Last Updated on April 1, 2017 by Mathew Diekhake

A custom recovery is your portal to the world of installing custom ROMs. With a custom ROM, you are able to change the themes of your device so it doesn’t look the same way your OEM and Android intended. With just mainly one software update coming out per year, the Android universal software design doesn’t appeal to all people. If you want to change colors, features and other parts of the operating system, you need a custom ROM.

There are three main custom ROMs for people to install: Philz touch recovery, ClockworkMod recovery and TWRP recovery. All three do the same things for you, including allowing for zip files to be flashed from the menu for installing the custom ROMs. Furthermore, you can backup the data by taking a NANDroid back up before getting things started once you are inside all three custom recoveries.

Samsung Galaxy Core

The guide works for both the 8260 and 8262 variants of the Samsung Galaxy Core. You can check the model number of your device by navigating to the Settings > About Device and checking under the model number details on the display.

The guide only works on Windows PCs. You can also use a Windows notebook. However, you cannot use a Microsoft Surface tablet/laptop of any kind. The Surface tablets only let you install apps available from the Windows App store. You cannot download the Odin tool from there.

The files you need:

  • Download the USB drivers for Samsung mobile phones from this official page.
  • Download Odin from our servers here. Choose from Odin 3.07 and 3.09.
  • Download the official ClockworkMod Recovery file you want to install from this page.

Installing the CWM Recovery on the Samsung Galaxy Core GT-I8260 and GT-I8262

  1. Unzip the Odin flashing tool and the CWM recovery file to the desktop of the Windows PC.
  2. Double-click and run Odin. We will come back to it in a minute.
  3. Turn off the Samsung Galaxy Core GT-I8260 or GT-I8262 by holding the Power button for some seconds.
  4. Once you are confident it’s completely off, reboot it holding the Volume Down + Power + Home keys.
  5. You might need to press the Volume Up button and then you should finally be in Download Mode.
  6. Connect the Galaxy Core to the computer with the USB cable.
  7. Click the PDA or AP button found in the Odin app and browse the computer for the custom recovery file. You need to have the recovery unzipped before it will load.
  8. Click the Start button in Odin and it will now flash your device with the recovery.
  9. Wait some minutes until Odin says “pass” on the display and you are ready to unplug.

Congratulations! You are now ready to start flashing custom ROMs.