Develop Bugs

How Do You Downgrade MiUI Properly On The Mi Max?

I have a 32GB Global Hydrogen. I just updated to MIUI 8 (8.1.6.0) and I hate it, I want to go back to the last version of MIUI 7 which I think was 7.5.7.0.
I have read so many threads and watched so many videos on how to do this. Everyone says different things, its never a Mi Max specifically, plus the English is so appalling that I really can't tell what to do. I'm a noob at this so apologies.
So whats the proper method of downgrading? Does the phone have to be boot loader unlocked to downgrade?
Any help would be appreciated, thanks.

You should download a fastboot Rom and flash it on edl mode

Here's a link to the official tutorial on how to flash a MIUI ROM in Fastboot mode. This link also contains all currently available fastboot ROMs for Xiaomi devices, but only the latest versions, so MIUI 8 for the Mi Max.
This will be the tutorial to follow in order to restore your Mi Max to a previous version, but I'm not sure where you'll find a Fastboot ROM of MIUI 7.

MIUI 7.5 Global Stable V7.5.4.1.MBCMIDE
http://en.miui.com/thread-324576-1-1.html

Thank you for the replies, I really appreciate the help.
So to downgrade you HAVE to unlock the phone using MI's tool first? I did find the 7.5.7.0 rom at en.miui.com but I don't even know if that site or link is really official, you can never tell because if those are official forums they are run appallingly and are full of misinformation. I also heard you can break the SIM slots downgrading (something about losing the IMEI numbers)?
I am getting so annoyed with MIUI's dev team, awful stylistic design choices for example the horrid white notification blind with the weather app I don't want and the colour you can't change etc. Also the worst thing of all is the memory management where whatever you do you can't get apps to stay open or notifications to occur reliably.
The OS just gets worse and worse with every update ruining good hardware. Might just bite the bullet after the warranty is over and switch to something like Lineage but I am a total noob and very scared of bricking it.

Yes there are some issues like losing imei but it never happened with me as I have unlocked officialy and I tries every custom rom in my phone and many times if something goes wrong I upgrade or downgrade to miui using mi flash tool.
I suggest you if you want to downgrade then go for 8.1.6.0 as I always uses this version to downgrade.
However once I downgraded to miui 7.5 rom (probably oldest miui for mi max) then i had serious unstable phone and my phone became unusable.

I am on Nougat Resurection Remix 5.8.5 by ROMFACTORY. I have made a backup of MIUI Version: V8.5.1.0.NBCMIED (MIUI8) after unlocking bootloader and rooting it.
Is it safe to load that backup through TWRP ?
What are the steps to follow ?

Bootloader must be unlocked; and downgrading should be using MiFlash tool only!!! Most safest approach i always followed and never had any issues so far!!

Unlocking the Bootloader, Flashing a custom ROM w/ Anti Roll-back??

Got myself a Redmi Note 5 Global version and want to update MIUI and possibly try a custom ROM. Just came here to make sure i'm not falling for any common mistakes before i do anything especially after reading a lot of folks that have bricked these devices due to Anti Roll-back so thats the last thing i want to do. The device came boxed with MIUI 9.5.6.0(OEIMIFA) and i've just ignored the update notification up to now so i presume i've avoided ARB and i would like to keep it that way.
So just to confirm are these the correct steps.
1. Unlock the bootloader
2. Flash a custom recovery (TWRP or the equivalent)
3. Update MIUI / Flash custom rom package without ARB and flash through TWRP
Is there anything i'm missing or anything i need to specifically avoid other than ARB?

drkdeath5000 said:
Got myself a Redmi Note 5 Global version and want to update MIUI and possibly try a custom ROM. Just came here to make sure i'm not falling for any common mistakes before i do anything especially after reading a lot of folks that have bricked these devices due to Anti Roll-back so thats the last thing i want to do. The device came boxed with MIUI 9.5.6.0(OEIMIFA) and i've just ignored the update notification up to now so i presume i've avoided ARB and i would like to keep it that way.
So just to confirm are these the correct steps.
1. Unlock the bootloader
2. Flash a custom recovery (TWRP or the equivalent)
3. Update MIUI / Flash custom rom package without ARB and flash through TWRP
Is there anything i'm missing or anything i need to specifically avoid other than ARB?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just don't update your firmware (or update it with a ARB-less firmware), that's what will trigger ARB. Most of the customs rom don't contain firmware, only LOS advises you to flash a specific version, but MIUI roms do.
So you either steer away from those and flash fw-less roms, or you just delete the firmware-files folder from the rom and flash it without them.
This is my advice, before flashing anything, open the zip and check for the firmware folder. If it has it, delete it (unless is specified by the dev to flash that along the rom, in that case, just avoid it, there's a plethora of custom roms to choose from).

Ok thanks so i'll just stay clear of any roms containing the firmware folder for now. I do like LOS but if theres any risk associated i'll just give it a miss for now.
I also assume its easy to recover from a bad flash following the no firmware folder rule since theres no real risk associated with flashing just a ROM(no firmware)?
Finally, what about kernels and bootloader updates is there anything specific i need to watch out for there? I only ask because my previous device included a sneaky OTA update which locked the bootloader and i'd obviously like to avoid anything like that here.
Sorry for all the questions i'm just a bit behind on the flashing front, my previous device was a Motorola Razr HD and flashing seems to have changed quite a bit since then.

drkdeath5000 said:
Ok thanks so i'll just stay clear of any roms containing the firmware folder for now. I do like LOS but if theres any risk associated i'll just give it a miss for now.
I also assume its easy to recover from a bad flash following the no firmware folder rule since theres no real risk associated with flashing just a ROM(no firmware)?
Finally, what about kernels and bootloader updates is there anything specific i need to watch out for there? I only ask because my previous device included a sneaky OTA update which locked the bootloader and i'd obviously like to avoid anything like that here.
Sorry for all the questions i'm just a bit behind on the flashing front, my previous device was a Motorola Razr HD and flashing seems to have changed quite a bit since then.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No problems, happy to help if I can.
And yes, no risk if you don't flash firmware. Worst case scenario, you'll have to reflash a miui rom with MiFlash, which means losing your data, but imo it's better than bricking the device.
As for kernels and bootloader, you're good to go. Nothing will relock your bootloader (except flashing with MiFlash and selecting that specific option) and a kernel in the worst case will just give you a bootloop. Use backups. ?
And as far as LOS goes, you can flash it without the specified firmware (even tho I'm pretty sure it's an ARB3 firmware) but I guess there might be some small issues.

Good luck with unlocking the bootloader, that thing takes from 720 to 1440 hours, just got my rn5p in a week now i have to wait a month before rooting...

Some questiona.

Hello everyone. Mi max 3 is my first xiaomi device, so I do not basically understand anything about the devices. Before I had an Honor X2 (Huawei) and the process is a bit different. So here are some questions:
1- How do I backup the original recovery?
2- When I went to check if the rollback was active, no information appeared, so does it mean it is not active? (the miui version is 9.6.7.0 OEDMIFD)
3- If I back up via twrp of the original rom, can I restore it normally over another ROM or have some procedure to be done before?
In your opinion, is it worth installing the resurrected kernel?
I will unlock the bootloader soon and I need this information to learn about this device. Thanks and sorry for the lousy English (Google translator).

Germano1980 said:
Hello everyone. Mi max 3 is my first xiaomi device, so I do not basically understand anything about the devices. Before I had an Honor X2 (Huawei) and the process is a bit different. So here are some questions:
1- How do I backup the original recovery?
2- When I went to check if the rollback was active, no information appeared, so does it mean it is not active? (the miui version is 9.6.7.0 OEDMIFD)
3- If I back up via twrp of the original rom, can I restore it normally over another ROM or have some procedure to be done before?
In your opinion, is it worth installing the resurrected kernel?
I will unlock the bootloader soon and I need this information to learn about this device. Thanks and sorry for the lousy English (Google translator).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1 - When you do backup within twrp you just select recovery as well. I think this is the same with every twrp, not device specific.
2 - Seem like you have a global version taking this from your post and the version you have. I don't think you have anti rollback activated. However as there is no official global version released by xiaomi no one really knows what to expect.
In additional I cannot really understand your reason why you want to unlock your bootloader if you have an official version?? Some people may kill for that version here . Be careful though what you would install after you have the BL open because lots of the newer roms got ARB enabled.
3 - If you have permissions on all the partition once you installed twrp then backing up the current rom and restore it should work fine.

About custom ROM and ARB

This might be a dumb question but I couldn't quite find an answer, I used my max 3 stock and updated to MIUI11 11.0.7 and now wanted to flash the thing, but there is the anti rollback thing. However ARB says its about ROM and I am required to flash to a lower firmware which seems out of reach when checking ARB compatible version, though thats for ROM and not firmware. In short, I just wanna get stock android running on this phone and I am conflicted, can I just flash to 6.7.27 or whatever since its firmware and not ROM or are those the same thing? And do I need to change my kernel as TWRP website says? I'm just really confused and I can't financially afford bricking my phone, I'll appreciate any input.

I wish I could help you but I don't understand this ARB myself... I just make sure to only update and never go back to an older version, but when the day for a new rom comes I would like to know what to watch out for too

Is there currently any chance of bricking the device with a custom rom?

So, with my last Xiaomi Phone (Redmi Note 5 Pro), there was a fair bit of Version juggeling with Anti Rollback Protection, having the potential to brick your phone depending on what Version of the Stock Rom you where on and what you flashed.
Is any of that applicable to the 10t Pro? The Unlock procedure and the Lineage Thread don't mention any of it. So, can i just unlock, flash Lineage OS to give it a try and, if i don't like it, flash back to stock without any issues?
I'm currently on 12.0.18 Global if that matters.

There's no anrirollback stuff yet. And if you downgrade back and get anrirollback in flash tools, only delete few lines from bat files and all is well...
Only way to hard brick now is flashing some partitions that are not meant for this device

Great. Thanks for the reply. Appreciated.