(iQue cover photo since DS iQue firmwares are kinda my "thing" now lol)

This guide will walk you through region changing your DSi. You're essentially "cloning" the firmware and all files from another NAND. This is a very dangerous operation and I do not recommend for most people to try it. If you do not have a way to recover from a brick (eg. ntrboot), DO NOT FOLLOW THIS GUIDE

Note - you will not be able to remove unlaunch while having the region change

Prerequisites:

- SafeNANDManager to dump your NAND​

- ninfs to read NANDs​

- OSFMount to edit NANDs​

- ntrboot compatible flashcart in case you brick​

- A donor NAND backup for the region you want to install (archive.org is your friend)​

- Be an adrenaline junkie (idiot) with no concern for your DSi or the consequences of editing NAND​

Dumping your NAND:

- You will need a hacked DSi. If your DSi isn't hacked already, follow this guide.​

- Run SafeNANDManager and back up your NAND​

- Save your NAND on your computer, cloud storage, and some thumb drives. You will regret not having backups​

Editing your NAND:

- Open the target DSi's NAND and delete every folder​

To open your NAND: mount your nand.bin in ninfs, then open the resulting twl_main.img with OSFMount. Make sure you enable write access for both tools.

- Open the donor NAND and copy everything to the target NAND. **You will no longer need the donor NAND**​

- Locate your launcher (somewhere in the NAND:/title/00030017/ folder)​

- Mark the launcher app as read only​

- Copy the attached unlaunch TMD to NAND:/title/00030017/484e4141/content/title.tmd​

- Mark the unlaunch TMD as read only​

- Delete NAND:/Shared1/TWLCFG0.dat and TWLCFG1.dat​

- Unmount twl_main.img from OSFMount, then nand.bin from ninfs​

Flashing the NAND:

- Copy your edited nand.bin to your SD card and overwrite your first backup​

- Calculate the SHA1 hash of your nand.bin​

- Open nand.bin.sha1 in a hex editor.​

- Replace the contents of nand.bin.sha1 with the SHA1 hash you just calculated​

- Save your edited nand.bin.sha1 and copy it back to the SD​

- Run SafeNANDManager again, but this time please select "NAND restore"​

- When complete, reboot and you're done!​

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Common issues:

- My DSi worked the first time, but now I get a black screen!​

You did not set the unlaunch TMD as read only. You will need to fix that or flash your original NAND backup with ntrboot​

- I can't find the home menu!​

You did not set the launcher as read only. You'll need to install a new copy with NTM​

- I can't do updates or connect to the DSi Shop!​

This is normal. You will have to restore your original NAND backup to use those again.​

- Unlaunch gives me the following error: Cannot load WiFi Firmware​

Your WiFi board is not compatible with the installed WiFi firmware. You'll need to update your WiFi firmware (located at NAND:/title/0003000f/484e4341/) with a version from a newer NAND.​

How it works:

Spoiler

The console region is defined in a file called HWINFO_S.dat. This file is console specific (contains the serial) and is signed with an unleaked key. Changing any contents will break the signature and stop your console from working.

Normally when you turn on your DSi the stage2 bootloader will check HWInfo for the Title ID of the launcher. Stage2 has trouble reading modified or different HWInfos and will fail to get the launcher TID. Thankfully stage2 was programmed to load a "backup" launcher (HNAA/484e4141) if the first one fails. This is a leftover feature from factory/prototype firmware.

Placing an unlaunch TMD in the location of the backup launcher means that stage2 will always be able to boot unlaunch, even if HWInfo is completely broken. From there unlaunch will patch the launcher to fix any HWInfo checks and allow booting another DSi's HWInfo.

It's pretty simple!

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You can actually "clone" a DSi with this guide. I've cloned my dev DSi NAND to a couple other DSis. It works pretty well! (obviously no real dev support, but nice to see all the apps not getting deleted on boot like is normal for retail)

Also kinda weird having 3 consoles with the exact same serial...

Thank you for testing!
- @Dionicio3
- ArcheyChen
- stl25

 

[FR0ZN]

Thank you for your guide.
I ordered a few japanese DSi XL that I want to convert to another region.
One thing I wonder however is ntrboot - I didn't know it exist for DSi

 

[rvtr]

One thing I wonder however is ntrboot - I didn't know it exist for DSi

Yep, it exists! I'm not sure if there are any threads on gbatemp, but there's plenty of information and a guide pinned in the DSi Mode Hacking discord server. A lot of testing went down there so I'd say that's the best place to get ntrboot.

You said you're buying a few DSis. If you have the intention to sell and change them, DON'T SELL THEM. You're overwriting the hardware specific files required to run your DSi without modding it. Uninstalling unlaunch will brick you. (or in this case idiot buyers)

 

[FR0ZN]

Yep, it exists! I'm not sure if there are any threads on gbatemp, but there's plenty of information and a guide pinned in the DSi Mode Hacking discord server. A lot of testing went down there so I'd say that's the best place to get ntrboot.

You said you're buying a few DSis. If you have the intention to sell and change them, DON'T SELL THEM. You're overwriting the hardware specific files required to run your DSi without modding it. Uninstalling unlaunch will brick you. (or in this case idiot buyers)

Thank you for the info!
I'm not selling on eBay or something, but to friends who know what they are doing

Is there a technical explanation why it works?
I remember the last CCC talk where PoroCYon confirmed it exists, but there is no SigHax for the DSi

 

[rvtr]

Is there a technical explanation why it works?

I don't know, you'd have to ask in the discord server. The people there know much more about that then me lol. I can at least say it's not really any hacks, ntrboot was an official thing being developed in TwlIPL.

 

[Kwyjor]

Is there a technical explanation why it works?
I remember the last CCC talk where PoroCYon confirmed it exists, but there is no SigHax for the DSi

Someone mentioned at https://gbatemp.net/threads/dsi-bootrom-dumped-andnew-exploit-disclosed-37th-ccc.645265/ that it needs to be signed with a key from the 2020 leaks.

 

[SylverReZ]

I don't see what the point of converting the NAND region to an iQue is all about, still pretty awesome nonetheless.

 

[rvtr]

I don't see what the point of converting the NAND region to an iQue is all about, still pretty awesome nonetheless.

There is no point! It's just another thing to try because it can be tried. It's fun to explore what you can make a DSi do.

 

[SylverReZ]

There is no point! It's just another thing to try because it can be tried. It's fun to explore what you can make a DSi do.

Exactly. That's what I was pointing out here. Not worth it, but makes for a good experiment.