Xiaomi smartphone owners often face situations where a regular update by air does not work or the device stops booting. In such cases, the Mi Flash Tool, the official developer tool for restoring the system at the bootloader level, comes to the rescue. This method allows you to completely clean the device’s memory and install a fresh copy of the operating system, ignoring the state of the current firmware.
The flashing process requires care, because any interruption can lead to serious consequences. USB-It is important to understand that using this tool involves working with Fastboot mode, which gives the program full access to the memory partitions of the phone.
Before you start taking action, you need to make sure that you download the version of the software that is designed for your model. Wrong firmware can turn a smartphone into a “brick”, the restoration of which will require already paid service equipment. Below we will discuss in detail all the stages of preparation and the process.
Preparation of the workplace and necessary files
The first step is to search and download the correct image of the system. Official files are distributed through miui.com or specialized resources like xiaomifirmwareupdater.com. It is critical to choose the version labeled as Fastboot rather than Recovery, as they have different extensions and structures.
You also need to install the current ADB and Fastboot drivers, and without them, the computer will not see the phone in the right mode, even if the cable is working, and often the utilitarian software itself is installed along with the drivers, which we will use to record data.
⚠️ Warning: Make sure the battery is at least 60 percent, and if the recording process is interrupted by battery discharge, it will be extremely difficult to restore the boot sector without disassembling the case and closing the contacts.
Once the firmware archive is loaded, it must be unpacked. Please note that the folder path must not contain Cyrillic characters or spaces, otherwise the program may not find configuration files. C:\mi_flash\.
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Use it. USB-ports soldered directly on the motherboard (back of the system unit), rather than the front ports of the housing, as they provide a more stable voltage.
Installation of drivers and login to Fastboot mode
For a successful PC-smartphone communication, it is necessary that the Android Bootloader Interface device is correctly displayed in Windows Device Manager. If you see an unknown device with an exclamation mark instead, the drivers are installed incorrectly or not installed at all. In this case, the script should be used. install_driver.bat toolbox.
To get the phone to the right mode, turn the device off completely. Then press the volume button and hold it, plug it in. USB-The screen should show a picture of a hare repairing an android and a sign that says FASTBOOT.
- 🔌 Make sure the cable sits tightly in the connector and doesn't hang around.
- 🔋 Check that the computer has turned off energy-saving modes for USB-port.
- 💻 Use the original cable or quality analogue with thick wires.
If the phone screen is gone, but nothing appears in the Device Manager, try another one. USB-Sometimes it takes a few seconds for the system to recognize new equipment and assign the necessary resources to it.
☑️ Firmware readiness check
Setup of the Mi Flash Tool
Run the XiaoMiTool.exe executable on behalf of the administrator. In the window that opens, click Refresh. If the drivers are installed correctly, your device with the serial number will appear in the list. If the list is empty, check the connection or reinstall the drivers.
Next, you need to specify the path to the folder with the unpacked firmware. Press the Select button and find the directory where the images and images files are located. flash_all.bat. After selecting the path, the program will automatically check the integrity of the files and display their list in the log.
At the bottom of the interface are three options for firmware mode, and the choice here is critical to the final result:
| Regime. | Description | Data retention |
|---|---|---|
| clean all | Complete cleaning and installation | No (all removed) |
| save user data | Updating with preservation | Yeah (photos, contacts) |
| clean all and lock | Cleaning and locking the loader | No (all removed) |
Clean all and lock mode returns the device to factory state with the bootloader locked, which is necessary for banking applications and Android Pay. However, it can only be used with global firmware on the global version of the device.
Why can’t you run Recovery through Fastboot?
The process of writing firmware to the device
After selecting clean all mode (recommended for clean installation), press the Flash button. The recording process will begin, which will take from 200 to 600 seconds depending on the speed. USB-At this time, the progress bar will be filled with green.
During the process, the phone can reboot several times, the screen can go out and light up again - this is normal behavior. It is strictly forbidden to interrupt the connection or remove the cable until the program gives a message of success.
If you have Flash Done or Success in your log and your phone is rebooted, it's a success, and the first download after flashing can take up to 5-10 minutes, as it optimizes applications and creates new partitions.
⚠️ Warning: If the process is 6% or 54% frozen and does not move for more than 10 minutes, you may have an antivirus or firewall conflict.
If you have a code error, such as Missmatching image and device, it means you are trying to flash an incompatible version of the software, you must immediately stop the process and recheck the device model and firmware region.
Solving common mistakes
One of the most common problems is the Flash Error error or the program's failure to see the phone, often because the file path contains Russian letters, rom_global, and try again.
Another common error is “Can’t find script” flash_all.bat». This means that you have chosen the wrong folder or the firmware is damaged when you download it. Check the checksum of the file or download it again from another source.
- 🛑 Not enough space error: Trying to flash heavy firmware onto a device with a small amount of memory (rarely, but it happens when changing the region).
- ⚡ Watching for device error: Drivers not installed or cable damaged.
- 🔒 Locked Device Error: Attempting to Write Engineering Firmware to a Locked bootloader.
If the phone goes into a bootloop after you have been firmware, try clean all again. Sometimes the remnants of the old system conflict with the new one, and a complete cleanup solves the problem.
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90% of Xiaomi firmware errors are not caused by a phone breakdown, but by a bad one. USB-cable or wrong path to firmware files.