Last Updated on November 14, 2019 by Mathew Diekhake
One of the main reasons people enjoy Android over any of the rival operating systems like iOS from the Cupertino company is the fact that Android is open source and allows people to modify the software. While not exactly easy to do, Android is still a lot more unlocked than something like Apple’s iOS. Due to Apple owning iOS, they make it incredibly secure so that people cannot do anything with the software–or at least not without much effort being put into things like Jailbreaks these days. The world of Android is a bit different in the sense that Google owns Android, and they sell the OS to manufacturers like Samsung, HTC, Huawei, LG and many others for them to use. That gives those manufacturers limited choices on how Android is presented to them. Android is still modified by the manufacturer and phone carrier networks but a lot of the time it is not difficult to unlock the bootloader install a custom recovery and root the Android operating system that is running on a device.
The people who love Android for installing custom ROMs and custom kernels always need to install a custom recovery on the device. Depending on your smartphone or tablet, that means they need to unlock the bootloader first, or they do not. Most Samsung devices can flash TWRP from the Odin flashing tool without the need of having to do anything with regards to the bootloader. Just about everyone else needs to go to the efforts of getting that bootloader unlocked before they can install a custom recovery image.
A custom recovery image is going to replace the stock recovery partition directly with the custom version. The custom version can do all the same things as they stock version, so you do not miss out on efficiently recovering your device when the time arises. What you do get though is the chance to do a lot more with the recovery partition including the unique ability to upload ROM files. Android take away capacity to install ROM files for obvious reasons (They want you using Android and not kids from all over the world attempting to flash these things they heard of called ROM), so people need to get a custom recovery installed to do that. It works well because those who learn about custom ROMs and have a deep interest in it are also going to the people who do not make nearly as many mistakes.
Installing Team Win’s open source TWRP Recovery on the Verizon Samsung Galaxy Note 4 smartphone and understanding how to use it is usually pretty simple. You need to unlock the bootloader before the Android OS allows for a new recovery partition. Once that is done, it is time to turn on the USB Debugging Mode so that the smartphone allows for the software to have changes made to it (developments). From there we need to reboot the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 smartphone into the bootloader mode and the connect it to the computer with the USB cable. Now we use the computer to flash the TWRP to the phone. The guide below goes into a lot more detail about how to do each of those things, as well as how to boot into the TWRP Recovery once it is installed.
The custom recovery partition is also going to play a role in how to root the device. Remember that rooting is not necessary for people who are wanting to install new ROMs and kernels. Rooting is only necessary when you want to make changes to the existing Android operating system. Those things that we do to the Android operating system already running are almost always to do with installing apps. The apps can help people have longer lasting battery life, change the CPU frequency, help add more features, change some of the UI features and even enhance the way the music sounds when coming out of the speaker.
Files You Need
- Download the TWRP Recovery for the Verizon Samsung Galaxy Note 4 SM-N910V smartphone.
- Download the Odin flashing application (3.10 or any versions below).
Note that you must have a Windows operating system that is running on the computer. The Odin flashing tool does not run on a MacOS or Linux computer. You need to set up a Windows virtual machine if you and your friends do not have any PC running Windows.
The following tutorial is made for the Verizon Samsung Galaxy Note 4 smartphone and no other. Do not flash the same file found in this guide on a different device unless an Android expert has advised you. It could brick the device.
Installing the TWRP Recovery on the Verizon Samsung Galaxy Note 4 SM-N910V
- Log into the Windows computer by using an administrators account so the flashing tool can run and flash the custom recovery package on the phone.
- Unlock the Developer Options menu on the Verizon Samsung Galaxy Note 4 smartphone so you can access the menu and then adjust some of the settings.
- Enable the USB Debugging Mode from the Developer Options menu so you can connect to the computer and the Android software will allow for some developments.
- Open the downloads folder where you should find the Odin flashing app file and the TWRP Recovery files.
- Extract each of the files to the desktop of the computer or the downloads folder that they are sitting in now.
- Double-click over the Odin flashing tool executable file and get the Odin flashing tool user interface to open up on the computer.
- Boot the Verizon Samsung Galaxy Note 4 smartphone into the download mode and then attach it to the computer with the USB cable that is usually used for charging the battery.
- Check that you can see the added message and the ID: COM port found on the Odin user interface turning to a yellow or blue color. (No color and no message means that Samsung USB Drivers are not working. Get them working and it should work. Those still unable to get it working should make sure that they are logged into the Windows computer using an administrators account).
- Do not make any changes from the stock settings you get from the Odin user interface.
- Click the Start button and the flashing of the custom recovery image begins.
- Wait until it gives a green pass box coming from the Odin flashing tool user interface before unplugging from the computer.
In conclusion, that is how we install TWRP Recovery on the Verizon Samsung Galaxy Note 4 smartphone with the SM-N910V model number. Now that people have installed a custom recovery on the smartphone they can learn everything there is to know about rooting the Verizon Samsung Galaxy Note 4 smartphone so they can start being the root user and run all of the apps from the Google Play Store that require access to the root file system before they can run.