I have previously written tutorials on unlocking SSH and installing ShellClash on several Xiaomi and Redmi Qualcomm Wi-Fi 6 routers, as their performance with Qualcomm chips is excellent. However, there has been no tutorial for the most expensive router in the Xiaomi family, the AX9000. This router features the IPQ8072A chip with a clock speed of up to 2.2Ghz, 4 cores, and a 14nm process, as well as a dual-core 1.7Ghz NPU and 1GB of RAM. It would be a waste not to use it for scientific internet access. Today's tutorial will teach you how to unlock SSH and install ShellClash on it.
Acknowledgements#
- Thanks to the author of ShellClash. If you wish, you can donate to the ShellClash project.
- Thanks to the official openwrt unlocking tutorial.
- Thanks to the unlock script by Tianling Github.
- Acwifi.net has a teardown review of this router, you can check it out here.
🔧 Preparation#
- A computer with an Ethernet connection (Windows requires installation of Putty and WinSCP, Mac can use the command line).
- Another router that is already running openwrt (with SSH enabled) to use as a server.
- Download the downgraded firmware and unlock script (link: https://pan.baidu.com/s/13IalDMY5qREidIClIO7CIA password: fl3r).
⬇️ Step 1 | Downgrade#
Extract the downloaded files, log in to the Xiaomi router's backend, choose to manually upgrade the downloaded 1.0.108.bin firmware, select start upgrade (downgrade), and wait for the router to restart and complete the downgrade.
💁♂️ Step 2 | Prepare openwrt service#
Here, I have prepared a k2p router with openwrt installed. Simply connect it to the power source and wait for the Wi-Fi signal, then connect it to the Xiaomi router using an Ethernet cable. The IP address of my openwrt router is 10.0.0.1, but yours may be different, so remember to modify it accordingly. Use scp to upload the wireless-ax9000.sh file to the openwrt router (drag the extracted folder into the command prompt and press Enter if you are in the folder directory; if you are using Windows and the command prompt does not have the scp function, you can download WinSCP separately).
scp wireless-ax9000.sh [email protected]:/root/wireless-ax9000.sh
Then, connect to the openwrt router via ssh.
Execute the script (executing this script will change your network and wireless settings, so be sure to back up your data before executing).
sh /root/wireless-ax9000.sh
Press Enter here to continue.
After the operation, this script will modify the Wi-Fi password settings of our openwrt router. Wait for a while, leave the openwrt router plugged in and placed nearby, and the Xiaomi AX9000 will connect to the openwrt Wi-Fi later.
😈 Step 3 | Crack SSH on Xiaomi AX9000#
Connect your computer to the Xiaomi AX9000 router using an Ethernet cable (as unlocking Wi-Fi on the Xiaomi AX9000 may cause disconnection).
After logging in to the Xiaomi router's backend, the content after stok= in the browser's address bar (selected portion) is the value we need (copy it for later use).
Browser request#
Open a browser and copy the following content to the address bar, replacing <STOK> with the value obtained above.
http://192.168.31.1/cgi-bin/luci/;stok=<STOK>/api/xqsystem/extendwifi_connect_inited_router?ssid=MEDIATEK-ARM-IS-GREAT&password=ARE-YOU-OK&admin_username=root&admin_password=admin&admin_nonce=xxx
- Replace <STOK> with the value obtained above.
After replacing it, copy the modified value to the browser request. If the following content is displayed, it means the request was successful (the request may take a while).
Open the router's backend again and check the Wi-Fi password for the 5G band. This Wi-Fi password is the default SSH password, so make sure to save it!!! (If you didn't save it, you can calculate it on this page using the SN code (located in the lower right corner of the router's backend)).
👅 Step 4 | Try SSH connection to the router#
Execute the following command to ssh into the router (enter yes, and the password is the one mentioned above; the password will not be displayed when entered, just press Enter after entering it).
🧰 Step 5 | Install and use ShellClash#
Once connected to the Xiaomi AX9000 via SSH, execute the following command to install (please do not use telnet to install ShellClash, as it may result in garbled characters).
sh -c "$(curl -kfsSl https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/juewuy/ShellClash@master/install.sh)" && source /etc/profile &> /dev/null
Enter 1 for the /etc directory and confirm the installation.
After the installation is complete, you can use the clash command to enter the configuration. Here, select 1 for various router devices (you can choose other options if you are familiar with them).
Select 1 to not proxy UDP traffic, 1 to install the Dashboard panel, and 2 for the yacd panel (you can choose other options if you are familiar with them).
Select 1 to import a configuration file. If you don't have a Clash configuration file but have subscription links for v2ray, ss, or trojan (provided by your service provider), you can choose 1 to generate a Clash configuration file online. If you already have a configuration file, choose 2 to import it directly.
Then, paste your subscription link (URL link) and select 1 to start generating the configuration file. After generating the configuration file, press 0 to return to the previous menu.
Once it is running, you can use http://192.168.31.1:9999/ui to switch nodes and select rules. You can also select 4 to enable auto-start.
At this point, you should be able to access the internet with scientific methods, and the speed should be good.
🪢 Performance Test | Summary#
vmess + ws+ tls test#
During peak hours, the speed is not as good, but this performance is more than enough for running a 1000M vmess ws+tls scientific internet connection.
By the way, I recommend that you disable automatic updates on the router's mobile app, otherwise, if it is updated, ShellClash may not work.
Summary#
The Xiaomi AX9000 is excellent, with truly powerful performance, and using ShellClash allows you to navigate the scientific ocean. However, I do not recommend buying it just for ShellClash, as the Redmi AX6 or AX3600 with ShellClash installed is more than enough for daily use. Additionally, the Xiaomi AX9000 is currently out of stock and requires pre-ordering. I was able to purchase it during the 618 event, and it sold out within a minute. I bought it solely to write this tutorial for everyone.