Hacking Question Should I backup my keys? If yes, why?

CassioAug

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I have my Nand backup stored just fine, but I still don't have any of the "keys" backup, which I imagine I need Lockpick to do it. The main reason I didn't is because it seems it requires me to install hekate as well, and it all seems a bit of a hassle, in case it's not important enough.

So, should I backup them? What is it used for? I have my Switch hacked for a while, and I still don't have a clue what is the purpose of them.

Thanks in advance!
 

8BitWonder

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You can push Lockpick_RCM directly without having to chainload from Hekate if you'd rather not set that up.

Considering it'd take only a few minutes and (combined with your rawNand/BOOT0/BOOT1 backups) would allow you to recover from basically any brick I highly recommend doing it and storing your keys away somewhere.
 

LeyendaV

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Yes, you need to back then up, as you also need to keep the back-up of you clean NAND. In fact, the best thing to do is having two copies of each file (prod.keys, a copy renamed to prod.txt, title.keys and a copy renamed to title.txt).
 
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bad361

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Wait, so you are telling that you've never used hekate? The switch homebrew scene has been around for 2+ years and hekate has always been there at its core and is one of the most useful and basic tools for hacked switch... And there's no "hassle" in dropping some files onto your sd card and launching hekate to dump keys or other valuable info.
 

CassioAug

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You can push Lockpick_RCM directly without having to chainload from Hekate if you'd rather not set that up.

Considering it'd take only a few minutes and (combined with your rawNand/BOOT0/BOOT1 backups) would allow you to recover from basically any brick I highly recommend doing it and storing your keys away somewhere.
Ok! Thanks! That's exactly what I wasn't understanding. Because when I searched about the keys purpose, I read about it being used to convert XCI files, extracting data from games and so on... things that I don't use and that are definitely not that important for an average user. But since I always saw recommendations about backing them up, I suspected I was missing something.
 

Canna

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Ok! Thanks! That's exactly what I wasn't understanding. Because when I searched about the keys purpose, I read about it being used to convert XCI files, extracting data from games and so on... things that I don't use and that are definitely not that important for an average user. But since I always saw recommendations about backing them up, I suspected I was missing something.
Cool ,
Make sure to have these things.

Backup With Hekate payload:
Boot0
Boot1
Rawnand
(emmcGPT)

Backup with lockpickRCM payload:

Biskeys (System unique keys to decrypt/encrypt System software/OS/FW files)
Title Keys (For Game/updates/dlc /encryption/decryption)


You should be good in case of corruption with those back-ups.
 
Last edited by Canna,

duckbill007

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As far as I remember main keys needed to decrypt/encrypt your backup/new fw you can get in RCM mode from tegra chip even if you do not have emmc. It is 3 or 4 absolutely neccessary keys. For restoring your backup to new emmc (worst case) you need only them. And if your mainboard is damaged so you can not run RCM and get these 3 or 4 keys, then you have unrecoverable hardware brick and your backup now useless, because for new MB you will need new calibration data from prodinfo.
 

CassioAug

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Ok, I did my keys backup. But I'm wondering if they're good cause the file size is very minimum: my prod.keys is 10 KB and my title.keys is 5 KB (I only have 4 games installed at the moment). Is this right?
 

Canna

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Ok, I did my keys backup. But I'm wondering if they're good cause the file size is very minimum: my prod.keys is 10 KB and my title.keys is 5 KB (I only have 4 games installed at the moment). Is this right?
Any Errors while using lockpickRCM ? if not you got them. Just worry about the biskeys to be honest buddy most important.
 

OriginalCopycat

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Wait, do I need to do this if I’ve done a SysNand backup using SXOS??? All I have from that is

boot0.bin
boot1.bin
full.[0-7].bin

no keys.

I’m on Mariko, so am not running any homebrew just in case I brick.

Nobody ever told me, in any docs, to do a “key backup”! Should I be panicking?

Thanks!
 

OriginalCopycat

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from my experience, BACK UP EVERYTHING. If you don't and have a brick, your going to want everything backed up

Sorry - but HOW do I do that safely on Mariko? I’m worried about all these bricks that people keep talking about using tools that aren’t suitable for Mariko.

Thanks for your advice!
 

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