Categories Custom RecoveriesSamsung Galaxy

Install TWRP 3.0.2-1 Recovery On Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini I8190/N/L

TWRP 3.0.2-1 recovery is now available for our beloved Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini. Just in case you’re in a mood to flash some latest custom ROM including Android 4.4.4 KitKat or Android 5.0 Lollipop on your Galaxy S3 Mini, you will need a custom recovery that supports these versions of custom Android firmware. Using an older recovery will result in errors like signature verification failure, or you just won’t be able to install latest custom ROMs. We are done with the guides for are installing Android 5.0.2 Lollipop on your Galaxy S3 Mini, so the users looking forward to install those firmwares may follow this guide and install TWRP 3.0.2-1 recovery on their Galaxy S3 Mini I8190/N/L. Let’s go through some early preparations and the install this recovery.

Early Preps

1.This guide is intended for the Galaxy S3 Mini users having the model number GT-I8190, I8190N or I8190L only. In case you don’t have the device listed here, do not proceed. Using the files and method listed here will result in bricking it. You can check your device’s model number in Settings > General > About device.

2. Your phone’s battery must be charged at least over 60%. In case your phone goes dead during the flashing process, it might result in bricking it. Charge your device before you proceed.

3. Always use OEM data cable to establish connection between your phone and your computer. Using third party data cables might cause connection issues.

4.While using Odin3, turn off Samsung Kies, Windows Firewall and any Antivirus software if you’re using.

5. It is always recommended to backup your important data before you flash anything on your device. You may backup using the following guides on our site.

Backup SMS Messages
Backup Call Logs
Backup Contacts
Backup Media – Copy to your PC

6. Follow the guidelines carefully. In case of a mishap, we may not be held responsible.

Disclaimer: The methods involved in flashing custom recoveries, 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. 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.

Files you need to download and install

Download & install Samsung USB drivers.
Download & extract Odin3 v3.09
Download TWRP 2.8.10 Recovery.tar.md5 file.
- GT-I8190_TWRP_3.0.2-1.tar.md5

How to Install TWRP 2.8 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.
Make sure that all options in Odin are unticked except “F.Reset Time”.
Hit start now and sit back, it will take a few seconds to flash the recovery, once finished, disconnect your device from your PC.
Press and hold Volume Up + Home Button + Power Key to access the TWRP 3.0.2-1 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 3.0.2-1 Recovery.
That’s All.

How to Root Now [Optional]

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 2.8 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.

Recovery Credits: Android Andi [We recommend donation to the developer for his hard work. Thank you all]

This post was last modified on March 8, 2017 5:17 pm

Usama M

Usama is a software engineer by profession and at TechBeasts.com he uses his expertise to solve everyday consumer tech problems with his main areas of interest being Android, iOS and Windows.

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View Comments

Bob Bannister says:

February 6, 2015 at 8:08 pm

I've followed the above instructions to the letter & the flashing of TWRP recovery with ODIN 3.09 appeared to be 100% successful on my S3 Mini (I8190) but on booting into recovery mode, I got the standard Android System Recovery (3e) screen, not the expected TWRP one. I also retried it with ODIN 3.07 & the earlier 2.7 TAR, same result. Any thoughts on why it hasn't worked or suggestions as to how to inspect the phone system to see the result of my flashing attempt? I am on the latest I8190 stock firmware (XXN14), which has been rooted using Rootgenius that has Kingroot as the SU.
- Usama Mujtaba says:
  
  February 7, 2015 at 12:09 am
  
  @bobbannister:disqus you will have to flash a new stock firmware from scratch and then try installing this recovery. Before you do that, you may give a try installing TWRP recovery once again, but this time, uncheck Auto-reboot option, when the flashing ends, reboot your device into recovery mode manually. Let me know if it works or not.
  - Bob Bannister says:
    
    February 7, 2015 at 11:29 am
    
    I've already tried it twice, once with auto-reboot & once without (although I didn't manage to reboot straight to recovery in this case). Is it worth try to flash CWM instead? If not, would a factory reset suffice - I have only just started using it, so there isn't much user data on it? Also, if I go back to stock firmware via flashing, would you recommend using an alternative rooting method to Rootgenius (which I don't like because so much of the text associated with it is in Chinese!). Also, as a final query, is it necessary to flash with the current firmware (XXN14) or would an earlier version be better? I hope you don't mind my asking all these questions - I am very new to this game.
    - Usama Mujtaba says:
      
      February 7, 2015 at 11:37 am
      
      @bobbannister:disqus try flashing CWM, but i don't think so that it will work. I haven't used such tools on samsung devices, I always root samsung devices using recovery and then flashing SuperSu, so I'm not pretty much sure about their functionality. You can flash any other latest firmware, that will fix this recovery issue most probably, but make sure that you backup each and everything and perform a clean installation (factory reset your phone before flashing the firmware). Good Luck.
      - Bob Bannister says:
        
        February 7, 2015 at 9:30 pm
        
        I flashed CWM 6.0.5.1 & did as you suggested in having re-boot un-ticked. I booted into recovery & got the CWM recovery screen (& got all excited). Sadly, after booting the phone normally & then rebooting back to recovery, the standard 3e recovery screen returned. Presumably you have an idea as to why the recovery isn't sticking, which is why you are recommending flashing back to stock firmware?
      - Usama Mujtaba says:
        
        February 7, 2015 at 10:02 pm
        
        @bobbannister:disqus exactly. It's not sticking upon rebooting, sometimes the recovery partition crashes and doesn't let us load another recovery on it, I'll look out for the exact reason and let you know as well, but in the meanwhile, you will have to flash a new stock firmware after factory resetting your device, and flash a custom recovery afterwards. The custom recovery will stick for sure then.
      - Bob Bannister says:
        
        February 8, 2015 at 8:22 pm
        
        Surprisingly, I have managed to get everything working without having to do a factory re-set or flash a fresh stock firmware. What I did was remove all apps, including Supercleaner (which came with the rooting) but not the superuser app, Kinguser, as it had been installed as a system App. I did however use Kinguser to unroot the phone. I then side-loaded TWRP with ODIN & booted into it without allowing the phone to auto-reboot. I did a Nandroid backup of all the system partitions and when I I clicked "reboot" it asked permission to install "superuser", which I allowed. On rebooting, Kinguser had disappeared, so I installed SuperSU from the Google Store (which is what I wanted anyway). Low & behold, when I powered off & booted back into Recovery, I got TWRP & not the standard 3e recovery screen as had happened previously. I have booting back and forth between stock android and recovery several times since then (as a test) and everything is rock-solid. All I can assume is that the cause of my problem was Kinguser (or possibly Supercleaner) refreshing the Recovery partition with the standard Recovery (perhaps to protect itself from being replaced). Anyway, everything in the garden is now looking rosy; let's hope it stays that way! And before signing off, I would very much like to record my sincere thanks for all the time & prompt help that you have afforded me in dealing with this issue.
      - Usama Mujtaba says:
        
        February 8, 2015 at 9:08 pm
        
        That's great. Stay connected with us :)
Zeleni says:

October 20, 2019 at 12:56 pm

Hey,
I followed every step on this page, TWRP works fine but the I also wanted to root it and I flashed the file for rooting in twrp, it wrote "successful" but it didn't root, there is no superSu.
Is there any other way to root it?
(I am new to this stuff) :)
Usama Mujtaba says:

August 12, 2015 at 4:23 pm

@disqus_SrXQYqdGf8:disqus Try installing SuperSu from google play and see what happens. After that install Root Checker app to verify root access.
- Zeleni says:
  
  August 12, 2015 at 8:28 pm
  
  Thank you. It works with SuperSU
Dan says:

August 21, 2015 at 1:00 pm

Thanks Usama! :) Your information helped me a lot!!! :) Cheers mate!
Reaz says:

October 20, 2019 at 12:54 pm

Followed all steps, worked well. Then i decided to reset my phone and install all apps again cleanly in my phone. :) but but but, :( My phone is not turning on again.. Not even opening the recovery option. Recovery image is flashing on my screen. :/ Help
Usama Mujtaba says:

September 15, 2015 at 11:08 am

@disqus_KeaBRr8WUp:disqus flash stock firmware and fix your phone.
- Reaz says:
  
  September 17, 2015 at 6:19 am
  
  Yeah. Thanks.. [Fixed my issue] :-)
Spartacus XL says:

October 14, 2015 at 1:52 pm

Hello Usama
I try it on i8200Q SIII-mini
After level 10.
It opened one times. Than there is only Galaxy SIII mini logo.
nothing happpened than.
I tried to open with Volume Up + Home Button + Power Key or normal openning, result is same
Could you advice me something?
- olakhace says:
  
  July 19, 2016 at 7:21 pm
  
  sorry YOU BRICK IT!!!
  Well bad lucky, can you gift me ypur phone, i need pieces :V
Spartacus XL says:

October 14, 2015 at 2:35 pm

Hello
Now I could reach TWRP menu
But I still couldn't open phone.
Could you help me? Thank you
Alexandros says:

July 11, 2016 at 2:22 pm

Usama, I installed TWRP in my phone and after I did a nandroid backup an option to install SuperSu appeared and I proceeded and now I have SuperSU installer as an app. My question is if I should install superSU this way or as you describe above downloading the file and install it via custom recovery (also to upgrade to lollipop OS, it is necessary to root my device to do a titanium backup, correct me if I am wrong)
- um009 says:
  
  July 11, 2016 at 6:21 pm
  
  @disqus_TmILuvJjt0:disqus install Root Checker application and verify root access, if root is working fine then you shouldn't flash the SuperSU.zip file. Otherwise you should.
  To upgrade to Lollipop, you only need a custom recovery. To flash a zip file with recovery, root is not necessary.
Vincent Monet says:

August 24, 2016 at 10:09 am

Hello Usama,
First of all, thank you for your work.
I have a samsung gt-i8190, i followed the instructions, everything works fine.
My only problem is to send the back up to my pc : i cannot find the option ...
I intend to upgrade it to lollipop, is a back up to my pc really neccesary ?