I can install IOS in vWii! But...

UPDATE 2013-01-03: Patches updated to allow installation of hidden titles now. (was still broken with error -1017 with older patches)
Thanks to FIX94 for bringing this issue to my attention, so I could fix it
IOS236 Installer also updated with these patches.

Well, I am sure that thread title caught your attention Well, maybe.

With the release of HBC v1.1.1 (v1.1.2 now) (for those who do not know of this, links here, here and here), access to AHBPROT-related features is now available on the vWii of the Wii U.

So anyways, I installed the new HBC this morning, but unable to make a NAND dump due to BootMii being unable to be installed on the vWii. However, I managed to fully dump the entire unencrypted contents of my Wii U's vWii NAND using WiiPower+Nicksasa's old FS Toolbox app, which I had modified to add in support for AHBPROT runtime IOS patching so it would actually work in vWii. The main reason I wanted to dump the NAND contents was to have a look at the vWii IOS, especially due to them being hardcoded to throw error -1017 if trying to install a system title, and I wanted to try patch that out.

FS Toolbox MOD dol+src here, use it at your own risk! Could brick vWii if you do not know what you are doing.

So I managed to get what I wanted, and after a while messing around in IDA (despite me not really having much coding or reverse engineering knowledge), I managed to find out where this new IOS "feature" was, and managed to create a few patches that, when applied via either AHBPROT supporting app, or by hex editing the ES IOS module then rewriting it to NAND, will then allow that vWii IOS to be able to install system titles like IOS once more (and presumably system menu too, but I am too scared to try that right now, since I do not have any way to recover vWii if it does not like that).

UPDATE 2012-12-11: (Patches updated, should work for all versions of vWii IOS now)
So, here are the patches I made, 3 in total, must apply all 3 to ES module in IOS (well technically 5, pt1 and pt2 patches get applied twice each)

Code:

Kill_AntiSysTitleInstallv3_pt1 <- must patch 2 instances of this pattern!
681A2A01D005
681A2A0146C0
Kill_AntiSysTitleInstallv3_pt2 <- must patch 2 instances of this pattern!
D0023306429AD101
46C03306429AE001
Kill_AntiSysTitleInstallv3_pt3
68FB2B00DB01
68FB2B00DB10

Modified iospatch.c for AHBPROT apps with these added patches here. <- link updated 2013-01-03, updated with v3 of my patch.

Now that we can install IOS wads on vWii, what can we do?
Well, here is where that big "But..." in the thread title comes in.
Answer is, not much at all, at least not yet.

You can install older IOS (and cIOS if you have signature patch enabled too), but you cannot do much with them. I have not tested any with games, so do not know what would happen there, but just testing them out in Multi-Mod Manager (WiiMod would blackscreen on me every time I tried loading it with AHBPROT support on vWii... do not know why), I noticed that both older Wii IOS, and cIOS, which are based on them, you can reload to them, and perform basic things (like navigate around the app for example), but nothing really too awesome.

However, every time you try to initialize SD or USB with either old Wii IOS or cIOS, they would crash, freezing the Wii U, which is of course no real use at all. Also, for me, it seemed that initializing network abilities is not doable with these either. Trying did not freeze the Wii U like initiializing SD or USB did, but just "failed to initialize network" error message in apps.

So, long story short, these patches allow Wii U vWii IOS to install system titles once again, no more error -1017. Do so at your own risk though. You can reload to older IOS, but can not use many features without them crashing and freezing up the Wii U. For things like USB Loaders to work on Wii U vWii, I believe things like d2x cIOS would have to be updated to support using vWii IOS as bases for vWii cIOS.

...I think that sums it all up. Well, enjoy!

UPDATE 2012-01-03:
IOS236 installer updated with new v3 patches: here

 

@vinhdt:
Yeah, it was not exactly a straight-forward process, I used the modified FS Toolbox to extract the IOS Module files, patch them with a hex editor, then use FS Toolbox again to rewrite the patched IOS Module files, along with a few extra files in order to prevent bricking (like content.map, and a few IOS tmds, since the patched IOS Module was a shared content one).

@Krestent:
I am assuming so anyway, based on the fact that Wii versions of those fail to work on vWii. Also, I tried packing vWii IOS36 v2864 to a wad, installed it on my regular Wii, and failed to load (Wii froze when loading up vWii IOS on it), so that also points in that direction. And yeah, as mentioned towards the end of my first post, I am pretty sure we could. Only one way to find out really. I managed to make a patched cIOS36 v3864 wad with this. It is mainly just a patched IOS36, similar to the likes of cIOS236, or older versions of cIOS249 (before the USB loader era). Of course it needs these patches already in effect to be installed, but it makes things more convenient once it is installed, especially for older apps that have not been updated with AHBPROT support.

 

OK!
I have modified IOS236 Installer for use on Wii U vWii:
IOS236 Installer MOD v6 Special vWii Edition
App dol + source included.

It uses these patches to install IOS236, and also applies them to IOS236 so that IOS236 can install system titles itself without AHBPROT.

HOWEVER! It REQUIRES IOS36-64-v3864.wad on the root of your SD card, since it is not available to download from NUS. (Not by Wii or vWii anyway)
You would have to dump it from your vWii, or find it elsewhere... I have it uploaded to my mediafire files, but I do not know how to actually share it, what with legality and forum rules and all. Maybe someone will hopefully find it then spread it all over the internet?

Enjoy!

@Supercool330:
I have already dumped them from my vWii (packed with showmiiwads from nand fs dump), and uploaded them to mediafire, but no clue how I would go about sharing them though. But they are just sitting there for the meantime at least.

@The Teej:
I am not actually sure at this present time. I know there is another version of devolution in the works by tueidj, but it works in Wii mode, unlike say Dios Mios. And I have no clue what MIOS or Dios Mios would do when loaded on vWii. Also, no real way to test these at this time, since USB Loaders are pretty much useless on vWii for now.
EDIT: ninja'd by McHaggis.

@Excelsiior:
That is strange... unless there is a typo somewhere or something similar... a similar thing happened to me when I was modifying the IOS236 installer, but I managed to find it. I wonder if looking at the included source for the modified IOS236 installer would help you find what could be causing it.

@Rapper_skull:
Yeah, same key for both Wii and vWii. But the vWii does not handle install of updates, it is Wii U Mode that does this, so vWii does not need it, and it is Wii U Mode that would have this new common key somewhere.

 

That is correct.