recovery, you can wipe data, wipe cache, factory reset, flash your new custom ROM and take a NANDroid backup of that ROM and your data. Without the NANDroid backup option available from inside a custom recovery, installing a custom ROM would not be fun. Luckily we have third-party developers looking after us with custom recoveries so we can enjoy our custom ROM experience.

Samsung Galaxy S4 Sprint

The Files You Need

  1. Download the CWM recovery file from here.
  2. Download the Odin from here.
  3. Download the Samsung USB Drivers for Samsung developers from here.

Installing CWM Recovery on the Samsung Galaxy S4 by Sprint (SPH-L720)

  1. Installing the USB Drivers on your computer.
  2. Check that you have USB Debugging Mode enabled on the device by heading ot the Settings > Developer Options > USB Debugging Mode.
  3. You might need to unlock the hidden Developer Options if you don’t see it from the Settings menu. Do that by heading to the Settings > About Device > tap where it says the build number around 7 time or until it says you are now a developer.
  4. Extract the Odin and the CWM recovery files on the desktop. Once they are on the desktop, right-click over the files and choose the extract here option.
  5. Turn off the Samsung Galaxy S4 and reboot it to the download mode. Do that by hitting the Volume Down + Home + Power keys at the same time. You will soon see the download mode option on the display.
  6. Follow the rest of the prompt to get your device in the download mode.
  7. Now connect the S4 to the computer where you have the files waiting. Do that with the USb cable.
  8. Click the AP or PDA button you have in the Odin user-interface.
  9. Browse the computer for the custom recovery file. That’s the executable file after you extracted the file before.
  10. Click the Start button and the Odin flashing tool will now flash that custom recovery on your device.
  11. Do not touch any button on the Samsung Galaxy S4 until you get the pass message and the smartphone is rebooting.
  12. Once that’s done, you can reboot the device into the custom recovery mode right away. Enter custom recovery on the Samsung Galaxy S4 by pressing the Volume Up + Home + Power keys.