How to permanently remove ads on Xiaomi Notebook 8 Pro: the complete guide

Xiaomi Notebook 8 Pro laptops with a pre-installed MIUI for PC shell often annoy users with intrusive advertising – banners in the Options menu, pop-up windows in the Mi Browser browser, and even push notifications. Unlike smartphones, where disabling ads has long been a routine procedure, on Xiaomi laptops, this process has its nuances. The complexity is compounded by the fact that the manufacturer has integrated advertising modules at the system services level, and standard methods of blocking (such as hosts file) work unstable.

In this article, we will discuss 5 working methods, from simple interface settings to deep cleaning of the system with the help of PowerShell and third-party utilities. Particular attention will be paid to hidden Xiaomi advertising services, which continue to work even after disabling personalized advertising in the settings. All methods are tested on the Xiaomi Notebook 8 Pro 2023 with MIUI 23.07.12.0, but will also be suitable for earlier models of the series (for example, Notebook Pro X 15).

1. disable personalized advertising in MIUI settings

The first and most obvious step is to deactivate the ad identifiers in the system settings, which removes some of the banners, but does not guarantee 100% results, since Xiaomi uses several independent advertising channels.

Instructions:

1. Open the Start Menu → Settings.
2. Go to the Privacy section → Advertising (Privacy) → Ads).
3. Turn off the sliders: 🔄 Personalized Advertising (Personalized Ads) 📊 Activity tracking (User Experience Program) 📢 Advertising Notices (Recommendations)

Resetting advertising ID

Reset advertising ID

⚠️ Warning: After these manipulations, some of the ads will disappear, but banners in Mi Browser, Mi Store and system notifications may remain.

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If the Ads section is not in the settings, update the MIUI to the latest version via Settings → Update Center. In older versions (before 2022), this item may have been hidden.

2. Remove ads in Mi Browser (built-in Xiaomi browser)

Mi Browser is one of the main sources of intrusive advertising on Xiaomi laptops. Even after disabling personalized ads in the system settings, the browser continues to show banners on the home page and in pop-ups, the solution is a combination of browser settings and editing configuration files.

Step 1: Browser settings

• 🌐 Open the Mi Browser and go to the ⋮ → Settings → Main page.
• 🚫 Select the option of Empty page or New tab (disable banners on the start page).
• 🔍 In the Privacy section, disable: Personalized recommendations Page preload (may load ads in the background)

Step 2: Blocking Advertising Domains (for Advanced Users)

If banners continue to appear, add a domain lock to the hosts file:

127.0.0.1 ad.mi.com


127.0.0.1 tracking.miui.com




127.0.0.1 api.ad.xiaomi.com




127.0.0.1 sdkconfig.ad.xiaomi.com

The hosts file is on its way C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\. Open it with administrator rights through Notepad.

3. Deactivation of system advertising services through Windows Services

Xiaomi has integrated several background services for downloading and displaying ads into MIUI for PCs, which can be manually disabled through Windows Services Manager, but it is important not to confuse system processes with critical ones for the laptop.

List of services for disconnection

How to turn it off:

1. Press Win + R, enter services.msc and press Enter.
2. Find the services from the table above, right-click and select Properties.
3. In the Startup Type field, select Unplugged.
4. Click Stop, then Apply.

Service Manager (services.msc) is open |

All 4 services found from the table |

Launch type changed to "Disabled" |

Services stopped manually-->

⚠️ Note: Disabling the Mi Service Framework service may disrupt Mi Cloud and data synchronization. If you use these features, skip this paragraph.

4. Removal of pre-installed advertising applications

Xiaomi installs a number of apps on laptops that not only take up space, but also show ads, including Mi Store, Mi Video, Mi Music and GetApps. You can’t uninstall them with standard Windows tools, but you can uninstall them through PowerShell.

List of removal annexes:

• 🛒 Mi Store (Xiaomi.MiStore)
• 🎬 Mi Video (Xiaomi.MiVideo)
• 🎵 Mi Music (Xiaomi.MiMusic)
• 📱 GetApps (Xiaomi.GetApps)

Instructions for removal:

1. Run PowerShell on behalf of the administrator (right-click on Start → Windows PowerShell (administrator)).
2. Enter the command to view all Xiaomi packages: Get-AppxPackage | Where-Object {$.Name -like "Xiaomi"} | Select Name, PackageFullName
3. Remove each application by the command: Remove-AppxPackage-Package "PackageFullName" (replace PackageFullName with the real name from the list).

🔹 Example: To remove the Mi Store, the team will look like this:

Remove-AppxPackage -Package "Xiaomi.MiStore_2023.712.1.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe"

5. Network-level advertising blocking (method for power users)

If previous methods failed, you can block Xiaomi ad servers at the network traffic level, making it impossible to download banners even for services that failed to turn off. editing the hosts file (as mentioned above) and using local DNS-server.

Method 1: Pi-hole (for home networking)

If your Xiaomi Notebook 8 Pro is connected to a home router, install Pi-hole on it. DNS-server that filters advertising domains:

1. Install Pi-hole on the Raspberry Pi or any other Linux PC on your network.
2. In the router settings, specify IP-The address of the device is Pi-hole as the main DNS-server.
3. Add to the blacklist the domains Xiaomi: ad.mi.com tracking.miui.com api.ad.xiaomi.com sdkconfig.ad.xiaomi.com data.mistat.xiaomi.com

Method 2: NextDNS (Cloud Filter)

If you can't set up a Pi-hole, use NextDNS, a cloud-based ad-blocking service, and you can filter up to 300,000 requests per month.

• 🌐 Register at nextdns.io.
• 🔧 Configurate and add Xiaomi domains to the blacklist (see list above).
• 📡 Set up. DNS On a laptop: Go to the settings → Network and Internet → Change the adapter settings. Select your connection. → Properties → IP version 4 (TCP/IPv4). Indicate. DNS-NextDNS servers (e.g, 45.90.28.167).

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DNS-level blocking is the most reliable way, as it blocks advertising even in applications that cannot be modified (for example, in the BIOS firmware of some Xiaomi models).

6. reset MIUI to factory settings (last resort)

If none of these methods worked, the last option is a complete system reset, which will delete all user data, but also return MIUI to a "clean" state, where some of the ad modules can be deactivated by default.

Instructions:

1. Open Start → Settings → Update and Security → Recovery.
2. In the section Return the computer to the original state, click Start.
3. Choose Delete Everything (this ensures that system files, including ad modules, are cleaned).
4. Confirm the action and wait for the process to be completed (it will take 20-40 minutes).

⚠️ Attention: After discharge:

• 🔄 Don’t connect your Xiaomi account right away – first turn off ads in your settings (see Section 1).
• 🚫 Don't update. MIUI Up to the latest version if you have seen advertising bugs (check the reviews on the forums before updating).
• 📥 Install an alternative browser (such as Firefox or Brave) instead of Mi Browser.

FAQ: Frequent questions about removing ads on Xiaomi Notebook 8 Pro