Misc My USB with Wii games on (Cruzer Blade 64GB SDCZ250) refuses to open on Windows 11

[godstopper]

It works when plugged into my Wii U but wont open on my laptop (see screenshots)

 

[The Real Jdbye]

It works when plugged into my Wii U but wont open on my laptop (see screenshots)

Are you using that in Wii U mode or vWii?
Wii U formatted drives are encrypted, only the Wii U can access them normally (there are special tools to read the files though)
WBFS formatted drives for Wii/vWii can be accessed (to add/remove games) using Wii Backup Manager. But WBFS format is not recommended these days, better to use FAT32.

 

[godstopper]

Are you saying if i were to unplug my USB while my Wii u was in the VWii i would have unencrypted files or am i misunderstanding this?

 

[Blythe93]

No? I'm not sure what you're even trying to say.

Anyway, if you used that USB flash drive for Wii U games, it was formatted to Wii U proprietary format prior to you installing games to it (either via WUP installer, NUSSpli or similar). If you were to connect it to your Windows PC, it would show up as incorrectly formatted and there would be a prompt to fix it. At that point, your games won't work anymore on your Wii U. You should never connect your Wii U formatted USB drive to the Windows PC in particular as that would corrupt the whole partition. Not sure about correct technical reasons why it happens, but as far as I know the Windows tries to fix the "broken" drive and messes up the partition, corrupting the files on it in the process.

You'll probably need to reinstall your games for it to work and never connect it to your Windows PC anymore.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

Are you saying if i were to unplug my USB while my Wii u was in the VWii i would have unencrypted files or am i misunderstanding this?

No, WBFS and Wii U format are 2 different things.
Also, you didn't answer my question.

 

[godstopper]

No, WBFS and Wii U format are 2 different things.
Also, you didn't answer my question.

sorry, idk how to check

 

[The Real Jdbye]

sorry, idk how to check

What do you mean? It's a simple question, are you using the drive to play Wii U games from the Wii U menu, or Wii games using an USB loader? There's nothing to check.

There are a few routes you can take:

If you want to play Wii U games off the drive then there is no way to simply access the contents from a PC (and why do you want to?), since the Wii U format is encrypted and proprietary. Dumping tools exist that can dump files from a Wii U formatted drive, but they're of limited usefulness, mainly useful if you need to get save data or whatever off the drive and can't do it on the Wii U for whatever reason. You can get files on and off the drive more easily on the Wii U itself, but there should rarely be a need since games are installed using WUP Installer or NUSspli, and can be deleted from the Wii U settings.

However, you can play Wii U and Wii games off the same drive using Wii VC injects, it's just a little bit more of a pain to add games to it since they have to be installed with WUP Installer or NUSspli on the Wii U, instead of using Wii Backup Manager to quickly copy the files. This is generally the best route to take, since it's the only way you can run Wii U and Wii games from the same drive.

The last route, if you are just trying to play Wii and/or GameCube games would be to format your drive as FAT32. Alternatively, this tool can convert a WBFS formatted drive to FAT32 keeping the games that are on it: https://gbatemp.net/threads/wbfs2fat-py.291320/ (assuming your drive is already WBFS, which is why I'm asking the question)
For this use case, the use of uStealth is recommended or the Wii U will nag you to format the drive constantly. Accidentally allowing the Wii U to format the drive will wipe it and change it to the Wii U format.
https://gbatemp.net/threads/ustealth-wii-u-format-disk-nag-workaround.352786/
Must hide the drive using the tool before plugging it into the Wii U and when you want to access it from the PC to add/delete games you must unhide it again.

For the record, Wii Backup Manager can access a WBFS formatted drive and add and delete games from it. You just won't be able to access the drive from other apps and you won't be able to put anything but Wii games on it. So it's not really recommended when FAT32 is an option.

The part about converting a WBFS drive to FAT32 applies if you've been using this drive to play Wii games from a USB loader, and you want to keep the games on it. Otherwise you can ignore that part.

If you're trying to use the drive for something else, like put ROMs on it to load in emulators, or put homebrew on it, the drive must also be formatted to FAT32, which means Wii U games can't be played off it. ROMs, homebrew, etc. can be put on a SD card instead since they aren't that big.

I hope I explained everything well enough so you understand how things work.

 

[Ettino]

Look OP. Basically, you can't use the,....is that a usb stick? Well, good luck to you. Anyway no, you can't use that stick with PC/Mac anymore. It formatted for Wii U only now. Just buy another stick or whatever.

 

[Hayato213]

It is probably under wii u format, you can't see the file on a computer.

 

[TheStonedModder]

Look OP. Basically, you can't use the,....is that a usb stick? Well, good luck to you. Anyway no, you can't use that stick with PC/Mac anymore. It formatted for Wii U only now. Just buy another stick or whatever.

He can just reformat the flash drive. If you’re buying new drives everytime a console formats them thinking they are dead/locked you’re wasting a lot of money

 

[Dust2dust]

He can just reformat the flash drive. If you’re buying new drives everytime a console formats them thinking they are dead/locked you’re wasting a lot of money

That's assuming he doesn't want to use the USB flash drive anymore on the console. If he just wants to re-purpose it to use in something else, then you're absolutely right.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

That's assuming he doesn't want to use the USB flash drive anymore on the console. If he just wants to re-purpose it to use in something else, then you're absolutely right.

True. I guess I should've asked first what exactly he was trying to do by connecting it to a PC.