How to flash a Xiaomi, Redmi or POCO Fastboot ROM

Before you start

• The bootloader must be unlocked. Flashing with a locked bootloader fails, and a wrong option can lock the phone with modified software.
• Use the ROM for your exact codename and region (for example garnet, Global). Region matters: a China ROM on a Global phone loses Google services and can be blocked.
• Anti-rollback: many Xiaomi phones refuse older firmware. Installing an older ROM than the one on the phone can hard-brick it. Stay on the same or a newer version unless you know the anti-rollback level of both.
• Back up everything. Flashing erases the phone.
• Install the latest Mi Flash Tool and the Xiaomi USB drivers on Windows. Extract the .tgz with 7-Zip into a short path such as C:\rom (long paths and spaces cause errors).

Steps

1. Turn the phone off. Hold Volume Down + Power until the FASTBOOT screen appears, then connect it to the PC.
2. Open Mi Flash Tool, click Select and choose the extracted ROM folder (the one containing images and flash_all.bat).
3. Click Refresh. The phone appears with an ID.
4. At the bottom choose:
   • clean all — erases data, keeps the bootloader unlocked (recommended).
   • save user data — keeps data; only use it when updating within the same ROM region.
   • clean all and lock — locks the bootloader. Only use it with an official ROM of the phone’s original region. Locking with any other firmware can make the phone unusable.
5. Click Flash and wait for “success”. The phone reboots by itself; the first start can take 10 minutes.

If something goes wrong

• “Mismatching image and device”: the ROM is for another model. Check the codename on the phone (Settings → About phone → All specs) or in the ROM folder name.
• “Anti rollback check error”: the ROM is older than the phone allows. Use a newer one.
• The phone isn’t detected: install the drivers again, try a USB 2.0 port and another cable.