Develop Bugs

Installing TWRP With a Locked Bootloader on a Used Xiaomi Max

After spending almost half a day trying to get my new Xiaomi Max into a usable state, I thought I'd share my findings for anyone else stuck in the same situation.
I recently bought a used Xiaomi Max from Taobao, the Chinese equivalent of Amazon. Things were going well until MiOS decided to update itself, and the phone rebooted only to say that this phone had been associated with a previous Xiaomi account and prompted me for the password. Of course, I had no idea what the previous password was, and the phone was stuck on setup until the correct password was entered just like when you setup a Google phone in China.
Since most Google servers are blocked by the Great Firewall of China, Google services will just keep saying "No Internet detected" and won't let you use the phone until some nice person decides to send you the address to a foreign proxy server that hasn't been blocked yet since VPNs don't work until *after* you can install them on the phone. Xiaomi phones apparently have the same thing, except that you have to track down whoever previously used this phone to register a Xiaomi account.
I tried a hard reset with the same result. Flashed a new Xiaomi ROM with the same result. Xiaomi locks the bootloader Apple-style to prevent anyone from using stolen phones. It also does a great job of preventing anyone from selling their phone or giving it to a friend. The locked bootloader prevented me from using fastboot to erase anything or install anything. Google provided a plethora of answers, all of which did absolutely nothing. Apparently, Xiaomi has fixed all of the security holes which were previously used to fix this problem. Good for them; bad for us.
Finally, I noticed that the Chinese and International MiOS had different recovery systems. Since this was being changed by the MiFlash program, it could only mean that somehow, MiFlash was capable of flashing system partitions even with a locked bootloader.
I downloaded TWRP, renamed it to recovery.img in the MiOS ROM, changed the MD5 checksum in the XML file, and gave the phone one more flash. The next time that it rebooted into recovery mode, I was staring at the TWRP logo instead of the Xiaomi recovery screen. From here, I could format /data to F2FS to gain the full 32GiB of space that the phone came with, install LineageOS, install Psiphon for a VPN, and then finally use TWRP to install OpenGApps. Voila! I had a fully usable phone without having to contact Xiaomi to unlock the bootloader, installing any strange Chinese software, or selling my firstborn child to Qualcomm.
I'd like to say that this method could probably be used on other Xiaomi phones as well, but considering that I have no other Xiaomi phones to test, I'll have to leave that task to the brave souls here in the forums. In any case, I hope that this will be of help to at least one other person and save them a couple of hours of trial and error as I have endured.

oh,please tell me which xml you modified with md5?

Hey there,
Sorry for the delay. I live in China currently, and it takes a VPN to get XDA to load correctly.
I can't remember the name of the XML file off the top of my head, but it was in the root directory of the ROM and contained all of the filenames as well as their MD5 values. All you have to do is to replace recovery.img's MD5 with TWRP's MD5 and you should be able to flash without any problems. Just make sure that you boot directly to recovery, otherwise the normal OS can detect that recovery has changed and flash the original recovery.

Please help me, I brought a Xiomi Max 2, from a second hand, when i started the phone it askes from its previously mi account, but the guy that sold me it, doent answer my e-mails anymore, what could i do?

The previous owner activated device protection, so you're locked out of the phone until he releases it. You'll have to install a custom ROM instead of MiUI to be able to use the phone.
If you made a credit card to purchase the phone, make sure that you submit a request to get your money back. There are too many scammers who steal and resell phones around here.

Just tried with mi6 glob 7.12,
and twrp 3.2.1 and changed md5sum.xml
but showing "the system has been destroyed"

Tried doing this one on Redmi Note 4/4X (Snapdragon). Flashed MIUI 10.2.3 Global Stable with TWRP 3.3.1-0. Replaced the stock recovery.img with the TWRP one and then replaced md5 in the md5sum. Power Button+Volume Up only shows a blank screen after Mi logo shows up. Tried to go on with the initial setup then boot into recovery via adb but only sent me back to stock recovery

Long shot but need a way to bypass the pattern lock

Hi everyone,
So i know this is a long shot but there are some amazing folks on XDA so after scouring the web i figured this was my final hope.
So my niece has a stock S9 (G960U1) bought directly from Samsung. 2 days ago, her phone died overnight and when she put it on charge and booted her pattern no longer was being accepted. Same pattern used for quite some time. She kept trying it and then thought maybe she did forget it somehow and tried something else and of course now she only has a few attempts left before auto wipe (option was on in the settings ). She foolishly had everything on her phone out of which the most important is photos of someone who has passed and no recent backups.
It seems that most of the stuff was backed up to Samsung Cloud but the images and no backup turned on. So i've been desperately trying to help her as the only option seems to be wipe at this point but i don't know if recovery software will even be able to fully recover the images.
Tried so far:
Find My Mobile won't work as phone is on boot screen so no internet connection
ADB won't work because it won't accept the shell cmd
Aroma File Manager won't install (sig failure)
Tried a few programs available online (Dr Fone etc) but they either don't support the S9 or they wipe phone
Some mentioned the Extreme Syndicate thread but that also states you have to wipe
Friend works with Samsung sales and he's going to check with a tech but haven't heard back from him yet (not even sure they can do anything)
We do have the original receipt from Samsung (bought directly from them)
Really appreciate any help and if a wipe is the only option then let me know if you have a preferred recovery software that will hopefully be able to recover the images of concern.
Thanks

If she has a Samsung account, you can unlock the phone. Go to https://findmymobile.samsung.com and sign in, then look on the right menu, there is an option to unlock phone.

kenboyles72 said:
If she has a Samsung account, you can unlock the phone. Go to https://findmymobile.samsung.com and sign in, then look on the right menu, there is an option to unlock phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the response but no internet access at boot up.

[Solved] EEA 11.0.3 Update - Going into recovery mode after unlocking

Hey all,
I have updated by Redmi Note 8 Pro, to 11.0.3 yesterday. The updated stated to be solving some issues with Netflix (although it worked perfectly fine for me).
The issue:
After unlocking the phone, it reboots itself after a few seconds 10-20s, and goes into redmi-recovery 3.0.
Thankfully it is giving me enough time to use google authenticator (I have extremely important auth codes here that I cannot lose).
Edit: Worth mentioning that this happens when the Xiaomi Sim Activation Service is performing its activation.
Edit2: The "unlocking", refers to unlocking the screen by drawing the pattern.
Way forward:
As I don't have a secondary phone with the authentication codes, the option to wipe the system is a no go here.
I have been scouring the forums for any hints etc, but did not come across anything useful for my case.
Do you have any suggestions how this situation could be averted? Any feedback welcome.
Thanks!

khorne55 said:
Hey all,
I have updated by Redmi Note 8 Pro, to 11.0.3 yesterday. The updated stated to be solving some issues with Netflix (although it worked perfectly fine for me).
The issue:
After unlocking the phone, it reboots itself after a few seconds 10-20s, and goes into redmi-recovery 3.0.
Thankfully it is giving me enough time to use google authenticator (I have extremely important auth codes here that I cannot lose).
Edit: Worth mentioning that this happens when the Xiaomi Sim Activation Service is performing its activation.
Way forward:
As I don't have a secondary phone with the authentication codes, the option to wipe the system is a no go here.
I have been scouring the forums for any hints etc, but did not come across anything useful for my case.
Do you have any suggestions how this situation could be averted? Any feedback welcome.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unlocking of the bootloader if I am not mistaking always goes with an automatic wipe of system and I am afraid nothing can be done to avoid this besides of course not unlocking bootloader in the first place.
From what I recall it does not go to recovery by itself when it completes the unlocking procedure, it just reboots to fresh new start of OS.
Sorry if I am bringing some bad news here.
Good luck!

Muad.Dib said:
Unlocking of the bootloader if I am not mistaking always goes with an automatic wipe of system and I am afraid nothing can be done to avoid this besides of course not unlocking bootloader in the first place.
From what I recall it does not go to recovery by itself when it completes the unlocking procedure, it just reboots to fresh new start of OS.
Sorry if I am bringing some bad news here.
Good luck!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your feedback even though it might not be positive!
> Just to clarify I did not unlock the bootloader, it was a standard OTA update pushed to my phone.
>> By unlocking I mean drawing the pattern on the screen, the phone works fine while "locked", but as soon as I unlock it (draw the pattern), it will restart after 10-20 seconds.
Thanks again.

The issue somehow disappeared on its own.
For people who would experience this in the future (I have no idea if any of those steps fix the issue).
>Since I had a limited amount of time to take all the actions, I performed a sync of all accounts + did a fresh google backup
>Once triggered I quickly locked the phone (This prevented the restarts).
After I completed backing up all my data and was about to wipe the phone, it suddenly started working as usual.
I have no idea if the backups triggered some mechanism or did the mi account sync trigger the SIM Activation Service, but the issue is now gone.

[HELP REQUEST] WILL PAY TO WHOEVER HELPS ME GET THROUGH THIS SOFTBRICK

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rodagola said:
Hello everyone on xda, please bare with me. Here's my story
I own a Redmi Note 8 pro, chinese rom model. It was running miui 11.0.3 over android 9 If I recall correctly.
Ok so... I was tired of some of the china apps pushing their notifications over and over and auto installing stuff, so I looked up how to apply adb commands to remove such bloatware, which was a fairly simple process. I copied and pasted a list of safe stuff to delete I found around some forums.
then... there were some other packages I checked out using an app called "app inspector", which directly tells you which app is under which package (totally useful for this purpose).
I tried to be careful not go overboard since I don't have any root access, or custom recovery, and wasn't really planning to have these, just wanted to keep this as my simple daily driver cellphone, but also perform this little maneuver to get rid of some bloatware.
little did I know, I was about to somehow softbrick it. More info: I did not use a screen lock method other than the "swipe up".
Ok, so I uninstalled some packages I cannot remember exactly how they went, but they had the terms "xman" and "yman" on them I think, I wasn't so sure about them because I looked them up on the web yet they didn't appear anywhere. I think they went something among the lines of "com.android.miui.xman". I also uninstalled 2 or 3 more, but after googling, they seemed unsuspecting.
Anyways, I'm aware there's a command to reinstall the packages because they're still on the phone's ROM image. That is in case I had to restore anything back to normal. Turns out I later rebooted the phone and when it launches the lock screen, I keep swiping up but it won't take me over to the actual MIUI launcher. The screen is frozen on the lock screen.
I'm not freaking out at this time because I still tried to connect the device to the pc, and it still shows as connected, I then go to the adb console and type "adb devices", it is still recognized, however, it says next to it that it is unauthorized... damn it. So now I might not be able to run the commands that allow me to reinstall the exact packages that are rendering the phone softbricked (I guess), plus I'm not really sure which package caused this.
After about a minute or two on the lock screen, the phone takes me to the "redmi-recovery 3.0",
which displays 3 options:
Reboot to system: which basically forms a loop
Wipe date: godforbid... really don't want to do it since I likely had many files not backedup
Contact miassistant: not sure what to do with this, says "pcsuite.mi.com" at the bottom
on the miassistant option you can apparently sideload stuff, idk how to go about this, maybe it allows me to install a slightly upgraded ROM, which in turn will work the same as if it was an OTA update (so it will keep my data as it was instead of wipe)? Because the point is not to erase my user data!!
I'm not sure how to feel or what to do without losing my pictures, notes and documents
I have hopes this situation can be turned around back to normal, and like the title implies... I'm WILLING to PAY you through paypal or something to WHOEVER offers to guide me through in the best way possible. Please if you have the knowledge/experience don't hesitate I'll also be grateful timelessly.
I'm not an expert at these scenarios so I might as well ask on xda where most are really skilled! Thanks in advance to those amazing souls
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
tldr;
If you can boot into fastboot mode you can just flash a official MIUI fastboot ROM:
Xiaomi Firmware Updater (where you can download official MIUI ROMS): https://xiaomifirmwareupdater.com/
This is the current hard unbrick method: https://telegra.ph/Installing-Redmi-Note-8-Pro-firmware-via-SP-Flash-Tool-01-21
It should also work in your case and there's even a video guide.
This is another video guide for fixing a hard brick:
Both methods above will format your phone though (afaik all data will be lost).
Compass.

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rodagola said:
are these the kind of roms that you unzip and have the BL, AP, CP, CSC files? I could try that, but I've heard installing home_csc will not override/wipe my personal data. If this is what you meant, can you confirm? Or do you reckon these linked video tutorials would not wipe the data?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope, it doesn't.
If you can boot into Fastboot, flash the ROM using Mi Flash, otherwise, use this tutorial:

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Compass Linux and juliusjr have told you the method, so I will just add supplemential infos.
In your case, I think simple upgrade will do the trick, dirty flash is applicable both via fastboot flash (mi flash) and recovery flash (the mi assistant method). If you want to stop the ads, I will recommend you to unlock your bootloader, move to global, root, and use an adblocker (a bare minimum config, in trade of some bangking apps being blocked).
I don't know the corresponding version for miui china rom, but in global rom, prior 12.0.0.7 (the one with the early 2021 security update), you can dirty flash back and forth while keeping your data.

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rodagola said:
Hi, thanks for your info, I would like to try the mi flash tool as I've been told before the stock recovery thing has less chances of working. However, I had dev options turned on before but didn't manage to turn on the "OEM unlock" option, will flashing original ROMs work this way? or did I need that option toogled on? That's my last doubt, and thanks a lot. Btw, the China ROM this Redmi N8P had never ever showed me any ads, but thanks a lot as well for such input
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You still have a locked bootloader? (How do I know? You will see "Unloked" on the bottom of the screen everytime your device reboots and showing mi logo if your device is unlocked)
Hmm, mechanically it work like normal ota update. Full recovery update will ony erase nessesary partitions (system, boot, and some other things) while keeping your data intact. So doing this to your phone technically safe. You can do this with MiFlashPro, do a recovery update using a recovery rom (the 2 gigs one) greater than your current MIUI version. But please bear in mind that I have never done this before to a locked phone. A same distribution version IS A MUST (i.e. global with global).
Oh and it will need you to log in to your xiaomi account. My guess is you need the flash permission open for your account (if you have unlocked your phone you shouldn't have a problem). I have never flashed with an account that never have been used to unlock a bootloader, so I might be wrong.
If your phone is bootloader unlocked, Mi Flash is the least demanding and it can retain your data with "save user data" in the bottom right corner option on, regardless your miui version (but I think there will be some problem with installed apps if you downgrade from A10 to A9).
Hope this help.

This Device is locked

Hi all,
I am hoping to get some help from you all. My son owns Redmi Nore 8 Pro 6/128 purchased from online mi shop here in UK (I have a proof of purchase if needed). Recently it started playing around with some apps and I decided to Factory Reset it. He created a mi account and of course forgot the password. Knowing little about Redmi's security measures I decided to wipe it from the recovery level (remembered some basic stuff from my time when I was flashing my Xperia Arc). Unfortunately the phone now boots into a lock screen on wehich I am stuck. Here is what I ahve tried:
1. Reset password on mi cloud, used the new password to unlocke the phone but the phone is not accepting it
2. Removed Note 8 Pro from mi cloud, wipe it again - still not accepting the password and showing the locked screen,
3. I used the recovery code on i.mi.com but I ahve note heard back from anyone for a wekk now.
Regards

michalcieslik said:
Hi all,
I am hoping to get some help from you all. My son owns Redmi Nore 8 Pro 6/128 purchased from online mi shop here in UK (I have a proof of purchase if needed). Recently it started playing around with some apps and I decided to Factory Reset it. He created a mi account and of course forgot the password. Knowing little about Redmi's security measures I decided to wipe it from the recovery level (remembered some basic stuff from my time when I was flashing my Xperia Arc). Unfortunately the phone now boots into a lock screen on wehich I am stuck. Here is what I ahve tried:
1. Reset password on mi cloud, used the new password to unlocke the phone but the phone is not accepting it
2. Removed Note 8 Pro from mi cloud, wipe it again - still not accepting the password and showing the locked screen,
3. I used the recovery code on i.mi.com but I ahve note heard back from anyone for a wekk now.
Regards
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You need to choose option 2 and connect your wifi. Then use option 1 to login your Xiaomi account.
If everything you did and nothing change, you can start thinking about using custom rom (Even if your device still in lock status, just need for more skill)
You can also buy/hire to bypass Mi Account from shop. But Miui version can't be change or update or reset,... Or else it will be locked again

You can skip the hassle and custom rom it just unlock the bootloader from mtk bootloader unlock flash a custom twrp recovery from fastboot and install a rom, much debloated than stock anyways. I recommend crdroid by timjosten if you still would like stock reply and maybe we can figure out a solution