Just the other day we showed you how doing the firmware upgrade  to the XXEMD2 Android 4.2.1 jelly bean is possible. Now that you have it, you want to root it again right? Excellent! We can show you how to do that now. Make sure you are using the Galaxy S3 I9300 and not a different device. If you did do a firmware upgrade, then it obviously is the correct device or else you could not have done it.

Assuming you have already updated to this firmware that we covered back in May, you may now be looking to gain root access to it. It is great and we love to cover this thing. It is been a while since I covered any customization with all the hectic mobile news floating around lately. On top of that, there has been a security issue for the official firmware and all-in-all just a lack of time to get into one of my favorite things — hacking stuff. I would have included this last night, though, the CyanogenMod team came out with a cool teaser about something new which is coming. Let ‘s not worried about that for now, though. I will probably write about that sometime today if you want to check back in and take a look. As far as I know, nobody knows exactly what it is just yet.

Galaxy S3

Details of Note

  • We always recommend rooting handsets, but in this case there is an added emphasis because it is such a great one to do it on. Why we say this is because there is such a big business for it. With so many users, developers will come flourishing to make things. That is the way the world works and that is also what has happened here. Always keep that in mind when you go to buy your next phone also, because if you like to customize you need to make sure the fundamentals are in place for you to enjoy it. As time goes on we only hope that the extra developer will have enough money to extend the help over to the lesser devices on their own accord and not only having to follow the crowd because that is where the money is. No matter what happens, just pray things do not make a turn for the worst. The U.S. Parliament is in talks to shut any jailbreaking down and this can only be assumed to be the same meaning for roots. Their idea is that it acts as a gateway to piracy. Without a full understanding of what opening an operating system is, there is a chance these new bills will pass through. That would be a very sad day for us and you who is reading this because it might be illegal. It is hard to believe because it was not long ago that the president Obama was trying to legalize unlocking according to official reports. This news just came out today from Wiki-leaks that is also a reputable source.
  • You can do this from a laptop or computer as long as it is running Windows. It does not matter which version as long as it is newer than, say, WIndows 95 or something. Ideally, we want to be using Vista, XP, Windows 7 or 8.
  • Take special note of the backing up guys. All too often somebody has an unexpected issue and then abuses us for only providing the guide was issued with the developers. You do this at your own will and your own accord.
  • The Samsung Galaxy S3 comes in many different model numbers so it is important to take note of yours. It needs to be the I9300 in this case. It can only be used for the model numbered I9300. You can check this by looking up the “about phone” information.
  • There is a couple of important factors one must look into before picking up the first step. Firstly, head over and get the Samsung Galaxy USB drivers. Once you have done that, it is now time to enable USB debugging. Do this from Menu> Settings> Applications click on the Development option and Enable. Some devices will already have this done, however, give it a check just to make sure. It will only take a few minutes.
  • The galaxy S3 I9300 should be factory unlocked and not locked to any number of the phone carriers that exist. Over time, this is available as an option naturally. In some cases, it can cost a small fee by the carrier you are with to get them to unlock it for you. In most cases, this can be done by visiting the official website of your phone carrier. If you bought the phone late you might also have purchased it unlocked already.
  • The instructions listed below are for reference purposes only and we will not be held liable for any damages that come as a result of following this tutorial.
  • A tool that is used below was made by a developer known as Chainfire. He has two different versions of the same tool that both do different things. This one is called the CF-Auto Root tool and it is designed to give users as close to the stock Android experience as possible. If that does not sound like anything you want, then you should look for another guide instead. Google will display many of them. There are several different tools that can be used all of which give different results.

 How To Root Samsung Galaxy S3 I9300 On Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean XXEMD2 official firmware

1. Download the CF-Root-SGS3-v6.4.zip, as well as Odin 3.07 and extract the files.

2. Switch off the S3 and turn it back on, booting it up into download mode.

3. Run the Odin.

If you are having issues it could be either one of two things. You do not have administrator permissions or the device is not being recognized. If it is the latter this happens because of incorrect drivers.

4. From inside Odin select the PDA tab and fetch out the CF-Root-SGS3-v6.4.tar.file from the extracted file we opened up back in the first step.

5. As the picture above shows, make sure the Auto Reboot and F. Reset Time boxes have a tick inside the boxes.

6. Click the start button.

The full process can take in excess of 10 minutes. It will reboot by itself when it is ready. The booting can take some time to finish up also for the first time.