[Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 / 5 Plus Guides, News, & Discu] niels_kievits:
What is this How-to for:

In our Telegram-group, I've seen quite some questions on what to do to unlock a Redmi 5 Plus.

There are a few different states a phone can be in when you receive it, such as 'Fake' roms, China stable, China DEV and so on. Below we'll try and make sense of it al and explain what is the best way of getting about unlocking your phone.

Update: With the release of the global Development rom, some people have successfully unlocked their device without having to perform the testpoint method. The rom can be found here:

http://bigota.d.miui.com/8.3.15/miui_HM5PlusGlobal_8.3.15_e69c117bf5_7.1.zip

After installing global development, please start unlocking by beginning at step 1 below, but skipping step 2!

Step 1: (needed for everyone who wants to unlock their phone, regardless):

1: Goto: http://en.miui.com/unlock/ and follow the steps there to apply for unlocking:

[IMG="Step 1"]https://dl.xda-developers.com/4/4/2/1/1/5/1/get_code_step1.png?key=nHihCVjPE7wRLJ39bEsjvw&ts=1518725362[/IMG]

This requires creating a MIUI forum account and entering a mobile number on which you will receive your approval. This number does NOT need to be the number you are going to use on your Redmi 5 Plus. As long as you create a MI account and hang on to that, you're good.

Getting the approval might take a while. The best way to check if your approval has been passed is to regularly revisit http://en.miui.com/unlock/ (while logged in with your forum account) until the page changes on opening to one that allows you to download the unlock client app:

[IMG="Step 2"]https://dl.xda-developers.com/4/4/2/1/2/1/6/step2.jpg?key=aW0N0KUh3WeBOahFzOcXBQ&ts=1518726836[/IMG]

This is it for this part for now.

Step 2: Knowing what ROM you are on and taking the steps to get to the right one if needed:

Basically, the following 'states' are possible:

China Stable Rom

Official Global Stable

'Fake' Global, locked bootloader

'Fake' Global, Unlocked bootloader; If you are part of these happy few, go directly to step 4.

For the first 3 options you will need to flash to the China dev rom: Which can be found here: http://bigota.d.miui.com/8.2.1/vince_images_8.2.1_20180201.0000.00_7.1_cn_bd9ee1a88a.tgz

This needs to be done via the so called 'Test point method', and it is the only way to do it (as of now).

Information on how to do this you can find it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVG3Ip6UPGE.

After this, you are ready for the next step.

Step 3: Binding account and unlocking:

Note: If you have problems binding your account on step 1, use PlexVPN, setting the connection to a China location, or use the attached APK vpn service (in.invpn_2017-08-15.apk).

1: After you’ve applied and received unlock permission from MIUI you can use the account to sign into your Mi-Account on your phone.

First though, we need to establish if you need to do additional steps, so hold on to this for now.

2: Enable “Developer options” on your device by tapping few times on MIUI version.

3: Go to “Developer options” and enable “OEM Unlocking”, then go to “Mi Unlock Status” and tap on “Add account and device”.

4: Download and install the latest version of MiFlashUnlock from this page and install it on your pc (unlocking with MiUnlock 1.x version won’t work).

5. Install MiFlashUnlock, open it and press “Agree” button, sign into your Mi-account.

6: Turn off your phone completely and start it in fastboot mode. Press “Power” and “Volume Down” buttons at the same time until fastboot logo appear on the screen.

Connect your phone to PC in fastboot mode and press “Unlock” button.

7: And now this is where it gets a bit silly. You most likely will be confronted with a wait time between 72 and 360 hours. There is currently no way around this and you have to sit it out.

Once the time has passed, you can unlock your phone and are ready to flash TWRP and be a happy camper.

EDIT: There is a way around the 360 hour wait. Check this post: https://xdaforums.com/redmi-note-5/development/rom-lineageos-15-1-t3780298/post76304194#post76304194

Step 4: Flash TWRP

See this topic on how to do this: https://xdaforums.com/android/development/-t3727162.

Sources:

https://xiaomifirmware.com/guides-and-tips/unlock-bootloader-on-redmi-5-5a/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVG3Ip6UPGE

http://en.miui.com

https://androidfilehost.com/?w=files&flid=248291 > LOS ROM Downloads

https://androidfilehost.com/?w=files&flid=249434 >AEX ROM Downloads

Telegram Group: https://t.me/redmi5plusroms

Final notes:

Please comment if anything in the above is not correct or needs revising.

Thanks everyone who contributed, will add names later once I get to know your XDA accountnames :).