The usual process of reflashing any device based on the Android operating system involves a computer. On many models, it is possible to cope without additional software, but in any case, to flash Xiaomi you need drivers for the PC – special software that allows you to link multiple devices with each other.
In our case, to reflash Xiaomi through MiFlashPro you need to connect your mobile device to your computer. It’s necessary for trivial data transfer and downloading new software from the computer to the smartphone. To install the necessary software and to work correctly, you need to have one of the following OS versions installed on your computer: Windows XP, Windows 7, 8, 8.1, or Windows 10.
Universal drivers for your computer
To start flashing, you need 2 drivers: ADB Driver and an additional driver (depending on the processor installed on the smartphone). The first software is actually an application (emulator) that sends commands to the mobile device. As these commands when reflashing we send various requests (to reboot, to do a reset, to accept and install the firmware file, and many others). The second already depends on which single-chip system the smartphone runs on: Qualcomm or MediaTek (MTK).
First, let’s figure out how to install the USB driver for Xiaomi:
- Download the driver itself (button above) on Xiaomi for Windows and unzip it to the desktop.
- Press “Win + R” to open the “Run” menu. Enter the command “devmgmt.msc” and click OK.
- A window with the Device Manager will appear on the screen. Right-click on the line with the computer name (first from the top) (or just click on the “Action” button) and select “Install old hardware”.
- The Hardware Installation Wizard appears. Click “Next” and select “Install equipment selected manually from the list”.
- Choose “Show all devices”, then “Next”, “Install from disk” and “Browse”. The only task here is to find a file with the extension “.inf” in the unpacked folder. It has the name “android_winusb.inf”. Select it, click “Open” and the “OK” button.
- In the next steps, just click “Next” all the way to the end and complete the process.
- Reboot the computer.
Next, let’s look at computer drivers for Xiaomi for Qualcomm and MediaTek processors.
How to install the Xiaomi PC driver for Qualcomm
Now let’s look at the process of downloading and installing the Xiaomi Qualcomm driver on your PC:
- Download the archive using the button above.
- Unzip the contents to your desktop. The Qualcomm Drivers folder appears, and in it are “Qualcomm” and “Google”. We are interested in the first one. Open it and “get” another folder called “Driver”. For convenience, we put it on the desktop.
- Now repeat steps 2-5 of the instruction above. Only now select the file called “qcser.inf” from the “Driver” folder.
Restart the computer.
How to install Xiaomi PC driver for MTK
Owners of devices from the Chinese developer Xiaomi based on MediaTek are luckier. The process of installing the MTK driver on Xiaomi will be easier, as we almost do not have to do anything manually. To install the driver do the following:
- Download the archive from the button above and place it on your desktop.
- Unpack the contents of the archive and open the folder inside. Run the “MTK Driver Auto Installer” .exe file.
- At each step press the “Next” and “Install” keys. During the process an additional window “Driver Installation Wizard” will appear – here we do everything the same: “Next” and “Install”. At the end of the process restart.
After installing this software, any Xiaomi devices based on the MTK chipset will connect to the computer and be recognized by it for further work without any problems.
Solving Known Errors
After you have installed the necessary software, you can start the flashing process. You can do it in different ways, either manually or with the help of special software: SP FlashTool (for MediaTek processors), MiFlash (Qualcomm), MiFlashPro (suitable for any SoC). It’s worth mentioning that you don’t need to use any drivers for Mi Flash Pro. In case of any missing files, the program will notify you and even install them automatically.
But various problems can still occur during the installation process. Let’s look at many solutions to fix various driver installation errors:
- If the driver is not installed, download MiFlash. This is a special software for Xiaomi smartphones based on Qualcomm Snapdragon SoC. The program simplifies the installation and reflashing process, makes it automated, and after starting it displays a list of drivers required for work and offers to install them.
- Try to reinstall the software. It is possible that there are other drivers for your model and installing them will help fix the problem when the computer just can’t see the smartphone or there are some problems with the ADB stage. You can find such drivers in the discussion thread on the 4PDA forum.
- Another option is to download Mi Flash Pro. If you decided to flash on your own and encounter any problems, you can try this utility. There is no need to install drivers for Mi Flash Pro. If something is missing, the program will notify you about it.
Disabling digital signature
A common problem that deserves more attention is digital signature verification. This is a special procedure in Windows that verifies that the software being installed has a developer’s signature. And if this signature is missing, the installation is simply blocked. Some drivers do not have this digital “key”, so our task is to disable it. This can be done without much trouble, both on new and old Windows systems. And it is done in several ways: by running certain commands on the command line, setting the way to boot the operating system (for Windows 10), as well as by using the Group Policy Editor.
- To disable it using the command line (make sure to run in administrator mode), enter the following command: “bcdedit.exe /set NOINTEGRITYCHECKS ON”.
- To disable it, go to User Configuration, then Administrative Templates – System – Driver Installation in the Group Policy Editor and find the line with the digital signature. Set the value to “Enabled”, and in the parameters set “Skip”. This method works in most cases, unlike the first method using the command line.
Conclusion
There are not many problems that can be encountered during the driver installation process. If you clearly follow the steps described above, there should be no problems. But if you happen to encounter them, in most cases it is “cured” by downloading the special programs mentioned above.
