Monday, September 18, 2017
Flashing a Global ROM on a Snapdragon based Xiaomi phone without a Bootloader Unlock
Flashing a Global ROM on a Snapdragon based Xiaomi phone without a Bootloader Unlock
One of the limitations with Xiaomis new bootloader locking policy is that a user can only unlock the bootloader of one device every 30 days, and then only after you have successfully applied for your Mi account to have this right.
When importing a Xiaomi phone from China, you will find that the installed ROM will either be a genuine Chinese Xiaomi ROM, without pre-installed Google Services and with some settings not tailored for the western market, or a shop ROM, which has Google Services and western-centric settings, but will never get any updates.
Some of Xiaomis devices (usually those available in other markets, such as India) have Global ROMs, which are official Xiaomi ROMs with western-centric settings that will get updates for the supported life of the device. It is these that are the most suitable for the western market - if they are available!
In a previous post, I outlined the method by which you could change from the stock Chinese ROM to a Global ROM, but this involved requesting a bootloader unlock. It also assumes you have a stock Chinese ROM and not a modified shop ROM.
In this post I will describe how to flash the Global ROM without requiring an unlocked bootloader from any firmware.
This should also work to get back to a stock Chinese image if your device is shipped with a shop ROM.
Suitability
We will need to download the following ROM images and tools before proceeding:
Mi Flash tool
Global Fastboot ROM (for the relevant device)
15 second adb installer (if adb and fastboot are not already installed on your PC)
Stage 1 - Installing the Mi Flash tool
Install the Mi Flash tool. This will copy the relevant Qualcomm drivers onto the hard drive in addition to installing the tool. Dont worry about any instructions that pop up during and after installation. Just go ahead and install.
Stage 2 - Enabling USB Debugging
In order to bypass the locked bootloader, we need to enter EDL mode. This is accomplished via adb.
adb devices (to make sure the phone is connected)
adb reboot edl
Stage 4 - Change the QHUSB_BULK driver to the Qualcomm HS-USB driver
In EDL mode, we need to change the default QHUSB_BULK driver that Windows installs with the proper Qualcomm HS-USB driver that is present in the Mi Flash tool installation folder.
1. Open Device Manager on the PC and locate the QHUSB_BULK driver.
2. Right click & Update Driver Software
3. Select Browse my computer for driver software
4. Locate C:Program Files (x86)XiaomiMiPhoneQualcomm
5. Select "Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer"
6. Select Qualcomm HS-USB QDLoader 9008
At this stage, I got an error message saying that the USB device could not be recognised. I powered the device off and back on by holding down the Power button and went back to Stage 3 to return to EDL mode.
Once complete, the new Qualcomm driver should be present in Device Manager in the following location:
Ports (COM & LPT) / Qualcomm HS-USB QDLoader 9008
Stage 5 - Unpacking the Fastboot driver
Locate the downloaded Fastboot .tgz file and unpack it completely. I used 7-Zip to accomplish this.
Unpack the .tgz file to a .tar
Unpack the tar file to a folder containing the image
Stage 6 - Flashing via Mi Flash
Run the Mi Flash tool, that is now installed on the PC.
1. Locate the unzipped global images folder using the Browse button (where the batch files are located)
2. Select Refresh, which should pick up the device.
3. Select "Flash all" as the flash option
4. Hit the Flash button.
Once complete, remove the cable, power down and reboot.
If flash fails
While the procedure worked perfectly for me, if for any reason the flash failed and you need to re-enter EDL mode without being able to boot, you can do the following:
1. Enter Fastboot mode through Power & Volume Down
2. Type the following fastboot commands
fastboot devices (to ensure the phone is connected)
fastboot oem edl
The above should return you to EDL mode.
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