you will have to do all the steps in the guide then..  only once thou, as soon as you are on openwrt you can forget them

So I have to have Android or Iphone device to change the  firmware?

im not sure about that , i did this with an iphone but i know there is an app for mac and maybe windows too, so this might be possible as well... if not, you can also use an android emulator on your computer.

Windows app is not working. Cant bind device with it.

Using android app trough emulator is imposinle for me. I dont understand Chineese

// Upgrading to dev  image and downloading dev android app made the things for me.

(Last edited by Yasen6275 on 8 Aug 2015, 22:05)

Hm. Thay have changed flash layout i think.
Wiki

# cat /proc/mtd
dev:    size   erasesize  name
mtd0: 01000000 00010000 "ALL"
mtd1: 00030000 00010000 "Bootloader"
mtd2: 00010000 00010000 "Config"
mtd3: 00010000 00010000 "Factory"
mtd4: 00c80000 00010000 "OS1"
mtd5: 00b26e43 00010000 "rootfs"
mtd6: 00200000 00010000 "OS2"
mtd7: 00100000 00010000 "overlay"
mtd8: 00010000 00010000 "crash"
mtd9: 00010000 00010000 "reserved"
mtd10: 00010000 00010000 "Bdata"
mtd11: 00fa0000 00010000 "firmware"

new

# cat /proc/mtd 
dev:    size   erasesize  name
mtd0: 01000000 00010000 "ALL"
mtd1: 00030000 00010000 "Bootloader"
mtd2: 00010000 00010000 "Config"
mtd3: 00010000 00010000 "Factory"
mtd4: 00c80000 00010000 "OS1"
mtd5: 00b19b2c 00010000 "rootfs"
mtd6: 00200000 00010000 "OS2"
mtd7: 00100000 00010000 "overlay"
mtd8: 00010000 00010000 "crash"
mtd9: 00010000 00010000 "reserved"
mtd10: 00010000 00010000 "Bdata"

(Last edited by Yasen6275 on 9 Aug 2015, 09:25)

Does anyone have more information on switching out the uboot? It's mentioned in the wiki, but not much info.

I also have a copy of the dev firmware (easily downloadable) and my dev firmware patch that enables ssh (with password).

I'm wondering if someone has a new Xiaomi Wifi Mini want to test flashing with my files (from USB drive using the reset button method). My thought is that if it works it would really simplify the flashing process (eliminate the need for iPhone/Android app to get ssh patch). I only have the one mini and it's already flashed with OpenWRT so I need some help testing my theory. It should be harmless if it doesn't work since you should be able to reflash back to the stock using the reset button trick. Let me know.

(Last edited by King0fK0ng on 1 Sep 2015, 05:56)

I ordered a Mini about a week ago. Will try your procedure after arrival in a few weeks, in case you can provide clear description here.

@augustus_meyer, thank you for volunteering to help test.

Here are the files: https://www.dropbox.com/s/0tn92m2my36orr8/miwifi.zip

miwifi.bin is the development firmware file. Specifically, "miwifi_r1cm_all_ace8a_0.6.40.bin" renamed, which is a known working version that can be SSH patched.

miwifi_ssh.bin is the ssh patch file I managed to download (after all the crazy hoops I had to jump through)

The ssh password is: 405517c2

What I'm hoping for is that you'll be able to apply my ssh patch and login using the root password above. This would eliminate the need to create an xiaomi account and iphone/android app linkage that is required before they allow you to download the ssh patch file.

Outline of steps:

1) Upgrade the device with Xiaomi's development firmware (miwifi.bin)
2) Flash the SSH binary (miwifi_ssh.bin)
3) SSH to the device to flash OpenWrt. I used CC RC3: https://downloads.openwrt.org/chaos_cal … pgrade.bin

Step 1)
Put miwifi.bin into a USB flash drive (must be FAT/FAT32)
Plug USB drive to router's usb port
Unplug router's power
Press and hold reset button and then re-plug the power
Keep pressing reset button until the orange status LED starts blinking
wait until the LED turns blue

Step 2)
Put miwifi_ssh.bin into a USB flash drive. Make sure to delete the miwifi.bin file.
Plug USB drive to router's usb port
Unplug router's power
Press reset button and then re-plug the power
Keep pressing reset button until the orange status LED starts blinking
wait until the LED turns blue

Step 3)
SSH into router at 192.168.31.1 using root and password above.

As a reference, here is the complete instructions I used and openwrt wiki: http://en.miui.com/thread-64391-1-1.html
http://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/xiaomi/mini

(Last edited by King0fK0ng on 2 Sep 2015, 03:48)

I was just about to post this, including files. I followed the exact procedure from the Chinese forum, which you have nicely summarized, and managed to successfully install PandoraBox on the MiWiFi. I used the same ace8a development firmware, because apparently that is the only one known working. I have saved the ssh patch as well (mine has a different password).

I will try to post my bundle for download as well so it's available as a second source. This way nobody else needs to jump through the hoops with the registering and installing weird Chinese apps on their phones.

(edit) here is the link: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/107843342/MiWiFi.7z
The package contains the firmware files, instructions and a text file with the SSH password.

Once you have PandoraBox installed you can easily flash vanilla OpenWRT.

(Last edited by stamasd on 2 Sep 2015, 14:10)

it won't work. the router won't accept ssh binary probably because of the files are generated with some sort of checksum that is related to hw serial number.

what the file does is only sets nvram command to enable ssh. if you can execute this command from luci webpage you're half way done. the other half is generating a root password based on hw serial nubmer. there is some success reported but for other xiaomi model, not this one.

from ssh you can set uart to writeable too with nvram utility so there is no need to replace uboot.

Thanks for the insight. Can you provide some links to sources for your statement? Not that I doubt you, I just want to read more about it.

Also, would like more information about the nvram setting for uart to be writable. I was interested in the modified uboot for web recovery (flashing) option. From this blog post - http://kaos.ashrae.be/kaosblog/?p=368 - WRTNode uBoot found here - http://wiki.wrtnode.com/index.php?title … structions - supposedly works. The uboot looks similar to pepe2k's uboot - https://forum.openwrt.org/viewtopic.php?id=43237 - however, the source code doesn't look like it's available and it's not clear if the reset button on the xiaomi mini will trigger the uboot web server.

i've tried two ssh files from 4pda.ru site and it didn't work, chinese sites are full of this stuff you just have to search and translate for example: http://bbs.xiaomi.cn/thread/index/tid/10533752

Is it possible to install the proprietary WiFi drivers in stock OpenWrt so I don't have use PandoraBox to get good performance?

Doesn't have the WRTNode uboot enabled tftp? Because if we are able to flash uboot and the tftp will be working, we could easily flash OpenWRT directly. Or not?

You can't get ssh console access until you jump through all the xiaomi hoops. You can't flash uboot until you have console access.

(Last edited by King0fK0ng on 2 Sep 2015, 20:23)

Nice! Thank you for the info.

hi
i tried your frimware .
but miwifi_ssh.bin  cant update .
in update miwifi give red light  .
and none blinking orange light..
what can i do now to install ssh rom ?

Thanks for giving it a try. You'll need to follow the long method.

i think miwifi_ssh.bin file   is wrong ...

(Last edited by micro77 on 10 Sep 2015, 00:43)

ok problem solved.
no need diffrent miwifi_ssh.bin file...

just  use this way to install...

http://en.miui.com/thread-64391-1-1.html

Did anyone try the stable 15.05 ? Is the wifi performance any better?

is preinstalled luci interface  this version ?

Yes the stable releases have LuCI.

i tried now ...   

but its stuck on wifi settings.

so im back to 14.09 version