Unable to connect to ADB to remove bloatware


tamask01

Members
31 May 2025
3
3
Hello,

I bought a Xiaomi 15 Ultra, and as usual with latest Android devices, it comes with bloatware.

I read up on how to get rid of it, and as expected I should connect the android debug bridge that can be used to remove or disable apps.

I face two problems with this -
One is that with debugging enabled and file transfer on, my PC still doesn't recognize the device for file transfer.
Two is that ADB doesn't recognize the phone most of the time, and when it does, it says "device is offline". What makes it worse is that I tried to download Xiaomi USB drivers for Windows but I do not see the 15 Ultra listed, only the Pro and the standard version.

If someone managed to debloat a Xiaomi 15 Ultra, can you please lend me a hand?
 
Update - I went back to the store where I bought the device and it they could somehow just plugin the phone in to two separate windows machines and those two just saw the files as intended, so I assume the phone works fine, and the problem is with my PC's USB drivers. If anyone here tried USB connection of the device, how did you make it work on windows 11?
 
Should work out of the box, no drivers or additional setup is required on Windows 11

Also, you're not going to believe this, but this is not an official Xiaomi support forum.
 
It is explicitly stated this is a community forum. Why would I believe this is an official support page? Like duh?

Anyone else having the same problem, try the following:
- Try connecting to a CPU-direct USB slot, instead of a chipset
- Use your motherboard's manufacturer utility to update its firmware, in my case it was Asus Armoury Crate
- Disable Hypervisor if you used it for virtualization (WSL2 apparent doesn't require this anyway for Docker anymore)

I did these and after a restart, the phone was recognized by Windows as expected. After that, I used Xiaomi ADB fast boot tools to pick a few bloatware to get rid of.