Hacking NAND Dump Non-Hacked Wii

jonthedit · Sep 21, 2015

This is a rather noob question, I do not have a Wii on me atm so that is why I am asking.
If I use something like SmashHax or Letterbomb to boot into HackMii installer, can I launch into HBC or BootMii without installing anything to the NAND? Basically I want a virgin dump without hardmods. Is this possible?

OR-
Should I use a similar method to how SmashHax boots into Gecko for Project M- except boot into bootMii?

mauifrog · Sep 26, 2015

You can use any exploit to load casper and run bootmii to make a nand backup without installing anything to the wii. See step 1 of the hackmii fix on wiihacks -Nand Backup.

JaernetStrongrogg · Nov 8, 2018

Hey, sorry to bump this old thread. I’ve tried to google ‘Casper’ but I can’t seem to find out what it is and how it’s used to dump the virgin nand of the Wii.
I can’t find the guide you’re referring to neither.. could you link to this?
I’m trying to find a way to backup my virgin wii’s nand before starting to softmod it.
Thanks in advance

mauifrog · Nov 8, 2018

You don't need a virgin nand dump, just fallow a reliable guide, such as modmii and you have everything you need.

Sent from my SM-G955U1 using Tapatalk

XFlak · Nov 17, 2018

If you REALLY want to create a virgin nand dump, ModMii can help you prepare an sd card that will use Casper to directly load Bootmii. Inside ModMii's "Support" folder run\double-click Casper2BootMii.bat

JaernetStrongrogg · Nov 17, 2018

XFlak said:
If you REALLY want to create a virgin nand dump, ModMii can help you prepare an sd card that will use Casper to directly load Bootmii. Inside ModMii's "Support" folder run\double-click Casper2BootMii.bat

Thanks a lot for your reply! Great news!

I've actually set up a SD-card already using your great tool "ModMii" with the Abstinence Sneek wizard but I ran into an ios-flag error as I posted in the 'ModMii official support thread'.

Anyway, to proceed with the virgin NAND dump method as you mentioned.
Am I correct that if I set up the SD-card with the Absinence wizard and then get that Casper2BootMii.bat file and put it in the right folder I'll be able to boot into BootMii and from there dump the 'untouched' NAND?

Thanks in advance!

/ Järnet Stronggrog

XFlak · Nov 17, 2018

Close, you don't need to put the Casper2Bootmii file anywhere on your sd card (it's a windows batch file and won't do anything directly to the wii). Instead you double click it on your computer and when it's done you can copy the files it builds to your sd card

Also note that this will change what is launched by an exploit so when you're done you will need to run the Abstinence wizard again (or manually revert back)

JaernetStrongrogg · Nov 17, 2018

This is really great, I'll try it out and I'll report back how it goes.

Once again; thanks a bunch!

JaernetStrongrogg · Nov 19, 2018

XFlak said:
Close, you don't need to put the Casper2Bootmii file anywhere on your sd card (it's a windows batch file and won't do anything directly to the wii). Instead you double click it on your computer and when it's done you can copy the files it builds to your sd card

Also note that this will change what is launched by an exploit so when you're done you will need to run the Abstinence wizard again (or manually revert back)

Sorry to bother you again..
I tried just double click the .bat file and I got ‘success click anywhere to close this window’ but I have no clue at what path the files got copied to and what files to look for..

Thanks in advance

The Real Jdbye · Nov 19, 2018

JaernetStrongrogg said:
Sorry to bother you again..
I tried just double click the .bat file and I got ‘success click anywhere to close this window’ but I have no clue at what path the files got copied to and what files to look for..

Thanks in advance

IIRC ModMii puts everything in a COPY_TO_SD directory.

JaernetStrongrogg · Nov 22, 2018

Thanks for getting back to me.

So the reason why I didn't find the files was because I had just previously used ModMii to build a "Sneek + DI"-setup in a folder with a custom name other than COPY_TO_SD and I didn't think ModMii would remember that custom folder name as destination, but it did.. So after clicking the Casper2BootMii.bat the files got downloaded in the previously custom named folder, hence the confusion.

So I decided to start over completely.. Deleted everything in the temp folder and my previously prepared 'Sneek'-setup.

1. First I went through another 'Abstinence Wizard' and moved all those files to another place.
2. Then I made sure to have an empty COPY_TO_SD folder before running the .bat file
3. I copied the files received with the .bat file to my SD-card along with the 'private' folder from the Abstinence Wizard to extract only the Letter/Wilbert exploit.
4. I inserted the the SD to the Wii, ran the letter exploit and went ahead with the NAND backup through BootMii.
5. Then I shut down the wii, reconnected the SD-card to my computer and backed up the nand.bin & keys.bin to a safe place on my hdd.

Are these two .bin files the only files I'd need to restore my Wii to a virgin/untouched state?
I haven't been softmodding since 2010 so I'm a bit curious about how the Wii hacking/softmodding methods have evolved.
Wouldn't a virgin NAND backup be a common practice for everyone that wants to get into wii hacking/softmodding? I mean then you could revert the wii if you mess up or maybe if you want to sell it..
I've read around a bit in the forums and it doesn't seem that a lot of people think about doing a virgin nand dump before getting their hands dirty in softmodding..

Please let me know if I got anything wrong in this procedure!

Thanks again for all help!

/ Järnet Stronggrog

XFlak · Nov 22, 2018

Most people make their nand backups immediately after installing bootmii and the homebrew channel, so it's technically not 100% virgin but still, installing those 2 items is risk free. If you semi-brick your wii you can restore that near-virgin nand backup then properly complete the remaining steps to finish modding your wii OR if you want to sell it in a "virgin" state you can just delete the homebrew channel and there will be no indication to the new buyer that anything was done to the wii.

Now that all being said, how much more can you really charge for a virgin wii versus a modded one? If anything some folks might be willing to pay a bit extra to avoid the hassle of doing the mod so I would argue if anything you could charge a premium for a modded wii instead of the opposite.

JaernetStrongrogg · Nov 22, 2018

I see! Well, I guess it depends on the person.. I personally would prefer to buy a completely unsoftmodded wii and do it all myself so that I know exactly what has been done to the console in terms of 'hacking'. But I guess that's subjective.

I'm just very happy now that I found this way of dumping untouched nands, thanks to your help and your tools, so that I have a virgin backup to fall back to if I go too far and deep into brave softmod/hacking adventures

Hacking NAND Dump Non-Hacked Wii

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