How to install LineageOS 17.1 on POCO M2 Pro

POCO M2 Pro may not give you the purest Android experience cause of the heavily customized MIUI on even ads can pop-up abruptly. Despite offering the best hardware at an affordable price, the MIUI software may not be pleasing for many users. So, in case if you’re the user of the M2 Pro and would like to try any custom ROMs offering nearly clean Android experience, then LineageOS 17.1 is worth a try. LineageOS 17.1 POCO M2 Pro

Must See: Best custom ROMs for POCO M2 Pro

The unofficial LineageOS 17.1 based on Android 10 for POCO M2 Pro is pretty stable. With the PitchBlack recovery for POCO M2 Pro, you can easily flash LineageOS 17.1 on your device. It goes without saying that you must have the bootloader unlocked. In case if you’re a beginner our step-by-step tutorial ought to help a lot.

Downloads

Here is all the necessary file you’ll need over the course of the tutorial.

Minimal ADB and Fastboot: Download
Mi Unlock Tool: Download
PBRP Recovery for POCO M2 Pro: Download
LineageOS 17.1 for POCO M2 Pro: Download
GApps: Download

Unlock POCO M2 Pro Bootloader

First, you’ve to get the device bootloader unlocked. If already unlocked then jump to the second section.

Disclaimer: Bootloader unlock may wipe your data. So backup your device before proceeding.

Once all the necessary files are downloaded and set-up. Proceed with the given steps.

If not yet, create a Xiaomi Mi account and log-in to your device with the same credentials.
As in the case with most of the Xiaomi devices, visit Xiaomi’s bootloader unlock page.
Click the Unlock Now button and then log into your Mi account
Wait for the bootloader to unlock the approval SMS message.
You need to have a Mi account created, confirmed, and attached to a phone number so Xiaomi can verify you are the owner of this device.
Open the Settings app on your device.
Go to Mi Account, and log-in if not already done.
Enable the Sync option and Find Device (You might need to enter the password if prompted)
Enable Developer Options, then OEM Unlock and USB Debugging on the POCO M2 Pro
Download and Extract the Mi Unlock Tool to your PC
Run the Mi Unlock program. It should be a file named “miflash_unlock.exe”.
Sign in to your Mi Account on the Mi Flash Unlock Tool. Make sure to login with the same Mi ID you’ve used while requesting for the unlock.
Boot the POCO M2 Pro into Fastboot Mode. Here is how: Once the device has been powered off, press and hold the Power and Volume Down buttons together simultaneously. Continue holding these two buttons down until you get to the M2 Pro Fastboot Mode splash screen.
Connect your device to the PC via micro USB cable.
Click the Unlock button at the bottom of the Mi Unlock program
Wait through the two warning pop-up messages and click the Unlock Anyway button. You should see the Unlock Anyway button appear after the countdown finishes.
Wait for the Mi Unlock program to go through the Verify Device phase.
If everything goes smoothly you should see this image on the Mi Unlock program

Once the unlock is successful, the device should reboot automatically and during the phase, it’ll wipe the system/internal storage. So, as said earlier, take a backup of important data before requesting the unlock.

Occasionally, Xioami would insist you wait for a period of time until you can unlock the device upon clicking the Unlock Anyway button mentioned in step 16. If that’s so, you’ve to wait the amount of time you were told and once done, repeat the steps once again.

Once you’ve successfully unlocked the bootloader, you can flash custom binaries such as the PBRP recovery in this case and the LineageOS ultimately.

Install PitchBlack Recovery

Points to ponder: PitchBlack Recovery is commonly known as PBRP.

Download PitchBlack Recovery and save it on your PC.
Extract the PBRP zip and you’ll get a recovery.img file.
Place the recovery.img in the same folder where you’ve installed the ADB and Fastboot.
Go to fastboot mode in your device
Flash the recovery.img. Input the following commands on a command prompt
fastboot flash recovery recovery.img
Boot into PBRP by using the following commands
fastboot reboot recovery
Wipe the data.
Now, reboot to system.

Note: If the command fastboot flash recovery recovery.img won’t flash, then you’ve to specify the exact path of the saved recovery.img. For instance, if the recovery you saved on the PC is located on C:\files, then the command will be of the format “fastboot flash recovery <file path>“. See the example given below.
fastboot flash recovery c:\files\recovery.img

Optionally, you may flash Magisk from PBRP itself.

Flash LineageOS 17.1 Through PitchBlack Recovery

Download the latest LineageOS build and GApps from the links given earlier.
Save them on your internal or external storage
Boot to PBRP recovery
Tap on Install
Flash the latest build
Wait for the flashing to complete, then flash GApps(pico or micro edition is recommended)
Boot to PBRP recovery again
Perform Factory data reset
Reboot

Hope you’ve been able to successfully flash LineageOS 17.1 on your POCO M2 Pro. If you’d like to revert, then don’t worry as you can go back at any time by flashing the stock firmware.

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