[Xiaomi Mi 9 SE Questions & Answers] PapaAirstream:
@Harsh223 greatly appreciate the add'l info re: hang v. crash; does sound like some real progress. Will look into this further today, along w/several other salient hints your response provided... re: that installer being elsewhere, was thinking the same but i can't seem to find it anywhere on the phone-- weird; will continue to attempt to find that and restart from there, along w/your suggestion of alternate path to login to goog acct, etc.

@zgfg also appreciate your input wrt a good target should i take the leap to transition to another ROM (i agree if/when i am willing to take the prereq steps that at present are 1 of the key hurdle, i would probably switch to a non-CN version).

At some point, i may well make the switch, though as i sort of alluded to in a prior post, for now my considerations aren't exclusively technical. a) I 'need' the device for basic, primary lifeline comms and b) with a pending international move, mitigating the bricking-risk of my first attempt at rooting the device seems prudent. Additionally, my research indicates the rooting requires boot-loader unlock which requires wipe-- which introduces c) an additional data-loss opportunity (unintentionally missed in a backup) which i'll need over the next several weeks of move/transition.

If i'm misunderstanding (given i'm a root'ing nube) and there is a way to 'upgrade' from CN 12.5.1 --> EU 12.5.>1 (given it's all in house Xiaomi ROMs and increase in ver) that were wipe/bootloader-unlock/root free, please clarify and that i might try now...

Messing with APKs are a time sync of trial and error though perhaps not moreso than all i've read on device specific quirks wrt rooting and flashing alternate ROMs. The related load/unload fiddling is of limited risk given my current experience (other than when i made the leap to downloading from someone i just met on the internet, wrt the potential malware risk of doing so; but with some experience on that front as well, i did my share of 'trust but verify' homework before i launched the .apk and as far as i can tell @Harsh223 and his upload were legit-- no offense Harsh223 and i'd expect you or anyone else to do their homework on any file i uploaded for use on their system before launching it (and why i would typically share detailed version info and offer links to a suggested downloads on a popular public site which includes file reputation via user votes, hash, upload scanning, etc. ;-).

So assuming the wipe requirement (as part of bootloader unlock, which is pre-req to rooting), to change ROMs... i'll wait until d) i have a new/working primary device up/running in parallel for a couple weeks to the then deprecated device to mitigate the aforementioned c) data-loss risk, and b) brick risk.

fwiw it's worth also to date... e) i've been living in CN... so aside from fact that i use some of that 'bloatware' daily (with versions updated/updatable/maintained via the Mi store which is still working fine), there may well be other things in that system unlike non-CN versions which i might unknowingly miss if i switch. The CN ROM has served me well the past couple years. Soon enough i won't need several of those apps nor other potential CN specific system facilities, which i currently use daily.

After the move... a 'clean' wiped device may in the scheme of things be a 'feature' for me personally (in terms of it being a fresh start, and a new learning experiencing wrt rooting the device), though i probably wouldn't have done it had this not all transpired as i had found a good/working balance wrt the apps and config i used for years in CN, as well as how i've customized it to play well with the things on and for the other side of the pond.

Alternatively it may well be a reason to f) leave the device as is (as my dedicated secondary China phone for future travel to the East)... and just replace it w/a new go-forward primary device for the West. I'll need to sleep on it a few more nights i'm sure.

...Unless i make more progress on the APK route, or the CN--> EU route without root.

-Cheers all. Really do appreciate all the suggestions/input.