Hacking UStealth - Wii U 'Format Disk' Nag workaround :)

[Nimrod-002]

Mocha does not prevent the format message at all. i still get while using it. even with the Mochafat32 beta version.

also it seems i cant access the usb drive from Nintendont, probably because i m using a fowarder to access nintendont from the wii u side and not a channel from vwii. so until i get a wiimote i cant even use a fat32 drive.

i wouldn't mind the prompt if it allowed me to access the wii u game menu, but since i use a wii u formated hdd in addition to the fat32 usb drive i cant use the wii u at all while the two are plugged in.

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is there a way to turn off the security mesure (preventing guiformat and boot sector edit) on windows 10

 

[Cyan]

create a "etc" folder on your FAT32 partition, and the WiiU will consider that path as an officially formated WiiU format, not asking you to format it. But only if it's the only HDD plugged.
I don't think you can have a WiiU formated one, and a FAT32 with etc folder.

Like said many times, the "WiiU channels" are not compatible with USBs. only SD card are accessible.
if you want USB, you'll have to launch nintendont from vWii. Or from WiiU forwarder to vWii forwarder. wiiU gamepad will not work, but gamecube controller will, or any other HID USB controllers. so, no need of a Wiimote.

What I suggest :
follow my guide to install nintendont forwarder on vWii, using fix94 wad manager you'll have gamepad support to install the wad.
install the hbl2hbc channel on WiiU, and edit the config text to launch nintendont forwarder titleID instead of HBC titleID.
launch the WiiU channel and play with a HID controller



I don't know enough about win10. If launching as admin is not enough, I don't know what else is required.

 

[mineiro01]

Reviving the topic ...
For those who use u-stealth for wiiu.
I would like to know if it is compatible with wiiflow emulators.

I did the u-stealth in my HD. The wii games, mega emulators, nes, snes, do NOT work more with wiiflow. It's as if the HD was formatted.
Only nintendont games run with HD in "HIDDEN" mode.
Any tips?
Thanks!

 

[charleskimble]

@Cyan

I've tried using uStealth to hide 2 hard drives in a 3 hard drive setup (WiiU, vWii, NGC) but I seem to have problems when loading the WiiU system menu.

When 2 stealthed drives, and 1 unstealthed WiiU drive are connected, the system menu never loads and stays frozen on "Please wait..." while the USB icon in the corner spins forever.

When using only 1 stealthed drive and 1 unstealthed WiiU drive, everything functions as normal. I've tried all possible combinations, with and without a powered USB hub, and the only scenario that causes problems is when 2 stealthed drives are plugged in.

Can anyone help?

 

[Cyan]

I answered you in the other thread, where I wrote the multi-HDDs guide.

I would like to know if it is compatible with wiiflow emulators.

I did the u-stealth in my HD. The wii games, mega emulators, nes, snes, do NOT work more with wiiflow. It's as if the HD was formatted.
Only nintendont games run with HD in "HIDDEN" mode.
Any tips?
Thanks!

Sorry, I don't know.
I know some emulators got updated to work with Ustealth'd drives, but I don't know if these updated emulators accept argument launching method to work with wiiflow's plugin feature.

a solution would be to not Stealth your drive, and go directly to the vWii when you want to use it (keep B pressed at boot), to prevent the format message on WiiU menu, or answer "no" when asked to format the drive.

Another, more dirty solution, is to use CBHC to boot Mocha beta FAT32 support.
I don't know if it's enough to prevent the format message, or if you need to add "etc" folder on the root. but if you need to add that folder, that folder will be seen as "wiiu hdd" and you won't be able to plug another real WiiU HDD at the same time.
if mocha beta is enough, then the "prevent format message" could be added to CBHC/Haxchi itself. but users won't be able to format a drive to use as official WiiU HDD anymore.

 

[George miller]

Any VbaGX compatible with usteatlh?

 

[royvedas]

In a way this works too well. I have only my trusty old 500gb fat32 formatted wii drive attached to the wii u. It works and I get the annoying format nag in the Wii U menu. The harddisk works in some loaders in the wii menu and everything is cool. I want to get rid of the nag message and try the ustealth tool. I no longer received the nag in wiiu menu, but no apps in vwii recognizes it either? What am I doing wrong?

 

[godreborn]

you need to add ustealth support to the homebrew in question. several apps, such as usb loader gx, cfg usb loader, and wiixplorer, have ustealth versions, but you can add support to any app.

 

[TotalInsanity4]

you need to add ustealth support to the homebrew in question. several apps, such as usb loader gx, cfg usb loader, and wiixplorer, have ustealth versions, but you can add support to any app.

But only if you have access to the source code and know what to change

 

[Akumara]

Hello

Can someone clarify,
So with my vWii HDD, if i use ustealth, i can leave the vwii hard drive plugged in the back, along with my WiiU hard drive with all my homebrew/injects/etc plugged in the front, and everything will run normally?
Also, does anyone know if i can use a usb-hub for my Mayflash GC adapter?

Ideally, i would my two hard drives plugged in at the same time with y-cables for power, and one of the usb ports having a usb hub for 1 hard drive along with my GC controller adapter.
Thanks for th help!

 

[Alex4nder001]

Wait, so if I install the d2x cios with ustealth support, does that mean that any homebrew will work, even homebrew without the patched libfat library?

 

[godreborn]

Wait, so if I install the d2x cios with ustealth support, does that mean that any homebrew will work, even homebrew without the patched libfat library?

afaik, the homebrew must be patched for ustealth support. I'm usimg that patched cios. however, usb loader gx has ustealth support. I also have wiixplorer with ustealth support. you may have to enable ustealth support manually regardless of that patched library being used by the cios. I'm not an expert on this though.. @Cyan will know more about it.

 

[Cyan]

Sorry Alex, that's not what it means.
You first need to understand how a partition is defined on a HDD, and secondly what Ustealth is really doing.

How partition table are defined:
Up to 4 primary partitions can be defined in a "partition table" located on Sector 0 of any storage device (hdd, sd card, etc.)
this table is optional, some device could have no partition table at all, and just be raw data (for example, the WiiU HDD format doesn't have a partition table, because the WiiU doesn't need partitions, the drive is reserved entirely to the WiiU's needs).

So, to know if a partition table is present or not present on a storage device, partition tables have "signatures".
I said "tables", because there are currently 2 different partition table format : MBR (old, 32 bit) and GPT (new, 64 bit).

both MBR and GPT table have the same signature, so it's easier to work with either format.

The signature of a partition table is a unique and fixed value located at byte 510 of the sector 0 : 0x55AA

How the WiiU is working ?
Like I said, the WiiU doesn't use partitions, so it formats the FULL drive's sectors, including sector 0.
If the WiiU detects the signature "0x55AA" on sector 0, then it prompts the user to format the drive to WiiU Format.

How Ustealth work ?
Ustealth only alter the partition table signature to appear like no partition table is present.
Ustealth replace 0x55AA to 0x55AB (or swap it back to 0x55AA if needed)

Ustealth does NOT change anything else, keeping the defined partition information on sector 0 intact and readable.
It also, or course, doesn't touch the partition's data itself (all your partition's data are untouched, and still readable, your files are there).
Usteath does not HIDE partitions, it hides the partition table !

Why some homebrew are working, and some are not?

Some homebrew are checking if the signature is present before loading the partitions defined into the table (up to 4 primary partitions can be defined on a partition table).
Some homebrew are NOT checking if the signature is present, and just look at the location where the partitions are defined.

Homebrew which are not checking the signature are working natively with Ustealth'd drives.
Homebrew which are checking the partition signature BEFORE looking at the existing partitions need a sources edit and recompile to allow BOTH 0x55AA and 0x55AB as compatible signature.

Your computer and all other devices (music player, etc.) will not work with that drive if they check the table signature as they expect 0x55AA, that's why your computer tells you the drive is not formatted. it doesn't recognize the partition table, doesn't even try to see if there are partitions on it.


d2x's FAT library, which is used by "NAND redirection to FAT32 partition" (the emuNAND feature) needed that signature patch to allow 0x55AB as acceptable signature to mount the FAT32 partition where your emuNAND folder is located.
it means that it works ONLY when d2x FAT library is the ONLY used element which is checking the partition table signature, and ONLY when d2x is in use.
that patch was/is not needed when you play a wii game (because it uses WBFS library, and doesn't care about partitions nor tables, it reads raw sectors). The patch was needed only to make emuNAND compatible with altered (wrong) table signature.


Most homebrew are NOT using d2x, they are using IOS58 (which doesn't care at all about partition table or signature).
if a homebrew is not compatible, it's because it's using homebrew SDK (DevkitPro LigOGC's) FAT library without the patch, OR that the homebrew is checking the signature.


To make homebrew compatible you need two things :
1. the homebrew itself must NOT check the signature, or accept 0x55AB as compatible signature
AND
2. doesn't use the LibOGC fat32 library, or use the patched version.



d2x has nothing to do with homebrew compatibility, and even if the homebrew used a patched d2x cIOS slot, it will not fix the detection problem, because the homebrew or the SDK is checking the signature, not d2x.
d2x patch didn't fix homebrew compatibility, it fixed a "d2x internal feature".


PS : I might use that as base for my Wii hacking guide to explain what Ustealth is and how it works. ... one day.
with better explanation and pictures maybe.

 

[kassio69]

Sorry to revive this old thread once again..
I'd like to ask if there is a UStealth compatible version of SaveGame Manager GX.
I think it should be useful for people like me, who prefer to save games on Emunand.
Other point: save files of WiiWare games installed on Emunand are also located on Emunand, so SGMGX can't access them.
I tried moving my Emunand from HDD to SD, but it turns USB Loader GX very slow and buggy (I guess that's because there are more than 200 games installed).
Thanks.

 

[godreborn]

Sorry to revive this old thread once again..
I'd like to ask if there is a UStealth compatible version of SaveGame Manager GX.
I think it should be useful for people like me, who prefer to save games on Emunand.
And also, as WiiWare games installed on Emunand are loaded from and saved to Emunand, SGMGX can't access them.
I tried moving my Emunand from HDD to SD, but it turns USB Loader GX very slow and buggy (I guess that's because there are more than 200 games installed).
Thanks.

hmm...I thought there was, 'cause I used a save mananger app (perhaps that one) to migrate my wii saves to the virtual wii. if not, you can compile it for any app I believe. there's information about this on github.

 

[mazetemazete]

UStealth doesn't work for me. I've tried running R8 and R7, but they both give me this popup. Any help?

 

[Cyan]

there's no "Savegame Manager GX Ustealth edition", because there's no need.
just update and use latest version, it's already compatible.

Mazete : maybe your frame network is not the correct version ?
there's a homebrew to switch the ustealth state instead of using a windows tool. it's on the first post too. (Toggle usb, or something like that)

 

[mazetemazete]

How do I use USBToggle? Do I unzip it into the apps folder on the sd card with USB Loader GX?

 

[Cyan]

you unzip it on your usual place where you copy your homebrew.


homebrew are located in the /apps/ folder
/apps/usbtoggle/boot.dol <--- for example

 

[raflos]

I'm having strange problems with this tool.
It worked fine before with my 128gb Sandisk flash drive, but now it always behaves as if it's "Normal". But if I close the tool and re-open it, it remembers the status of the flash drive.
I tested it with a generic 1gb flash drive and it worked fine. But then I tested it with a 68gb Sandisk flash drive and it didn't work with the same problem as before.
The program has admin privileges.
Not sure what to try now. Maybe there's something I forgot? It's been a while since I've used this tool.