Gaining root by Installing Drakaz Recovery on i7500/i7500L

This guide will help you get root access on your Samsung Galaxy i7500 or i7500L mobile phone. After gaining root you can do whatever you please to your phone, including an extremely easy upgrade to better firmware, such as Galaxo (Android 1.6) or GAOSP (Android 2.2).

Software

Before you begin you should start downloading these files:

• Samsung New PC Studio - Needed for drivers and can be uninstalled after.
• Android SDK - Get the standalone zip, not the installer, for easier use.
• Modified SDK drivers - May be needed during process.
• Recovery 6.5.1 - Newest as of 2011/02/09
• x64 drivers for "Android 1.0" device - If you are using Windows x64 you will need these.
• Droid Explorer - Optional, can be used to do things.

Install Process

1. Install New PC Studio (NPS).
2. Extract Android SDK to an easy to access location.
3. Enable USB debugging on the phone at Settings > Applications > Development > USB debugging.
4. Install the drivers for ADB. Some people have issues with ADB and Fastboot, this is mainly driver related. x86 operating systems should be fine after enabling USB debugging on the phone and connecting it to the PC. If there are issues you can try installing the modified SDK drivers. Driod Explorer may also be able to install the necessary drivers.
5. Extract recovery-*.img from the Drakaz Recovery package to the Android SDK tools folder. For example, c:\android-sdk-windows\tools\.
6. Copy RECTOOLS.tar.gz the internal SD memory (not the SD card you may have put in there).
   
7. Open a command promt (Win key+R > cmd) and navigate to the Android SDK tools folder. Example: cd C:\android-sdk-windows\tools
8. Enter the command fastboot flash recovery recovery-*.img and you should now be prompted with waiting for device.
9. If you are using an x64 OS, go into the Device Manager and select View > Show hidden devices in the menu. Try to find, under Other devices (or possibly another section), Android 1.0. If you find it then try to install the x64 drivers. If you can't find it then continue reading.
10. Power down the phone and boot into fastboot by holding Dial + Power together. fastboot mode should display on the phone. If fastboot is successful, the cmd promt will update and after about 15 seconds the phone will continue to boot up.
11. On an x64 OS this might fail the first time. The command promt won't update after you've gone through a cycle of entering fastboot mode on the phone. You will need to enter Device Manager and select View > Show hidden devices in the menu. Try to find, under Other devices (or possibly another section), Android 1.0. You can now update the device with the x64 drivers and repeat the previous step.
12. Power down the phone and boot into recovery mode with Volume Down + Dial + Power held together. You should now be in the Android recovery menu.
13. Do a Nandroid backup to save your current configuration, in case anything bad happens in the future.
14. Select Fix packages permissions and hit the Home key when it prompts.
15. Select Root this device and hit the Home key when it prompts.
16. Reboot!

Links

Visit the LURKMORE Wiki page on the i7500 for more information.