Preparation

Hardware Requirements:

• A Windows PC
• A 3DS on 9.2 or lower
• A SD Card reader or some other adapter to allow you to copy files from your PC to the SD
• A DS flashcard that works on 4.5 (R4i, etc),
• A SD Card (preferably 16 GB to hold games, but even 4 GB should work)

Software Download Links:

• Dev Menu CIA (Look for either BigBlueBox CIA or GovanifY’s CFW. Google is your friend, the file name will be either BigBlueBox.cia or DecMenu_2x.cia)
• Gateway 3.0+ Launcher.dat and DS Exploit files.
• Gateway Downgrade for your region
• Emunand Dummy Data Creator (credits to piratesephiroth) http://gbatemp.net/attachments/drag_emunand_here-zip.11716/
• Emunand Tool http://gbatemp.net/threads/emunand-tool-release-and-support-thread.359239/
• Palantine CFW http://jheberg.net/captcha/palantine-cfw-2/
• Network Scanner - http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/wireless_network_watcher.html

Part 1 - Downgrading

1. Copy the Gateway Launcher.dat and Gateway.dg file to your SD Card.
2. Turn off wifi and open the 3DS Browser. Go into the settings and delete cookies/cache.
3. Optionally, reboot your 3DS.
4. Navigate to the browser with wifi on this time, and go to go.gateway-3ds.com.
5. The exploit will now load. Go over the options using the D-Pad and backup your NAND.
6. After the NAND backup is done, power off the 3DS by holding down the power button. Put the SD Card into your computer, and copy the NAND.bin somewhere safe. This is your fail-safe, so don’t lose it!
7. Put the SD card back into the console, with the NAND.bin still on it.
8. Go run the downgrade process (it’s the last one in the menu). Wait for it to finish. Once it’s done, reboot your system. Put the SD card into the computer and ensure Launcher.dat is still on it. Do not delete NAND.bin just yet.

Part 2 - Installing CFW

1. Now, copy the GW Installer DS file to your DS flashcard. Pop it into the console and run that file from your flashcard. When it’s done, press home and go into System Settings. Go into other settings —> profile and tap DS Profile. The Gateway menu will load once again. This time, run the format emuNand process. When it’s done, shutdown your 3DS.
2. Pop the SD Card back into your PC. Run the emuNand tool you downloaded earlier and press “Extract emuNand”. Save the file as emuNand.bin somewhere.
3. Now, drag the emuNand.bin onto the bat file that was downloaded. After a while, a resulting REDNAND.bin will appear.
4. In the emuNand tool, press “Inject NAND into emuNAND”. Select the REDNAND.bin file, and just ignore the warnings about not finding NAND.bin.
5. After it’s done, delete everything on the SD card. It should only be a LAUNCHER.DAT file.
6. Now, copy everything from the SD Card folder in Palantine CFW onto the SD card. Delete the launcher.dat, and rename the launcher_gw.dat to launcher.dat
7. Insert the SD card into the console and boot up. It will create software management information. Take the SD card out again and open it on your computer.
8. Now, in your SD card, there should be a Nintendo 3DS folder. Open it, and open the folder inside that. There should be another, so open that too. You should see a exdata folder.
9. Make a new folder (not inside the exdata folder, but in the same directory as it) called “dbs”. Go into the folder and make a blank text file, named “title.db” or “import.db”. Doesn’t matter which.
10. Insert the SD back into the system and go into Settings —> Data Management —> Software. It’ll ask to reset your software management information, so allow it to do so.
11. Now, go into Other —> Profile. Hold down the L button, and tap DS Profile. If all goes well, the bottom screen will flash white and the CFW will load. If not, simply reboot the system by holding down power and trying again. Make sure to hold L while you do it.
12. Now, once you’ve gotten into CFW, you’ll need your 3DS’ IP Address. You can use the tool you downloaded earlier (the network scanner) to find the devices from Nintendo. Note the IP (usually looks like 192.168.1.1xx)
13. Edit the run.bat file in the Palantine CIA folder. Replace the DevMenu_2x.cia part with the name of your CIA, and the IPTOMODIFY with your IP.

installcia IPTOMODIFY 1 DevMenu_2x.cia

installcia 192.168.1.155 1 DevMenu_2x.cia

22. Now execute run.bat by double clicking on it. It should return result-code of 0.

• If you get a failed to connect, make sure the IP is correct and the 3DS is connected to the Internet.
• If there’s another return code, try steps 8 and onward again.

23. Once you’ve succeeded, press Power —> Home and unwrap your new gift. You can now enter the CFW without holding L using the regular way.

Installing CIAs

1. Find a CIA to install. Google is your friend.
2. Copy the CIA to your SD Card.
3. Use the standard method to get into the CFW. Open the DevMenu and import away.

 

[bache]

This worked great for me on my brother's 3DSXL. I finally have someone to play Animal Crossing with

 

[Keylogger]

I can't boot to the CFW, tried 5 times but my 3DS always freeze with a blue/white screen

 

[Lavanoid]

If I downgrade my 9.2 3DS XL using this guide can I easily restore it back to 9.2 without losing my eshop purchases?

Yes, you can restore it without losing your purchases. Boot into GW (the browser method), backup your system NAND, transfer the NAND.bin to your PC and also copy the "Nintendo 3DS" folder aswell as the "private" folder (if it exists). Once done, you can downgrade your system. If you ever want to return to stock, copy the NAND.bin to you SD card again, then launch the GW menu, then scroll to the end of the menu till you get to "Downgrade", then hold "UP" and press "A". GW will ask if you want to restore the backup - press "START" to continue with the restore. Once restored - power off the system, remove your SD and copy the backed up "Nintendo 3DS" and "private" folder back to the SD card. Re-insert the SD into your 3DS, turn it on and you'll be back to the original state.

 

[Chaldron]

I can't boot to the CFW, tried 5 times but my 3DS always freeze with a blue/white screen

Keep trying, it's very buggy.

 

[-LuCas-]

Preparation

Hardware Requirements:

• A Windows PC
• A 3DS on 9.2 or lower
• A SD Card reader or some other adapter to allow you to copy files from your PC to the SD
• A DS flashcard that works on 4.5 (R4i, etc),
• A SD Card (preferably 16 GB to hold games, but even 4 GB should work)

Software Download Links:

• Dev Menu CIA (Look for either BigBlueBox CIA or GovanifY’s CFW. Google is your friend, the file name will be either BigBlueBox.cia or DecMenu_2x.cia)
• Gateway 3.0+ Launcher.dat and DS Exploit files.
• Gateway Downgrade for your region
• Emunand Dummy Data Creator (credits to piratesephiroth) http://gbatemp.net/attachments/drag_emunand_here-zip.11716/
• Emunand Tool http://gbatemp.net/threads/emunand-tool-release-and-support-thread.359239/
• Palantine CFW http://jheberg.net/captcha/palantine-cfw-2/
• Network Scanner - http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/wireless_network_watcher.html

Part 1 - Downgrading

1. Copy the Gateway Launcher.dat and Gateway.dg file to your SD Card.
2. Turn off wifi and open the 3DS Browser. Go into the settings and delete cookies/cache.
3. Optionally, reboot your 3DS.
4. Navigate to the browser with wifi on this time, and go to go.gateway-3ds.com.
5. The exploit will now load. Go over the options using the D-Pad and backup your NAND.
6. After the NAND backup is done, power off the 3DS by holding down the power button. Put the SD Card into your computer, and copy the NAND.bin somewhere safe. This is your fail-safe, so don’t lose it!
7. Put the SD card back into the console, with the NAND.bin still on it.
8. Go run the downgrade process (it’s the last one in the menu). Wait for it to finish. Once it’s done, reboot your system. Put the SD card into the computer and ensure Launcher.dat is still on it. Do not delete NAND.bin just yet.

Part 2 - Installing CFW

1. Now, copy the GW Installer DS file to your DS flashcard. Pop it into the console and run that file from your flashcard. When it’s done, press home and go into System Settings. Go into other settings —> profile and tap DS Profile. The Gateway menu will load once again. This time, run the format emuNand process. When it’s done, shutdown your 3DS.
2. Pop the SD Card back into your PC. Run the emuNand tool you downloaded earlier and press “Extract emuNand”. Save the file as emuNand.bin somewhere.
3. Now, drag the emuNand.bin onto the bat file that was downloaded. After a while, a resulting REDNAND.bin will appear.
4. In the emuNand tool, press “Inject NAND into emuNAND”. Select the REDNAND.bin file, and just ignore the warnings about not finding NAND.bin.
5. After it’s done, delete everything on the SD card. It should only be a LAUNCHER.DAT file.
6. Now, copy everything from the SD Card folder in Palantine CFW onto the SD card. Delete the launcher.dat, and rename the launcher_gw.dat to launcher.dat
7. Insert the SD card into the console and boot up. It will create software management information. Take the SD card out again and open it on your computer.
8. Now, in your SD card, there should be a Nintendo 3DS folder. Open it, and open the folder inside that. There should be another, so open that too. You should see a exdata folder.
9. Make a new folder (not inside the exdata folder, but in the same directory as it) called “dbs”. Go into the folder and make a blank text file, named “title.db” or “import.db”. Doesn’t matter which.
10. Insert the SD back into the system and go into Settings —> Data Management —> Software. It’ll ask to reset your software management information, so allow it to do so.
11. Now, go into Other —> Profile. Hold down the L button, and tap DS Profile. If all goes well, the bottom screen will flash white and the CFW will load. If not, simply reboot the system by holding down power and trying again. Make sure to hold L while you do it.
12. Now, once you’ve gotten into CFW, you’ll need your 3DS’ IP Address. You can use the tool you downloaded earlier (the network scanner) to find the devices from Nintendo. Note the IP (usually looks like 192.168.1.1xx)
13. Edit the run.bat file in the Palantine CIA folder. Replace the DevMenu_2x.cia part with the name of your CIA, and the IPTOMODIFY with your IP.

installcia IPTOMODIFY 1 DevMenu_2x.cia

installcia 192.168.1.155 1 DevMenu_2x.cia

22. Now execute run.bat by double clicking on it. It should return result-code of 0.

• If you get a failed to connect, make sure the IP is correct and the 3DS is connected to the Internet.
• If there’s another return code, try steps 8 and onward again.

23. Once you’ve succeeded, press Power —> Home and unwrap your new gift. You can now enter the CFW without holding L using the regular way.

Installing CIAs

1. Find a CIA to install. Google is your friend.
2. Copy the CIA to your SD Card.
3. Use the standard method to get into the CFW. Open the DevMenu and import away.

I've followed step by step the tutorial but at the execution of the cfw my 3ds remains on a black background on the lcd below. I saw the white screen for one second.


Any help ?

 

[Chaldron]

I've followed step by step the tutorial but at the execution of the cfw my 3ds remains on a black background on the lcd below. I saw the white screen for one second.


Any help ?

Hmm, that just seems to me like the regular CFW issue, that you must keep rebooting to fix. Try installing the DS Profile exploit again, I suppose.

 

[FearItSelf23]

Format emunand doesn't have a progress bar? I've been sitting here and it just says Format Emunand on the top but nothing is happening.

*EDIT* Well after a few mins it popped up and is now formatting so nvm I guess.

 

[Codename]

Is there any way to do this without a computer? My Windows PC is a desktop and it doesn't have wireless, only Local Area Connection, so ctrclient is unable to connect.

 

[Gvaz]

How does this work with existing e-shop games you own and the saves?

also i guess i cant do this as i only have an acekard2i

 

[CaptainSodaPop]

This is like the worst dissappointment ever, I reach the last final step and it's always "failed to connect".IP Adress is the right one, tried changing it too.Name of the .cia is good too.Turned off the firewall.Restarted the CFW million times, tried opening the browser--->freezes.I'm tired, i'm going to sleep. -_-

 

[DSoryu]

I keep getting this screen.

 

[DSoryu]

sorry, dp.

 

[Drak0rex]

So what are the limitations? Can this allow you to install any 3ds game, 3dsware dsiware, homebrew? Is the emunand updatable as it is in Gateway?

 

[-LuCas-]

Hmm, that just seems to me like the regular CFW issue, that you must keep rebooting to fix. Try installing the DS Profile exploit again, I suppose.

Nothing.. it doesn't boot into cfw

 

[ewin00]

hey after flashes white and black again then its turn into homescreen menu and theres nothing new, what should i do from there? how the cfw works? and when i turn on wifi on my 3ds its freeze? am i fail or what?

 

[-LuCas-]

hey after flashes white and black again then its turn into homescreen menu and theres nothing new, what should i do from there? how the cfw works? and when i turn on wifi on my 3ds its freeze? am i fail or what?

Now you're able to install cia

 

[ewin00]

Now you're able to install cia

really? um when i execute run bat (configured as my 3ds ip) my 3ds is just shutting down by itself, i guess should i delete my parental control setting on ma 3ds, will try again tho thanks

 

[jomaper]

Hey guys, my sister has my SD card from the 3DS with all my digital games on it. If I use the SD that came with my 3DS, format it and to all the steps in here, what happens if I put the SD my sister has?

 

[-LuCas-]

Hey guys, my sister has my SD card from the 3DS with all my digital games on it. If I use the SD that came with my 3DS, format it and to all the steps in here, what happens if I put the SD my sister has?

backup your sd image with win32diskimager

 

[jomaper]

backup your sd image with win32diskimager

What I'm asking is, I use a 32gb SD Card that I share with my sister for her camera. As off right now she's not here so I don't have the 32gb SD to try this tutorial, but I do have the old SD that came with the 3DS, but since its capacity is 4gb, I don't have all the digital games that my 32gb has.
Can I use the 4gb SD for this exploit and then when I have the 32gb memory back use it too? Or should I just wait?