Flashing the Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 from China Stable to Global Stable

If you bought your Redmi Note 5, Redmi Note 5 Pro, or Redmi Note 5 Plus from a reseller then you’re likely on the Chinese version of MIUI. If that is the case then you can follow these steps to install from the China stable ROM over to the Global Stable ROM.

Xiaomi has done really well so far in the countries that their devices are natively sold in. The company is getting so popular though that people from outside of those countries are wanting in on those devices. When there is a demand for something then there will surely be some people out there to supply it. This is where smartphone resellers come into play as they go to China and order a lot of phones so they can sell them to people all around the world.

This is how I have purchased all of my Xiaomi smartphones so far.

Not all, but most of the Xiaomi smartphones that you see being sold via a reseller website will come with the Chinese version of MIUI. Even though everything is in English and even though the Google Play Store application is installed, it’s still running the Chinese version of MIUI. There can be issues with this though and this is why so many people opt to flash the global stable version of MIUI on the Redmi Note 5, Redmi Note 5 Plus, and the Redmi Note 5 Pro.

Sadly, the process to go from the Chinese ROM to the Global ROM isn’t that straightforward to most people. So this guide will walk you through it from start to finish.

Install Global Stable ROM on Redmi Note 5 China Tutorial

• Unlock the bootloader of the Redmi Note 5
• Download and install the Mi Flash program
• Download and extract the Global Stable Fastboot ROM on the PC
• Open the Mi Flash program
• Paste the folder location of the Global Stable Fastboot ROM in Mi Flash
• Boot the Redmi Note 5 into Fastboot Mode
• Connect the Redmi Note 5 to the PC with a USB cable
• Click the Refresh button in the Mi Flash program
• Then click the Flash button and wait
• The Redmi Note 5 will reboot on its own

Note – As shown in the video below, there are times when you will be rebooted into Recovery Mode with a note at the bottom saying this MIUI version cannot be installed. This is actually due to a locked bootloader issue (so many the Mi Flash tool locks the bootloader after it flashes or something). If this happens to you, then you can reboot the Redmi Note 5 into Fastboot Mode and click the Unlock button to unlock it real quick.

Explanation

This whole process may seem strange at first but it’s actually quite similar to how Google lets you download the factory images for their Nexus and Pixel devices. The only difference here is that we’re using this program called Mi Flash instead of using the ADB and Fastboot command line tools. So naturally, to start off we need to unlock the bootloader of the Redmi Note 5, Redmi Note 5 Plus, or the Redmi Note 5 Pro. If this is the first Xiaomi device you have unlocked then this can take a few days to get approval.

With that done, go ahead and download the Mi Flash program (Step 2 above is linked directly to Xiaomi) and then install it on your computer. We can then go and start downloading the Fastboot ROM for your device (make sure you are downloading the correct one from Xiaomi) and save it on the computer. This file is likely going to be larger than 2GB (it was for me) and it can take some time to finish. It’s a .TGZ file (similar to .ZIP), and we need to extract the contents into a folder on the PC.

With that done, grab the Windows location of the folder we just extracted and copy/paste it into the text box at the top of the Mi Flash program. I demonstrate how to do this in the video above in case this part is a bit confusing. Now we can boot the Redmi Note 5, Redmi Note 5 Pro, or Redmi Note 5 Plus into Fastboot Mode so that we can connect it to our PC with a USB cable. Then we want to click the Refresh button in the Mi Flash program followed by the Flash button.

Assuming you grabbed the correct Fastboot ROM for your device (and your USB drivers are installed properly), then the Mi Flash program will begin installing the Global Stable ROM onto your smartphone. This process can take a few minutes to complete and again, you can follow along with the video above. When it finishes the Redmi Note 5 will reboot on its own and it should take you right back into Android. If you get booted back into Recovery Mode with a message at the bottom talking about MIUI then read the note I outlined right below the step by step tutorial.