How to restore a Xiaomi router to factory settings? Hold the pin for 5 seconds and the light turns orange. If you're selling second-hand, don't rush to reset it yet

the AX3000T at home had been messing around for over half a year, changing relay, network segment, and speed limiting rules, all the more I adjusted, the messier it got. In the end, I couldn't even remember which ones I had changed. That day, I was determined to restore the factory and clean it all at once. While I was at it, I put the router on a second-hand platform and found that many people did the factory restoration in the wrong order—reset first, then unbind Mijia, and ended up leaving a permanently offline dead device in their own account. This article explains the correct order and pitfalls all at once.

under what circumstances is it worth restoring the factory

separate two things first: rebooting and restoring the factory are not the same thing. Restart means shutting down and then turning on, with all configurations intact; Factory reset resets the router to its freshly opened state, resetting all settings. If you disconnect or your internet is slow, try restarting first. Don't reset right away—that's the last step.

in recent years, I've only used three cases where I actually used factory restoration:

• configuration is a complete mess: repeaters, bridges, and network segment modifications have been repeatedly torn between good and bad networks, unable to be checked, and having to reset once to return to the starting point;
• changed broadband or optical modem: old dial-up methods and VLAN settings clashed with new environments, resetting and starting over was the fastest;
• device must be sold firsthand: before selling second-hand, it must be thoroughly cleaned; otherwise, WiFi passwords, device lists, and browsing records will all be left to the next owner.

Another type is that the backend is completely inaccessible, and you just can't remember the password. If you can't recover the Xiaomi management password, you have to reset it. There's nothing I can do about this. Previously, I wrote in my about how to recover the backend password in the backend that one time you can save it. If you can't get it back, then reset it.

Before

recovers, I first copied down two things

slacking off at this step, you could spend an extra night later. A factory reset will wipe everything, including broadband account passwords.

First: broadband dial-up account and password. if you use a router dial-up (PPPoE) at home, your account and password are stored in the router and are immediately lost when reset. Check the installation order from back then; if you can't find it, call the carrier's customer service to report the owner's ID number. Call Telecom 10000, China Mobile 10086, China Unicom 10010. Don't wait until the reset is complete to look for it. Back then, your whole family would be offline and your family would be urging you to search for your account while rummaging through your boxes.

second item: the current WiFi name and password. copying this isn't to fill in for myself—it's to leave a backup plan for smart homes. If you keep the old WiFi name and password, your phone and computer will automatically reconnect, saving you the hassle of a camera vacuum cleaner. If the name changes, every smart device at home has to be re-connected. The vacuum cleaner takes fifteen minutes to reconfigure each time, and the camera has to climb ladders and press the reset button. I've calculated this account, and the smart device network setup is even more detailed.

right, Xiaomi's official firmware doesn't include export backup functionality, which is different from TP or Mercury, so don't expect to save a configuration file before resetting—just copy it honestly and practically. I've compared which brands have this feature, and I wrote about it in the of configuration backup.

three recovery methods, the second one I use most is

Method 1: One-click backend recovery. can access the backend normally, use this. Connect your phone or computer to the router's WiFi. Enter 192.168.31.1 or miwifi.com in the browser's address bar, go to the backend, find 'Frequently Used' → 'System Settings', and scroll to the bottom to find 'Restore factory settings.' Click OK to confirm and wait for it to restart on its own and finish the process. The entire operation takes one minute.

method two: Lock the pin on the reset button, which I use often. there's a small hole on the back of the router with 'Reset' printed next to it. Take the SIM pin or a straight paperclip and press it in. According to the official statement, if you hold the button for more than 5 seconds and the indicator light turns orange, it means the reset was successful. Then the router will automatically restart in about one or two minutes. In my practice, I count to eight before releasing the device. A short press reboots, not resets—many people have fallen into this trap. After pressing for two or three seconds and releasing the grip, they find the specs are still there and think the device is broken.

Method 3: Delete the device from the Mi Home app. Note, this does not count as factory restoration! Deleting devices in Mijia only unbinds the account; the broadband account and WiFi password on the router remain intact. It solves another problem, which will be discussed separately in the second-hand section below.

after recovery, the router "loses its memory"

after the reset is complete, the WiFi name will revert to its default Xiaomi_ with a random suffix, clear the management password, and the background will enter the initialization wizard. What items are missing? I made a list:

my first reset, what surprised me most was that the firmware version didn't roll back. The version I manually upgraded before is still here, so I don't have to upgrade again. I wrote an article here on how to manually upgrade the firmware, which I here .

reset, I fixed the five-step movement

the reset reset wizard is fairly clear—just follow along, but if you get the order right, you can avoid detours:

Step 1 : connect the wire and wait for the light. Plug the network cable into the router's WAN port on the optical modem, power it on for one or two minutes, wait until the system indicator light turns blue before proceeding. Step two connect your phone to the default Xiaomi_ WiFi, and connect directly without a password. Step 3, enter 192.168.31.1 into the wizard in your browser. The details of the login entry are in the of the login section 31.1. For internet access, select PPPoE and enter the copied broadband account password. Step 4 Set WiFi name and password—I strongly recommend using the old name and password for seamless integration across all family devices. If you have a vacuum cleaner camera at home, don't use Chinese characters or special symbols in the name. You can decide whether to separate 2.4G and 5G now. If you're unsure, check the article on removing dual-band . Step 5 Set a management password, separate it from the WiFi password, then open the Mi Home app and rebind the router. The following remote management and device kicking functions will work. What Mi Jia can do is written in the remote management .

if you enter the account after the reset but still can't get online, don't worry—it's 90% likely due to the dialing method or account copying the wrong number. I put the general troubleshooting order in the after redialing after reset. Step by step, you can basically recover it.

the child's control periods and speed limit rules, everything must be reconfigured after resetting. My experience is not rushing to build the game yet; after running for two days and things are stable, then add the rules. Otherwise, if there's a little disturbance online, you won't be able to tell if it's because the reset wasn't set correctly or the rules are just a fight. Methods for reassigning child management are this .

second-hand items, check here: unbind first, then reset

This is the main point I want to remind everyone of in this article—don't reverse the order.

Step one: delete your device in the Mi Home app. Open Mi Home, go to the router device page, tap the three dots in the top right corner, and select Delete. Note that only device owners can delete them; the account bound to your home must be the one who controls it. After deletion, Xiaomi Cloud will send a clear command to the device, and the router's binding to the cloud will be released.

the second step, perform the factory restore. the 5-second pin card set. Clear local WiFi passwords, device lists, and so on.

Why can't the order be reversed? It only resets without unbinding. Your Mi Home device list will always have an offline router lying there. You can delete it, but push notifications will occasionally send to your account; What's even more troublesome is that some buyers are prompted when binding with a device history binding history, leading to back-and-forth disputes. On the other hand, just unbinding without resetting is even worse, and your broadband account is still clearly stored on the machine.

finish both steps, the machine is spotless, send the package."

wrap things up last

compile the entire sequence into a table and execute it from top to bottom:

sum up in one sentence: the reset itself takes five seconds; the real trouble lies in the preparation and aftermath. Once you're ready, the whole process can be completed in half an hour; I didn't even prepare to do it, but I just got the whole family's disdain in one night.