Samsung’s very first mini device, the Galaxy S III Mini aka Samsung Golden is being kept alive by the developers, who have been bringing up something new every second day that allows the users to modify the device at their best. Samsung won’t be updating this device to any higher version of Android, that means where this device won’t be getting Android 4.2.2 or any higher updates. Flashing custom ROMs on the S3 Mini is the solution that can help to change the user’s taste. To pave way for all the nicer things on your device, you will definitely need a custom recovery.
Earlier we posted the guides to flash CWM recovery, but we have been missing TWRP recovery, that is even more cool with advanced options. As we have found it now, in the following post we are going to install TWRP 2.7 recovery on our beloved Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini I8190. All you need is, you need to follow this guide being very careful. Let’s go through a brief introduction of a custom recovery in order to clear any confusions that the newbies may have and then head towards the guide.
A custom recovery allows you to install custom roms, mods etc. Along with these, you can make a Nandroid backup, this helps you a lot as you can move back to the previous working state of your phone at any time you want if you have backed up your current system. In some cases, to root the phone you need to flash SuperSu.zip file in the custom recovery, having installed the recovery may help you while in some cases to install the recovery easily,You can also wipe cache and dalvik cache of your phone using a custom recovery. There is a number of other options available in the custom recoveries that pave way for the device’s tweaking and deal with the problems efficiently.
Here are the pre-installation instructions:
- This guide is only for Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini I8190/N/L. Before installing this, make sure that your device is listed below. Check your device’s model number in Settings > More > About Device.
- Download the file carefully for your device.
- Make sure that your device’s battery is charged over at least 60%. Highly recommended in order to prevent any mishap during the recovery installation process.
- Make sure that you backup your important media content, Contacts, Call Logs & Messages. This is highly recommended just in case something goes wrong and you need to reset your phone.
- Use only OEM data cable to establish connection between your phone and PC. Turn off your Anti Virus and Firewall to prevent any connection issues. Also enable USB debugging mode on your phone if you face connection issues.
- Recovery works well for Galaxy S3 Mini running on all Android versions, no need to worry about the Android version.
Disclaimer: The methods involved in flashing custom roms and rooting your phone are highly custom and may result in bricking your device, and has nothing to do with Google or the device manufacturer that is SAMSUNG in our case. Also rooting your device will void its warranty and you will be no longer eligible for any kind of free device services by the manufacturers/warranty providers. If your device has knox counter on the bootloader, flashing recovery will trip the knox counter and you won’t be able to reset the counter. In case of any mishap we may not be held responsible. Follow these instructions to the letter to avoid any mishap or bricking. Make sure that whatever you do, you are doing it at your own responsibility.
Pre – Requisites:
- Download and Install Samsung USB drivers – Get Here.
- Download and Extract Odin3 v3.09 – Get Here
- Enough confidence to flash a recovery :-)!
- Download the TWRP 2.7 Recovery for Galaxy S3 Mini I8190
How to Install TWRP 2.7 Recovery on your Galaxy S3 Mini I8190:
- Download the file for your variant carefully.
- Open Odin3.exe.
- Put your phone in download mode, to do so, turn it off completely. Now turn it on by pressing and holding Volume Down + Home Button + Power Key, you should see a warning now, press Volume Up to continue.
- In case the download mode method doesn’t work for your device, try one of the methods from this guide.
- Connect your phone to your PC.
- The ID:COM box in Odin should turn blue now, that means your phone is connected properly in download mode.
- Click on the “AP” tab in Odin 3.09 and select the downloaded Recovery.tar file.
- In case you’re using Odin 3.07, click on the PDA tab in Odin and select the downloaded Recovery.tar file and let it load.
- Hit start now and sit back, it will take a few seconds to flash the recovery and your device will reboot.
- Press and hold Volume Up + Home Button + Power Key to access the TWRP 2.7 Recovery that you just installed.
- You can backup your current ROM and do a lot of other things using the options in TWRP Recovery.
- Make sure that you make Nandroid and EFS backup and save it on your PC as well. Find the option in TWRP 2.7 Recovery.
- That’s All.
How to Root:
- If you want to root your device now, you can download the SuperSu.zip file.
- Place the downloaded file on your phone’s sd card.
- Open TWRP 2.7 and select Install > SuperSu.zip and flash it.
- Reboot your device and find SuperSu in app drawer.
- Congrats! You’re now rooted as well.
That’s All! We hope that you found this guide of much help. In case you got any queries or face any difficulties regarding this guide, don’t hesitate to stop by the comment box below and leave us your message. We will try our best to help you out. Thanks All.
nice one. thanks!
@disqus_3zfQZm3IzV:disqus yes.
ID:COM box in Odin not turning blue 🙁
@disqus_hAW9Z9BWZI:disqus that is connection issue. Make sure you’re using an appropriate data cable, also, try enabling USB debugging mode.
can we have an answer for this cause I’m having same problem
i got to the part where you have to press volume up+home+power buttons but all it does is turn my phone on or off, please help
@disqus_CKZnnC8mvw:disqus Volume Up + home + Power will boot your phone into recovery after flashing it. Are you sure that the recovery is not there? Have you flashed it in the first place?
Using the Odin program is the flashing process right? If yes then I did flash it, yes.
@disqus_CKZnnC8mvw:disqus Yes, Using that and then adding recovery files to it and following the procedure written above is the entire flashing process.
I can confirm I’ve done all of that. Anyway I could’ve done something wrong?