If you are thinking about flashing your xiaomi mi 9 smartphone to improve its operation, add new functions, or just want something new, I bring to your attention the instructions for flashing the phone both for the original version of Miui and for unofficial firmware with various customizations.
Stock original firmware xiaomi mi9
The beauty of the official xiaomi firmware is that the smartphone does not need to be unlocked to install the new firmware. You just download and install the update, this is the safest method. If suddenly something went wrong during the firmware, you can perform a full reset by entering the Recovery mode. This can be done by turning off the device, and then simultaneously holding the volume up and power buttons.
And so, let’s proceed directly to the instructions on how to flash Xiaomi mi9
First of all, follow the link and download the latest available firmware specifically for your device from the office. MIUI ROM file site
Connect your smartphone to your computer via USB cable and copy the downloaded firmware to the ‘”downloaded_rom”’ folder in the internal memory of your smartphone.
In the phone, open “Settings”, select “About device”, click “Update”, then click the three dots in the upper right corner and open the item “Select firmware file”. Select the firmware file you downloaded earlier in the ‘”downloaded_rom’” folder.
After selecting the firmware file, the smartphone will start the update, after complete installation, it will reboot with the new version installed. That’s all.
Installing custom (unofficial) firmware on xiaomi mi 9
There are several ways to install unofficial firmware, the most common is custom recovery and fastboot. For both cases, you need to unlock the bootloader (bootloader) of the device. Therefore, you always need to start installing a custom by checking whether your bootloader is unlocked.
Bootloader check
We download the Platform-tools program (adb / fastboot) on the PC and unpack the contents of the archive into an empty folder, preferably not on the desktop.
We put the smartphone in fastboot mode , for this we turn off and then hold down the power and volume minus buttons, after vibration we release the power button and wait for the picture with the hare to appear. We connect it with a USB cable to the PC
In the folder where the Platform-tools adb / fastboot program was downloaded, hold down the Shift key and right-click on Open command window
In the console window that opens, we sequentially type the commands
fastboot devices
fastboot oem device-info
If fastboot issues Device unlocked: true – bootloader is unlocked
If fastboot issues Device unlocked: false – bootloader is locked
Unlocking the bootloader on Xiaomi mi9
We link our phone to the Mi-account (go to the account on the phone).
We turn off WiFi and activate the Internet via a SIM card, the number of which will be used with the current account. This is required to authorize the phone number. If this is not done, then in the future you will receive the message “Unlocking failed”.
We go to the phone settings, information about the phone, and 5 times tap on the “MIUI version” to activate the developer menu (if this menu has not been activated yet).
We go into the settings, in addition, for the developer, we allow factory unlocking. Go to “Mi Unlock Status” (“bootloader status”) and click “Add account and device” (Link device to account). From the moment the device is bound, the counter starts counting. (The counter clock can be seen only in the MiFlashUnlock program).
There are devices that, so far, do not have the “Mi Unlock Status” menu in stable firmware, in such a situation, only install the developer firmware.
Sometimes, for successful unlocking, you need to disable secure login using your finger / pin code / password / pattern / face.
Download and unzip MiFlashUnlock to your computer .
When you open the program, click the Agree button. Next, log in with an account with permission. It is better to use a phone number or ID for authorization. Now every account has permission automatically.
Turn off the phone completely. To enter fastboot mode, hold down the “volume down” button and press the power button, hold it down until vibro and the appearance of a “hare with an android”.
We connect the phone in fastboot mode to the computer and press the Unlock button. You need to connect relatively quickly, because Now many phones, in the absence of communication with the computer, exit fastboot within 30 seconds.
If everything was done correctly, the progress bar will count to 99% and the program will display the message “Binding time is too short, Less than 72/720/1440 hours” (maybe a lower number if you tied the phone in the developer menu earlier), or “After XX hours of trying to unlock the device”, or “Please unlock XX hours later. Use your device actively while you’re waiting ”.
If you have not completed point 3, then the program will inform you about this and ask you to make a binding.
Now all that remains is to wait until the counter is reset. It cannot be bypassed or accelerated in any way. You can exit the program on the computer while waiting. Exit the fastboot (long press the power if it does not come out by itself) and use the phone as usual. The main thing is not to log out of the account on the phone and it is advisable not to change the firmware. when you change the firmware, you can log out of the account and when you log into the account again, the counter will be reset and will start again from 72/720/1440 hours. For the same reason, it makes no sense to ask someone else’s account to unblock, because logging in with another account, we will automatically receive 72/720/1440 hours to wait.
After the required number of hours have passed, run the unlock program again and repeat steps 5-8. After running the program, 3 green checkmarks appear, the bootloader is successfully unlocked.
You can make sure by going to the “Mi Unlock Status” menu again.
Installing custom TWRP recovery
Download Platform-tools (adb / fastboot) and unpack the contents of the archive into an empty folder on your PC. It is recommended to create the folder at the root of the local disk and set a simple name.
Download the custom TWRP Recovery for mi9 itself and copy it to the folder with adb / fastboot files
We put the smartphone into fastboot mode (turn off, hold down the power and volume minus buttons, after vibration we release the power button and wait for the picture with the hare to appear). We connect it to a PC / laptop
In the folder with adb / fastboot files, run flash_twrp.bat Transfer the smartphone to TWRP ⚹ Press the power and volume buttons plus, after vibration release the power button and wait for TWRP to start
We allow modifying the System if asked when starting TWRP!
Enter the screen lock password to decrypt data and access the internal memory. If the password has not been set in the system or the recovery does not support decryption, we use USB Flash via OTG for further operations
Copy to the root of the internal memory (for ease of searching in TWRP) twrp.img and Dm-Verity & ForceEncrypt Disabler and disconnect the smartphone
Install ➞ Install Image ➞ select twrp.img ➞ Recovery section ➞ install | Reboot ➞ Recovery
Install ➞ select Dm-Verity & ForceEncrypt Disabler ➞ install
Reboot ➞ System
Installing custom firmware via TWRP recovery
In my opinion, the easiest method for flashing a smartphone is through custom recovery, the firmware takes only a couple of minutes and it is possible to make a backup.
In order to flash the phone, of course, you first need to download the firmware. Can download firmware for xiaomi mi9 Masik P Cepheus or MiRoom We connect the smartphone to a PC / laptop, copy the desired image to the root of the internal memory (for ease of searching in TWRP), and then disconnect the smartphone from the PC. Or download this image directly via your smartphone.
We transfer the smartphone to TWRP. To do this, turn off the smartphone, hold down the power and volume plus buttons, and after vibration release the power button and wait for TWRP to start
Next, we move through the menu with the volume buttons in the following order: Install ➞ Install Image ➞ select the TWRP image ➞ Recovery section ➞ confirm the desire to install the firmware and wait for the process to end
After the installation is complete, the phone needs to be rebooted, for this select Reboot ➞ Recovery in the menu
If at this stage the smartphone hangs on the Mi logo, Press the power and volume plus buttons and after vibration release the power button and wait for TWRP to start