Verizon Galaxy S3: Root, Mobile Hotspot
If you own a Verizon Samsung Galaxy S3, you must have noticed that the mobile hotspot, aka, Tethering is disabled in the firmware. We find this funny as the phone is fully capable as a mobile hotspot. An xda user has made an APK file that turns this feature on. Before you use this APK, you will need to root your phone.
First, root your Verizon Galaxy S3 (given at the bottom of this post) and download the APK from here (mirror). Download root explorer on your Android (from Play Market) and copy the framework-res.apk over to system\framework\ which will overwrite the existing framework file. This will freeze your phone. Wait for 2 minutes and press volume up + volume down + the power button simultaneously.
Your Galaxy S3 will go into safemode. Just reboot to get it out of safe mode. If you cannot get it out of it, just take the battery out.
How to Root Verizon Samsung Galaxy S3:
Step 1: Download and install these files to your PC:
Samsung Driver- http://tinyw.in/Fdoz
Odin- http://bit.ly/M1GU35
Step 2: Download this Rooted Stock 4.0.4 by MrRobinson to your pc- Here is the Torrent link (you will need to download this with Utorrent and then unzip it with 7zip to extract the .tar file)
Step 3: Power device off, then hold the volume down/home/power keys until you see a yellow triangle, then press the volume up key to access "download mode"
Step 4: Open Odin and connect the oem usb cable to pc & device, you should see a "comport #" in upper left hand corner of odin.
Step 5: Click on the PDA function of odin and select the file you downloaded in step 2. Should take roughly 8min, then odin will say pass/reset.
Step 6: Phone should reboot(unless you had auto reboot unchecked, in that case you’ll need to do a battery pull).