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

PLaYa2313

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I know I've seen a few posts regarding this issue but no solid answer..

I used UStealth a few years back and my drive still works with Wii and WII U however it's time to backup this drive before it dies.. The issue is that 1) UStealth v7 or v8 both see the drive status as 'Unknown' and don't touch it AND 2) USBToggle see's my device but says its not supported and makes no change

I haven't tried TestDisk because I haven't seen a success post about it and I don't want to lose my data trying to figure this out - has anyone confirmed TestDek works or found another solution/workaround for this?
 

mive

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you can unhide/hide manually.

unhide:
change last two bytes from 55AB to 55AA (respectively the last one from AB to AA)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_boot_record#Sector_layout (1FE & 1FF)

you can e.g. do with dd (on windows, linux or mac):
  • copy first 512 bytes to hdd
  • change with hex editor
  • copy back

just ensure you use the correct drive (else you may "corrupt" your pc hd)

also ensure if you use dd that you dont truncate when writing back to the device
(dd for windows: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/USB_flash_installation_medium#dd_for_Windows)

hide:
vice versa

edit:
spelling errors
 
Last edited by mive,
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TheDreadedAndy

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I wrote a CLI version of this for Linux users who aren't familiar with dd. I tested it with USB Loader GX and Nintendont, it seems to work fine. As with using dd, be careful not to give the program the wrong drive, it won't stop you from stealthing your primary drive. I'd also recommend making sure the drive isn't mounted, as I'm not sure how the kernel would react to that.

Example usage: List devices with lsblk, then give your usb to uustealth. In my case, my usb is /dev/sde, so I'd run "uustealth /dev/sde".

I'll attach a binary and the source code for those interested. Hope this helps someone :)
 

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  • UnixUStealth.zip
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mive

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if someone prefers just the terminal, this line unhides:
printf "\xaa" | sudo dd of=block_device(*) seek=511 bs=1 conv=notrunc

this one hides:
printf "\xab" | sudo dd of=block_device(*) seek=511 bs=1 conv=notrunc

(*)e.g. /dev/sdc, whole device not partition like e.g. /dev/sdc1 !
 
Last edited by mive,

Goginha

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My 64gb usb drive is not being hidden, I was able to hide it once, then I formatted it, and now everytime I try to hide it again it says that is was hidden but then it doesn't hide it.
 

godreborn

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are you using mocha? I know the latest mocha, if you compile it, can see through ustealth. I think it's on purpose, since it's compatible with fat32 on the wii u side.
 

mive

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you can also use dd for windows, you just need to copy the first 512 bytes from the usb device to the pc, change with regular hex ediotr and copy back.

http://www.chrysocome.net/dd

ensure you use the right device and also maybe make either a backup (of your usb device) or do some sort of test before copying back. also ensure you dont mess up your pc hd
 

Goginha

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Okay so I tried Ustealth with another usb stick, and it works, they are both the same except that they have different mediatype, the one that works is external hard disk media, the one that doesn't is a removable media. Is there any way I can change their mediatype? (btw the one that worked is a 4gb usb stick and the one that didn't is a 64gb one.)
 

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