How to block the bootloader of your Xiaomi mobile phone (Mi, Redmi, POCO)

The operations described in this article refer to risks and can often lead to irrecoverable by the owner himself and even to critical damage to the software of the mobile phone system! All manipulations suggested below are done at your own discretion and risk.

Important information

Regardless of the reasons behind the need to block the operating system bootloader on your Xiaomi smartphone, this procedure should be approached as carefully as possible, and before proceeding to interfere with the mobile system software, there are a few things to consider:

1. Locking the bootloader without critical consequences can only be done on those Xiaomi devices on which the official firmware is installed and not subjected to any modifications (installation of custom recovery, root rights, changing or replacing system files, etc.).
2. The type of regional operating system of the mobile phone in which the bootloader is blocked must match the one originally installed by the manufacturer. Thus, for example, the bootloader lock cannot be performed on the "Chinese" hardware version of the device by installing the Global firmware, but the China MIUI OS must first be restored.
3. Like unlocking, returning status "Closed" The bootloader of the mobile operating system by any means is accompanied by a reset of the device to factory settings and cleaning its memory of user data. Therefore, you should backup all the important and saved data on your mobile phone in advance and make sure that you can and plan to restore it after the bootloader has crashed. Read more:
   Data backup on Xiaomi mobile phones
   data recovery in Xiaomi Android devices

Method 1: MiFlash

The following instructions are a universal, manufacturer-specific, more effective and safe solution for the problem of returning the bootloader of Mi, Redmi or POCO mobile phones to the "Closed". The procedure is provided by a special option of the official firmware of the Xiaomi device called MiFlash.

Read also: How to contact Xiaomi

1. 1. Block mobile phone OS bootloader considered method is carried out during its reflash, so the first thing you need to download and prepare a package of images and other components of the mobile operating system. The firmware is necessary only official, precisely designed to modify the current device, preferably the latest version, and a certain type of "FASTBOOT" (distributed in TGZ format) Read also: MIUI firmware varietyDownload fastboot firmware for Xiaomi mobile phone (Mi, Redmi, POCO) from the official website

      The most correct option to get firmware that meets the above criteria for Mi, Redmi and POCO devices is to download them from Xiaomi's dedicated web resource.

      Follow the link above, find your device model in the list on the page

      and click on your name,

      specify the download path on the computer disk, start saving the file.

   2. Unpack the TGZ package with the components of the mobile OS,Place the resulting folder in the shortest possible path that does not contain any Russian letters.Read more: Unpacking the TGZ files
   3. Download the archive with the MiFlash files using the link in the program review article on our website, unzip the package. Launch the flashing tool by opening the file Xiaomiflash.exe. from the resulting directory There is another option to access the software functions:
   4. In MiFlash, click the button "To select", then find the directory with the unpacked firmware in the window that appears Browse folders.Click to highlight the directory where the folder is located "images"click on "AGREE"..
   5. Put the mobile phone in status "FASTBOOT". The easiest way to do this is to press the key "Vol ..." и "Can". at the same time and hold them down until the following image appears on the screen:
   6. Connect the mobile device to the computer with a USB cable, click the button on the MiFlash window "refresh"This will identify the mobile phone in the software: the first line of the main area of ​​the window will display "Id", "Dispositivo"an empty firmware progress bar will be displayed.

1. By pressing the radio button at the bottom of the software window, switch the firmware updater to run mode "Clean everything and close".
2. When you are ready to start the process of flashing your mobile phone and at the same time locking your OS bootloader, click "flash".
3. Wait for the program to execute all the procedures without interrupting them with any action.
4. Once the mobile operating system is reinstalled and its bootloader locked, the mobile phone will automatically reboot, and Mi Flash will apparently continue its firmware work. We disconnect the phone from the PC, wait for the MIUI welcome screen to appear, perform the basic configuration of the operating system, restore the data and then make the mobile phone work with the bootloader locked.

Method 2: Fastboot Utility

The above procedure of reinstalling the OS of a Xiaomi mobile phone while its bootloader crashes can also be done without MiFlash - fastboot firmware packages have almost everything you need for this.

1. Execute points 1 and 2 of the instructions suggested above, that is, find and download the official firmware tgz file for mobile phone with bootloader lock, unzip it in a separate folder.
2. Download the SDK Platform Tools package containing the ADB and Fastboot utilities to your computer. This is available on the Google-supported Android developer website:Download the SDK Platform Tools from the official website
3. Unzip the file resulting from the previous step of this instruction. Go to the folder «Platform-tools»and copy all its content to the directory with the mobile phone firmware images – the one that detects some bat files.
4. Put the mobile device on "FASTBOOT"and plug it into your computer, just to be safe, open it up. "Device administrator ("DU".) Windows and make sure the mobile phone is correctly detected by the system - in the category "Android phone" device is present "Android Bootloader Interface" without any brand.

   If your PC does not detect your mobile phone or "REMOTE CONTROL". If Windows shows any errors, deal with the drivers. For example, you can install the drivers manually from Xiaomi's Universal Package for Android Devices available at the link above.

5. Open the folder with the unpacked firmware and console utility files in Explorer, find and run the executable file flash_all_lock.bat.
6. This will open the console window and the firmware script will start to do its job. You just have to wait for the fully automatic operation to complete, without trying to speed it up or interrupt it in any way.
7. When the Fastboot utility reinstalls the mobile device's operating system and locks its boot loader, the command line window closes automatically. The mobile phone will reboot and initialization of MIUI components will "begin". All processes will end with the display of the first screen of the initial mobile OS configuration wizard.

Read more: Transfer of notes between Xiaomi mobile phones

Method 3: command line

There is another way to block the bootloader on Xiaomi that does not involve reflashing: by sending a specialized fastboot command to the device through the Windows console.

Before starting to use the bootloader locking method described below, please note that it does not work on all manufacturer's devices and that it is only recommended for owners of Android One models (Mi A1, A2, A2 Lite and A3), not MIUI.

1. Open the instructions available in the following link to perform a bootloader status check on Xiaomi Android devices using Fastboot utility and follow all its steps. Read more: How to check the bootloader status (unlocked/locked) of Xiaomi mobile phone ( Mi, Redmi, POCO) via FastbootAs a result, we get the Fastboot utility running in the Windows environment, put into mode "FASTBOOT". and a mobile phone correctly paired with a PC, as well as ensuring that the device's bootloader is unlocked.
2. In the Windows or Power Shell command line window, type the following:fastboot oem lock
3. Press "Enters". and wait a few seconds. If the operation is successful, the console will respond "OKAY". Finished". The mobile device will automatically reboot and then reset and boot its operating system to factory settings.