Last Updated on January 5, 2023 by Mathew Diekhake
These are the guidelines to root Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini GT-I9190 running on Android 4.4.2 KitKat operating systems.
Applying the CF-Auto-Root on your smartphone for the first time will unlock the bootloader and wipe your data. You should find the package automatically unlocks the bootloader for you, but you must backup before you start or else the data is lost.
The firmware version this rooting method is based on is listed in the files section below. That firmware build is only for specific regions and it might not be in your language. You should find other build numbers that were released around the same time should work too. Just be careful with anything that is released in the future from that build ID.
Files You Need
- Download the updated CF-Auto-Root tool for the S4 Mini GT-i9190 running 4.4.2 from this page.
- Download the universal ADB Driver from this page.
- Download the Odin 1.85 from this page.
- The CF-Auto-Root package in this guide for the GT-I9190 on 4.4.2 is based on the KOT49H.I9190UBUCNG1 firmware. New firmware builds can sometimes produce new bootloader which can lead to flashing fails and booting fails. Those experiencing that can report the problem to Chainfire at his official forum thread over at XDA Developers here: CF-Auto-Roo thread.
Rooting the Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini GT-I9190 running on Android 4.4.2 KitKat
- Turn on your computer running Windows operating systems only.
- Enable the USB Debugging Mode from the Developer Options menu on your S4 Mini by tapping on the Menu > Settings > Developer Options > USB Debugging Mode.
- Those who need the S4 Mini’s Developer Options unlocked can do that by tapping on the Menu > Settings > About Device > Build Number repeatedly until it says you are using the device as a developer — it’s usually seven times.
- Download and extract the Odin flashing tool and the CF-Auto-Root for I9190 4.4.2 to the desktop of your computer.
- Long-press the Power button on your S4 Mini and turn it off completely.
- Boot the S4 Mini up in Download mode by pressing the Volume Down + Home + Power buttons at the same time.
- Keep holding the three buttons until it says to press the Volume Up button.
- Connect the S4 Mini to the computer using the USB cable you use for charging the battery.
- The ID: COM port will turn green if your ADB driver is working; install it or reboot the computer if your driver is not working.
- Click the PDA button from the Odin user-interface and browse the desktop of the CF-Auto-Root tar.md5 file you can see after you extracted the rooting file earlier.
- Do not touch any of the default settings from the Odin user-interface.
- Click the Start button and wait for the Odin 1.85 flashing tool to flash the rooting exploit on your Galaxy S4 Mini device.
- You know it is ready when it gives you the pass message for your S4 Mini from the Odin user-interface.
The Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini should now reboot automatically into the recovery mode. You need to boot the device manually into recovery if that does not happen automatically.