How to install ClockWorkMod Recovery on Samsung Galaxy S with Heimdall Suite

Knowing how to install the ClockWorkMod Recovery on your Samsung Galaxy S it’s very important, especially if you want to improve, customize or have access to its system. The process can turn out to be quite difficult if you don’t know what to use and what to do; therefore, in today’s step-by-step guide, I will teach you all about the CWM concept and how to get it on the Galaxy S. In order to succeed, you will have to use the Heimdall Suite tool, which will make our job easier.

The ClockWorkMod Recovery (more common CWM) is a custom recovery for Android phones/ tablets that allows you to perform several advanced recovery, restoration and maintenance operations. Also, you need it pre-installed if you want to flash a custom ROM, such as CyanogenMod, which as you may know, will power up the performances of your Samsung Galaxy S. In the same time, CWM will bring some extra features, including: the hard reset capabilities, install a .zip custom ROM from the SD card, backup in an easier way, change the menu bar, icons and the phone theme.

As you can see, there are a lot of reasons for installing the ClockWorkMod Recovery on your Galaxy S, not to mention that the process is easy to follow and complete. If you do exactly as I explained in the steps from the guide below, you should be done in a couple of minutes.

But, before we begin, there are some things you need to know. First of all, you will have to download and install Hardcore’s SpeedMod kernel with ClockworkMod Recovery, the Heimdall Suite. Then, you will void your Samsung Galaxy S warranty, so if you’re not comfortable with this you should probably stop here; the process is safe, but if anything goes wrong, you are “on your own”. Finally, I recommend you backup the Galaxy S, as the procedure might wipe the data out from the phone.

The Heimdall is a cross-platform open-source tool suite used to flash ROMs onto Samsung Galaxy S devices. It is similar with a more common software, Odin and it will use the same protocol- interact with a device in download mode. But you may wonder why to choose it, instead of Odin. Well, because Heimdall can run on Linux, OS X and Windows (XP, Vista, 7) while Odin is supported only by Windows.

Now, you know everything about ClockWorkMod Recovery and about the Heimdall Suite platform, so we can finally begin with the proper guide; pay attention, follow the steps and in the end, if something goes wrong or if you’re having issues during the procedure, share them with us, so we can help you through.

How to install ClockWorkMod Recovery on Samsung Galaxy S

1. Download Hardcore’s SpeedMod kernel with ClockworkMod Recovery.
2. Download Heimdall Suite- for Windows only (if you need the version for Ubuntu 32/64bit, or Mac OS X talk to me).
3. Turn off the Samsung Galaxy S; connect the USB cord to the computer but not with the phone (only with the PC, we will connect the handset later).
4. Boot the Samsung Galaxy S into download mode. You can do this by holding down the “Home” and “Volume Down” button while connecting the microUSB to it.
5. Now, run “zadig.exe” from the drivers folder of the Heimdall Suite you downloaded before.
6. On the menu, select Options -> List All Devices.
7. Here, select Samsung USB Composite Device or Gadget Serial.
8. You can now click on “Install Driver” (ignore all the prompts; just choose “Install this driver anyway”).
9. Heimdall can now be used safely on the Windows computer; follow the rest of the steps in order to install CWM on the Galaxy S.
10. Launch the Heimdall Frontend and unzip Hardcore’s SpeedMod Kernel.
11. Select the zImage you extracted in the Kernel (zImage) section.
12. Turn off the phone and connect the USB cord to the computer but not with the device.
13. Boot the phone in download mode just as we did before.
14. Click “start” on the Heimdall Frontend.
15. You should now see a blue transfer bar (on the handset), showing how the kernel is being transferred. In the end the Galaxy S will reboot automatically.
16. Done; CWM was safely installed on the Samsung Galaxy S.