Tutorial  Updated

Registry hacking | Transfer any backup right onto your Vita (games included)

Hello,

This tutorial will allow you to transfer any backup on your Vita, games included, even if you don't own the backup. This is very powerful but comes with a lot of limitations. Most notably, you can NOT USE THE BACKED UP GAMES unless you follow this tutorial to render them usable.

Credit to HackInformer for the original tutorial.

Here is what you require:
  • A Vita on an exploitable firmware that can use MailWriter (3.52 max)
  • QCMA
  • An hex editor (HxD is what I would recommend)
  • An USB cable.
  • A backup of the target AccountID (you can check this by going in the backup's owner QCMA and checking the hex string of 16 numbers and letters)
  • fixreg_vita

Explaination

Here is how this is gonna work: In a normal environment, Vita backups are restricted to a specific account, but are not console-restricted (quite clever, considering it allows basically legal game backups between even Vitas who share the same account.) How this is enforced is with the use of what's called your AccountID. You can find it by going in your QCMA folder: the seemingly random sequence of letters and numbers is a 16 character hex string. For example, 12 34 AB CD 13 37 90 01 is a legitimate AccountID and will be accepted by the Vita when registry hacking.

When your AccountID is modified, however, you can get an backup on your Vita easy peasy as long as the AccountID matches with the one specified in the backup. As such, we simply modify our AccountID and transfer the backup seamlessly.

Modifying registry

You will need to have a functional MailWriter setup beforehand. If you do not have one, follow this guide.

Send yourself an email with these two links:

Code:
email:send?attach=vd0:registry/system.dreg.
email:send?attach=vd0:registry/system.ireg.

For each of those strings, you will have to make hem links. Highlight the first string then embed it, linking it to itself (email:send?attach=vd0:registry/system.dreg.). Do the same with the second string. You can do this easily from Gmail. Do not forget the full stop at the end. Once done, send them to yourself, click the links on your Vita, then send them to your desired email account.

You now have system.dreg and system.ireg on your computer. Run fixreg_vita.exe. After this, you should have a fixed system.dreg and a system.ireg file on your computer. In the case that you use HxD to open the system.dreg file, press Ctrl+F to bring up the search prompt, search for your current AccountID (find this in QCMA by looking at the string of number of letters inside the folders: that is your AccountID) as hex values. Note that the offset is different for every firmware, so you won't find it at the same place (it should be just over a string saying "privacy_confirmation", though, so search for that.)

kFuPmcf.png


Change the AccountID to the one of the backup of which you wish to transfer back. Finally, run fixreg _vita again and write back the modified registry back to your Vita by emailing to yourself with system.dreg renamed as #0 with no extension, and the subject as "vd0:registry/system.dreg" (the path we want the file to be written to.)

Proceed as you would with any MailWriter email: open #0, get an error message, press PS and close the email app completely.

FROM HERE ON, DO NOT POWER OFF/REBOOT YOUR VITA without unslaving the memory card first.
Open the Content Manager and find your backup. If it does not show up, make a system backup and the list of restorable backups will 'update'. Now simply transfer it and you are done!

Congratulations! You now have a backup you don't own, right on your PS Vita. As you'll find out very soon, however, its state is very limited. Working around these restrictions is where the challenge begins.
 
Last edited by xy2_,
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cearp

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is... is this what I think it is?
no, the games won't play. right?
this isn't new, we have been able to do with for months, maybe like a year
(dumping carts and copying the game to to vita memory card etc)
but it won't play because we still need a license


the op should say that the games are unplayable, until the the vita is hacked more.
please don't confuse all the noobs we have here, bad title...
 
Last edited by cearp,

ultramario1998

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no, the games won't play. right?
this isn't new, we have been able to do with for months, maybe like a year
(dumping carts and copying the game to to vita memory card etc)
but it won't olay because we still need a license


the op should say that the games are unplayable, until the the vita is hacked more.
please don't confuse all the noobs we have here, bad title...
Thanks for the clarification. I apologize, I'm still new to the Vita hacking scene (if you can even call this much of a scene) and I'm kinda picking stuff up as I go.
 
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xy2_

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Fixed. Sorry for the misunderstanding. This method was also known for several months now: I'm simply making it somewhat easier to follow, as HackInformer's tutorial is a bit hard to follow if you have no idea what you are doing.
 
Last edited by xy2_,
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ieatpixels

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So you can transfer game backups to your Vita but not use them?
What's the point??

I agree with above poster, the title is misleading and should be changed.
 

cearp

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So you can transfer game backups to your Vita but not use them?
What's the point??
when/if the vita gets hacked more, i think we can skip the verification license file, so we would be able to play these games.
but i think if we get to that stage, the process of putting games on the vita would be much easier than how we currently have to do it...! so, this guide would be old and not useless then.
 

Wolfvak

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So you can transfer game backups to your Vita but not use them?
What's the point??

I agree with above poster, the title is misleading and should be changed.
Look buddy, stop with the hate. He never said "FRI PIRACY FOR ERRYONE!!!", he never lied to you. He only said you can transfer stuff, he never mentioned that you could use it. Besides, he's working on it (poor bastard got his playstation.com account banned while doing so!).

Also, this is why the Vita scene doesn't flourish (besides other reasons): everyone wants piracy and overlooks homebrew unfortunately :(.
 

RepeatingDigits

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Look buddy, stop with the hate. He never said "FRI PIRACY FOR ERRYONE!!!", he never lied to you. He only said you can transfer stuff, he never mentioned that you could use it. Besides, he's working on it (poor bastard got his playstation.com account banned while doing so!).

Also, this is why the Vita scene doesn't flourish (besides other reasons): everyone wants piracy and overlooks homebrew unfortunately :(.

It's not like there's much good homebrew anyway. There's what, Vitashell, SNES/Genesis emulator and... nothing else comes to mind.
No one cares about the Vita in any case. Even less if there's no piracy.
 
Last edited by RepeatingDigits,

RepeatingDigits

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speak for yourself but not for 'everyone' lol...
my vita is great, i have bought more vita games than 3ds games.

Same here. Look, I'm just being realistic, I see next to no support for this thing from either Sony or the Homebrew community. The last great thing was Rejuvenate and that got old really soon.
 

xy2_

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I don't get it :D

It says that you can not use the backed up games right in the very first line of the thread in big bold caps letters.. if you don't want to do it, just don't. Complaining here is the best way to give nothing relevant to the discussion, as transferring hacked backups has otherwise a few interesting uses with messing around with the Vita.
 
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So if we can't use these "backups" in any way, then what CAN we use them for?
 

Wolfvak

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To be honest, no, not really. Those tutorials aren't new, and they have been around for a good few months now. Yet there still hasn't been anything of value made out of them, unfortunately.
*YET*, because most people who are able to do something do not support piracy. *YET* here we have someone who is doing something for the scene (at least trying) and all you do is either straight up shit on him or telling him it's worthless.

Keep it up @xy2_ :3
 

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