Warning

Although this is in use by many users and has proven itself as safe and reliable, you still use this at your own risk. Messing with the isfs superblocks is dangerous and can brick your Wii U. Make sure to make a SLC backup before installing isfshax. If something goes wrong, you will need defuse to restore this backup. The superblock linked here was tested and confirmed working. Installing an broken superblock will brick your Wii U.
Also keep in mind: if you are restoring a old SLC backup, which was taken before installing ISFShax, ISFShax will be removed by restoring that backup. Newer versions of minute try to preserve ISFShax when restoring the SLC.

To protect against Nintendo pushing a boot1 update (very unlikely, but you newer know), which would brick a console with ISFShax, system updates get blocked by the wafel_isfshax_patch.ipx plugin. If you need to do a system update, you can use the v1.0 of said plugin, which doesn't contain the update block. Game updates are not affected.

Update

13.07.2024 - No longer require the wiiu/root.rpx. Replace Tiramisu with Aroma as default. Add Haxchi as Entry Exploit.
04.04.2024 - Add Fastboot
13.03.2024 - System updates now get blocked by the wafel_isfshax_patch.ipx plugin.
29.12.2023 - Standby Services are now supported. For that to work you need to have the latests ISFShax superblock installed and need to use the latest minute fw.img and wafel_core.ipx. Also autoboot needs to be enabled.

What is this for?

ISFShax exploits boot1 with specially crafted ISFS (the filesystem of the SLC) superblock. Once installed, ISFShax provides similar capabilities to defuse. Since it launches before IOSU, it can be used to apply early patches to IOSU and can be used to fix most bricks. But it won't protect you of bricks caused by: breaking boot1, seeprom bricks or installing a broken ISFShax superblock. ISFShax also doesn't help you if you already bricked the Wii U.
Use cases are:

• Rebuilding / upgrading the MLC
• Removing 64GB MLC limit and disabling SCFM
• Brick protection (e.g. before doing region change)
• Cold booting redNAND (useful when when the eMMC is failing)
• It gives a minimal CFW, which can launch old homebrew using the homebrew launcher (not sure how useful since we have Aroma and Tiramisu)
• Stop the Wii U from turning the Tablet on during boot (using a stroopwafel plugin)

Choosing the Exploit

There are multiple ways to launch the ISFShax installer:
If you already have Tiramisu or Aroma installed and can launch it follow the Instructions tagged with [Aroma]
If you already have Haxchi or CBHC installed follow Instructions tagged with [Haxchi]
If the Browser still works and you can launch the browser exploit u.wiidb.de follow the Instructions tagged with [Browser]
If you can't access the Browser, but Settings still work follow Instructions tagged with [DNSpresso]
If you your Wii U crashes in the initial setup on Mii creation follow Instructions tagged with [DNSpresso]
If your Wii U can't launch the browser anymore or can't connect to the internet follow the Instructions tagged with [UDPIH]
Steps without a prefix apply to all.

Preparing the SD card

Make sure the SD card is formatted to FAT32 (already the case if you are using it for Homebrew). You can use guiformat for that.

Get the following files and put them in the root of the SD. Choose the release tagged with "Latest" for each.

1. ISFShax installer (ios.img) from https://github.com/isfshax/isfshax_installer/releases
2. ISFShax superblock.img and superblock.img.sha from https://github.com/isfshax/isfshax/releases
3. Put the stroopwafel wafel_core.ipx from https://github.com/jan-hofmeier/stroopwafel/releases in wiiu/ios_plugins
4. Put the wafel_isfshax_patch.ipx stroopwafel plugin from https://github.com/isfshax/wafel_isfshax_patch/releases in wiiu/ios_plugins
5. [Aroma | Haxchi | Browser | DNSpresso] minute fw_encrypted.img from https://github.com/jan-hofmeier/minute_minute/releases and rename to fw.img
6. [Browser | DNSpresso] fw_img_payload from https://github.com/wiiu-env/fw_img_payload/releases extract the zip and put the wiiu folder, containing the payload.elf on the SD
7. [DNSpresso] Extract the root.rpx from https://github.com/wiiu-env/PayloadFromRPX/releases and rename it to launch.rpx and place it in the root of the SD card
8. [UDPIH] minute fw.img and boot1.img from https://github.com/jan-hofmeier/minute_minute/releases and rename boot1.img to boot1now.img
9. [UDPIH] recovery_menu from https://github.com/GaryOderNichts/recovery_menu/releases

The structure on the SD should look like this:

boot1.img (only for UDPIH)
fw.img
ios.img
recovery_menu   (only for UDPIH)
superblock.img
superblock.img.sha
wiiu
    ios_plugins
         wafel_core.ipx
         wafel_isfshax_patch.ipx

Launching into minute

This step heavily depends on the used Exploit.

Spoiler: Aroma

1. Hold B on the Gamepad while booting (if coldboot is enabled) or launching the H&S app
2. A black and white menu should show up asking you to choose a payload.
3. Select fw_img_loader

Note: if the fw_img_loader is missing get the "fw.img loader" payload from https://aroma.foryour.cafe/

Spoiler: Haxchi

1. Hold A on the Gamepad while booting (if you have CBHC) or launching the Haxchi or DO NOT TOUCH ME app.

Spoiler: Browser

1. Open the Browser and browse to u.wiidb.de
2. Click on "HAXX"

Spoiler: DNSpresso

If you can a access the settings just follow these instructions (you already have the right files on the SD): https://gbatemp.net/threads/dnspresso-a-wii-u-dns-exploit.642123/
If you are stuck on the Mii creation in the Inital setup:

1. If you already connected your Wii U to your AP / Router, turn the AP / Router or the Wifi on it off.
2. When the setup asks you if you already have a NNID, say yes (even if you don't have one)
3. Now it tries to connect to the Internet, but will fail and ask you to take you back to the Wifi settings, follow back to thge settings.
4. Turn your Router / AP on again and give it time to start.
5. If you don't already have your Wifi configured there, connect to it now, but enter a wrong password.
6. Edit your wifi connection and configure 85.215.57.182 as Primary DNS, if you entered a wrong password before set the right one now.
7. Press (B) Back and select Connection Test.

Spoiler: UDPIH

1. Load the recovery using UDPIH: https://gbatemp.net/threads/udpih-usb-host-stack-exploit-recovery-menu.613369/ (don't replace the recovery_menu)
2. The LED should turn purple and a countdown timer for loading boot1now.img should appear, wait the 5 seconds
3. Unplug the Pico

Note: if the LED turned purple, the UDPIH exploit worked, even if you don't see anything on the screen

Now you should see the minute main menu. If not, something went wrong. Make sure you have the correct fw.img file on the SD.
In minute you move the cursor with the power button and enter with the eject button (swapped compared to the recovery menu).

Note: minute only outputs 1080p through HDMI, no picture on the gamepad, and nothing on the analog outputs.
Some people reported that the screen output is not working for them when minute was loaded from the recovery. If you made sure nothing else is the problem (right fw.img, TV supports 1080p HDMI), you can still follow along blindly by pressing the appropriate buttons. Make sure to wait long enough between the presses, so the system has time to load. Without display output skip the first backup and go directly to Installing ISFShax.

Backup

1. Navigate to Backup and Restore
2. Dump SEEPROM & OTP
3. Dump SLC.RAW
4. Return to Main Menu

Installing ISFShax

1. Choose Boot `ios.img` (6x Power, 1x Eject)
2. Now the ISFShax installer should launch (this takes a few seconds)
3. Follow the Instructions on the screen, the buttons are the same as in minute. (3x Eject, 1x Power, 3x Eject)
4. The console should now turn off.
5. [Aroma | Haxchi | Browser | DNSpresso] replace the (encrypted) fw.img on the SD with the fw.img (NOT the encrypted one) from https://github.com/jan-hofmeier/minute_minute/releases
6. If the install was successfull the Wii U should directly start into minute once you turn it on again.

Backup ISFShax

Dump the SLC.RAW again. This will overwrite the previous SLC.RAW file on the SD. This is required if you need to restore the SLC for unbricking, without loosing ISFShax. Keep that backup in a safe place.

Booting

If you came here from the redNAND or the MLC rebuild tutorial continue with that tutorial now.

For now your Wii U needs the SD card to boot. From there it loads minute (fw.img), which then applies the required patches from SD card. (IOSU needs to be patched, so it doesn't fall over the ISFShax superblock).
To boot into the Wii U OS select Patch (sd) and boot IOS (slc).

If your console just bootloops through minute over and over again, you are probably coldbooting Aroma and replaced the wiiu/payload.elf with the fw_img loader. Just replace the wiiu/payload.elf again with the Aroma one (applies to Tiramisu too).

Aroma / Tiramisu

1. If you are already coldbooting Aroma / Tiramisu, undo the Autobooting: https://wiiu.hacks.guide/#/uninstall-payloadloader?id=undo-autobooting-into-payloadloader
2. To install Aroma or Tiramisu put the corresponding files on the SD.
   Tiramisu: https://tiramisu.foryour.cafe/
   Aroma: https://aroma.foryour.cafe/ (You don't need to have install Tiramisu to have Aroma, also the FTPiiU plugin will become handy later)
3. Put the wafel_payloader.ipx in the ios_plugins folder https://github.com/jan-hofmeier/wafel_payloader/releases

If the Wii U bootloops through minute endlessly: You replaced the wiiu/payload.elf with the fw_img loader. Just replace the wiiu/payload.elf again with the one from the environmentloader.zip

Booting without SD

This step is optional but highly recommended. Now the Wii U doesn't show anything on the screen without the SD. That could lead to confusion if the SD ever gets lost or corrupted.
To make it from the internal memory we need to install the minute fw.img and the ios_plugins to the SLC. This can be accomplished using FTPiiU Everywhere, which can be launched from Tiramisu and is already part of the Aroma Package (enable Everywhere in the settings) or you can use the haxcopy homebrew https://github.com/mackieks/haxcopy/releases
Using haxcopy is recommended for most users, but if you copy a wrong plugin to the slc or need to delete one for whatever reason you still have to use FTP for that.

Spoiler: haxcopy

1. create a folder hax on the SD card (this will be copied to the slc)
2. copy the fw.img to the hax folder
3. create a subfolder ios_plugins in the hax folder
4. rename the wafel_core.ipx to 0core.ipx and copy it to the hax/ios_plugins folder
5. rename the wafel_isfshax_patch.ipx to 6isfshax.ipx and copy it to the hax/ios_plugins folder
6. if you want to coldboot aroma or tiramisu, rename the wafel_payloader.ipx to 9payldr.ipx and copy it to the hax/ios_plugins folder
7. If you need any other plugins like the wafel_unlimit.ipx, you have to rename and copy it to the hax/ios_plugins folder
8. Copy the haxcopy app to the wiiu/apps folder (like you usually install homebrew)
9. Put the SD in the Wii U and run haxcopy to copy the hax folder to the slc.

Spoiler: FTP

On Aroma you have to make sure access to system files is enabled:

1. Open the Aroma Plugin Configuration Menu using L + Down + SELECT (-) on the GamePad or Pro Controller (or B + Down + Minus (-) for WiiMotes)
2. Open the FTPiiU option, then settings and set ‘Allow access to system files’ to ‘true’ by pressing A

Uploading the files:

1. (Tiramisu only) Make sure FTPiiU Everywhere is running on the Wii U
2. Using a FTP client on the PC browse to /storage_slc/
3. If you see a scfm.img file and sys folder go into the sys folder. If you see a bunch of folders (config import logs proc rights security title tmp) just go to the next step.
4. create a subfolder hax and enter it
5. Make sure your FTP client is in binary mode (not ASCII mode)
6. upload the minute fw.img to the /storage_slc/sys/hax folder
7. create another subfolder ios_plugins in /storage_slc/sys/hax
8. enter that /storage_slc/sys/hax/ios_plugins folder
9. rename the wafel_core.ipx to 0core.ipx and upload it
10. rename the wafel_isfshax_patch.ipx to 6isfshax.ipx and upload it
11. if you want to coldboot aroma or tiramisu, rename the wafel_payloader.ipx to 9payldr.ipx and upload it
12. If you need other plugins like the wafel_unlimit.ipx, you have to rename and upload them too

Now the Wii U should autoboot if no SD card is inserted.
If a SD card is inserted the minute menu should show up (even if the SD doesn't contain a fw.img). In that menu you can select the Patch (slc) and boot IOS (slc) to load the plugins from the slc and boot (no need to have them on the SD anymore).

The Wii U will first try to load the fw.img from the SLC and if that fails it falls back to the SD.
If you installed a broken fw.img which doesn't load, you can force isfshax to load the fw.img from sd by repeatedly pressing the power button till the menu shows up.

Warning: A factory reset will delete the hax folder. Without the fw.img on the SD the Wii U will then just have a black screen with a orange LED with the latest ISFShax it will apply minimal patches to boot and it will still block updates, but some things like leaving the settings might me slower. It's recommended to setup minute and stroopwafel again.

Optional Autobooting with SD

To make the Wii U autoboot with an SD card inserted you need to create the file sd:/minute/minute.ini with the following content:

[boot]
autoboot=1
autoboot_timeout=3

You can adjust the timeout (in seconds) to your liking. The autoboot option specifies which entry from the minute menu will be loaded. 1 corresponds to Patch (slc) and boot IOS (slc), which loads the ios_plugins from the SLC. If you haven't installed them to the SLC or want to load them from the sd for another reason you can change that value to 3 which corresponds to Patch (sd) and boot IOS (slc)

As an Alternative check out the Fastboot option below.

Optional: Fastbooting (Advanced)

To make the Wii U boot as fast as possible, without showing minute, you can now use the fw_fastboot.img. This won't work with redNAND
It is hardcoded to go straight to the first option (booting the slc, with patches from SLC). It won't display anything and ignore any autoboot configuration in the minute.ini.

1. First make sure the system can boot using the first option in minute. (see booting without SD)
2. Replace the the fw.img in the hax folder on the SLC with the fw_fastboot.img (renamed to fw.img)

In case you ever get stuck and need to load the full minute from SD you can do this:

1. Place the minute fw.img on the SD card
2. repeatedly press the power button until the minute menu shows up on the screen.

Uninstalling ISFShax

DON'T just restore an older SLC backup, as that would break SCFM!

• Make sure your Wii U doesn't depend on any patches (linke wafel_unlimit_mlc.ipx or redNAND). You can check that by booting with only the wafel_core.ipx and the wafel_isfshax_ipx plugins in the ios_plugins directory on the SD and using the Patch (sd) and boot IOS (slc) option
• Delete the /storage_slc/sys/hax folder if you set up the slc booting
• run the ISFShax installer again from minute and follow the on-screen instructions to uninstall.

Plugins

Here is a list of currently available stroopwafel plugins, you can use with ISFShax:

• wafel_noinit_tablet - Don't run on the Tablet controller on boot
• SDUSB - Run Wii U games from the SD Card
• USB Partition - Use partitioned USB HDDs with the Wii U
• wafel_setup_mlc - Rebuild / Upgrade the MLC

If you have more plugins, tell me and I can add them to the list

Credits

• @rw-r-r_0644 for finding and implementing isfshax
• @GaryOderNichts and ashquarky for their direct contributions and help
• @vgmoose for all the support and for the Wii U that replaced the one Idestroyed during early isfshax testing
• @Maschell for his help and all other contributions to the Wii U scene
• hexkyz for the warmboot boot1 exploit which made all of this possible
• @shinyquagsire23 for de_Fuse, minute and stroopwafel
• Salt Team for the original minute CFW
• dimok789, FIX94 and others for the iosuhax CFW
• fail0verflow for mini
• and all other contributors to the Wii U scene!

 

[NO111ONE]

I see. Then can you please explain why isfshax use the raw format over the bin format for SLC dumping?
Im trying to understand the logic/reason behind this.

I'd be willing to bet that it helps differentiate what made the dump. Whether it'd be dimok's dumper or minute. Also to avoid overwriting files if you get extra picky.

Though talking about ISFShax... I wanna transplant a USB drive key. I've checked 2 systems and saw that while the IVS key in OTP matched, the device ID didn't (duh).. but the device ID is present in the USB key in SEEPROM.
Which makes me ask: is it safe to manually edit the first 4 bytes of the USB drive key/IVS seed in SEEPROM, does boot0/1 check for a match or mismatch with OTP? I would suppose no but I never know.

I can probably just use redotp.bin with a different device ID so OS doesn't complain, if that's okay for ISFShax.

 

[SDIO]

SEEPROM is either checksumed or HMACed (can't remember right now). If you mess it up it will brick and you need defuse.
You can check what minute does for changing seeprom values. Also parts are encrypted.

Post automatically merged: Aug 9, 2024

I see. Then can you please explain why isfshax use the raw format over the bin format for SLC dumping?
Im trying to understand the logic/reason behind this.

It's just a different name but the same content. For each page it contains the data + spare but not ECC

 

[NO111ONE]

SEEPROM is either checksumed or HMACed (can't remember right now). If you mess it up it will brick and you need defuse.
You can check what minute does for changing seeprom values. Also parts are encrypted.

SEEPROM had checksums which can be calculated online, but to my and WiiUBrew's knowledge only for boot1 versioning.
IVS for me are stored in seemingly plaintext, and there are no checksums for them.
So it seems safe, but then at the same time I have managed to rip off 2 of the boot0 debug pads and will probably not have any luck installing de_fuse with my hands.

 

[Aletron9000]

Hi, I'm trying to install isfshax on my Wii U, but I'm stuck trying to dump the otp.bin, SEEPROM, and SLC.RAW.

When I try to dump otp.bin and SEEPRROM, I just get an error that it failed to save the otp.bin. Trying to dump the SLC.RAW though shows a different error. I tried with both an SDXC 128gb sd card and a 4gb SDHC card. Both failed, but gave different errors.

SDXC:
Dumping SLC.RAW
sdmc: abortion kthx
resetting due to error interrupt
sdhc: ERROR interrupt, status=0x8000
sdcard: read reported error. status: 00400900
Failed to open SLC.RAW (1).
Failed to dump SLC.RAW (-3)!
Press POWER/Q to exit.


SDHC:
Dumping SLC.RAW...
sdcard: abortion kthx
resetting due to error interrupt
sdhc: ERROR interrupt, status=0x8000
resetting due to error interrupt
sdhc: ERROR interrupt, status=0x8001
sdcard: MMC_READ_BLOCK_SINGLE failed with 1
Failed to open SLC.RAW (1).
Failed to dump SLC.RAW (-3)!
Press POWER/Q to exit.

Both cards are formatted for FAT32 with 32kb cluster sizes. Neither card is read-only, seems to be failing, or has the switch flipped on the side. Reading and writing to the sd card on the wii u also has never been an issue. I'm booting to minute from Aroma on boot. Does anyone have any ideas what could be causing this? Thanks.

 

[SDIO]

What brand are these cards? If these are micro SD, did you try a different adapter?

 

[Aletron9000]

What brand are these cards? If these are micro SD, did you try a different adapter?

They're regular sd cards. Both SanDisk.

 

[cjasherchase]

Thank you for making these guides! Extremely helpful. If I wanted to make a backup, would it work if I bought another sd card, format to fat32 and then copy all the files to that? Im planning on getting a higher quality sd card and making the one I'm using now the backup.

 

[SDIO]

Depends on what you want to backup. If it is just the files for ISFShax, you can just copy them and keep a backup of them on the PC (but they are easy enough to just redownload). If you have redNAND, then you also need to clone the second partition containing the MLC. On Windows you need to use some third party tool for that. On linux you could just use gparted I think or even better dd with the conv=sparse option. The MLC partition needs to have exactly the same size. If you want to resize that, you would need to reinstall the mlc titles.

Post automatically merged: Aug 11, 2024

They're regular sd cards. Both SanDisk.

How old are they, what class do they have? Can you share a picture of them?

 

[trqaloto]

Hello. I recently hacked my Wii U. At first, I wanted to use the same 1 TB HDD for Wii U and vWii (USB Loader GX), but soon found out it's not possible.

I followed the guide, but whenever I open USB loader GX, it gets stuck in "Reinitializing devices" and does not seem to be reading the FAT32 partition of the HDD.

I formatted the firt partition as FAT32, the second as NTFS

Then, the Wii U recognized the NTFS partition and formatted it. The FAT32 partition was kept as FAT32 and I was able to copy the WBFS games to it. I also copied all the contents from the MicroSD card.
Now, the Wii U boots and recognizes aroma, its plugins, modules and homebrew without the MicroSD card, since I believe the FAT32 part of the HDD is being recognized as the SD.

However, what should I do to make USB loader GX work? I tried reinstalling the cIOS on the vWii to see if that could be the issue, but no success.

 

[SDIO]

If it is powered trough USB, are you using a y cable?
Did you make sure to use Port 0?

 

[trqaloto]

Yes. I am using a Y cable. The HDD is running the installed Wii U games perfectly fine. I am also using port 0. If I use port 1 it just says that no HDD was detected and starts in channel mode.

 

[Aletron9000]

Hi, I'm trying to install isfshax on my Wii U, but I'm stuck trying to dump the otp.bin, SEEPROM, and SLC.RAW.

When I try to dump otp.bin and SEEPRROM, I just get an error that it failed to save the otp.bin. Trying to dump the SLC.RAW though shows a different error. I tried with both an SDXC 128gb sd card and a 4gb SDHC card. Both failed, but gave different errors.

SDXC:
Dumping SLC.RAW
sdmc: abortion kthx
resetting due to error interrupt
sdhc: ERROR interrupt, status=0x8000
sdcard: read reported error. status: 00400900
Failed to open SLC.RAW (1).
Failed to dump SLC.RAW (-3)!
Press POWER/Q to exit.


SDHC:
Dumping SLC.RAW...
sdcard: abortion kthx
resetting due to error interrupt
sdhc: ERROR interrupt, status=0x8000
resetting due to error interrupt
sdhc: ERROR interrupt, status=0x8001
sdcard: MMC_READ_BLOCK_SINGLE failed with 1
Failed to open SLC.RAW (1).
Failed to dump SLC.RAW (-3)!
Press POWER/Q to exit.

Both cards are formatted for FAT32 with 32kb cluster sizes. Neither card is read-only, seems to be failing, or has the switch flipped on the side. Reading and writing to the sd card on the wii u also has never been an issue. I'm booting to minute from Aroma on boot. Does anyone have any ideas what could be causing this? Thanks.

In case this happens to anyone else, I tried a different brand sd card (4gb sdhc) and that worked. Afterwords, I used the format rednand option in minute on the 128gb sd card that wasn't working. After that, minute started working with the card successfully. I know the format rednand option formats and partitions the card and recreates a fat32 partition, so maybe there was something wrong with how my card was formatted.

 

[johw]

Guys, after installing ISFShax, can you format the WiiU to make it original or is there any risk?

 

[SDIO]

You mean factory reset? It will remove the files from the SLC, but ISFShax itself will still work and load minute from SD

 

[johw]

You mean factory reset? It will remove the files from the SLC, but ISFShax itself will still work and load minute from SD

So can I format the WiiU without any problem?

 

[a_username_that_is_cool]

1. how to update (im stupid)
2. im trying to install wiiu-linux how to do that without messing up isfs hax

 

[NO111ONE]

1. how to update (im stupid)
2. im trying to install wiiu-linux how to do that without messing up isfs hax

Modules - copy and paste
Minute - copy and paste
ISFShax - rerun installer with new files (this is ok, but dont do this too often)

linux-wiiu literally does not touch system NAND, but I would not suggest running the fw without loading OSv10 first

 

[a_username_that_is_cool]

Modules - copy and paste
Minute - copy and paste
ISFShax - rerun installer with new files (this is ok, but dont do this too often)

linux-wiiu literally does not touch system NAND, but I would not suggest running the fw without loading OSv10 first

k but for linux-wiiu doesnt isfs run off of fw.img cause wiiu linux does too so will that mess it up

 

[Jose_Gonzales_2004]

Navigate to Backup and Restore

I have a question/problem with this part, whenever I boot into the minute menu, the tab for Backup and Restore doesn't appear at all, I was able to dump the SEEPROM and OTP just fine via another option on the menu, but I never saw the option to dump the SLC.raw file on the menu. Would dumping the MLC and SCL via one the options listed be okay to get the SLC.raw file, or need to select another option that would dump the file, or I messed something up before hand? Also I am using the UDPIH method to hack my Wii U, and any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[SDIO]

Sounds like you are using the wrong recovery menu for UDPIH, which doesn't auto boot minute and now you are seeing the recovery menu instead of minute.