Xiaomi Mi 8 SE - phhusson/treble_experimentations GitHub Wiki

Xiaomi Mi 8 SE AOSP ROM (GSI Treble based) installation guide - Vanilla Android experience

Discussion on XDA

https://forum.xda-developers.com/mi-8-se/how-to/comprehensive-guide-installing-aosp-gsi-t3930100/

Hardware support

Known issues https://github.com/phhusson/treble_experimentations/issues/398

Component	Comment
Camera	Working (auxiliary camera can be detected by Open Camera, however can't be used with apps other than MIUI stock camera. Front/rear flashlight working)
Speaker / Mic	Working
Bluetooth media	Working
Bluetooth in-call/outgoing-call	Not Working, also presents in other devices using GSI
WiFi	Working
Dual SIM / Mobile Data (LTE) / Voice (GSM)	Working
VoLTE	Not working Needs someone with knowledge in Android development working on this https://github.com/phhusson/treble_experimentations/issues/398#issuecomment-469669971
Fingerprint	Working
Offline Charging	Working
IR	Working

The guide guy

This guide should also apply to any other recent Xiaomi phone with fastboot support.

This is an A-only device without Xiaomi's newly introduced anti-rowback (downgrade) mechanism. Originally shipped with Android 8.0 in June 2018. Supports dual-SIM VoLTE on stock firmware with Snapdragon SDM 710 SoC. available in 4/64, 6/64, 6/128. GSI images relies on the stock vendor partition to work properly. So stick to the GSI image with the same Android version as the MIUI. At this moment, May 2019, Xiaomi has released pie based firmware for this device. In the future, if you want to upgrade the system of your phone, the whole procedure described on this page will need to be performed again to avoid problems. (And search for the TWRP works with future release, in case the one on this page is outdated) Before you do anything, please BACK UP YOUR FILES!!!

Required files

-1. A Windows 7 or later computer with at least 10 GB free space

Official bootloader unlocker http://miuirom.xiaomi.com/rom/u1106245679/3.3.1212.33/miflash_unlock-3.3.1212.33.zip
Stock fastboot mode latest stable firmware http://update.miui.com/updates/v1/fullromdownload.php?d=sirius&b=X&r=cn&n= . With this, you can go back to stock at anytime if something goes wrong.
Stock fastboot mode firmware flashing tool http://bigota.d.miui.com/tools/MiFlash2018-5-28-0.zip
LR.team 2019-04-23 unofficial TWRP 3.3.0 (data partition decryption seems not working )with flashing tool https://mailacid-my.sharepoint.com/:u:/g/personal/tsh_mail_ac_id/EXVUGoX4qLlDiXms2ZJDCG0BfZWRfvp5rwNVHavhsz9IYw?e=TgYdHk
Latest stable xiaomi.eu ROM. Same version as the downloaded stock firmware recommended. https://sourceforge.net/projects/xiaomi-eu-multilang-miui-roms/files/xiaomi.eu/MIUI-STABLE-RELEASES

Tested combination:

Xiaomi EU ROM https://kent.dl.sourceforge.net/project/xiaomi-eu-multilang-miui-roms/xiaomi.eu/MIUI-STABLE-RELEASES/MIUIv10/xiaomi.eu_multi_MI8SE_V10.3.1.0.PEBCNXM_v10-9.zip

Stock MIUI fastboot image http://bigota.d.miui.com/V10.3.1.0.PEBCNXM/sirius_images_V10.3.1.0.PEBCNXM_20190418.0000.00_9.0_cn_77c3bfb3d6.tgz

phhson generic AOSP system image for arm64 A-only devices https://github.com/phhusson/treble_experimentations/releases
Following procedure is executed under Windows
FOSS compressed archive tool https://www.7-zip.org

0. Unlock bootloader and flash the latest stock MIUI firmware in fastboot mode

Unlock the bootloader here http://en.miui.com/unlock/ (wipe all existing data) and put it in fastboot mode after unlock. (Power it off first, then power it on while holding volume down button.)
Extract the firmware and the flashing tool.
Run MiFlash.exe in the tool's folder. Install drivers by clicking Drivers in menu bar.
Select the firmware folder and click load to detect fastboot mode devices.
Select a flash method without "lock" in the low right corner of the flashing tool interface. Default option will lock the bootloader!!!
Flash the ROM and wait it to reboot into MIUI welcome screen.

a. Installing TWRP recovery 3.3.0 on Xiaomi MI 8 SE

Extract the downloaded file.
Run recovery-twrp-one-click-flashing-tool一键刷入.bat
Follow the instructions on screen
Change language to English after first boot by following means.
Slide the button to allow modification
Tap "设置", third line second row.
Tap the globe tab on the right side
Select English and tap language button on the low right corner

Tip: If TWRP does not start then use combination of buttons (POWER) + (VOLUME +) to force the device to start from the recovery

b. Installing the latest available version of MIUI EU (or flash the boot.img only)

Enter TWRP and perform WIPE > FORMAT DATA and FACTORY RESET
Copy the ZIP file (MIUI 10) to DEVICE / TWRP from the Windows Explorer (Drag and Drop)
Next go to INSTALL > INSTALL ZIP, enter the directory /data/media/0/TWRP, flash ZIP file and finish by pressing SWIPE TO CONFIRM FLASH
Wait for the installation to finish (the system starts in initial MIUI screen)

Alternatively you can just extract the boot.img file from xiaomi.EU ROM zip file and flash it as the description of AOSP system image flashing.

Note: Actually this step replaces stock boot.IMG with the one from xiaomi.eu, Since GSI image doesn't boot with the stock one. And if the xiaomi.EU version doesn't match with the stock MIUI version on device (I.e. boot.IMG doesn't match other blobs), the device will kick into fastboot to force you to perform a fresh installaion of stock MIUI, or exhibiting unforseeable problems eg. touchscreen not working.

c. Installing GSI AOSP system image

Download the latest version of the GSI
Extract the contents of the .xz file with 7-zip download here
Enter TWRP and perform WIPE > SWIPE TO FACTORY RESET
Copy the IMG file (GSI AOSP) to DEVICE / TWRP from the Windows Explorer (Drag and Drop)
Next go to INSTALL > IMAGES, enter the directory /data/media/0/TWRP, flash file IMG then select partition SYSTEM and finish by pressing SWIPE TO CONFIRM FLASH
Restart to SYSTEM (Normal restart)
Wait for the installation to finish and the system will start the initial screen of AOSP 9 PIE tested by dkmgfk May 2019