When talking about offering the best value for money, then there is definitely no denying the fact that Xiaomi devices stand out from the crowd. Moreover, Xiaomi has established itself as one of the best in the mid-budget domain thanks to its impressive Poco Series.
The same applies to Poco F5 as well. Despite all the goodies, MIUI also offers a rather bloated user experience with a few unnecessary preinstalled system apps.
If you’re looking to get rid of this bloatware and break free from the shackles of the MIUI to get a cleaner stock usage experience with even more features, then a custom ROM will certainly help. What better custom ROM to choose than the reputed LineageOS?
If you’re looking to install the LineageOS custom ROM on your Poco F5, then this guide will be ideal for you. In this guide, you will get to know how to download and install LineageOS 20 GSI ROM on Poco F5.
Steps to download and install LineageOS 20 GSI ROM on Poco F5
Step 1: Install Android SDK
To start off, install the Android SDK Platform Tools on your PC or computer. It’s the official ADB and Fastboot binary provided by Google. You should download it and extract it to a convenient location on your PC. Doing this will give you the necessary platform-tools folder.
Step 2: Enable USB Debugging and OEM Unlocking
Then, you will need to enable USB Debugging and OEM Unlocking on your smartphone. The former makes your smartphone recognizable by the PC in ADB mode. Meanwhile, it’ll allow you to easily boot your smartphone to Fastboot Mode.
OEM Unlocking will be needed to carry out the bootloader unlocking process. You’ll need to go to Settings -> About Phone -> Tap on Build Number 7 times -> Return to Settings -> System -> Advanced -> Developer Options -> Enable USB Debugging and OEM Unlocking.
Step 3: Unlock the Bootloader on your smartphone
You’ll also need to unlock the bootloader on your Poco F5 if you’re looking to root your phone and install LineageOS 20 GSI ROM. Remember that doing this will wipe off the data and might even make your device’s warranty null and void.
Detailed Guide: How to Unlock bootloader on Xioami, Redmi and Poco Phones (MIUI Unlock Bootloader Guide)
Step 4: Download LineageOS 20 GSI ROM
- Next, you need to grab the latest LineageOS ROM for your device by heading over to the links mentioned below –
LineageOS 20 ROM for Poco F5 – Download
- Next, you’ll need to extract it using 7-ZIP to the platform-tools folder on your PC
- You will get the system.img file, which will act as the GSI ROM
Step 5: Download vbmeta
- First, you’ll have to download the stock firmware for your Poco F5 from here
- Extract it, head over to the Images folder, and then copy the vbmeta.img
- Then, transfer the vbmeta.img to the platform-tools folder
Step 6: Boot your device to Fastboot mode
- Connect your smartphone to the PC using a USB cable while ensuring that USB debugging is enabled
- After that, go to the platform-tools folder and type in CMD in the address bar before hitting Enter to launch the Command Prompt
- Then, type in the following command in the CMD window for booting your smartphone to Fastboot Mode
adb reboot bootloader
- For verifying the Fastboot connection, you should type the following command and you’ll get back the device ID –
fastboot devices
Step 7: Disable verity check
Now, you will have to type the following command to flash the vbmeta and disable the verification check of the vbmeta partition of your device –
fastboot --disable-verification flash vbmeta vbmeta.img
Step 8: Flash LineageOS 20 GSI ROM using Fastboot
- By now, your Poco F5 will be in the fastboot mode, so type the following command to boot your device into FastbootD mode –
fastboot reboot fastboot
- Then, delete the logical partition for freeing up space on your device –
fastboot delete-logical-partition product_a
- You can now flash the GSI ROM using the following command (system will be the name of GSI ROM file) –
fastboot flash system system_img
- Once you have done that, you’ll need to format data using the following command –
fastboot –w
- Lastly, you need to reboot your Poco F5 to the newly installed OS using the following command –
fastboot reboot
So if you have any question regarding this topic, feel free to leave that in the comment section down below.
