If you’ve hunted around the Web and found the Android Open Source Project, then you’d likely be in the batch of people who think that Android is indeed based on open source software.

Technically Android is open source, but Google also blocks it off so the official updates you get cannot be further modified.

What can happen though is that developers get their hands on the open source code that is Android’s foundation and then have a play with it.

When the highest quality third-party developers out there do that they can come up with some outstanding custom software, that can be installed as custom ROMs.

Every device out there ships with the Android stock ROM, known as Google Android, and the stock ROM can always be swapped over for a custom ROM, based on the Android Open Source project, if the owner of the device should choose to do so.

The number of custom ROMs available to be flashed varies from device to device, so you’ll need to head to the XDA-Developers thread to check them out to see what’s available for yours. But as a general rule of thumb, if you’re interested in having a device that gets lots of custom ROMs developed for it, the better a device sells, the more likely it is to get plenty of ROMs to choose from.

Details of Note

  • The custom recovery images available in this guide are only to be installed on the Samsung Galaxy Grand Duos smartphone. Most devices have a custom recovery image developed specifically for it, and you shouldn’t install one that is intended for another device unless advised it is okay by a professional.
  • The codename for the Samsung Galaxy Grand Duos TWRP Recovery image is “i9082.” You will see that codename in the TWRP image file path and also from your About Device menu so you know you are flashing the right file on the right device.
  • You can install the official TWRP Recovery application from the Google Play Store or from the TWRP website as an apk, if you have root access on the device already, and get the TWRP installed that way, no adb required. Once the app is installed, it will be in your Downloads folder. Navigate to the Downloads folder and select the TWRP application. When the application opens tap on the option for flashing the TWRP.

Files Required

How to Install TWRP Recovery on Samsung Galaxy J1 Ace (SM-J110)

Note: The Odin flashing tool is really easy to use, but it only works on the Windows operating system. You won’t get the flashing tool to load on a Mac or Linux computer. It doesn’t really matter what version of the Windows operating system that you’re using as long as it is something above Windows XP.

1. Download and install the Samsung USB drivers on the computer if you don’t have them already.

2. Download the firmware (.tar) file from the links above directly to the computer. Extract the file by right-clicking on it and choosing the option to extract. When you do, you’ll see the tar.md5 file inside. That’s the file you’ll be using to do the flashing.

3. Download the Odin flashing tool. It doesn’t really matter what version, but the latest is the most up to date so grab that one. Extract the Odin file and then double-click on the Odin executable file (.exe) that is found from within the Odin folder after extraction. You should now have the Odin interface open on the computer and waiting for you to connect to it.

4. Boot the Samsung mobile device into the Download Mode by first powering it down and then rebooting by holding the Volume Down + Home + Power keys at the same time.

5. A yellow warning triangle will come up on the device’s display. At this time you need to press the Volume Up button. You’ll then see the device getting into the Download Mode. It’s then ready for the flashing.

6. When in Download Mode, connect the Samsung mobile device to the computer with the USB cable.

7. If you have installed the USB drivers correctly, the Odin flashing tool should detect your device. You can tell this by observing the ID: COM port lighting up with a color, usually yellow or blue.

It doesn’t matter what color, it’s the lighting up that counts.

8. After the device is picked up by Odin, click on the PDA or AP button, depending on what button your version of the Odin flashing tool has.

9. Navigate to the stock ROM folder and upload the tar.md5 file to this location in Odin.

10. Without changing any of the default settings, click on the Start button in Odin, and the flashing then begins.

11. Wait until Odin shows a Pass message before disconnecting your device.

You can now close the Odin flashing tool and continue using your computer if you like.

TWRP App Installation Method (Root Required)

If you decided to download the TWRP application from the Google Play Store or the APK file from the official TWRP website, then after you open the application you will be given a few different options to choose from. But before even going that far, it’s important to note that you should only install the TWRP APK file from the official TWRP website. If you’re installing it from Git, or any other file hosting website, it might not be the official version, and thus, it won’t have been built or tested by the official TWRP developers and maintainers.

Once the application is open, you’ll need to agree to not hold anyone from TWRP responsible for any issues that your device may face while using the application. This is a standard disclaimer that Team Win puts on top of each of the recovery image files from the official website as well, so it’s nothing new. It just explains that it is your decision to put the custom recovery on your device, and while they work hard to provide a quality product, there are no guarantees that your device isn’t susceptible to damages relating to TWRP while the custom recovery is installed. You can grant the application root permissions now as well. Root access can be obtained by flashing SuperSU, or other appropriate rooting files, from the custom recovery itself. Without root, you won’t have access to some of the app’s features, such as image flashing. It’s here also where you can enable InsightCore (a feature to monitor and record the network performance of your device).

Once you’ve accepted the agreements, you’ll see the TWRP application’s home screen, where you can choose to flash TWRP or view the network statistics. When choosing to flash the custom recovery, you’ll need to scroll and select your device from the list to make sure you are flashing the correct file. When the device is chosen, the TWRP application automatically then searches for the latest version of the TWRP for that device and will continue doing so every day for as long as the app is installed. This interval can also be altered from the Settings in the top right-hand corner of the device’s display when the apps open.

If root access has been enabled, you’ll see the chance to select the custom recovery image and the buttons for flashing the images to boot or from recovery. You should choose to flash the images to recovery. Only use the boot image flashing when you are flashing full boot images, not just kernel zimages.

DD Installation Method

You can also get the custom recovery installed on the Samsung Galaxy J7 Exynos SM-J700 smartphone by using the DD install method. To do it this way, download the latest recovery image file for your device from its downloads page on the official TWRP website (Primary [Americas]| Primary [Europe]) and then place the file in the root of your /sdcard folder. Rename the image “twrp.img.”

You then need to run the following commands from the ADB shell or a Terminal Emulator application:

su

dd if=/sdcard/twrp.img of=/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/recovery

The custom recovery will now have replaced the stock recovery, and you are ready to boot your device into the recovery mode and start using it.

Most of the custom ROMs you’ll find available from the XDA-Developers web forum where each device has its own development section and custom software listed. If you weren’t swapping the recovery partition for ROMs, then you might be thinking about getting root access with SuperSU instead. You flash both ROMs and rooting files the same way, which is by tapping on the “Install” button from the main recovery screen.

Not a lot can go wrong with your time with the custom recovery, although one of the rare things that can happen just might: a message letting you know that “No OS is installed!.” If you see this message, it means that you’ve somehow managed to wipe the system partition, and that’s not ideal if you understand the way a custom recovery works. But it also shouldn’t be the end of the world just yet either, as there are ways you can solve this problem. The first thing you should do if you see it is restore the backup that you’ve taken from the custom recovery image. If you didn’t take any backups, try flashing a stock ROM instead. The sources for official firmware can vary online and not all manufacturers provide direct links. There’s nothing wrong with using a link coming from blogs, but just make sure you scan the files for viruses first.

The reason for a wipe of the system partition never being ideal is that if you do have to flash a stock ROM to get your operating system back, you could experience unexpected behavior on all software that you try running from here on out. When you install OTA updates, as in official software updates, you are installing what is most likely a differential update: one that doesn’t go through the system partition at all and often won’t even completely replace the files either, rather just patching over the top of the existing ones. It’s a good thing for those among you who love to save data, but not if you have installed a custom recovery. Getting root access, installing BusyBox, or removing the stock applications are a few examples of what people do from custom recovery images and that will make modifications to the system partition. Once changes have been made to the system partition, going back to official ROMs that don’t operate through it can be risky, and that’s when the unexpected behavior can happen.

The custom recovery developers suggest that if you want to update your version of Android, and you already have a custom recovery installed, then you should check out custom ROMs to update to instead of official updates. That way you know your device stays safe. The custom ROM updates can often come out for devices before the official versions do, and at worst, it’ll only be a few days later than an official update for the best-served devices.

But if you are hell-bent on settling for nothing less than the stock recovery image back on your device, there are a couple of ways you can go about doing it. And no, it doesn’t necessarily mean there will be anything wrong with your device after doing it; there is just a chance—no one knows really how much—of experiencing unexpected behavior with the software. To just change recoveries and nothing else, find the stock ROM zip file, unpack it and then flash the recovery image file found inside by using the flashing tool made for your manufacturer ((in this case Odin for Samsung devices). If you aren’t fussed, you can also just flash the complete firmware package, because when you do, the custom recovery is replaced by the stock recovery normally anyway.

That’s all.

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