Important note

This only works if your Switch hasn't ever been online. If it was, you might already be banned for whatever reason OR Nintendo has some kind of a "log snapshot" that will be different from the one that will be created once you go online again with your Switch at the end of this tutorial (leading to a ban).
The only use case for this is, if you have a Switch, that never went online (!) and you started using CFW/NSPs/Homebrew WITHOUT creating a clean NAND dump BEFORE.

I had a friend that never went online but also never created a NAND dump and started using all the custom firmware niceness as it came out. Now that it's easy to create an emuNAND for that, he wanted to go online with his sysNAND. @shchmue helped me out on Discord cleaning up his NAND to remove all logs and afterwards he indeed was able to play online (and still is).

Obviously I'm not responsible for any bricks or other bad and explosives things happening to you following this.
Also I can't guarantee it will work as intended and/or you won't be banned. There's a thousand reasons the latter could happen (or already happened for whatever reason). However this guide is the only way for this specific use case and should work.

Steps

Since this involves using memloader and HacDiskMount to mount your NAND (aka eMMC) in Windows, I'll save myself a lot of time by pointing you to Raj's fantastic guide (because why writing everything down another time?) so let's get started:

1. Use hekate (faster and probably better than SX OS) to create a NAND backup (aka eMMC dump). Dump both, Boot0/1 and the full raw NAND.
   Seriously this is like the most important step ever! If anything goes wrong or you accidentally delete one more thing than you should, restoring your NAND backup only takes around 15 - 20 minutes in hekate and lets you start over.
   1. Optional: Create an emuNAND/emuMMC out of your current "hacky" sysNAND to continue using CFW there after your sysNAND is clean.
2. If you haven't ever used your Switch in combination with your computer you need to install the USB drivers first. You can follow the first step of this guide to do so.
3. Follow this guide by Rajkosto to the point where you are able to mount your NAND in Windows.
4. Mount the USER partition and delete everything on it. Unmount it afterwards.
5. Mount the SYSTEM partition and delete everything on it except these two things:
   
   • content (folder)
   • 8000000000000120 (file that is inside the save folder)
   
   Unmount if afterwards.

That's it! You should end up with only two folders and nothing else on your SYSTEM partition: content and save.
And inside that save folder you deleted everything except that single file I mentioned above (8000000000000120).

Credits

@shchmue for telling me exactly what to do
@rajkosto for his HacDiskMount guide and all his fantastic tools
@CTCaer for his work on hekate (dumping/restoring NAND is so fast and easy nowadays)
@m4xw for making my life complete with his libnx RetroArch port (actually not related to this guide but had to mention it)

 

[lordelan]

Nice, glad to hear.

 

[Wamboniga]

Gave it another try it and im facing the same issue.

Just to clarify, do i have to delete the content of the Contents folder?
If not, the issue should be there.

EDIT:
Leaving the contents in, sysNAND boots up nicely
Still, is this correct this way?

Another thing, when finishing the initial setup, i get a prompt that i should format the Nintendo folder.
Is this normal?

Thanks in advance

 

[lordelan]

Gave it another try it and im facing the same issue.

Just to clarify, do i have to delete the content of the Contents folder?
If not, the issue should be there.

EDIT:
Leaving the contents in, sysNAND boots up nicely
Still, is this correct this way?

Another thing, when finishing the initial setup, i get a prompt that i should format the Nintendo folder.
Is this normal?

Thanks in advance

Lol no. In step 5 I wrote don't touch the content folder.

Also yes, delete the Nintendo folder. Make a backup of your album first if needed though.

 

[Wamboniga]

Lol youre right. I interpreted too much into your instructions^^
Anyway thanks for everything, ill go online now


EDIT:

When i boot into HOS and try to update via internet, the switch reboots and gets stuck in a blackscreen after nintendo logo. Fuses stay untouched. I also tried updating via gamecard (SSBU) but when i plug it in, i get an error code and have to restart.

 

[lordelan]

Lol youre right. I interpreted too much into your instructions^^
Anyway thanks for everything, ill go online now


EDIT:

When i boot into HOS and try to update via internet, the switch reboots and gets stuck in a blackscreen after nintendo logo. Fuses stay untouched. I also tried updating via gamecard (SSBU) but when i plug it in, i get an error code and have to restart.

On which FW are you on your sysNAND? Booting Atmosphère into sysNAND once to use ChoiDujourNX should be fine if you don't use it to install a too high firmware (that wouldn't be available on a cartridge).
For example I was on 4.1 and updated with CDNX to 5.1 or something like that back when I did this and then used the "official way" to get to the latest FW.

 

[Wamboniga]

On which FW are you on your sysNAND? Booting Atmosphère into sysNAND once to use ChoiDujourNX should be fine if you don't use it to install a too high firmware (that wouldn't be available on a cartridge).
For example I was on 4.1 and updated with CDNX to 5.1 or something like that back when I did this and then used the "official way" to get to the latest FW.

I’m on 3.0.0 right now. So trying to get to 4.1 would make sense? If it fails try 5.1 like you?

And should I use CDNX or daybreak?

 

[lordelan]

I’m on 3.0.0 right now. So trying to get to 4.1 would make sense? If it fails try 5.1 like you?

And should I use CDNX or daybreak?

Not sure how safe daybreak is. I use CDNX all the time.

And yes, worth a try.

 

[Wamboniga]

Its said that daybreak is way safer, but i cant judge that^^

Tried CDNX and daybreak now, with and without turning autorcm/emummc off and it just wont burn any fuses.
Tested firmwares were 4.1 and 5.1
Going online with the wrong fuse count results in an instant ban right?
If so, then i dont know what to do anymore

 

[lordelan]

Its said that daybreak is way safer, but i cant judge that^^

Tried CDNX and daybreak now, with and without turning autorcm/emummc off and it just wont burn any fuses.
Tested firmwares were 4.1 and 5.1
Going online with the wrong fuse count results in an instant ban right?
If so, then i dont know what to do anymore

No the fuse count is not detected while being in Horizon OS, only at boot up.
My fuse count must be at FW 7.x and I'm playing online on 10.2.0 just fine for months.

 

[Wamboniga]

Updating to 4.1 worked. sysNAND running on 10.2.0
Lets hope this console stays online
thank you for your tutorial and support

 

[lordelan]

Updating to 4.1 worked. sysNAND running on 10.2.0
Lets hope this console stays online
thank you for your tutorial and support

Very glad to hear that, friend. Fingers crossed.

 

[Monstacho]

Hello, I want to do this but I'm aware that I connected to the internet because I changed my wifi connection and forgot to block Nintendo DNS, it passed like 1 minute until I realized I wasn't blocking DNS on my switch, could I still try this tutorial? also, I have updated my firmware through choidujour and I don't remember my original firmware (I have my NAND backup but I don't want to clear my current switch configs), could this lead to problems? thanks in advance for any response

 

[lordelan]

Hello, I want to do this but I'm aware that I connected to the internet because I changed my wifi connection and forgot to block Nintendo DNS, it passed like 1 minute until I realized I wasn't blocking DNS on my switch, could I still try this tutorial? also, I have updated my firmware through choidujour and I don't remember my original firmware (I have my NAND backup but I don't want to clear my current switch configs), could this lead to problems? thanks in advance for any response

I'm not quite sure what (if even) the Switch reports to Nintendo's servers after enabling the connection but without doing anything else.
That happened a few times to friends of mine and they are still fine.
However, you should be fine, if you use ChoiDujourNX to update to a higher firmware (but not the highest) on your clean NAND and then go the official way to get to the latest firmware.

 

[Imancol]

A very dangerous and effective method if followed to the letter.

Another safer way to have a clean SysNand, and also without deleting your users and saved games, is using the recovery mode. This in itself formats the console without losing that vital data.

https://nintendotoday.com/nintendo-switch-recovery-mode/


Unfortunately I used Incognito and lost the Prodinfo backup and I am still looking for how to create a Prodinfo to get back online.

 

[MistWisp]

A very dangerous and effective method if followed to the letter.

Another safer way to have a clean SysNand, and also without deleting your users and saved games, is using the recovery mode. This in itself formats the console without losing that vital data.

https://nintendotoday.com/nintendo-switch-recovery-mode/


Unfortunately I used Incognito and lost the Prodinfo backup and I am still looking for how to create a Prodinfo to get back online.

You can't, you can try and purchased a prodinfo from someone but still high chances of another ban

 

[Lordbarker]

I'm not quite sure what (if even) the Switch reports to Nintendo's servers after enabling the connection but without doing anything else.
That happened a few times to friends of mine and they are still fine.
However, you should be fine, if you use ChoiDujourNX to update to a higher firmware (but not the highest) on your clean NAND and then go the official way to get to the latest firmware.

Thanks for this guide! I'm planning to use it shortly. I have 11.0.0 on my sysNAND currently but when I clean and update the SysNAND via the official method i.e. connecting to Nintendo servers will it cause any issues when the console resets after the update? As my Switch is set to autoboot into Atmosphere or will often boot into the Trinket mod menu.

 

[AlcuZan]

Hey, I want to try this guide but don't understand the guide by Rajkosto. Can I just mount the NAND using hekate? Should be the same thing, right?

 

[Lacius]

Hey, I want to try this guide but don't understand the guide by Rajkosto. Can I just mount the NAND using hekate? Should be the same thing, right?

If you want to play online, it is highly recommended that you restore a sysMMC backup from before you dirtied your sysMMC.

If you do not have a clean sysMMC backup to restore, then there is a chance that you will not be able to play safely online without getting banned. However, you can try using an automated tool like Haku33 to clean your sysMMC. This is not recommended, since it might cause a mismatch between what's on your sysMMC and what's on Nintendo's servers, but without a clean sysMMC backup, this may be your only option.

https://github.com/StarDustCFW/Haku33

 

[lordelan]

Hey, I want to try this guide but don't understand the guide by Rajkosto. Can I just mount the NAND using hekate? Should be the same thing, right?

What @Lacius said applies so stick to it.
Nonetheless the answer to your question is: Yes, hekate's mounting feature should work the same way (dunno right now if it's read only though).
Also DBI might have the same feature set although that is used while your Switch is running Horizon which isn't a good idea.

 

[AlcuZan]

Well sadly I only have the rawnand.bin from my original backup (before any CFW stuff happened) and not the BOOT0 and BOOT1 files. So I can't restore that backup