Hacking Help Needed: System Transfer OFW 3DS XL to New 3DS A9LH

WiteWulf · Jan 8, 2017

Hi folks, my boy has a 3DS XL, ofw, 11.2.0-35E, that is unfortunately falling to pieces. I have a New 3DS (also 11.2.0-35E), that has A9LH on it (following Plailect's guide back in April 2016, nothing changed on it since other than official firmware updates) that I don't use anymore and want to give him.

Can I do a system transfer from from the OFW 3DS XL to the CFW New 3DS and retain the hack on the New 3DS and, obviously, the NNID, etc. from the 3DS XL? There's a lot of software installed on the New 3DS, obviously, and I appreciate that will all be lost during a System Transfer but it can all be reinstalled if necessary.

I've looked for a guide/howto for this specific scenario but can't find anything so any help/advice would be greatly appreciated.

Icirrus · Jan 8, 2017

I do believe so but I'm not 100%, I have tried this but cannot confirm as the 3ds that was the target system died during the process. (and I mean died) I think due to the fact that update will retain any A9LH it should be true for system transfers

HyperT · Jan 8, 2017

Yea, you'd be fine - But might as well back up your nand first on the n3ds and perhaps use it as an emunand after the transfer.

It'll be like having a hidden stash. with Sysnand being used predominately for the nnid etc.

WiteWulf · Jan 8, 2017

So do I just have the a9lh'd console booted up into emunand as usual and initiate a System Transfer on both devices and run it as normal? Nothing extra necessary? The NNID from the OFW 3DS XL will be on the New 3DS which will retain all its hacks?

Sorry for all the questions. Just want to make sure I do this right and don't lose my lad's NNID and game saves.

HyperT · Jan 8, 2017

WiteWulf said:
So do I just have the a9lh'd console booted up into emunand as usual and initiate a System Transfer on both devices and run it as normal? Nothing extra necessary? The NNID from the OFW 3DS XL will be on the New 3DS which will retain all its hacks?

Sorry for all the questions. Just want to make sure I do this right and don't lose my lad's NNID and game saves.

Na, don't think you can transfer to an emunand.

What I'd do is on the a9lh backup your sysnand along with at least the Nintendo 3DS folder.

Then format the a9lh system and remove the nnid on it [if attached]. Then system transfer from the o3ds to the n3ds.

That'll transfer everything from old to new. And won't touch a9lh. Then if you want setup an emunand on the n3ds cloning the sysnand. Then restore your nand backup made at the start to either sysnand or emunand.

Hope that makes sense. You can also load up jksm via hbl on both systems to backup saves in an unencrypted state but you shouldn't need them.

Cuphat · Jan 8, 2017

HyperT said:
Na, don't think you can transfer to an emunand.

You absolutely can.

Just transfer normally, OP, nothing special needs to be done.

WiteWulf · Jan 10, 2017

Thanks HyperT and squall14716, I've successfully performed a System Transfer from the ofw 3DS XL to cfw N3DS in emuNAND and it appears to have worked perfectly. All purchased content, game saves and NNID are present and correct. I've also successfully installed new software from a .cia file.

Now, a little more guidance please, if you wouldn't mind...

I'm was unsure after System Transfer (which obviously involved some restarts and claimed formatting of SD cards) whether I was in sysNAND or emuNAND so booted without the microSD card in to force sysNAND. System Settings reports a firmware version of "Sys 11.2.0-35E". There is still a version of FBI installed and it runs but there are none of the System Transfer'd games. I did the recommended thing of creating some folders and renaming them to spell out SYS so it was obvious what I was booted into.

I then powered off, reinserted the microSD card and powered on again. This time it booted up with all the System Transfer'd games present, but the SYS folders were also there. System Settings still reports "Sys 11.2.0-35E". I'd have thought this meant I was still in sysNAND as I'm using Luma3DS with the "Show NAND or user string in System Settings" setting enabled?

Does this mean I have to set up emuNAND again? Are my sysNAND and emuNAND linked and need unlinking. I'm confused :-D

x65943 · Jan 10, 2017

WiteWulf said:
Thanks HyperT and squall14716, I've successfully performed a System Transfer from the ofw 3DS XL to cfw N3DS in emuNAND and it appears to have worked perfectly. All purchased content, game saves and NNID are present and correct. I've also successfully installed new software from a .cia file.

Now, a little more guidance please, if you wouldn't mind...

I'm was unsure after System Transfer (which obviously involved some restarts and claimed formatting of SD cards) whether I was in sysNAND or emuNAND so booted without the microSD card in to force sysNAND. System Settings reports a firmware version of "Sys 11.2.0-35E". There is still a version of FBI installed and it runs but there are none of the System Transfer'd games. I did the recommended thing of creating some folders and renaming them to spell out SYS so it was obvious what I was booted into.

I then powered off, reinserted the microSD card and powered on again. This time it booted up with all the System Transfer'd games present, but the SYS folders were also there. System Settings still reports "Sys 11.2.0-35E". I'd have thought this meant I was still in sysNAND as I'm using Luma3DS with the "Show NAND or user string in System Settings" setting enabled?

Does this mean I have to set up emuNAND again? Are my sysNAND and emuNAND linked and need unlinking. I'm confused :-D

Either your sysnand and emunand are linked,

OR

You are still booting into sysnand (and your cias show up because they are saved to the sd card btw)

Did you use tinyformat to format your sysnand at any point? How did you try to unlink your nands?

HyperT · Jan 10, 2017

x65943 said:
Either your sysnand and emunand are linked,

OR

You are still booting into sysnand (and your cias show up because they are saved to the sd card btw)

Did you use tinyformat to format your sysnand at any point? How did you try to unlink your nands?

His should be unlinked due to system transferring into a nand. Right? Or does transferring into linked nands affect both

@WiteWulf - hold select and turn of 'autoboot sysnand' and see if your getting into a different setup.

What you'd expect is your syanand to be like it was before and emunand to be different but looks like the transfer went into sysnand right?

You might have your original system available via emunand...

WiteWulf · Jan 10, 2017

x65943 said:
Either your sysnand and emunand are linked,

OR

You are still booting into sysnand (and your cias show up because they are saved to the sd card btw)

Did you use tinyformat to format your sysnand at any point? How did you try to unlink your nands?

I did not use tinyformat and have not tried to unlink my NANDs so far.

Steps taken so far (in summary):
- followed plailect's a9lh guide as of April 2016 on N3DS (confirmed unlinked NANDs at that time)
- used N3DS, updating firmwares as they were released, but not updating any tools (a9lh, etc.) for months
- followed this guide yesterday to update a9lh and use luma3ds (https://3ds.guide/updating-a9lh), also updated FBI to latest version
- system transferred from ofw 3DSXL to N3DS in emuNAND
- confirmed all settings transferred successfully, luma3ds and hourglass still operational at power-on and FBI runs once booted

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

HyperT said:
@WiteWulf - hold select and turn of 'autoboot sysnand' and see if your getting into a different setup.

What you'd expect is your syanand to be like it was before and emunand to be different but looks like the transfer went into sysnand right?

You might have your original system available via emunand...

Okay, I turned off 'autoboot sysnand' and it appears to boot into the same environment that was System Transfer'd.

System settings reports "Sys 11.2.0-35E" regardless of what the 'autoboot sysnand' switch is set to in luma3ds's settings.

x65943 · Jan 10, 2017

WiteWulf said:
I did not use tinyformat and have not tried to unlink my NANDs so far.

Steps taken so far (in summary):
- followed plailect's a9lh guide as of April 2016 on N3DS (confirmed unlinked NANDs at that time)
- used N3DS, updating firmwares as they were released, but not updating any tools (a9lh, etc.) for months
- followed this guide yesterday to update a9lh and use luma3ds (https://3ds.guide/updating-a9lh), also updated FBI to latest version
- system transferred from ofw 3DSXL to N3DS in emuNAND
- confirmed all settings transferred successfully, luma3ds and hourglass still operational at power-on and FBI runs once booted

~~Is Luma set to boot emunand in settings?~~ Do you have a partition on your sd card that you're sure has the emunand on it. If you hold L at boot are you greeted with a different system menu?

Edit: It seems like you actually don't have an emunand.

WiteWulf · Jan 10, 2017

x65943 said:
~~Is Luma set to boot emunand in settings?~~ Do you have a partition on your sd card that you're sure has the emunand on it. If you hold L at boot are you greeted with a different system menu?

Edit: It seems like you actually don't have an emunand.

Indeed, looks like the System Transfer somehow wiped out my emunand.

Disk Utility on my Mac only shows a single partition on the SD card, but I believe it's hidden anyway, isn't it?

fdisk output as follows:

Code:

sudo fdisk /dev/disk2

Password:

Disk: /dev/disk2geometry: 3880/255/63 [62333952 sectors]

Signature: 0xAA55

        Starting       Ending

#: id  cyl  hd sec -  cyl  hd sec [     start -       size]

------------------------------------------------------------------------

*1: 0C    0   1   1 - 1023 254  63 [      8192 -   62325760] Win95 FAT32L

2: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused    

3: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused    

4: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused

I notice that FAT32 partition doesn't start until 8192 sectors in. Is that enough space for the emunand?

x65943 · Jan 10, 2017

8KB is no where close to enough to store an emunand (and it wouldn't be hidden in diskpart). The transfer cannot wipe a partition like that. You probably never had emunand in the first place.

That's okay though, emunand is mostly outdated. If everything is working on sysnand, you can stop troubleshooting.

WiteWulf · Jan 10, 2017

x65943 said:
8KB is no where close to enough to store an emunand (and it wouldn't be hidden in diskpart). The transfer cannot wipe a partition like that. You probably never had emunand in the first place.

That's okay though, emunand is mostly outdated. If everything is working on sysnand, you can stop troubleshooting.

Hehe, okay, thanks for the confirmation!

Everything certainly *seems* to be working fine in sysNAND, I just remember all the BIG SCARY WARNINGS when I did this first time around about not crossing the streams where sys and emu NAND where concerned.

Thanks very much to everyone who took the time to reply and help out, it's very much appreciated and is why I keep coming back to this great community.

x65943 · Jan 10, 2017

WiteWulf said:
Hehe, okay, thanks for the confirmation!

Everything certainly *seems* to be working fine in sysNAND, I just remember all the BIG SCARY WARNINGS when I did this first time around about not crossing the streams where sys and emu NAND where concerned.

Thanks very much to everyone who took the time to reply and help out, it's very much appreciated and is why I keep coming back to this great community.

With a9lh installed, there isn't much to be scared about at all anymore. If you ever mess anything up, you can just restore a nand backup.

Glad everything is working out!

HyperT · Jan 10, 2017

WiteWulf said:
Hehe, okay, thanks for the confirmation!

Everything certainly *seems* to be working fine in sysNAND, I just remember all the BIG SCARY WARNINGS when I did this first time around about not crossing the streams where sys and emu NAND where concerned.

Thanks very much to everyone who took the time to reply and help out, it's very much appreciated and is why I keep coming back to this great community.

Yea once you have a9lh you're fine just using sysnand. And covers your initial inquiry.

Setting up an emunand for the original n3ds system would have just been a bonus so you could still run your titles already on there.

Cuphat · Jan 10, 2017

Now that you've transferred, you will want to make a new NAND backup with Hourglass9 as your old backups from before the transfer won't point to your current installed games/saves. Otherwise, you're good to go.

Hacking Help Needed: System Transfer OFW 3DS XL to New 3DS A9LH

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