Tutorial  Updated

MailWriter | Swap and use multiple Vita accounts at the same time & their respective games

This is obsolete, use https://gbatemp.net/threads/henkaku-use-multiple-accounts-on-a-single-memory-card-and-swap-without-format.436580/

Hello,

This tutorial will allow you to swap and use multiple Vita accounts at the same time & their respective games. This is most notably useful for quickly swapping accounts if you have games from two differents accounts on a single Vita. The advantage of this method compared to the coldswap method is that it does not require a PS3 and takes less time to do. Essentially, like the coldswap method, you can have as much 'accounts' as you want with games this way with some clever backup hacking.

This can also allow to play games even if the target account is banned. Note that you do not actually need to own the respective accounts if you hack the backups.

Thanks to forstvi3n for the original method.

For this tutorial, I will assume you are retrieving files from an original target system backup, then restoring to the final system backup. You can also do this with simply retriveing an original account from, for example, an hacked Vita.

Here is what you require:
First we will need to dump some files. On the target backup/system, dump these files (send yourself these strings as links):

Code:
email:send?attach=vd0:registry/system.dreg.
email:send?attach=vd0:registry/system.ireg.
email:send?attach=ux0:id.dat.
email:send?attach=tm0:npdrm/act.dat.

Make a backup of the target system (if you haven't gotten one already).

From there, you have two options:
  • If you are planning to simply use two accounts on the same system, first unslave the memory card then pull it out, format the vita, and put it back in once initial setup is done. This will allow you to keep all content on the card, but you will have to set up your original content.
  • If you are planning to use multiple accounts, first make a backup of all content you care about on your PC via QCMA. Then format your vita, go through initial setup with your original account, restore the backup with multiple 'accounts', backup the four above files, then restore the target system's four files (system registry, id.dat and act.dat.) From there, transfer content from the target account that you backed up back on the PC.

After that, simply dump the act.dat of the new system, and you are done. The other backed up files are for safety if you know what to do with them.

One very important thing to note is that the act.dat HAS to be from your Vita, act.dat's are limited to a single system. I'm currently working on a workaround for this, but right now the workaround is to dump the act.dat you don't have by simply borrowing your friend's memcard (by unslaving his memcard first).

To use each of your separate accounts and the respective games, you will have to send yourself the act.dat of that system+games as an email (rename the file to #0, attach it to an email using Thunderbird with subject "email:send?attach=tm0:npdrm/act.dat." without quotes, then send it to your Vita; click on the picture back on the email app, get an error, then press PS and close the app completely). Once done, restart the Vita. You only have to send the email once, so get a respective act.dat and system.dreg+ireg email for each 'account' on your system, also allowing offline use.
 
Last edited by xy2_,

xy2_

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'A guy who does this in your area?' As in, he follows this method?

If he can put his backup on your Vita without using your Vita in itself I would be interested to know how he does it, pm me for that; I'm currently writing a big guide on Vita hacking and would like this info.

Otherwhise, if he uses the registry hacking method to transfer his baackup to your account from your vita, act.dat will get deleted. If he does it via some black magic that allows him to make his backup transferable on his vita without hacking his registry, there's a chance act.dat won't get deleted.

For the files, act.dat is really the only important file. The other files are backups in case you mess up horribly badly (it's always possible to go back to the original account this way.)
 

Nirmonculus

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'A guy who does this in your area?' As in, he follows this method?

If he can put his backup on your Vita without using your Vita in itself I would be interested to know how he does it, pm me for that; I'm currently writing a big guide on Vita hacking and would like this info.

Otherwhise, if he uses the registry hacking method to transfer his baackup to your account from your vita, act.dat will get deleted. If he does it via some black magic that allows him to make his backup transferable on his vita without hacking his registry, there's a chance act.dat won't get deleted.

For the files, act.dat is really the only important file. The other files are backups in case you mess up horribly badly (it's always possible to go back to the original account this way.)

I have to leave my Vita with him so I don't think it is any new innovation with registry hacks. He doesn't want to give his back up so when I asked he said if I wanted it he'll do it himself if I'm just after the hack. Hehe, I guess I can't get his files then for sharing purposes XD
 
D

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can you make a video tutorial on how to do this? Thank you
^ I second this! I would love-love-LOVE to see a video tutorial, as this tutorial links back to many other tutorials that make it kind of hard to follow at times. xD
 

xy2_

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No. Please leave me alone with video tutorials; they only needlessly dumb down tutorials and require hours of effort on my part that I'm currently investing somewhere more useful (writing the Vita Handbook atm, a big guide regrouping most Vita tricks.)
 

phant0mg33k

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Hello,

This tutorial will allow you to swap and use multiple Vita accounts at the same time & their respective games. This is most notably useful for quickly swapping accounts if you have games from two differents accounts on a single Vita. The advantage of this method compared to the coldswap method is that it does not require a PS3 and takes less time to do. Essentially, like the coldswap method, you can have as much 'accounts' as you want with games this way with some clever backup hacking.

This can also allow to play games even if the target account is banned. Note that you do not actually need to own the respective accounts if you hack the backups.

Thanks to forstvi3n for the original method.

For this tutorial, I will assume you are retrieving files from an original target system backup, then restoring to the final system backup. You can also do this with simply retriveing an original account from, for example, an hacked Vita.

Here is what you require:
First we will need to dump some files. On the target backup/system, dump these files (send yourself these strings as links):

Code:
email:send?attach=vd0:registry/system.dreg.
email:send?attach=vd0:registry/system.ireg.
email:send?attach=ux0:id.dat.
email:send?attach=tm0:npdrm/act.dat.

Make a backup of the target system (if you haven't gotten one already).

From there, you have two options:
  • If you are planning to simply use two accounts on the same system, first unslave the memory card then pull it out, format the vita, and put it back in once initial setup is done. This will allow you to keep all content on the card, but you will have to set up your original content.
  • If you are planning to use multiple accounts, first make a backup of all content you care about on your PC via QCMA. Then format your vita, go through initial setup with your original account, restore the backup with multiple 'accounts', backup the four above files, then restore the target system's four files (system registry, id.dat and act.dat.) From there, transfer content from the target account that you backed up back on the PC.

After that, simply dump the act.dat of the new system, and you are done. The other backed up files are for safety if you know what to do with them.

To use each of your separate accounts and the respective games, you will have to send yourself the act.dat of that system+games as an email (rename the file to #0, attach it to an email using Thunderbird with subject "email:send?attach=tm0:npdrm/act.dat." without quotes, then send it to your Vita; click on the picture back on the email app, get an error, then press PS and close the app completely). Once done, restart the Vita. You only have to send the email once, so get a respective act.dat and system.dreg+ireg email for each 'account' on your system, also allowing offline use.


IDK if I did something wrong or not but, I backed up my files, unslaved my memory card, only had the one buddie I could dump activation from so I popped out the mem stick and did a system restore. After it was done and set up popped the stick back in, and it asked about my old account being on the stick, so using my ps3 I activated my vita, so i could use the mem stick again. Using the Email trick i set the "Friends" Act, dreg, ireg, after backing up my new act and ID. The swap took but locked me out until I formatted my old account off the memstick. Wiped out memstick but success, I'm transferring some of the buddies content right now. My question is was I supposed to be able to keep my stick? If so did my ID.DAT not being wiped out somehow, or restoral of act.dat from my ps3 cause the vita to complain about the account? leading to that format, or is that I did not restore my ID.dat from the friend when I switched? just kinda lost, thanks you this trick is what I have been waiting for.
 

xy2_

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Hmm.. no idea on this one. If I had to say, it would be probably that you activated using your ps3 instead of restoring your old act.dat if I followed correctly. Can you still swap accounts by writing your old act.dat? In that case, you're still fine. If not, you did an account share instead: this works too, but is limited in scale in that you can't play both online and you can not share with multiple 'accounts' at a time.
 

phant0mg33k

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Hmm.. no idea on this one. If I had to say, it would be probably that you activated using your ps3 instead of restoring your old act.dat if I followed correctly. Can you still swap accounts by writing your old act.dat? In that case, you're still fine. If not, you did an account share instead: this works too, but is limited in scale in that you can't play both online and you can not share with multiple 'accounts' at a time.

I did not read that it was from entire system back ups, and up until current did not have one. I was able to the registry swap but for some reason restore was not an option, from the buddies system. So yeah i kinda turned into account sharing so I could make my own back up of the content make a system back up. If I'm not mistaken I can now back the system activation, then begin to use this guide. It also appeared I had a bad act.dat from the mem stick, that was not allowing for the content to be used. So using my original act back to the stick after UN-slaving i can transfer some content back with no issue and be able to use both accounts upon restoring the other activation?
 

xy2_

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By 'restore was not an option', do you mean you straight up couldn't select restore in Content Manager or no backups had shown up? If the former, I would like a picture of this, as this is behavior I would have never seen. If the latter, to 'refresh' the backup list, you have to make a system backup first (you don't have to make a full backup, just cancel as soon as you can) and the list of backups will be refreshed. If they still don't appear, unslave the memcard and reboot the Vita.

And yes, from this you can back the system activation and redo this guide. One very important thing to note is that the act.dat HAS to be from your Vita, act.dat's are limited to a single system. I'm currently working on a workaround for this, but right now the workaround is to dump the act.dat you don't have by simply borrowing your friend's memcard (by unslaving his memcard first). This is a nasty thing that I discovered just a few days ago.. I'll add it to the guide, sorry for the hassle.

Once you get two activations from your vita, you will be able to swap between accounts by simply changing the act.dat.
 

jimmyleen

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Now that we have Henkaku we can just throw the email exploit in the trash. If you want to do this on 3.60 all you have to do is replace the email exploit with filezilla and henkaku.
 
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