The folks at Verizon must be highly dedicated to roll out periodic updates to the Verizon Galaxy S5 and looking at the frequency of the updates, we feel that they are hyper-active. The Verizon Galaxy S5 has seen the Android 5.0 Lollipop update earlier this month bringing the firmware version to G900VVRU1BOA8. But the most surprising fact is that the Lollipop update came in a very quick succession after the release of NK2 firmware last December. If this is the trend, the Verizon Galaxy S5 users might see the light of Android 5.1 Lollipop very soon than expected (Hoping!!!).

Android Lollipop comes with a horde of new features which might mess up with the existing rooting techniques on your device. As we can understand, resisting to the latest Lollipop update on your device is too hard but user experience without rooting might be kind of flat for advanced Android users. Thanks to muniz_ri of XDA, you can now update your device to the OA8 firmware without losing the root on your device. Isn’t that great?

In this tutorial, we will show you how to retain the root on your Verizon Galaxy S5 after updating to the OA8 firmware. You can use this guide from any existing firmware or custom ROM but the only requirement is that you need to have a working root on the existing ROM and the latest Safestrap recovery installed. If you’re looking for a way to root your Verizon Galaxy S5 in the first hand, follow the below guide to root your device on the NI2 firmware.

Root Verizon Galaxy S5 on NI2 KitKat 4.4.4 firmware

Prerequisites

  • Your Verizon Galaxy S5 must be rooted beforehand in order to follow this tutorial.
  • Install the latest Safestrap recovery with working ROM slot. Follow this thread.
  • Charge your device to at least 60% battery life to avoid any mishaps during the process.
  • Backup everything, this includes your device’s storage, SMS, contacts, and apps etc. The process will erase everything off your device.
  • Make a nandroid backup of your current ROM using any custom recovery just in case you want to revert back.
  • Install appropriate drivers for your Samsung smartphone. You can find them here.
  • Enable USB Debugging on your Galaxy S5.

Downloads

Odin tool: Download Link

OA8 Firmware: Download Link

OA8 Kernel: Download Link

Update Verizon Galaxy S5 to Android 5.0 Lollipop and Retain Root

  1. Download the OA8 firmware and transfer it to the root of the external SDcard of your device.
  2. Reboot your phone to the Safestrap recovery and make sure that the stock slot is active in the recovery.
    safestrap-stock-slot
  3. Select the backup option and backup the user data to the external SDcard (not to internal storage)
  4. Navigate back to the main menu and wipe the entire device clean except for the external SD card where you placed the OA8 firmware and the backup.
  5. Now, flash the OA8 firmware from the Install menu in the Safestrap recovery.
  6. After flashing the Lollipop ROM, restore the user data on your device.
  7. Power off the device completely from the Reboot option in the recovery.
  8. Put your device into the download mode pressing the three button combo: Vol Down + Home + Power.
  9. Flash the OA8 stock kernel (G900V_OA8_Stock_Kernel.tar.md5) from the PDA slot in the Odin firmware flashing tool. You can follow our definitive guide on Odin flashing tool from here.
  10. The device should be rebooted automatically once the kernel is flashed on your device.

Note: Your phone might pause on the Verizon splash screen for about 2 minutes before rebooting which is expected, so don’t panic.

That’s it. Once the device boots, you’ll have the tastiest Lollipop running on your device with an additional gift in the form of working root.

So how is Lollipop treating you on your Verizon Galaxy S5? Leave your comments below.

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13 COMMENTS

  1. Hi, but i do ave problem to install safestrap,
    My s5 has
    Android V: 5.0
    Baseband V: G900vvru1boc4
    Karnel V: 3.4.0-3846539
    Build N: Twi5ted Lollipop V-7
    Rom n: Twi5ted Lollipop V7
    Rom V: Android L5.0
    Release D: May 2015

    It is verizon unlocked was, and I am on T-mobile do not have 4glte at all, so model is SM-G900T – I install rom form t mobile and than everything has changed !

    Any advice to fix 4glte ??????

    Thanks

  6. I also get 404 not found for OA8 firmware link – is there a new link available?
    I
    downloaded the two ‘new method’ files listed above but their
    description states they’re for the S4. Will they also work for the S5?
    Thank you.

  8. There is new method available now.

    1. Extract the G900V_OA8_Stock_Rooted_Backup file from the .rar and place the file in the following folder: ext-sdcard/TWRP/BACKUPS/xxxxxx(the name of your backups folder may vary. If a backups folder does not exist you must first create a backup before continuing).
    2. From Safestrap recovery perform an “Advanced Wipe” and wipe everything but your ext-sdcard.
    3. From the main menu press “Restore” and restore the Stock_Rooted_Backup.
    4. Last, from the main menu press “Reboot,” reboot into “Download” mode and flash the G900V_OA8_Stock_Partitions using Odin’s PDA slot(AP in Odin v3.09+).

    Links:

    https://www.androidfilehost.com/?fid=95916177934533302

    https://www.androidfilehost.com/?fid=95916177934529878

  9. the link to the OA8 firmware now gives a 404 error, any way we could get a new working link?

  10. The oa8 firmware link gives 404 not found. Also, why do I have to flash the kernel once I install the rom?

  13. working GREAT,except now waiting for xposed framework ,but what recovery to use on the new rooted rom

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