Practical Steps to Flash Orange Fox on Redmi Note 5 Pro/Ai (Codename Whyred)

This article is your ultimate fail-proof tutorial on how to flash Orange Fox Recovery on Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro/China/Ai Global. The device has codename Whyred. Please have no confusion to Redmi Note 5 India which is basically Redmi 5 Plus.

The Pro India and the Ai China/Global versions of Redmi Note 5 have main difference in its camera. Others than that, both boasts same hardware specifications, including the Qualcomm Snapdragon 636 chipset. Its RAM and ROM storage vary depending on which variant you buy.

The device is so popular world wide especially in India and in South East Asian countries.

The phone is also popular among Android developing communities. Hence, it receives many tweaks, mods, custom Kernel, and custom ROMs.

Xiaomi does not dub Whyred as a developer-friendly device. Nevertheless, its popularity makes it be.

Redmi Note 5 received a custom recovery not long after its global release. Nowadays, there have been several modded recoveries compatible with the phone. One of which is Orange Fox Recovery Project (OFRP).

Orange Fox TWRP is my personal preference. I like it more than the official TWRP.

Of course, it’s not without a reason. I like it because OFRP can survive the official MIUI OTA update. Second, it has better user interface design. Lastly, OrangeFox has built-in Magisk, DM-Verity disabler, force-encryption disabler, and more mods.

Without further ado, let’s go to the steps of flashing it on your device.

Wait! I almost forget something.

I have to warn you about the risk of flashing a custom recovery.

Flashing Orange Fox will replace the stock MIUI recovery on your phone. Please proceed with full caution.

We strongly suggest you to read the whole steps thoroughly before actually implementing it. Please have enough understanding on how the steps are.

Neither we nor ORFP developers will hold responsibilities of any damages. There is always a hidden issue of bricked device or bootloop situation caused by flashing third-party binaries on your phone.

You have to create a full backup of your data and files, especially the crucial ones.

Check this out: Red Wolf Recovery Project for Redmi Note 5 Whyred.

HOW TO FLASH ORANGE FOX RECOVERY

These steps have been proved to work flawlessly on Redmi Note 5 Ai Global running the latest MIUI 10 Android 8.1 Oreo ROM.

Step 1. Unlock the bootloader. Read and follow our previous guide on how to unlock MIUI bootloader.

Step 2. Download and install Xiaomi ADB Fastboot Driver on your computer. You don’t need to do this if you already have Mi Flash tool installed (not the portable version).

Step 3. Download Orange Fox TWRP Recovery here. It’s a zip file. You need to download it on both your computer and your phone.

Step 4. On your computer, extract the Orange Fox zip file (OrangeFox-R9.0-1-whyred.zip) you have downloaded. You will get many files including a file named “recovery.img“.

Step 5. Copy that recovery.img file to your ADB folder. Usually, the ADB directory is located at C:\adb\.

Step 6. Enable USB Debugging option. This option is available within Developer Options menu. Hence, you have to enable it at first.

Enabling Developer Options, go to:

Settings >> About phone >> tap the MIUI version 7x >> You are developer!

Enable USB Debugging, go to:

Settings >> Additional Settings >> Developer Options >> USB Debugging >> toggle it on.

A notification will pop up on your screen. Tap “OK“.

Step 7. Now connect your Redmi Note 5 phone to your computer using its USB cable.

Step 8. On your computer, hold down the Shift key and right-click anywhere inside the ADB folder (C:\adb\). Choose “Open PowerShell window here“.

Step 9. Now type following command and hit Enter key to execute it:

adb devices
adb reboot bootloader
fastboot devices

This instructs your computer to establish ADB connection with your device while verifying any device attached. Second, this also reboots your device into Fastboot mode (bootloader mode).

You will see your phone rebooting and you will also see the Mi Bunny Fastboot logo displayed.

Step 10. Do the “Hot recovery boot” by typing the command below:

fastboot boot recovery.img

At this stage, your phone shall reboot into Orange Fox recovery.

p.s: Images are for illustration purpose only.

Step 11. Do the “Swipe to allow modifications“. You shall enter the main menu afterward.

Step 12. You will then see the main menu of Orange Fox recovery. Choose “Install“.

Step 13. Find and select the Orange Fox zip file (e.g: OrangeFox-R9.0-1-whyred.zip).

Step 14. Do the “Swipe to Install” action. As soon as you swiped, your phone will flash the zip file of Orange Fox recovery.

Step 15. Your phone will automatically reboot into Orange Fox recovery again. This time is not a hot boot but the actual recovery booting using the one installed on your phone already.

At this point forward, you can use Orangefox TWRP to flash almost anything. For instance, you can either use it for rooting via Magisk or flashing other mods such as Camera2 API enabled, etc.

Root Redmi Note 5 with Orange Fox and Magisk

Where to go beyond this point? The possibilities of what to flash are unlimited. You can search for any mods compatible with Whyred.

The most common thing to do after flashing a recovery is gaining root access.

This stage is optional, however, and you can skip this if you don’t want to root.

There are two methods of rooting:

First, by using the in-built Magisk root addon included within Orange Fox recovery.

Second, you can download the latest version of Magisk and flash it on your own through Orange Fox.

The steps below show you how to go through the second option.

Step 0. Download the latest version of Magisk here. Place the zip file to your phone storage.

Step 1. Go to the main menu of Orange Fox again and choose “Install“.

Step 2. Locate and find the Magisk zip file (e.g: Magisk-v18.1.zip). Tap on its name to select it.

Step 3. Do the “Swipe to Install” action.

Step 6. Once done, go back to main menu and tap on the Orange Fox Cup icon.

Step 7. Then choose the third menu icon.

Step 8. Make sure these two options are checked.

Step 9. Now go back to main menu then tap the “Reboot” option.

Step 10. Finally, choose “System“.

Voila! Your phone is now rooted. You can confirm the root status by downloading the root checker app from Play Store.

That’s all. I hope this tutorial useful for you.