I want to unlock BL, install TWRP, CM and root. Is this how? - Xiaomi Mi 5 Questions & Answers

Hi everyone,
I've jusdt purchased a Xiaomi MI5 for my girlfriend and have been trying to build my knowledge of how to install TWRP, root it, and add Cyanogenmod. I think I've managed to get all of the information that I need, but I would just like to check it with your good selves before I go ahead.
The phone currently has the global stable rom installed, and I understand that I need to flash over that before I can get the bootloader unlocked, and I can do so by using the built in "updater" app to flash the rom that will allow the BL unlock.
QUESTION: What is the best Rom to use? Can I unlock bootloader with a Global Dev Rom, or does it need to be a China Variant?
Once I have flashed a rom that will allow the bootloader to be unlocked, I need to follow the unlocking procedure, wait for it to be authorised by Xiaomi, then use the Mi Unlock tool.
From there, I can flash TWRP via fastboot, and once that is done, flash CM, and finally SuperSU.
Have I got all of that right, my friends, or would anyone else do anything differently?
Much obliged for all the help that I have received in the past from the good folk on XDA. If I've been able to perceive the correct course of action, it's only because I've stood on the shoulders of you giants.
Best regards,
p.s. Believe it or not, I'm still using an antiquated Samsung Galaxy Media Player 5.0, and having had a quick play with the MI5, it feels like adanced alien technology in comparison. Very snappy indeed and I'm feeling quite jealous of the Missus.

One step at the time then fellas. To get bootloader unlock I must be on a dev rom. Can I flash straight to Global Dev using the "Updater" app? thanks

imgettingold said:
One step at the time then fellas. To get bootloader unlock I must be on a dev rom. Can I flash straight to Global Dev using the "Updater" app? thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you are on stable rom you can't flash developer rom via Updater app. You can do it only via fastboot using MiFlash tool. About what development rom you should use, Global or China, China version is the best shot. At the of the day makes no difference. You still need to download any of them and anyway China version have english language. So using it for a while until you manage to unlock your bootloader shouldn't be an issue.
On another matter now... In your first post you was talking about installing CM. My advice from my own experience is to stay on MIUI for now. CM 14.1 is still on early stages of development. As of today MIUI 8.1 is way more stable than CM. There's absolutely no comparison between camera quality. Battery last longer and performance wise, on my usage (Facebook, Messenger, Whatsapp, lots of browsing, lots of hours of playing Need for Speed No Limits and Vainglory) there's no difference between MIUI and CM14.1. So far photos quality is way lower on CM, video recording buggy (i don't know if it's fixed in last build), some people are complaining about Bluetooth issues... Anyway...is your girlfriend willing to flash nightly CM builds on a daily basis? Mine for sure would throw the phone through the window lol.
Yes I know that "legend" is saying that CM roms are snapier and more customisable than stock roms. Not the case for CM14.1, at least not yet... Customisation wise what you can do on CM14.1 you can do on MIUI 8. And theme engine is not ready for CM14.1 yet...so much about customisation. On MIUI8 the theme engine works just fine and the themes collection is quite large.
If you chose to stay on MIUI i assume you'll want a debloated rom. My advice is to go for xiaomi.eu roms. Xiaomi.eu roms are based on China versions (China versions gets updates more often than global version) without bloatware.

At fist , you must be using MIflash tool to get bootloader unlock.Next to install TWRP.

vladimir_carlan said:
If you are on stable rom you can't flash developer rom via Updater app. You can do it only via fastboot using MiFlash tool. About what development rom you should use, Global or China, China version is the best shot. At the of the day makes no difference. You still need to download any of them and anyway China version have english language. So using it for a while until you manage to unlock your bootloader shouldn't be an issue.
On another matter now... In your first post you was talking about installing CM. My advice from my own experience is to stay on MIUI for now. CM 14.1 is still on early stages of development. As of today MIUI 8.1 is way more stable than CM. There's absolutely no comparison between camera quality. Battery last longer and performance wise, on my usage (Facebook, Messenger, Whatsapp, lots of browsing, lots of hours of playing Need for Speed No Limits and Vainglory) there's no difference between MIUI and CM14.1. So far photos quality is way lower on CM, video recording buggy (i don't know if it's fixed in last build), some people are complaining about Bluetooth issues... Anyway...is your girlfriend willing to flash nightly CM builds on a daily basis? Mine for sure would throw the phone through the window lol.
Yes I know that "legend" is saying that CM roms are snapier and more customisable than stock roms. Not the case for CM14.1, at least not yet... Customisation wise what you can do on CM14.1 you can do on MIUI 8. And theme engine is not ready for CM14.1 yet...so much about customisation. On MIUI8 the theme engine works just fine and the themes collection is quite large.
If you chose to stay on MIUI i assume you'll want a debloated rom. My advice is to go for xiaomi.eu roms. Xiaomi.eu roms are based on China versions (China versions gets updates more often than global version) without bloatware.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you Vladimir for your considered and thoughtful reply.
I had thought about using miflash, but the instructions here:
http://en.miui.com/a-234.html
state, "Click here to download MiFlash. If your device is locked. please click here to unlock it first. "
Since I want to flash a dev rom in order to unlock, the instructions to unlock and then flash made no sense to me. It is okay to go from Global stable (8.0.2.0 MAAMIDG, in my case) to China Dev 6.12.15 via MiFlash and I can do this with a regular USB-c cable and not a deepflash cable, is this correct?
I think you make a good point about CM 14.1 not being ready for prime time. I think my girlfriend would prefer the graphical touches of MIUI 8 in any event. Can you confirm that I can use xiaomi.eu rom with root, twrp and x-posed network if needed. That should do for now.
Thanks again, my friend. I anticipate your reply.

https://xiaomi.eu/community/threads...r-xiaomi-mi5-unlocked-bl-only-released.31231/
If you chose method 1 (fastboot) you'll end with TWRP installed aswell. From there just flash SuperSu and done. After that you can update via updater app to last version. My advice is to stay away from Nougat for now. Is still under development and all additions are just under the hood. No new features. If you have any issues with unlocking the bootloader you can literally ask in any thread...the community is more active there. And unlike XDA you won't get an "wrong thread stupid!" or an "use the search button damn it!".
Xposed works just fine but you need this version http://en.miui.com/thread-273424-1-1.html
About CM14.1 don't get me wrong...things are moving fast. And the progress made in just 2-3 weeks its amazing. I just don't think it is what it should be on a gifted phone.
-Hey babe! Merry Xmas! This is your Xmas present: a brand new Xiaomi MI5!.
-Awww...thanks hun! Anything i should know about this phone babe?
-Ummmm...yes...
-What?
-The selfies you are going to take...
-What about my selfies?
-Not really Facebook/Instagram ready...and you know? Sometimes if you switch off WiFi data connection won't work... But it's all good...you just need to turn on and off airplane mode
-Ummmm...ok. I assume I'm happy with your Xmas gift
Time is passing...few days later, New Year Day...your girlfriend wants to take a look at the videos she recorded at New Years Eve party....suddenly...
-Baaaaaaaaaabe!
-What!?
- I can't find my videos from last night
- Ummm...i forgot to tell you something
- What????
- Video recording is broken...

vladimir_carlan said:
https://xiaomi.eu/community/threads...r-xiaomi-mi5-unlocked-bl-only-released.31231/
If you chose method 1 (fastboot) you'll end with TWRP installed aswell. From there just flash SuperSu and done. After that you can update via updater app to last version. My advice is to stay away from Nougat for now. Is still under development and all additions are just under the hood. No new features. If you have any issues with unlocking the bootloader you can literally ask in any thread...the community is more active there. And unlike XDA you won't get an "wrong thread stupid!" or an "use the search button damn it!".
Xposed works just fine but you need this version http://en.miui.com/thread-273424-1-1.html
About CM14.1 don't get me wrong...things are moving fast. And the progress made in just 2-3 weeks its amazing. I just don't think it is what it should be on a gifted phone.
-Hey babe! Merry Xmas! This is your Xmas present: a brand new Xiaomi MI5!.
-Awww...thanks hun! Anything i should know about this phone babe?
-Ummmm...yes...
-What?
-The selfies you are going to take...
-What about my selfies?
-Not really Facebook/Instagram ready...and you know? Sometimes if you switch off WiFi data connection won't work... But it's all good...you just need to turn on and off airplane mode
-Ummmm...ok. I assume I'm happy with your Xmas gift
Time is passing...few days later, New Year Day...your girlfriend wants to take a look at the videos she recorded at New Years Eve party....suddenly...
-Baaaaaaaaaabe!
-What!?
- I can't find my videos from last night
- Ummm...i forgot to tell you something
- What????
- Video recording is broken...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks again for your reply, Vladimir. The nice thing about the MI5 is that MIUI has had time to have some of the bugs ironed out so I agree that it would be foolish to jump straight into CM 14.1 without giving it time to mature. My girlfriend cares not one bit for technical things and, you're right, would not understand why things don't work properly and would think that I had bought her a lemon of a phone.
Can I ask you one more thing, my friend? The more I read (and with your help) the more I learn, but I am always coming across contradictions. For example, I thought with a locked bootloader one had to use a deepflash cable to overwrite the bootloader via MiFlash and fastboot. Here are the instructions I found which clearly delineate between unlocked bootloader and normal usb cable, and locked bootloader with deepflash engineering cable.
http://xiaomitips.com/guide/how-to-flash-miui-global-stable-rom-on-mi-5-running-china-stable-rom/
Is this the only way to go to China Dev rom i.e. do I need to order a deepflash cable? I am confused.
Thanks again for all your help, I can assure you it is very much appreciated especially the part about flashing the EU rom with TWRP. That sounds just what I need.
Cheers,
p.s. thanks for pointing me to the right xposed module too!

imgettingold said:
One step at the time then fellas. To get bootloader unlock I must be on a dev rom. Can I flash straight to Global Dev using the "Updater" app? thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
imgettingold said:
Thanks again for your reply, Vladimir. The nice thing about the MI5 is that MIUI has had time to have some of the bugs ironed out so I agree that it would be foolish to jump straight into CM 14.1 without giving it time to mature. My girlfriend cares not one bit for technical things and, you're right, would not understand why things don't work properly and would think that I had bought her a lemon of a phone.
Can I ask you one more thing, my friend? The more I read (and with your help) the more I learn, but I am always coming across contradictions. For example, I thought with a locked bootloader one had to use a deepflash cable to overwrite the bootloader via MiFlash and fastboot. Here are the instructions I found which clearly delineate between unlocked bootloader and normal usb cable, and locked bootloader with deepflash engineering cable.
http://xiaomitips.com/guide/how-to-flash-miui-global-stable-rom-on-mi-5-running-china-stable-rom/
Is this the only way to go to China Dev rom i.e. do I need to order a deepflash cable? I am confused.
Thanks again for all your help, I can assure you it is very much appreciated especially the part about flashing the EU rom with TWRP. That sounds just what I need.
Cheers,
p.s. thanks for pointing me to the right xposed module too!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My bad. You need MI PC Suite. Here is a guide:
http://xiaomitips.com/guide/how-to-fix-bricked-mi-5-with-locked-bootloader-and-update-to-global-rom/
Don't pay attention to the "bricked device" in the title. The procedure is the same. This is what I used to go from the fake rom to chinese dev one. Keep in mind that you need to download RECOVERY roms and in MI PC Suite you need to chose RECOVERY FLASH (R.Flash).

Ahh, now it makes sense. Thanks for clearing that up for me. Apologies for the slight delay in getting back to you Vladimir. I've typed up two verbose replies and lost them because XDA logged me out whilst writing them so I'll keep this one brief.
You emphasized using the recovery ROM, but do you have a link perchance for the china dev recovery as I've only been able to find a link for the global stable rom in flashboot and recovery flavours. The only link I have for china dev is this one
http://en.miui.com/download-299.html#435
and that does not specify recovery, so flashboot should be assumed?
Thanks again, friend, and wishing you (and your girlfriend) a Merry Christmas whilst I have your ear.

imgettingold said:
Ahh, now it makes sense. Thanks for clearing that up for me. Apologies for the slight delay in getting back to you Vladimir. I've typed up two verbose replies and lost them because XDA logged me out whilst writing them so I'll keep this one brief.
You emphasized using the recovery ROM, but do you have a link perchance for the china dev recovery as I've only been able to find a link for the global stable rom in flashboot and recovery flavours. The only link I have for china dev is this one
http://en.miui.com/download-299.html#435
and that does not specify recovery, so flashboot should be assumed?
Thanks again, friend, and wishing you (and your girlfriend) a Merry Christmas whilst I have your ear.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If I remember correctly, when you do R.Flash in MI PC Suite you can chose the MIUI Version (Stable or Dev) and the download will be made automatically.

imgettingold said:
The phone currently has the global stable rom installed, and I understand that I need to flash over that before I can get the bootloader unlocked, and I can do so by using the built in "updater" app to flash the rom that will allow the BL unlock.
QUESTION: What is the best Rom to use? Can I unlock bootloader with a Global Dev Rom, or does it need to be a China Variant?
Once I have flashed a rom that will allow the bootloader to be unlocked, I need to follow the unlocking procedure, wait for it to be authorised by Xiaomi, then use the Mi Unlock tool.
From there, I can flash TWRP via fastboot, and once that is done, flash CM, and finally SuperSU.
Have I got all of that right, my friends, or would anyone else do anything differently?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello,
I have to disagree with Vladimir.
Your description of actions is spot-on.
I have done exactly that and i am very happy with CM13 (not CM14.1 i agree on that one )
If you do flash CM, DO NOT flash SuperSU.
Root is build in CM, just activate the Developer Options and in there is the option to activate root.
But i have been using MIUI8 for about 2 weeks. 1 week waiting for unlock (problems with getting the permissions to my account) and later again 1 week to try the latest version.
Both times i had much trouble with apps being killed in the background, because MIUI is much more aggressive in killing background tasks and that is not changeable as far as i could find. That is why the battery seems to last longer. But i have in CM the same battery settings active and CM lasts just as long as the MIUI versions i had.
Also there were a lot of bugs in both versions of MIUI, that made it almost impossible for me to use it for my work.
So i would suggest, follow you own steps and first try the MIUI that you installed and if you have some problems, flash CM13 and try that for a week.
Then make a choice of what you want to use in the future.
About the MIUI flash version: if you have Global now, just upgrade via the app to the developer version. Since you already know that version, just use that one.
Chinese version is only in Chinese and English.
Global has some more languages.

Anyway unlocking bootloader works on China Stable too. Not only on Dev version. But you still need to install the China Stable. You called your girlfriend "missus" therefore I assume you are in UK and you bought your phone from an online reseller. MI5 sold by resellers are coming with a "fake" ROM.

elot01 said:
Hello,
I have to disagree with Vladimir.
Your description of actions is spot-on.
I have done exactly that and i am very happy with CM13 (not CM14.1 i agree on that one )
If you do flash CM, DO NOT flash SuperSU.
Root is build in CM, just activate the Developer Options and in there is the option to activate root.
But i have been using MIUI8 for about 2 weeks. 1 week waiting for unlock (problems with getting the permissions to my account) and later again 1 week to try the latest version.
Both times i had much trouble with apps being killed in the background, because MIUI is much more aggressive in killing background tasks and that is not changeable as far as i could find. That is why the battery seems to last longer. But i have in CM the same battery settings active and CM lasts just as long as the MIUI versions i had.
Also there were a lot of bugs in both versions of MIUI, that made it almost impossible for me to use it for my work.
So i would suggest, follow you own steps and first try the MIUI that you installed and if you have some problems, flash CM13 and try that for a week.
Then make a choice of what you want to use in the future.
About the MIUI flash version: if you have Global now, just upgrade via the app to the developer version. Since you already know that version, just use that one.
Chinese version is only in Chinese and English.
Global has some more languages.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Memory management it is changeable in MIUI. There's an option for that in Developer Settings. By default it's set on on "middle" and indeed it is quite aggressive. But if you set it on "low" or "off" (my personal choice" and at the same time you turn off battery saving mode which is set on by default your apps won't be killed in the background. When I wake up in the morning (waken by alaram which never been killed by the way) my Need for Speed No limits is always where I left it in the evening.

What theme is that? it looks awesome

PetritH said:
What theme is that? it looks awesome
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nightshade! Link: http://zhuti.xiaomi.com/detail/378b1e4d-156e-4c98-b483-8f857b3fea09

vladimir_carlan said:
Memory management it is changeable in MIUI. There's an option for that in Developer Settings. By default it's set on on "middle" and indeed it is quite aggressive. But if you set it on "low" or "off" (my personal choice" and at the same time you turn off battery saving mode which is set on by default your apps won't be killed in the background. When I wake up in the morning (waken by alaram which never been killed by the way) my Need for Speed No limits is always where I left it in the evening.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmmm, strange.
I have only seen the option to set the background apps to a max of 5, no Off option.
But whatever the options, i still suggest to everybody to try the MIUI first for a week or so and later try the CM13 or CM14.1 version and make your own choice after that.
If MIUI works for someone, stay on it, else use CMxx

elot01 said:
Hmmm, strange.
I have only seen the option to set the background apps to a max of 5, no Off option.
But whatever the options, i still suggest to everybody to try the MIUI first for a week or so and later try the CM13 or CM14.1 version and make your own choice after that.
If MIUI works for someone, stay on it, else use CMxx
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
On a normal situation i would suggest the same. Or even not to make any suggestion at all. In this case I did it because OP mentioned that the phone is going to be a gift for his girlfriend. If I'd gift a phone I'd gift a reliable phone. And as of today even the official CM maintainer don't think CM is reliable. If he'd consider that CM is reliable will have at least one snapshot/milestone and not only nightlies.
About Memory optimisation is a different option in Developer options. Is not part of Background processes limit.

vladimir_carlan said:
And as of today even the official CM maintainer don't think CM is reliable. If he'd consider that CM is reliable will have at least one snapshot/milestone and not only nightlies.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The CM13 version is reliable and also has normal releases, not only Nightly's.
I have been using it since a few months now on my Mi5 (before that alsmost 2 years on the Mi 4i)
I agree on Cm14.1, not stable enough for me, but CM13 is absolutely stable.

I have unknown device error while unlocking bootloader. Anyone with similar issue bypassed it and unlocked BL? Pls help me.
Thanks in advance

plikmuny said:
I have unknown device error while unlocking bootloader. Anyone with similar issue bypassed it and unlocked BL? Pls help me.
Thanks in advance
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi again, I just wanted to say a big thank you to everyone who posted in this thread (particularly Vladimir and elot101). I've had to sort a couple of things out on the car which have prevented me from having a play on the phone, and with Christmas so close I decided discretion was the better part of valour, and giving the phone as is to my girlfriend to ensure that my Christmas present to her is not a brick, then prying it off her a few days later and flashing Dev, and pestering Xiaomi for an unlock because an Android phone without root, firewall, X-posed privacy module and titanium back-up may as well be an Apple product as far as I'm concerned.
I give you my word that I will bump this thread and let you know my experiences (good or bad) so that I can contribute back to the sum knowledge of this topic.
If anyone is reading this, something that I suspected but was not sure of that I would like to confirm for someone else like me is that recovery roms end with a .zip extension and fastboot ones have a .tgz if you are having trouble distinguishing them. Elementary perhaps, but it's always nice to have these things confirmed.
Merry Christmas guys. I hope everyone gets whatever they want, even if that's a smile from a loved one.
Best wishes

Related

For 1st time, I not sure to install a Custom ROM

Hi,
I got the 1+3 since 3 days, and I must say that from the ROM point of view I quite happy with it ;
It is ...
1. Stable
2. Quick
3. Battery friendly
4. Enough customisation
5. Not Bloatware
Of course there is room for improvement in each points, I know, but ....
Usually I root for point 4. & 5. and I put Custom ROM for point 1. 2. & 3.
But this time, I´m not so hurry
Same here. I have rooted to solve memory management issue but dont really fancy putting a CM rom on it. Will wait until there is a stable oxygen rom I think
I will wait also. Hopefully more CM13 mods will come and improve performance in general.
I got it since 2 days and was very surprised on easy unlocking bootloader and rooting. ROM seems stable and quick enough. I assume that I will wait for an Android N port before I change to a custom ROM. Has someone an idea if there are already devs on the way to cook N-ROMs for different devices?
Same here, only rooted it for the memory fix, OOS have everything I want
I will for sure flash RR and Bliss Flashing Roms is why i bought this device.
andywright1982 said:
Same here. I have rooted to solve memory management issue but dont really fancy putting a CM rom on it. Will wait until there is a stable oxygen rom I think
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't even rooted - but I am quite happy with Oxygen 3, feel no great urge to customise or get CM etc installed. I really like it.
Does Android Pay still work on your device??
Thought I was the only one.
No intention of rooting at the moment.
Have a few apps for work that need a stock phone, plus banking apps etc.
But yep OOS3 seems to have everything with nova launcher.
Sent from my ONEPLUS A3003 using Tapatalk
Same here, OxygenOS is awesome so far, but I rooted for Xposed.
Those that have been flashing roms for 3+ years pretty much get tired of doing it and want all stock. New people get excited about flashing new roms and do it for 3+ years until they end up getting tired too
Valid points for staying on OOS, it's a good rom that has most all customizations I need and the rest I can get with xposed...
Thing is do you EVER plan on flashing a rom? My answer is of course so I decided to go ahead and decrypt (format data) now as opposed to later after I have all my music, etc loaded on.
Running Grarak's CM13 swimmingly.
brickedvice said:
Those that have been flashing roms for 3+ years pretty much get tired of doing it and want all stock. New people get excited about flashing new roms and do it for 3+ years until they end up getting tired too
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well in my case, I've been flashing rom's for 8 years. This is the first device I've not felt the need out of the box.
brickedvice said:
Those that have been flashing roms for 3+ years pretty much get tired of doing it and want all stock. New people get excited about flashing new roms and do it for 3+ years until they end up getting tired too
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1 here. I've been rooting phones for 5+ years as soon as I got them. But now, I'm wondering if I even need to bother.
Yeah, this is hard one. Thanks devs for quickly coming up with root, unlock, custom, and tweaks. Not sure if rooting is needed. I think we can all agree, if you want more out of the devices, you quickly root. For some reason, that's not necessary for one+3. I'm pretty sure we will get bored and devs will come out with super awesome Roms in the near future with many added tweaks. But this phone is solid. Might need a month's of stock rom usage and more arising issues before I will jump to rooting. Great device no complaints..
Sent from my ONEPLUS A3000 using XDA-Developers mobile app
Yes also for me. Great Rom and the first time that I don't want to change the rom!
Gesendet von meinem SGP511 mit Tapatalk
I agree, I actually like this stock, I got pretty much everything I need, iI will just miss flashing nightlies but I won't miss all the down time and missed text messages
Been flashing ROMs for 6 years now, always running cm, and I have been seriously considering given oos a few days before flashing, but also I'm to used to cm
I'm waiting for Multiboot/Dualboot patch...keeping Stock-Rom on first "partition" and Custom-ROM on second...

Easiest and most stable Mi5 setup

Hello everyone,
I have been seduced by the Mi5 and got one. Even I work in IT, I have never flashed a phone and actually didn't plan to do it when I bought the Mi5. I read that the original Chinese ROM had English in it.
So I was happy to just use this ROM in English and that's it (I'm not picky in term of UI).
But I had several bad surprised when I received it:
- many things are still in Chinese
- several applications, even if they are in English, present/search Chinese results (actually I should have thought about it earlier)
- I installed Google Play but some services keep on failing and several apps won't install or update
As a result, I'm finding myself having to flash the phone with a custom ROM in order to get something correct.
As explained in the title I would like to have some advises on which ROMs would be the easiest and most stable to have? I'm not looking the for most fancy or classy ROM. I just want something that would be stable, run smoothly GApps and popular apps (Facebook, WhatsApp, etc...) and works with the most vital/used features of the phone (Wifi, Bluetooth, finger-print, camera, etc...). I have seen threads about several ROMs (Cyanogen, Xiaomi.eu, Resurrection Remix, Official Global Multi, etc...) but don't know which one would suit me best.
Finally, I have done my homework before posting this message, and read how to flash a ROM (especially on the xda-university). Here are the general required steps I have noted:
Enter in USB debug mode
Install a custom recovery app? (I've seen you can flash them too?)
Download you customer ROM into the SDcard
Use the custom recovery to backup your phone (I actually don't need to backup since my phone is empty)
Install the rom by selecting the zip in the root of the SDcard
That said I have seen several other methods and terms on various threads talking about specific stages or the process.
People are "rooting" the phone. Is that necessary for what I want to do? I guess so.
People are are using "flashboot". I read it's another way to flash? What is best for the Mi5?
Please don't hesitate to redirect me to some guides/tutorials if there some fundamentals I have missed.
Thanks! :good:
U also need to look into unlocking the bootloader.
U need to to google ur ****
flyturbo said:
U need to to google ur ****
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Prob uncalled for. He's just looking for info
Hi,
I would recommend xiaomi.eu's rom : https://xiaomi.eu/community/threads/6-6-30.32496/
It's fully translated, stable, includes the Google apps. I've tested a lot of roms, first on a Mi4c then on my Mi5.
If you're going for a MIUI rom (and not a CyanogenMod based one), this is the best in my opinion.
The roms comes in 2 versions : the stable (no root and updated every month or so) and the weekly one (with root and updated every week).
Installation is super easy, you just need to unlock the bootloader of your Mi5 first : http://en.miui.com/unlock/
be0ne said:
Hi,
I would recommend xiaomi.eu's rom : https://xiaomi.eu/community/threads/6-6-30.32496/
It's fully translated, stable, includes the Google apps. I've tested a lot of roms, first on a Mi4c then on my Mi5.
If you're going for a MIUI rom (and not a CyanogenMod based one), this is the best in my opinion.
The roms comes in 2 versions : the stable (no root and updated every month or so) and the weekly one (with root and updated every week).
Installation is super easy, you just need to unlock the bootloader of your Mi5 first : http://en.miui.com/unlock/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for these helpful comments!
So would you say that Xiaomi.eu ROM is more stable than the CyanogenMod ROM? And it's more stable than the official MIUI Global ROM?
In terms of things not working at all, have Xiaomi.eu and CyanogenMod ROMs everything supported/working? That's what I worried about. I would be happy to flash a custom ROM but I would like to make sure it has most of the phone features working correctly (finger-print, bluetooth, wifi, GPS, camera, etc...).
Foobrother said:
Thanks for these helpful comments!
So would you say that Xiaomi.eu ROM is more stable than the CyanogenMod ROM? And it's more stable than the official MIUI Global ROM?
In terms of things not working at all, have Xiaomi.eu and CyanogenMod ROMs everything supported/working? That's what I worried about. I would be happy to flash a custom ROM but I would like to make sure it has most of the phone features working correctly (finger-print, bluetooth, wifi, GPS, camera, etc...).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
CynaogenMod is, indeed, a bit less stable because it's a port and the kernel sources haven't been published yet by xiaomi so no optimisation on this side.
But CM is the way to go if you prefer android stock over MIUI's implementation.
Xiaomi.eu's rom are as stable as official ones but richer in features and optimized (see the list on the rom download page) and with much less bloatware. They remove a lot of Chinese specific apps from and make their rom Google apps compatible out of the box.
And yes, everything works correctly, especially if you install the stable version (the weekly is more prone to bugs because it's updated all the time).
At the end of the day, I would say it's the EU/US version of MIUI. If tomorrow Xiaomi want to sell their products in the western part of the world, this is probably the kind of rom they will put on their devices.
be0ne said:
CynaogenMod is, indeed, a bit less stable because it's a port and the kernel sources haven't been published yet by xiaomi so no optimisation on this side.
But CM is the way to go if you prefer android stock over MIUI's implementation.
Xiaomi.eu's rom are as stable as official ones but richer in features and optimized (see the list on the rom download page) and with much less bloatware. They remove a lot of Chinese specific apps from and make their rom Google apps compatible out of the box.
And yes, everything works correctly, especially if you install the stable version (the weekly is more prone to bugs because it's updated all the time).
At the end of the day, I would say it's the EU/US version of MIUI. If tomorrow Xiaomi want to sell their products in the western part of the world, this is probably the kind of rom they will put on their devices.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks a lot for these advises. It sounds like Xiaomi.eu is what I'm looking for!
I'm glad if I could help. Let us know if this rom fits you
I too would recommend the xiaomi eu Rom. The cm one works well but if you want to use android pay it has to be the xiaomi one.
Foobrother said:
Hello everyone,
I have been seduced by the Mi5 and got one. Even I work in IT, I have never flashed a phone and actually didn't plan to do it when I bought the Mi5. I read that the original Chinese ROM had English in it.
So I was happy to just use this ROM in English and that's it (I'm not picky in term of UI).
But I had several bad surprised when I received it:
- many things are still in Chinese
- several applications, even if they are in English, present/search Chinese results (actually I should have thought about it earlier)
- I installed Google Play but some services keep on failing and several apps won't install or update
As a result, I'm finding myself having to flash the phone with a custom ROM in order to get something correct.
As explained in the title I would like to have some advises on which ROMs would be the easiest and most stable to have? I'm not looking the for most fancy or classy ROM. I just want something that would be stable, run smoothly GApps and popular apps (Facebook, WhatsApp, etc...) and works with the most vital/used features of the phone (Wifi, Bluetooth, finger-print, camera, etc...). I have seen threads about several ROMs (Cyanogen, Xiaomi.eu, Resurrection Remix, Official Global Multi, etc...) but don't know which one would suit me best.
Finally, I have done my homework before posting this message, and read how to flash a ROM (especially on the xda-university). Here are the general required steps I have noted:
Enter in USB debug mode
Install a custom recovery app? (I've seen you can flash them too?)
Download you customer ROM into the SDcard
Use the custom recovery to backup your phone (I actually don't need to backup since my phone is empty)
Install the rom by selecting the zip in the root of the SDcard
That said I have seen several other methods and terms on various threads talking about specific stages or the process.
People are "rooting" the phone. Is that necessary for what I want to do? I guess so.
People are are using "flashboot". I read it's another way to flash? What is best for the Mi5?
Please don't hesitate to redirect me to some guides/tutorials if there some fundamentals I have missed.
Thanks! :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
fracman said:
Prob uncalled for. He's just looking for info
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Excellent info you posted !!!! :highfive:
be0ne said:
Hi,
I would recommend xiaomi.eu's rom : https://xiaomi.eu/community/threads/6-6-30.32496/
It's fully translated, stable, includes the Google apps. I've tested a lot of roms, first on a Mi4c then on my Mi5.
If you're going for a MIUI rom (and not a CyanogenMod based one), this is the best in my opinion.
The roms comes in 2 versions : the stable (no root and updated every month or so) and the weekly one (with root and updated every week).
Installation is super easy, you just need to unlock the bootloader of your Mi5 first : http://en.miui.com/unlock/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for this info - i have only tried the global roms and to be honest - they bug me !
CM - as awesome as it is...still has its little bugs and annoyances.
Hopefully this is the way forward !

Newbie-proof help with flashing new ROM

Hi everyone.
I'm new to this forum, and I decided to post here since I've found no useful answer to my question - or better, I've found them, but they are too specific and hard to follow for such a stupid-newbie as I am.
Getting to the point:
I've purchased my redmi 4a almost 1 year ago from gearbest and it came with a fake tampered ROM - China Stable I guess, 8.0 (of course modded with GAapps and Italian language).
Now, I'd like to install MIUI 9 (or 9.5 as soon as it comes out) on it, as performances have worsened over time, and it sometimes does strange things.
Here's the step I've found out that I SHOULD follow (but I'm not sure about all of them).
- Install latest China Developer over China Tampered via the updater App.
- Unlock bootloader (I applied for permission and already got it).
- Install updated global ROM via MI Flash.
Before starting, I'd like to know by more expert people if this is the right way I should follow.
Of course - and needless to say, I would like to limit risks to the minimum, avoiding any chance of bricking device. T
Thanks in advance for your help :fingers-crossed: (And happy easter to all of you)
kowalski215 said:
Hi everyone.
I'm new to this forum, and I decided to post here since I've found no useful answer to my question - or better, I've found them, but they are too specific and hard to follow for such a stupid-newbie as I am.
Getting to the point:
I've purchased my redmi 4a almost 1 year ago from gearbest and it came with a fake tampered ROM - China Stable I guess, 8.0 (of course modded with GAapps and Italian language).
Now, I'd like to install MIUI 9 (or 9.5 as soon as it comes out) on it, as performances have worsened over time, and it sometimes does strange things.
Here's the step I've found out that I SHOULD follow (but I'm not sure about all of them).
- Install latest China Developer over China Tampered via the updater App.
- Unlock bootloader (I applied for permission and already got it).
- Install updated global ROM via MI Flash.
Before starting, I'd like to know by more expert people if this is the right way I should follow.
Of course - and needless to say, I would like to limit risks to the minimum, avoiding any chance of bricking device. T
Thanks in advance for your help :fingers-crossed: (And happy easter to all of you)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
U still need help?
In installing custom ROMs?

BL will be unlocked soon, need help setting up TWRP, magisk, etc.

Hello,
First of, thanks for taking the time viewing my thread. I just need some help setting up my Mi8 6/128GB | CN MIUI 10.0.6.0
I want to switch to Xiaomi EU ROM (based on a lot of good feedback and I wanna stay on stock), Sphinx Kernel and Root my phone.
So, can someone please link me the official/compatible versions of twrp, magisk and guide me step by step and what to avoid during the progress? I'm sorry, It's been a while since I've used android but I know the basics. Thank you so much for the help!
Sent from my MI 8 using Tapatalk
b4mb1_ said:
Hello,
First of, thanks for taking the time viewing my thread. I just need some help setting up my Mi8 6/128GB | CN MIUI 10.0.6.0
I want to switch to Xiaomi EU ROM (based on a lot of good feedback and I wanna stay on stock), Sphinx Kernel and Root my phone.
So, can someone please link me the official/compatible versions of twrp, magisk and guide me step by step and what to avoid during the progress? I'm sorry, It's been a while since I've used android but I know the basics. Thank you so much for the help!
Sent from my MI 8 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello and welcome back to the Android modding scene. I believe this is the latest TWRP:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/mi-8/development/recovery-twrp-3-2-3-0-mi-8-t3837745
The most important thing is that the Xiaomi.eu rom MUST BE THE SAME MIUI VERSION OR HIGHER or you will brick without the possibility to repair (unless you have a service center or can get access to an EDL authorized account or request temporary authorization). TWRP will not stop you from flashing lower versions, and thus will brick the device.
Read this:
https://www.xda-developers.com/xiaomi-anti-rollback-protection-brick-phone/
After reading the entire thing, go back to the section with the bigger title that reads "How to check for Anti-Rollback Protection" and reread the smaller titles below it for instructions on how to play things safe.
Also this thread is great for "guidance" (it was for the RN5 Pro, but same principles apply):
https://forum.xda-developers.com/redmi-note-5-pro/how-to/faq-questions-answered-t3816185
Lastly, for Magisk, I'm not entirely sure, as I have seen users mentioning that it does not seem to work for the latest MIUI 10, not sure if there's been a fix for that.
Crossvxm said:
Hello and welcome back to the Android modding scene. I believe this is the latest TWRP:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/mi-8/development/recovery-twrp-3-2-3-0-mi-8-t3837745
The most important thing is that the Xiaomi.eu rom MUST BE THE SAME MIUI VERSION OR HIGHER or you will brick without the possibility to repair (unless you have a service center or can get access to an EDL authorized account or request temporary authorization). TWRP will not stop you from flashing lower versions, and thus will brick the device.
Read this:
https://www.xda-developers.com/xiaomi-anti-rollback-protection-brick-phone/
After reading the entire thing, go back to the section with the bigger title that reads "How to check for Anti-Rollback Protection" and reread the smaller titles below it for instructions on how to play things safe.
Also this thread is great for "guidance" (it was for the RN5 Pro, but same principles apply):
https://forum.xda-developers.com/redmi-note-5-pro/how-to/faq-questions-answered-t3816185
Lastly, for Magisk, I'm not entirely sure, as I have seen users mentioning that it does not seem to work for the latest MIUI 10, not sure if there's been a fix for that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey man, thank you so much for the very informative reply.
So, I just need to wait for the latest release for Xiaomi EU and stay on my current firmware (avoid OTA updates) right? Can you link me the thread where i could check official EU ROMS?
Secondly, do you prefer stock recovery than TWRP? I mean I could still flash some mods with the stock right?
Also is there any other way I could root my phone with my current MIUI version. That privilege will really help me a lot.
And lastly, have you heard of this one? https://en.miui.com/thread-3620390-1-1.html will it work on my phone? After debloating, is it okay for me to flash sphinx kernel?
Thanks for your time, man. It's good to be back.
Sent from my MI 8 using Tapatalk

Question Back to vanilla rom ~remove TWRP, Root, lock bootloader~

Hey!
Im using custom roms since Galaxy S1 and recently I unlocked the bootloader on my Redmi Note 10 Pro and installed a custom firmware. So far, so good. But honestly I got tired of custom firmware plus the performance is not the same and just want to go back to vanilla. I want to remove TWRP, Root, lock the bootloader and want to go back to my vanilla rom I used in the beginning. How can I accomplish that? Im using the Redmi Note 10 Pro, bought in Germany from Amazon btw but I dont know what version I should download nor how to install it. Through TWRP or fastboot? If so, how?
I havent found anything so far regarding "back to the roots".
Regards
1) https://mi-globe.com/download-xiaomi-mi-flash-tool-all-versions/ - Download the latest Mi Flash tool.
2) https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/miui-updates-tracker-redmi-note-10-pro-pro-max-sweet.4263133/ - Download a Fastboot version of the latest MIUI from this thread. Don't forget to tip the OP for his hard work indexing and maintaining.
3) Extract the .gz file, point MiTool to the directory, select clean all and Lock and you're back to stock and the locked bootloader.
For more details, watch
Just to understand better, what do you mean by " the performance is not the same "?
I, in fact feel ArrowOS has made the experience even smoother than stock, although RAM management could've been much much better but that's an issue even with stock MIUI.
Maybe you haven't tried ArrowOS yet?
I tried the rom from xiaomi.eu. But I run into issues. The overall performance of the rom doesnt keep up with my stock rom. Closing and opening apps didnt look that crisp and are kinda off. I could look into ArrowOS first before gettin back to stock. One question though. Sometimes I get erros regarding data mount in TWRP. Is there a reason for this? Sorry, cant give you the correct error log now, since Im on my way home.
The EEA version is purely made for EU countries right? Since Im from Austria I should get this right?
Regards
romuser87 said:
I tried the rom from xiaomi.eu. But I run into issues. The overall performance of the rom doesnt keep up with my stock rom. Closing and opening apps didnt look that crisp and are kinda off. I could look into ArrowOS first before gettin back to stock. One question though. Sometimes I get erros regarding data mount in TWRP. Is there a reason for this? Sorry, cant give you the correct error log now, since Im on my way home.
The EEA version is purely made for EU countries right? Since Im from Austria I should get this right?
Regards
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I recommend to check first arrowos or coltos at least some days before flashing stock and locking bootloader.
In my opinion custom roms are better even there're sometimes some glitches
romuser87 said:
I tried the rom from xiaomi.eu. But I run into issues. The overall performance of the rom doesnt keep up with my stock rom. Closing and opening apps didnt look that crisp and are kinda off. I could look into ArrowOS first before gettin back to stock. One question though. Sometimes I get erros regarding data mount in TWRP. Is there a reason for this? Sorry, cant give you the correct error log now, since Im on my way home.
The EEA version is purely made for EU countries right? Since Im from Austria I should get this right?
Regards
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
haha I exactly know what you mean. The .eu roms are pretty over-rated and somehow perform really worse than stock. You should really really try ArrowOS with gapps if you need a custom ROM. It's quite something.
romuser87 said:
I tried the rom from xiaomi.eu. But I run into issues. The overall performance of the rom doesnt keep up with my stock rom. Closing and opening apps didnt look that crisp and are kinda off. I could look into ArrowOS first before gettin back to stock. One question though. Sometimes I get erros regarding data mount in TWRP. Is there a reason for this? Sorry, cant give you the correct error log now, since Im on my way home.
The EEA version is purely made for EU countries right? Since Im from Austria I should get this right?
Regards
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, that is correct.
Thanks man. I tried ArrowOS. It really is slick and fast but I miss some things from MIUI like the many camera settings. I guess Ill keep TWRP, go back to stock rom and use root for the moment. The phone itself is a deal breaker for the money you spend. I just missed using adblockers and root.
Thanks alot
You could use magisk and the ANX Camera module on ArrowOS too, if you miss the Camera so much, just saying.
Disclaimer: Not paid by @daniml3 . Just a fan xD
All the best man!
Xiaomi eu is highly overrated yes. Performance is always worse than stock on any given firmware. Not just app opening and closing but general smoothness in apps too.
Pixel Experience is usually good and runs very smooth on my Mi Note 10.
Does any of the custom ROM's for this phone have the sound settings from stock ROM? Options for headphones, EQ and those things?
Ive seen it yeah... Xiaomi.eu seems highly overrated. But so far ArrowOS gave me the best feeling. Slim, fast and great performance. But as I said I still miss some apps from MIUI like the camera app to completely access all aspects of the camera. For now I stick with Vanilla and Root. But Ill definetely look into ArrowOS again.

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