[INFO] Kitkat and Lollipop - ROOT, ROMs, etc. - Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4

nobody here is responsible in any way if you break your phone. It was your fault. Figure it out yourself.
Before I begin, I would like to explain the usage of build numbers. There are 4 Kitkat firmwares and 2 Lollipop firmwares. The last three letters of the build number are used to identify the specific build (everything before that is device code stuff)
Kitkat builds are as follows:
NC5
NG6
NK1
NK4 (generally unused, as this was a preparation update for Lollipop)
Lollipop builds are as follows:
OC1
OF1
The easiest way to root is by being on a kitkat firmware and root the firmware itself using a kernel swap method, or downgrading to NC5 and using Towelroot.
OF1 IS ROOTABLE. CLICK HERE FOR INFO
OC1 is rootable through the usage of Kingroot (desktop version only): LINK HERE
YOU CAN NOT USE ANY CUSTOM RECOVERY (TWRP, CLOCKWORKMOD) WITH LOLLIPOP. NOT EVEN SAFESTRAP (it's too buggy and requires flashing the nc5 kernel to even get into)
(mdk users need not apply)
ROM info available in 2nd post.

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Flashing ROMs
You can not flash CyanogenMod or any ROMs based off of its source code! Those are only for the MDK bootloader.
UPDATE: If you are on the OC1/OF1 bootloader, you can only flash TouchWiz Lollipop ROMs.
Two pretty solid ROMs for lollipop are:
[PORT][ROM] Albe95 S6 FULL PORT 4.6 [S6/Edge Plus/N5 FEATURE PORT] (UPDT 31/10/15)
stang5litre Ediition 5.0 OC1 MDK,SS,FF/OC1/OF1

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I surely appreciate this post. Kit Pop was the only one that peaked My interest but after seeing this I will be back at it. The o.p.s often don't list if the rom is Safestrap compatible so I shy away.
Thanks

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Nice write up and in for future updates on OC1 roms. Really hoping for an eclipse-style update to OC1. I hate touchwiz.
Sent from my Eclipse'd S4

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Thanks

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I can not get this goddamn Kingroot to work on OC1 Lollipop. Any suggestions guys? I've tried it a dozen times.

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thesame here... i cannot get this Kingroot to work on my phone...
I read in this thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s4-verizon/general/rooted-galaxy-s4-t3158098/page1 that it is possible, but nothing for me...

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Nice.
I don't see Kitpop(I finally got my APN issues sorted out)
Someone Sticky this. I think I opened 15 threads with people saying they boned themselves with OC1... People need to know how cruel Verizon is.

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hey guys
so Samsung has had this program for a while where they automatically update the security policy (specifically, SELinux, things relating to root privileges, etc) and they may have updated that system component to make kingroot not work. I was patient enough to stay on KitKat until some rooted lollipop ROMs came out, thus having the older bootloader so I can downgrade to nc5 and root that way. next time, all of you oc1 people who tried kingroot but failed, be patient!

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if you are rooted and for some reason get a security policy update, you won't lose root. if you're not rooted and an update got rolled out to you, you're SOL. Samsung usually rolls these out without user intervention in the background

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AYGM said:
thesame here... i cannot get this Kingroot to work on my phone...
I read in this thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s4-verizon/general/rooted-galaxy-s4-t3158098/page1 that it is possible, but nothing for me...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So the PC version of king root worked for me. You'll have to guess what the buttons mean though because it's all in Chinese

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will any of these roms work with flashfire and the oc1 update?
Eclipse (a TouchWiz KK ROM with a really thorough AOSP theme, my personal favorite)
HyperDrive RLS21 (TouchWiz Kitkat, super customizable
Empty Galaxy (you might like this guy's theming to TW, it's pretty awesome!)

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firenemesis7 said:
will any of these roms work with flashfire and the oc1 update?
Eclipse (a TouchWiz KK ROM with a really thorough AOSP theme, my personal favorite)
HyperDrive RLS21 (TouchWiz Kitkat, super customizable
Empty Galaxy (you might like this guy's theming to TW, it's pretty awesome!)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
no unfortunately. eclipse and hyperdrive are based off of KitKat and empty galaxy only works on the mdk bootloader at this time.
your options on oc1 are stang5litre edition and muniz_ri's stock/deodexed ROMs

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So basically if I (actually a friend of mine) is on NK4 4.4.2, the best way to root is to upgrade to lollipop via the verizon OTA update, then use Kingroot to root?
But what if I want cyanogenmod on the phone? Should I root a different way...how?

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pfunk26 said:
So basically if I (actually a friend of mine) is on NK4 4.4.2, the best way to root is to upgrade to lollipop via the verizon OTA update, then use Kingroot to root?
But what if I want cyanogenmod on the phone? Should I root a different way...how?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't do that!
There is a method to downgrade to NC5, gain root, and upgrade without losing root. Search the Dev forum.
Sent from my stang5litre Edition 5.0 using XDA Free mobile app

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If you're past MDK (which NK4 is past MDK) you can't use CM. You can only use Safestrap ROMs for KK, and OC1 ROMs for locked bootloaders using Flashfire.

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updated OP to reflect new OF1 update.
OF1 (minor update that mainly fixed the Stagefright bug) is not rootable and the qfuse counter has been increased, meaning no downgrading to OC1 (yet)

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Almost October 2015, and still no hopes for an AOSP-styled Lollipop. :sad:

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aleggsue said:
Almost October 2015, and still no hopes for an AOSP-styled Lollipop. :sad:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agreed. Lollipop was a game changer, but seemingly in a bad way..

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bkkzak said:
Agreed. Lollipop was a game changer, but seemingly in a bad way..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
in my opinion, touchwiz became more usable, but for people who have locked bootloaders who want custom roms (like me) are basically stuck on KitKat. oh well at least I have a choice, sorry for those who don't.
Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk