Xiaomi Implements Measures to Prevent Chinese Models from Installing International ROMs; Devices Will Not Boot After Flashing

According to news released by Kacper Skrzypek, a tester for the well-known custom ROM Xiaomi.EU, Xiaomi has recently added a regional detection mechanism to its boot process. This mechanism identifies the market version of the hardware, meaning devices intended for the Chinese market will no longer boot normally after installing an international version of the system.

Tests have shown that this detection mechanism adds a restriction during the startup wizard, displaying a message about "Unsupported software" after non-domestic ROMs are installed, with the only option available being to power off the device.

The message added to the startup wizard by Xiaomi states:

"This software version isn’t supported by your device. Using it may pose security risks. Contact your sales agent for details."

It's worth noting that since this restriction is placed within the startup wizard, users who have previously flashed their devices won't trigger it upon rebooting or updating. However, if a user performs a factory reset, the startup wizard will be reactivated, thus triggering the detection and preventing the system from booting.

Nevertheless, developers of the custom ROM Xiaomi.EU have quickly found a way to bypass this limitation, allowing users of Xiaomi.EU custom ROMs to continue flashing and updating their systems without concern.

The limitation has been confirmed on the Redmi Note 13 series, and it is expected that other models will follow suit. In the future, it may become impossible to normally flash and use versions of the system intended for other regions on these devices.

Xiaomi is not the only manufacturer to implement restrictions on flashing different market versions of their system; OnePlus has also introduced similar measures, preventing users from flashing international ROMs on Chinese models, a restriction that has been in place for some time.