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How To Root Samsung Intercept [Step-by-step Guide]

Root Samsung Intercept

While there are several one click rooting tools available for most Android phones, none of them seem to work for a few handsets, including Samsung Intercept. Fortunately, our friends at sdx-developers have found a way to root the Intercept. Although the method isn’t as straight forward as the ones available for most other phones, it has been reported to work for several users. Read on after the break to try it out for yourself and get root access on your device.

Disclaimer: Please follow this guide at your own risk. AddictiveTips will not be liable if your device gets damaged or bricked during the process.

What this method does is, it basically replaces the unrooted kernel of the phone with a rooted one. The rooted kernel includes all the stock Samsung Intercept kernel’s modules along with a few additional files and settings from the Samsung Moment.

UPDATE: Some critical files required for this old method are no longer available, so it will not work anymore. However, you can still easily root the Intercept with SuperOneClick. See the updated method below for details.

Updated Method:

  1. Download and install the Samsung Intercept USB drivers from the link given below.
  2. Download the latest version of SuperOneClick from the link given below and install it on your computer.
  3. Enable USB debugging on your phone in Settings > Applications > Development.
  4. Run SuperOneClick and connect your phone to your PC via USB.
  5. Click ‘Root’ and wait for the process to finish. Your phone will reboot once it’s done.

There you go; enjoy!

Download SuperOneClick (Get the latest version)
Download Samsung Intercept USB Drivers for Windows

For details on this method, visit this XDA-Developers forum thread.

Old Method (Not Valid Anymore):

Here is how it’s done:

  1. Download ‘Samsung Moment Update’ from the link given below, and install it to your computer.
  2. Download ‘LouZiffer’s Samsung Updater Patch’ from the link given below, and install it to your computer.
  3. Download ‘Intercept Recovery’ from the link given below and save it in following location, depending on your operating system.
    For 32 bit Windows:
    
    C:\Program Files\Samsung Electronics\SWUpgrade\Models\Binary
    
    For 64 bit Windows:
    
    C:\Program Files (x86)\Samsung Electronics\SWUpgrade\Models\Binary

    Make ABSOLUTELY SURE that you delete the file that is already there, or else you may PERMANANTLY BRICK your phone.

  4. Download the USB drivers for your phone using the link given below, and extract them to a location on your computer.
  5. Power on your phone in download mode by holding its ‘Volume Down’, ‘Camera’ and ‘End’ buttons, and connect it to your computer.
  6. When prompted, choose to install the drivers manually rather than letting Windows search for them automatically, and specify the location from the previous step.
  7. Run the SWUpgrade program that you installed in step one, and follow its instructions step by step. Be patient with the reboots as it might take a long time for the device to boot during the process.
  8. On your phone’s SD Card, make the following folders:
    /sdx/updates
    
    /sdx/zip
    
    /sdx/backup

  9. Download ‘inxane’s kernel’ from the link given below and place it in the SD Card’s /sdx/zip folder.
  10. Boot your phone into recovery mode by first powering it off and then holding its ‘Volume Down’, ‘Talk’ and ‘End’ buttons.
  11. Select the ‘Install zip from SD Card’ option from recovery.
  12. Reboot your phone once it has installed the zip.

 

And that’s it – you now have a rooted Samsung Intercept. If anything goes wrong, start over and make sure you follow the steps in the EXACT order, or you can head over to the corresponding threads to contact the community for assistance in case anything goes wrong.

This method was originally posted on SDX-Developer a few months ago. The kernel file’s link got dead in the meantime and those at XDA-Developers started a thread on it with working download links to the missing files, and some refinements to the method.

Download Samsung Moment Update

Download LouZiffer’s Samsung Updater Patch

Download Samsung Intercept Recovery (Not available anymore)

(https://www.sdx-downloads.com/devs/inxane/intercept/inxane0381intercept.zip) Download inxane’s Kernel

 

20 Comments

  1. Here is easy way to root Samsung Intercept

    Intercept Root Apk and Recovery flasher

    http://forum.sdx-developers.com/index.php?topic=15586.0

    How to Install:

    Open Settings
    Select application settings
    Click the check box for unknown sources

    You can enter the URL of this apk in you phone browser as:

    http://intercept-root.googlecode.com/files/interceptRoot.apk

    Once it’s on your phone its a snap

    Start the app, if your not rooted then there is only one button root
    Click the root button and wait for your phone to restart
    If you want to install custom recovery open the app again and now the option to flash recovery appears

    Click install CM01 recovery, it will flash the recovery and make any necessary folders on the SD card and reboot into recovery.

    Other Intercept Guides and Tips at:

    http://forum.sdx-developers.com/index.php?board=118.0

    • wow thanks so much! I’ve tried everything and it just seems so confusing, but when you just said it so simple like that I got it right away! 🙂

  2. The “Download Samsung Intercept Recovery” link is broken, any other places from which I can get it? and does this work for the 2.2.1 version?

  3. SWUpgrade Tool has bricked too many Samsung Intercept phones for various reasons. Here is one guide that can root you Samsung Intercept safely and install rooted Kernel of your choice:

    1.

    Permanent Root without using rooted Kernel

    http://forum.sdx-developers.com/intercept-guides-and-tips/(guide)-how-to-gain-permanent-root-using-adb-tool-without-rooted-kernelrom/

    2.

    Permanent Root by using rooted Kernel

    http://forum.sdx-developers.com/intercept-guides-and-tips/(guide)-how-to-install-custom-kernelrom-on-your-intercept-using-cm01-recovery/

  4. Okay so I have tried the driver from the link as well as the pdanet one and neither one installs the driver needed for the download screen. M910 or something like that. When phone is on it is missing part of the driver as well (ACM) so without that. SWUpgrade won’t detect my phone. Please help!

  5. Unfortunately, this method does come with its quirks as it is more of a workaround that has worked for many users. In case of such procedures, starting from scratch again often works (though it totally beats me why, especially when the instructions are exactly the same and didn’t work the first time). Good luck!

  6. just how patient should I be? step 7 has been sitting at “Updating Do NOt Disconnect! Elapsed time : 5 sec…98%” for over half an hour.

    Any thoughts?

    • With these hacks, we never know. At times for the very same phone, performing the same operation once could take just a few minutes while doing it some other time could take hours. If it seems to have been a ridiculously long wait and you think something is wrong, you might need to start over but then, aborting certain operations could even brick your device. There are way too many possibilities to be able to make a general statement here and we know it can get frustrating…we experience it ourselves every now and then heh.