[Deviyl]

Up to date as of October 1st, 2009.

*** PLEASE STOP ASKING IF THIS GUIDE WILL WORK ON XZY WII. YES IT WILL! IT WILL WORK ON ANY WII YOU HAVE. EVERY POST I'VE ANSWERED LATELY IS THE SAME QUESTION. PLEASE LEAVE ROOM FOR N00BS THAT ACTUALLY NEED HELP WITH LEGIT THINGS. ***

This has been tested and works on all* Wiis that have been released to date-- even the LU64+ models and v4.1 (4.2 will follow shortly as soon as BannerBomb is updated). So just follow the guide and ask if you have any questions. =) The process is fairly simple and there is almost no risk at all to brick your Wii. Also, I'm not going to post a pack here because some of the files aren't allowed on certain sites. I'll tell you how you can acquire/create them on your own if your Wii does not have an internet connection.

It has also been recommended that you follow This Guide to upgrade your Wii system menu to either version 4.0 or 4.1 once you get HBC and BootMii installed. Thanks for the nice guide. =D

Note: If you'd like to fully hack your Wii, complete with HBC, BootMii, PreLoader, newer cIOS, and backup launcher channels-- feel free to go through the guide first and grab all of the files from the Things you'll need sections. This will save you some time so you don't have to keep moving SD card from Wii to computer to get files for the next step.

*all(a): quantifier; used with either mass or count nouns to indicate the whole number or amount of or every one of a class
So stop asking if this guide will work on xXx model Wii. =) All means all.

4.2

This method is for upgrading from a previously hacked Wii to 4.2 using Waninkoko's updater. Virgin 4.2 steps will eventually follow.

I'm not going to go into how to update, nor am I going to put much into this section. If you already have your Wii hacked, hold tight with whatever version you're on now. If you already have 4.2 with no hacks, hold tight for a few days. The folks with BannerBomb are working hard to get a version that works with 4.2 and when they do, this section will get deleted anyway. But if you absolutely must upgrade, go right ahead-- and this is how to get things back up and running.

4.2 should not be downloaded or used. The only benefit it has is that you get to see a 4.2 in your Wii info instead of 4.1. It's sole purpose is to stop HomeBrew. It failed, of course, but it's an unecessary headache nonetheless. If you absolutely must upgrade to 4.2, you can make your life a whole lot easier by making sure you have upgraded to the latest HBC, DVDX, BootMii boot2 (if possible) and BootMii IOS (if not).
Note: If you do not have boot2, there is absolutely no brick protection available for 4.2. PreLoader is not yet supported, and BootMii as IOS is useless unless you can get to it from PreLoader. Hopefully this will change in the near future, but not yet.

Anyway..

Things you'll need:
1) SD card with a folder called wad.
2) IOS249.wad created from NUSD. (Use NUSD 1.2 and click TMD, IOS, IOS249).
3) cBoot2 (send a message to cboot2getithere@gmail.com for this)

Steps:

• Extract cBoot2.rar
• Extract try this 1st.rar
• Copy the files extracted (bootmii, boot.dol, and startup.elf onto the root of your SD card. (Make sure you backup your old BootMii folder and files before doing this as it will copy over them.
• Copy the IOS249.wad file you created with NUSD inside of the wad folder on your SD card.
• Put SD card into Wii.
• Launch HBC, press Home, Load BootMii.
• cBoot2 will automatically launch and you will see Wad Manager 1.4
• Press A
• Choose Wii SD
• Select IOS249.wad
• Press A
• Left arrow
• Select uninstall WAD
• Press A to complete the uninstall.
• Press Home to return to system menu.
• Carry on with the guide (You can skip the first steps about getting HomeBrew/BootMii)

Note: 4.2 installed a stubbed IOS249, which has absolutely no purpose except to stop cIOS38rev14 from writing to that location. Removing it fixes the issue.

Getting HomeBrew and BootMii

The HomeBrew Channel (commonly referred to as HBC) is what you will use to run all of your hacks. It is the base of hacking your Wii. BootMii is a system menu apart from the Wii menu. You can load to this in the event of a brick and recover from any damage.

Things you'll need:
1) SD card (formatted as FAT or FAT32).
2) Computer with internet (yay you have this one if you're reading this).
3) A Wii with internet is a plus, but not required.
4) BannerBomb hack. There are steps on the site, but I'll put a brief description in steps to follow.
5) HackMii installer (link is on the previous site as well).

Steps:

• Extract both of the folders you just downloaded.
• Inside of the HackMii folder you just extracted, there will be a file called installer.elf. Rename this file to boot.elf.
• Put your SD card into your computer (backup any files you have on it if not blank and format it to FAT if necessary) and copy both the private folder from BannerBomb and the boot.elf file onto the root of your card.
• Insert the SD card into your Wii and power it on if not already.
• Click on the Wii icon, then to Data Management, then Channels, and SD at the top. You should get a pop up message asking if you wish to install the boot.elf.
• Let this load and Press 1 when prompted.
• If you have a newer Wii, you will only be allowed to install BootMii as an IOS (this is ok).
• Click continue.
• If you are able to install BootMii as boot2, do so. If not, just install it as an IOS.
• Next get back to where you just were and install the HomeBrew Channel (this is included in the BootMii hack).
• You can install DVDx if you like-- it won't hurt anything, but I won't get into that here.

Now that you have the HomeBrew Channel, you can run a backup launcher and play burned games. If that's all you want to do, skip down to the cIOS and Backup Launcher section. If you'd like to hack your Wii a little further, I'd recommend you get a NAND backup and install PreLoader. Along with some other cool tricks along the way. The following steps will also solve some loading issues that newer games will have without a newer cIOS.
Note: If you installed BootMii as boot2, your Wii will always boot to the BootMii menu as long as you have the SD card in the slot with the BootMii folder. If you don't want this to happen, either remove the BootMii folder from your SD (save it somewhere else), or you can rename it to something else and leave it on the card. You will need this folder to get to the BootMii menu, so do not lose this folder.

Backing up your NAND

This step is not mandantory, but will allow you to restore your Wii in case of a brick with future softmodding. It is highly recommended.

Things you'll need:
1) SD card from the previous step when you installed BootMii (will also need at least 528MB of free space on the card)
If you put the SD card back into your computer, there should now be a BootMii folder present on the root. This is the only folder you need to keep there at the moment if you're OCD.
2) A GameCube controller if you had to install BootMii as IOS (no longer required for BootMiiv3, but for anyone using v2 I'll leave this here)

Steps:

• Put the SD card in your Wii. For folks that installed as boot2, just make sure the BootMii folder is on the root of your SD card and restart your Wii. Continue 4 steps down.
• A HomeBrew channel should have appeared on the first page of your Wii channels. Start this channel.
• Press the Home button on your Wii remote.
• Press Launch BootMii.
• Your Wii will restart to a new menu. This is BootMii.
  You will need a GameCube controller to use this screen if you installed as IOS (BootMii v2 or lower). If you installed as boot2 or BootMii v3 or greater, you can use the buttons on your Wii (power = move, reset = select, and eject = eject) to navigate.
• Go over to the little gears and press A.
• Click on the icon with the arrow pointing from the chip to the SD card.
• Follow the steps on the screen-- press start, then A to begin the dump.
• This will take about 7-10 minutes depending on the speed of your SD card.

You now have a NAND backup of your Wii in case anything awful happens and you get a bricked Wii. Make a copy of this nand.bin and save it somewhere safe. You can remove it from your SD card as well, as you probably won't use it very often.
Note: If you need to restore your NAND, do the same thing to get to BootMii and options, but instead of clicking the icon with the picture of the chip to the SD card-- click the one with SD card to chip. Follow the instructions from there.

Patching IOS36

IOS36 will need to be pacthed on newer Wiis, but it won't hurt to do it on all Wiis, so I'll just put the steps here anyway. If you think you don't need it, you can skip this-- but if the next steps don't work, come back here. =)

Things you'll need:
1) SD card with a folder called apps on its root.
2) Trucha Bug Restorer.
3) If your Wii does not have internet, you will need to create the necessary wad files on the root of your SD (these are merely the files your Wii would normally download if it has an internet connection. Create them here!

Steps:

• Extract the files from the downloaded Trucha Bug Restorer zip.
• Copy the TBR folder to the apps folder on your SD card.
• Start HBC
• Load TBR
• Use IOS 36 to downgrade 15. << Watch Video. See note if you don't have a network connection!
• Use 15 to patch 36. << Watch video. See note if you don't have a network connection!
• And use 36 to restore 15. << Watch video. See note if you don't have a network connection!

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltrd3oq8hPc

Now that you have patched IOS 36, you can install newer cIOS and PreLoader.
Note: If you do not have a network connection, select wad installation where the video says network install. The files you created earlier will need to be on the root of your SD card.

Installing PreLoader and new cIOS

For those of you that could not install BootMii as boot2, you will need a way to launch HBC if your Wii menu is bricked-- so PreLoader is a must. For those of you that were able to install BootMii as boot2, PreLoader is only needed if you wish to gain some added hacks (like skip "Press A" screen, and disable update checks, etc).

Things you'll need:
1) SD card with a folder called apps on its root.
2) PreLoader.
3) cIOS38 rev14. This is the newest version at the month/year above.

Optional: PreLoader v.30 For those with the new HBC. Basically the same steps to follow.

Steps:

• Extract both of the downloaded files.
• Open the extracted cIOS38r14-Installer folder and rename the cIOS38r14-Installer.dol to boot.dol
• Copy the extracted cIOS38r14-Installer folder into the apps folder on your SD card.
• The PreLoader rar will extract a file called preloaderv0.29-cred.dol, rename it to boot.dol.
• Inside of the apps folder on your SD card, create a folder called PreLoader.
• Put the boot.dol file inside of the Sd:/apps/PreLoader folder.
• The PreLoader rar should also have spit out a file called hacks.ini. Put this on the root of your SD card. See note for more hacks.
• Put the SD card into the Wii and power on the Wii.
• Launch HBC.
• Load PreLoader and press 1 when instructed and PreLoader will install.
• Back in HBC, load cIOS38 rev14.
• Change whatever the default option you see to use IOS36 (since we just patched it) and press A.
• It will ask if you're sure and tell you that your Wii could brick, but it doesn't matter since you have the NAND backup, right?
• You will need a network connection for this-- if not you'll have to find the wad file and put it on the root of your SD before the install.

Now you have PreLoader installed and a newer cIOS. To launch PreLoader, turn your Wii on while holding the reset button. The options here are fairly self-explanatory, and all user-preference-- so just click around and set things up how you want.
Note: You can find more hacks for your hacks.ini file here. Be sure to get the one for your region. Just copy over the hacks.ini file with the text on the site.

Backup Launcher

What's the fun in hacking your Wii if you can't play backed up games? NeoGamma will load from both USB and disk, but if you want a different loader, feel free to search for one you like. Also, I won't go into USB drives here, but if you've got some .isos (from games you already own, of course =P) just get 'em on a disk and run them with this loader.

Things you'll need:
1) SD card with a folder called apps on its root and an optional folder called wad (this is for channel installation).
2a) NeoGamma R7 for HBC launch. You must launch HBC to run the backup loader and the SD card must be present in the Wii.
2b) NeoGamma R7 for channel installation. Will also need WAD Manager 1.5.

Steps if you chose 2a:

• Exract the zip.
• Put the folder NeoGamma onto the apps folder on your SD card.
• Put the SD card into the Wii and power it on.
• Run HBC and load NeoGamma.

Steps if you chose 2b:

• Extract both downloaded files.
• Copy the file Neo_gamma_R7.wad into the wad folder on your SD card.
• Rename the file WAD-Manager_v1.5.dol to boot.dol
• Inside of the apps folder on your SD card, create a folder called WAD Manager.
• Copy the file boot.dol inside of SD:/apps/WAD Manager.
• Put the SD card into the Wii and power it on.
• Start HBC.
• Load WAD Manager.
• Select load from SD card. (Leave everything set to it's default-- disable nand emu, ios 249, sd card load, etc, etc.)
• Use up and down arrows to select Neo_gamma_R7.wad (this should be the only one there if you're following the guide)
• Select the wad with A and follow the instructions to install the wad.
• Press the home button on your Wii remote when it is finished to restart your Wii. A new channel should be there. =)
• Launch the channel with your backup disk in the Wii and enjoy.

That should just about do it. I've read over this countless times and followed step by step on my Wii, but I could have quite possibly missed something.

If you're following the guide and find a step that doesn't make sense, please post or PM me and I will try to clear it up ASAP.

Thanks for reading! If there's anything you'd like to see added to or modified in this guide, don't hesitate to let me know.

Disclaimer: It's not my fault if you do something wrong and brick your Wii. Countless people have successfully used the guide to hack their Wii-- so I know it works. Any and all bricks resulting are user error. =)

Guide is in the process of being completely revamped. It will work perfectly well in it's current condition, but I will be upgrading it to act more like it was originally intended. The files and steps listed will be one complete list that will work on any Wii, regardless of anything. At the moment it is separated into two parts: 3.x-4.1 and 4.2, but it will eventually have a single process that will work on all Wiis. Thank you all for using this guide.

This post has been edited by Deviyl: Oct 20 2009, 05:08 AM

[WiiPower]

Preloader is not a must.

[WalkerOfTheDay]

Preloader is not a must.

No it's not, but I think it's the next best thing after BootMii. (Well the real best thing is common sense of course )

[Deviyl]

Preloader is not a must.

I know. =P I even stated that in the guide. But for people that have to install BootMii as boot2-- if they brick their Wii, there isn't another way to get to HBC without PreLoader, so they'd need it. But other than that, I pointed out that it's not necessary. But then.. if you're really feelin' lucky, you really don't need BootMii or a NAND backup either.

[Unfortune]

Don't you need to install a cIOS (249) before using Backup Launchers? You said

Now that you have the HomeBrew Channel, you can run a backup launcher and play burned games. If that's all you want to do, skip down to the Backup Launcher section.

In the Backup Launcher section, you don't say anything about install a cIOS.

[WalkerOfTheDay]

Isn't it so that if you try to install preloader 0.29 to system menu 3.2 you'll end up bricking it ??
Not sure, but if so please warn people about this, or let them upgrade to 4.0 / 4.1 first.

Maybe it's better to include upgrading altogether. What if people are on say 2.1 (if it exists LOL!)
Wouldn't they run into trouble ?

Edit

Just checked the preloader sticky, and it will not brick you !

This post has been edited by WalkerOfTheDay: Jul 20 2009, 06:54 PM

[Unfortune]

Isn't it so that if you try to install preloader 0.29 to system menu 3.2 you'll end up bricking it ??
Not sure, but if so please warn people about this, or let them upgrade to 4.0 / 4.1 first.

Maybe it's better to include upgrading all to getter. What if people are on say 2.1 (if it exists LOL!)
Wouldn't they run into trouble ?

No, you won't brick it if you install on 3.2.

[Deviyl]

Don't you need to install a cIOS (249) before using Backup Launchers? You said

Now that you have the HomeBrew Channel, you can run a backup launcher and play burned games. If that's all you want to do, skip down to the Backup Launcher section.

In the Backup Launcher section, you don't say anything about install a cIOS.

I'm fairly certain that the HackMii installer from the first steps automatically get you cIOS rev11. Don't quote me on that though. =)

And including upgrading would be a bad idea for anyone reading this in the future. As it is now, the guide will work on any Wii that is out at the moment. If Nintendo decides to release a new update tomorrow that disables all of this.. wouldn't want people updating. Updating is a personal choice and can be left to the modder to decide.

[fogbank]

I'm fairly certain that the HackMii installer from the first steps automatically get you cIOS rev11. Don't quote me on that though. =)

Not a chance.

[WiiPower]

I'm fairly certain that the HackMii installer from the first steps automatically get you cIOS rev11. Don't quote me on that though. =)

You have to be quoted on that one.

[HiBit]

Don't quote me on that though. =)

What? ;D

[Deviyl]

I'm fairly certain that the HackMii installer from the first steps automatically get you cIOS rev11. Don't quote me on that though. =)

Not a chance.

My mistake. =)
Added remark to get cIOS with backup launcher to reflect this.

[WalkerOfTheDay]

I'm fairly certain that the HackMii installer from the first steps automatically get you cIOS rev11. Don't quote me on that though. =)

It doesn't. I'm pretty sure on this one. I don't think Team Twiizers wants to have anything to do with something that enables piracy.

And including upgrading would be a bad idea for anyone reading this in the future. As it is now, the guide will work on any Wii that is out at the moment. If Nintendo decides to release a new update tomorrow that disables all of this.. wouldn't want people updating. Updating is a personal choice and can be left to the modder to decide.

I can't agree with you on this one. What if someone has a system menu prior to 3.2 ??
They would be missing a lot of IOS's for some games to run properly.

And what happens if you install Preloader on a System Menu prior to 3.2 ? Could be dangerous IMHO.
And do you have a HACKS.INI that works on 3.1 / 3.3 / 3.4 ??

You could include Wanin's 4.0 / 4.1 updater, so nothing will get disabled. And if a new System Menu comes out
Wani will probably create a new updater and you could edit your guide.


I do think this guide is heading in the right direction though. You have a clear way of explaining things.

[hdhacker]

There's probably a very obvious answer why I'm wrong, but here goes:

Before you patch IOS 36, why couldn't you install CIOS first, then use CIOS 249 to downgrade IOS 36 in one step instead of mucking around with IOS 15? I just upgraded to 4.1 and had to repatch IOS 36. I used CIOS 249 and it worked fine.

Maybe it's a "chicken and the egg" thing where you can't install CIOS 249 until you downgrade IOS 36 on a virgin Wii?

[Deviyl]

You can skip the entire 36 downgrade on older Wiis, but on newer models, if you don't patch 36.. you'll brick your Wii with a cIOS. And preloader won't work either.

By the way-- walkeroftheday.. I'm working on adding some steps to upgrade safely to v4.0. Thanks for the advice on making it better.

This post has been edited by Deviyl: Jul 21 2009, 02:43 AM