How to Unlock Xiaomi Bootloader
Xiamoi has huge fan base from different countries. It is well known for budget friendly devices with premium specs and features. The MIUI user interface of Xiaomi devices is very popular and is one of the main UI used by developers in building custom ROM’s.
To root or install a custom ROM on Xiaomi devices you need to unlock bootloader. Unlocking bootloader for Xiaomi devices is a slow process as you need to get permission from the official site. It may take few days as well. But the brighter side is that unlocking bootlader is officially supported by Xiaomi.
Unlocking bootloader will void warranty of your device. You may lose all your user data. We are not responsible for any damages incurred. Proceed at your own risk.
Before Unlocking:
- Backup your device to PC. Unlocking bootloader will erase complete user data.
- Download and install ADB and Fastboot drivers on your PC.
- Enable USB debugging on your device. If you can’t find USB debugging on your device, go to settings – about phone – build number and tap on build number for 7 times to unlock developer options.
- Enable OEM unlocking in developer options if available.
- Download and install Mi PC Suite or Flash Tool on your PC.
After you have all the files and applications installed on your PC, go to Xiamoi’s Dev Site and click on ‘Unlock Now’. You will be redirected to login. If the page is in Chinese language, you can add an extension to your browser to translate the page or you can use Chrome browser which will ask you to translate by default. Login if you are registered with the site or register yourself and login.
After you have logged in, it will give you some terms and conditions along with the risks involved in unlocking the bootloader. Read all points carefully. Then you will be asked to enter your name, phone number and reason to unlock bootloader. Enter all the details and keep the reason simple and short such as ‘I want to install custom ROM or to Root the device’ and click on ‘Apply immediately’. An OTP will be sent to your phone for confirmation, enter the OTP to verify your details. Then you will get a success message regarding submission of the application. The approval will take few days ranging from one to two weeks and you need to wait until before proceeding further.
Note that if you have logged in to Mi site through your device, the nick name and email you are entering (for registration and logging in) in Mi Developer site (Mi official site is different from Mi Developer site) should be same. If there is a mismatch the unlocking process may not work well. You must not have multiple accounts with same mobile number to get the approval for unlocking.
If you get an approval message via SMS, then you are ready to unlock the bootloader. Open the Mi PC suite or the Flash tool you have downloaded before and login with the id and password you used in Developer site. Power off your device and boot into bootloader mode by holding volume down and power button. Once in bootloader mode, connect your device to PC via USB and in the Mi Flash Tool click on ‘Unlock’ and wait until the unlock process is done. Once successfully unlocked your phone will automatically reboot and the reboot will take little longer time since the user data will be wiped.
Done. You have successfully unlocked the bootloader. This is the simplest process when compared to unlocking bootloader of other manufacturing companies but the only con is that you have to wait for few days for your application to be approved.
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