How to Root Verizon Note 7 Using Userdebug Firmware from Sprint

Most of us were hopeful that the Verizon Note 7 will get root access sooner or later, but none would have guessed it’d within a month of the device’s launch.

Earlier today, the Sprint Note 7 received root via a userdebug firmware with build N930PVPU1APH3. Apparently, the firmware was found on a userdebug version of Note 7, which Samsung employees use to test upcoming updates before releasing them publicly.

User LRiley over at xda found a workaround to use Sprint’s userdebug firmware to root Verizon Note 7 as well. Before this, another xda member flashed the firmware to a T-Mobile variant of Note 7 and got root.

Rooting Verizon Note 7 with the Sprint’s firmware, will be a tad bit different from that of Sprint variant where you just flash the firmware and SuperSU via ADB. On the Verizon version, you’ll need to flash Bootloader, CP and CSC from a Verizon firmware as well after flashing the Sprint firmware to make it work.

All the files you’ll need to go through this process are shared in the downloads section below. Make sure you follow the instructions carefully and to the letter.

Note: Your device might get fully wiped during the rooting process. So make sure you backup all important data on your device before you follow the steps below.

Downloads

Sprint’s Rooted Userdebug PH3 firmware (2GB, .tar.md5)
Verizon Note 7 PH1 Firmware (2GB)
SuperSU for Note 7 (Qualcomm devices only)
Odin 3.12.4

How to Root Verizon Note 7

The first thing you need to do is flash Sprint’s rooted userdebug PH3 firmware to your Verizon Note 7. To do that download the firmware file (.tar) from the downloads section above and flash it to your device using Odin 3.12.4.

Unzip the Odin 3.12.4_4 .zip file and run/open Odin3 v3.12.4_4.exe file from the extracted files on your PC.
Enable OEM unlock:
1. Go to Settings » About phone » and tap “Build number” seven times to enable“Developer options”.
2. Go back to main Settings page, scroll to bottom and select “Developer options” from there.
3. Under Developer options, look for “Enable OEM unlock” checkbox/toggle and make sure you Check it or turn it ON.
Boot your Samsung device into Download mode:
1. Switch off your phone.
2. Press and hold “Home + Power + Volume down” buttons for a few seconds until you see a warning screen.
3. Press Volume Up on the warning screen to accept it and boot into Download mode.
Once your device is in download mode, connect it to the PC with a USB cable. The Odin window on PC should detect the phone and show an “Added!!” message.
Click on the AP tab on Odin window and select the .tar.md5 FIRMWARE file that you downloaded.
└ Note: DON’T play with any other options on the screen. You’re only required to connect your Samsung device and select the FIRMWARE file in AP tab.
Click the Start button on Odin and wait for it to finish the process. Once it has finished successfully, you’ll see a pass message on the Odin screen.
Your phone will automatically reboot when Odin is done flashing. You can then disconnect your device and close Odin window on PC.
Have patience! Your Note 7 is going to take really long for the first boot after installing PH3 firmware. It’ll go through a update process.
At the end, your device will end-up with a black screen. That’s okay. For now, just force it into download mode again using the steps below:
1. Force Power off your Note 7: Press and hold Power + Volume down buttons for few seconds.
2. Boot into Download mode: Press and hold “Home + Power + Volume down” buttons for a few seconds until you see a warning screen. And then press Volume Up on the warning screen to accept and boot into Download mode.

We’ll now flash the BL, CP and CSC files from the Verizon firmware to get the device booting. Follow the steps below:

Open/run Odin3 v3.12.4_4.exe again on your PC.
Connect your Verizon Note 7 (which is in download mode) to the PC. Odin should show Added!! message.
Download and extract/unzip the Verizon Note 7 PH1 firmware’s .zip file on your PC. You’ll get files starting with the following letters AP, BL, CP and CSC. We’ll be using the BL, CP and CSC files only, NOT the AP file.
Load the BL, CP and CSC files on Odin as follows:
1. Click on BL button and select the file starting BL.
2. Click on CP button and select the file starting CP.
3. Click on CSC button and select the file starting CSC.
  └ You can load either the HOME_CSC or the CSC_VZW in the CSC slot. Home wipes data and CSC_VZW doesn’t.
Click the Start button on Odin and wait for it to finish the process. Once it has finished successfully, you’ll see a pass message on the Odin screen.
Your phone will automatically reboot when Odin is done flashing. You can then disconnect your device and close Odin window on PC.
After boot, if you’re going to restore your Google account (with all apps), make sure you do NOT restore/install the SuperSU app.

Install SuperSU (Note 7 specific) via ADB

With Sprint’s PH3 firmware installed on your Verizon Note 7, you now have su binaries and root access available on the device. However, SuperSU app isn’t installed. So you don’t have a GUI to manage Superuser permissions on the device. To fix this, we need to install the Note 7 specific SuperSU via ADB. Follow the instructions below.

Setup ADB and Fastboot on your PC.
Enable Developer options & USB debugging on your device.
Extract the SuperSU for Note 7 (sun7.zip file you downloaded above) to a separate folder on your PC.
Now open a command window OUTSIDE that folder (we need to push the sun7 folder to the device not files). To do that, Shift + Right click on any empty white space on the folder screen and then select Open command window here from the context menu.
Connect your Note 7 to the PC. If it asks for your permission to allow USB debugging, select OK.

Issue the following commands one-by-one in the command window on PC:

adb push sun7 /data/local/tmp/su

adb shell chmod 0777 /data/local/tmp/su/*

adb shell

cd data

cd local

cd tmp

cd su

su

./root.sh

The script will now install SuperSU, set up root access and then reboot your device automatically.
Download/install Busybox on rails from Play store on your Note 7 and set up Busybox.
└ SuperSU may or may not update binaries after installing busybox. It’s not an issue.

Setup Verizon APN to get 4G LTE

Your Verizon Note 7 is now fully rooted with SuperSU installed, but you may not have 4G LTE data yet. To fix this you need to setup Verizon APN on the device. Download/install Flashfire apk and Verizon APN Fix .zip file from the link download links below and follow the instructions carefully.

Download FlashFire APK Download Verizon APN fix .zip

Download the FlashFire apk from the link above and install it to your device like you install any other .apk file.
Download and save the vzw-APNfix.zip to your device from link above.
Open FlashFire app, Grant it root access and Agree to its disclaimer note.
Now tap on the + floating icon on the FlashFire app » select “Flash Zip or OTA” from there and then select the vzw-APNfix.zip file that we transferred to your device in Step 2 above.
Make sure you leave “Auto-mount” unchecked under “Options” menu.
Hit the Flash button on bottom of the screen to begin flashing.
└ Have patience. This could take some time.
Download/install ES File explorer from the Play Store.
Open ES File explorer on your phone » grant it root access » navigate to the following directory /data/data/com.android.providers.telephony/databases/ » and delete telephony.db file from there.
Reboot your phone.