How To Easily Root Xiaomi MiPad MIUI 6 / 7 Developer ROM

By default Xiaomi’s Developer ROMs come with root access but unfortunately such is not the case with the Xiaomi MiPad. Unlike most procedures that require the use of PC or APK apps like VRoot etc and custom recovery, this method is pretty simple and uses the default Xiaomi MiRecovery system.

NOTE: I don’t think this method of rooting Xiaomi’s MiPad works for Global or Chinese Stable ROMs. As far as I can tell it works on only MiPads running MIUI 6 or MIUI 7 Developer ROM.

I’m currently running MIUI 7 on my MiPad. If you wish to upgrade yours from MIUI 6 to MIUI 7, please read this article >> How To Upgrade Xiaomi MiPad To MIUI 7.

As always DO NOT FORGET TO CREATE A BACKUP!

To proceed follow the instructions below.

Download SuperSU for Xiaomi MiPad MIUI 6 and MIUI 7, rename the downloaded file to update.zip and copy it to the root of the internal storage space. DO NOT PLACE IT IN A FOLDER. LEAVE IT AS IT IS IN THE ROOT OF THE INTERNAL STORAGE.
Shut down the MiPad.
Press and hold down the Volume + and Power button at the same time until the MI logo shows then release.
The device should boot into recovery mode. Using the volume + and – buttons, select your language of choice and use the Power button to confirm your selections.
Select Install update.zip to System One and select Yes when asked to confirm install update.zip.
Once the update is complete, select Reboot >> Reboot to System One (Latest) and your device will automatically be rooted

Root access will enabled at once but if you update SuperSU, you will be prompted to install the binaries again which shouldn’t take more than a minute (in my case).

So far so good, I hear you can still access to OTA updates after using this root method but once you update, you will lose root access and have to repeat the above process again. MIUI Developers roll out new updates every Friday so I’ll test this theory next week Friday and update this post accordingly.

Also note that, MIUI 6 and 7 for the MiPad are still based on Android KitKat so in the event that Xiaomi eventually releases an Android Lollipop version, this root method might cease to function. (Hopefully it doesn’t)

Finally for those wondering if I have jumped back on the team Root wagon, well not really. My main device remains unrooted and will stay that way. I was interested in rooting this one so that updating all my android apps wouldn’t need any interaction whatsoever. Refer to How To Save Data Updating Android Apps Across Multiple Devices to see what I am talking about.

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