Hardware Switch Is Safe To Go Online?

[CakeBuffet]

Hi all.

I recently "hacked" my Switch. I started having second thoughts after a little bit and I had a quick question. The farthest I got was injecting a payload into the Switch to boot to hekate. Is it safe for me to just delete the files that were there before the hack? Or do I need to restore a NAND?

Extra Notes:
- I didn't attempt to play any games in the "hacked" state. I simply booted to hekate.
- I didn't install any unofficial apps, games, or anything of the like.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Shadow#1]

Hi all.

I recently "hacked" my Switch. I started having second thoughts after a little bit and I had a quick question. The farthest I got was injecting a payload into the Switch to boot to hekate. Is it safe for me to just delete the files that were there before the hack? Or do I need to restore a NAND? I didn't install any unofficial apps, games, or anything of the like.

Thanks in advance.

NO

 

[CakeBuffet]

NO

Quick response! Could you explain why? Will it brick my system if I simply attempted to delete the files? What solution is there?

 

[Shadow#1]

Quick response! Could you explain why? Will it brick my system if I simply attempted to delete the files? What solution is there?

Solution is hacked = forever offline legit = online and u will get banned

 

[CakeBuffet]

Solution is hacked = forever offline legit = online and u will get banned

Oh. So even restoring a clean NAND wouldn't work huh?

 

[Engezerstorung]

if you really have only been in the hekate payload menu (you didnt booted in cfw right? like you didnt see anything that look like usual switch menu or anything?) then system wise its like nothing happened, and you wont be ban for it

so you can just delete any files on your sd card, you wont brick anything

but from there if you still want to hack your switch the "best" solution is : untouched sysnand online, hacked emunand forever offline

 

[CakeBuffet]

if you really have only been in the hekate payload menu (you didnt booted in cfw right? like you didnt see anything that look like usual switch menu or anything?) then system wise its like nothing happened, and you wont be ban for it

so you can just delete any files on your sd card, you wont brick anything

but from there if you still want to hack your switch the "best" solution is : untouched sysnand online, hacked emunand forever offline

Aw crap. I did launch CFW (SYSNAND). But that's it. I just looked around the home menu to see what changed. I didn't open, delete, or create anything new. If I were to just delete the files, should I backup my NAND just in case?

 

[altorn]

Aw crap. I did launch CFW (SYSNAND). But that's it. I just looked around the home menu to see what changed. I didn't open, delete, or create anything new. If I were to just delete the files, should I backup my NAND just in case?

you now have a risk of getting banned once you go online. unless if you have a NAND backup before you did ANY tinkering with CFW/hekate. then yes, you can restore your backup NAND and can go online safely.

 

[CakeBuffet]

What would you consider as "tinkering"? I did back up my eMM BOOT0 & BOOT1 but I didn't change any settings or press any buttons I wasn't supposed to. I'm currently backing up my rawnand.bin.00. Should I be ok after this?

 

[Engezerstorung]

no, you should have made a full backup before doing anything (you have boot0+1 but not rawnand)
i imagine you werent in airplane mode either?
so basicaly at this point there nothing you can do but hope you will not be banned
your nand have traces of cfw, thats it :s


the nand backup is a protection only in this case :
- you have a clean untouched switch
- you put it in airplane mode/remove any wifi connection
- you inject hekate and do a nand backup
- you go in cfw and do shenanigans, but never ever go online (or do it while using incognito/ have 90dns set up so nothing is ever send to nintendo, your switch going onlin ebut under nintendo servers radars)
- once you are done and want to be legit again you boot into hekate again and restore your nand

in this situation for nintendo point of view its basically like one day your switch turned off and come back online later
once your nand have been dirtied by cfw activities (even if only booting in it while doing nothing) a nand backup isnt going to magically remove thoses traces

tldr : the switch is logging basically everything and send it to nintendo servers and they have lots of ways to detect tinkering, they also do log comparision to detect log tinkering so you cant scrap them (they are kept even if the console is formated)

 

[Dave_Chad]

I do not think there has ever been a reported case of anyone using only homebrew/booting cfw and getting banned. Installing NSP's gets you banned...

 

[RednaxelaNnamtra]

I do not think there has ever been a reported case of anyone using only homebrew/booting cfw and getting banned. Installing NSP's gets you banned...

I'm online with atmosphere since shortly after its release, still not banned.
Unless you do something stupid like going online with game hacks or installing nsps, you will probably not getting banned, but there is always a small risk of a ban left, keep that in mind.

 

[CakeBuffet]

no, you should have made a full backup before doing anything (you have boot0+1 but not rawnand)
i imagine you werent in airplane mode either?
so basicaly at this point there nothing you can do but hope you will not be banned
your nand have traces of cfw, thats it :s


the nand backup is a protection only in this case :
- you have a clean untouched switch
- you put it in airplane mode/remove any wifi connection
- you inject hekate and do a nand backup
- you go in cfw and do shenanigans, but never ever go online (or do it while using incognito/ have 90dns set up so nothing is ever send to nintendo, your switch going onlin ebut under nintendo servers radars)
- once you are done and want to be legit again you boot into hekate again and restore your nand

in this situation for nintendo point of view its basically like one day your switch turned off and come back online later
once your nand have been dirtied by cfw activities (even if only booting in it while doing nothing) a nand backup isnt going to magically remove thoses traces

tldr : the switch is logging basically everything and send it to nintendo servers and they have lots of ways to detect tinkering, they also do log comparision to detect log tinkering so you cant scrap them (they are kept even if the console is formated)

No, I've been in airplane mode since the day before I decided to hack my Switch. I booted into CFW(SYSNAND), but I didn't do anything like installing an nsp until I was sure my rawnandbin was backed up.

 

[LordRahl72]

I don't think there are any easy answers for you.

Personally, for me this is what I do and haven't "yet" been banned "though I assume at some point I might".

I use my hackable switch to boot into legit firmware and download my purchased games from the Nintendo shop. I then go into airplane mode and reboot into custom firmware to play my legit games while using the cheat feature to run whatever cheats I want for the game then save the game with the cheats I want applied to it. Then reboot into stock firmware, go back online and let the cloud save feature upload my modded save file. Then I load my pure stock patched switch which I use for me every day gamming and download my save file from my modded Switch.

So far I haven't gotten a ban "though I assume the full risk if I do end up banned".

So in short, you may or may not get banned, but life is short, enjoy your console and what will be, will be.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

Aw crap. I did launch CFW (SYSNAND). But that's it. I just looked around the home menu to see what changed. I didn't open, delete, or create anything new. If I were to just delete the files, should I backup my NAND just in case?

When you say CFW (sysNAND) what exactly do you mean? Hekate is not a CFW by itself, so what that option does depends completely on what's in your hekate_ipl.ini file. What is your set up, what guide did you use?
Atmosphere by itself shouldn't be enough to flag you for a ban, but whatever extra modules, patches etc. you had might.

 

[CakeBuffet]

When you say CFW (sysNAND) what exactly do you mean? Hekate is not a CFW by itself, so what that option does depends completely on what's in your hekate_ipl.ini file. What is your set up, what guide did you use?
Atmosphere by itself shouldn't be enough to flag you for a ban, but whatever extra modules, patches etc. you had might.

When choosing the "launch" option in hekate, there's three boot options. I booted into the one titled " CFW(SYSNAND) ". I currently can't find the video I watched that helped me hack my Switch, but I will continue to look for it. The written guides I found seemed outdated and focused more on older firmwares. I haven't messed around with modules, patches, or anything of the like, though I have considered it.

Another thing though. I went ahead and installed an nsp after backing up my NAND, though I've deleted it off my system. I haven't opened the game. I only installed the game and update. I also used incognito to erase my Serial Number ID temporarily, but I've restored it. I moved all the files necessary for hacking off my SD Card onto my PC in case I may need it again, and my Switch is running fine, though I haven't attempted to go online just yet in case I may need to restore my NAND. I've decided I no longer want to hack my Switch again (until the Switch dies out or hackers find a workaround for the bans), so should I go ahead and restore my NAND?

EDIT: I found the video I used. The timestamp for when he boots into CFW(SYSNAND) is at 5:56.

 

[ELY_M]

I'm online with atmosphere since shortly after its release, still not banned.
Unless you do something stupid like going online with game hacks or installing nsps, you will probably not getting banned, but there is always a small risk of a ban left, keep that in mind.

I agree with this! I have been online with atmosphere with all physical games. I am still not banned
I have over 650 hours on Super Mario Maker 2 on this switch.
I never installed any nsps or any apps to my home screen like what I did on my other switch that is banned.


I am sure you are safe to go back to normal ofw.

 

[Engezerstorung]

When choosing the "launch" option in hekate, there's three boot options. I booted into the one titled " CFW(SYSNAND) ". I currently can't find the video I watched that helped me hack my Switch, but I will continue to look for it. The written guides I found seemed outdated and focused more on older firmwares. I haven't messed around with modules, patches, or anything of the like, though I have considered it.

Another thing though. I went ahead and installed an nsp after backing up my NAND, though I've deleted it off my system. I haven't opened the game. I only installed the game and update. I also used incognito to erase my Serial Number ID temporarily, but I've restored it. I moved all the files necessary for hacking off my SD Card onto my PC in case I may need it again, and my Switch is running fine, though I haven't attempted to go online just yet in case I may need to restore my NAND. I've decided I no longer want to hack my Switch again (until the Switch dies out or hackers find a workaround for the bans), so should I go ahead and restore my NAND?

EDIT: I found the video I used. The timestamp for when he boots into CFW(SYSNAND) is at 5:56.

so you did way more than just "injecting hekate and doing nothing else" in the end...
installing a nsp is basically a death flag...
so yeah if your switch was NEVER ONLINE during all the hacks, yeah you can restore the nand.
but it seem like you really did a lot of stuff "all over the place" so i cant guarantee you anything for the future

 

[MasterJ360]

Emunand exists for a reason. Play online with legit games/saves on sysnand and do all the dirty hack stuff offline on emunand. Im amazed how no one directed the OP to this.

 

[Engezerstorung]

Emunand exists for a reason. Play online with legit games/saves on sysnand and do all the dirty hack stuff offline on emunand. Im amazed how no one directed the OP to this.

that wasnt his demand, he didnt asked how to hack his switch
he asked if he could go legit again after having done some stuff, we only assessed exactly what he done