Hacking Nintendo Switch Banning Hub & Warning

[Draxzelex]

I'm still curious about where this claim originated from. None of the system saves look like they'd be messed with by CFW (unless your pirating shit or installing custom titles), system NCAs can't be modified for obvious reasons. There's a few dev sys modules that can log things such as dmnt, but they don't exist on retail, and aren't an issue for us.

When the first LayeredFS banwave happened, people were confused how those who stayed offline with LayeredFS managed to get banned. At the time, no one thought to think of the suspicious error codes LayeredFS generated when people were unsuccessful at getting their backups to launch so instead we used a catch-all phrase namely "traces of CFW". As time went on, more and more ban causes were understood such as fake tickets for unconverted .NSP files or hash checks for Splatoon or Smash Bros. But that didn't seek to explain all ban causes such as those who factory reset their console or those who solely loaded .XCI files offline. Not to mention that there are still plenty of people not banned for having the custom libnx error codes or even having fake tickets due to .NSP files. It may or may not be a shitty generic phrase but the point of the matter is bans are not 100% fully understood much like the 3DS era. I would rather err on the side of caution than risk little Timmy complaining to his mom that he cannot play Fortnite on his Switch anymore. At the end of the day, only you know what you have done with your hacked console so we can never know what people did that may or may not lead to a ban.

 

[aerios169]

When the first LayeredFS banwave happened, people were confused how those who stayed offline with LayeredFS managed to get banned. At the time, no one thought to think of the suspicious error codes LayeredFS generated when people were unsuccessful at getting their backups to launch so instead we used a catch-all phrase namely "traces of CFW". As time went on, more and more ban causes were understood such as fake tickets for unconverted .NSP files or hash checks for Splatoon or Smash Bros. But that didn't seek to explain all ban causes such as those who factory reset their console or those who solely loaded .XCI files offline. Not to mention that there are still plenty of people not banned for having the custom libnx error codes or even having fake tickets due to .NSP files. It may or may not be a shitty generic phrase but the point of the matter is bans are not 100% fully understood much like the 3DS era. I would rather err on the side of caution than risk little Timmy complaining to his mom that he cannot play Fortnite on his Switch anymore. At the end of the day, only you know what you have done with your hacked console so we can never know what people did that may or may not lead to a ban.

Well i used emunand since the firts versión also, i used clean mando backup AND still nota banned

 

[Draxzelex]

Well i used emunand since the firts versión also, i used clean mando backup AND still nota banned

Having a clean NAND backup doesn't really count nor does EmuNAND for that matter. In both instances, when the console goes online, its when there is no CFW or homebrew in the system whether its in SysNAND or because you reset everything by restoring a clean NAND dump. In other words, the scenario you described is similar to connecting an unhacked console online which has no risk assuming you never connect to the Internet when running CFW/homebrew.

 

[aerios169]

Having a clean NAND backup doesn't really count nor does EmuNAND for that matter. In both instances, when the console goes online, its when there is no CFW or homebrew in the system whether its in SysNAND or because you reset everything by restoring a clean NAND dump. In other words, the scenario you described is similar to connecting an unhacked console online which has no risk assuming you never connect to the Internet when running CFW/homebrew.

Yeah, the most "secure" hacked mode Is emunand or cleannand

 

[Draxzelex]

Yeah, the most "secure" hacked mode Is emunand or cleannand

But that defeats the purpose of this thread. The golden rule is that using a hacked console carries a risk of ban. If your console is not hacked, you have no risk of ban. If you have no risk of ban, then it doesn't matter what you do. The point of this thread is to look at what CFW and/or homebrew carry greater or less risk when it comes to being banned. Some people attach higher ban rates to certain actions such as CDN downloading or installing .NSP files while others believe simple homebrew usage or AutoRCM carries a relatively low risk of getting banned.

Using EmuNAND or restoring a clean NAND has neither a 0 or 100% success rate. Both can work as much as they can fail. The reason for this is because if you connect online while running CFW/homebrew, its game over. And at that point, its not the fault of EmuNAND nor the clean NAND, its the fault of the user which is entirely subjective. Plus, both options aren't readily feasible to the public. One is a time sink and the other involves buying a CFW that not only everyone is not a fan for various reasons but requires payment for something that can be for free or will be at some point.

 

[Feranthur]

Question: i just want to use my switch with Lakka L4T, which is a different OS that runs on the sd card. I will be using another sd card (not my main switch one) for it and swap to my main sd card when going into Horizon OS. How likely is it that i get banned? Has anyone been banned from using something like lakka or ubuntu?

Also since i'm not messing with horizon OS is a NAND backup even necessary?

 

[Draxzelex]

Question: i just want to use my switch with Lakka L4T, which is a different OS that runs on the sd card. I will be using another sd card (not my main switch one) for it and swap to my main sd card when going into Horizon OS. How likely is it that i get banned? Has anyone been banned from using something like lakka or ubuntu?

Also since i'm not messing with horizon OS is a NAND backup even necessary?

Stuff like Lakka and Ubuntu are the safest homebrew you can run since they do not touch the NAND in the slightest. You should still make a NAND backup just in case because you never know when a brick can strike.

 

[Halm]

Question: Not sure how to look it up, but was there any new bans in the past 3 months?

I seriously want to transfer my BOTW Wii U save to my switch, but concerned of bans for "save editing"...

 

[phillyrider807]

Hey quick question. So i modded a few friends switch and have all of their CLEAN emunands backed up on a external harddrive.

My friend switch somehow went online and got banned. Probably because of the nsps installed. Either way i already told him there is probably nothing that can be done but i thought i would come here and check anyway.

I do have a clean emunand for his system but from what i read once u get banned its server side and really nothing to do with the actual console so even if i restore his emunand once he goes online nintendo will see its been banned already and just ban him again right?

 

[isoboy]

You answered your own question, it's a server side ban.

 

[Draxzelex]

Question: Not sure how to look it up, but was there any new bans in the past 3 months?

I seriously want to transfer my BOTW Wii U save to my switch, but concerned of bans for "save editing"...

While there haven't been any new bans in the past few months, I wouldn't say Nintendo has stopped banning people as there are other explanations on why no new bans haven't been reported. These include lack of interest, people who expected a ban so they don't submit a report, or people know how to avoid getting banned. And I would say save editing carries a certain risk for getting banned.

 

[DoctorZ]

Without a NAND backup is there any way to get a switch on 5.01 clear of any evidence of NSP, XCI, etc, etc that could get you banned? I have a switch that never had a NAND backup made before they started using SXOS on it and installed NSPs, etc.

 

[Draxzelex]

Without a NAND backup is there any way to get a switch on 5.01 clear of any evidence of NSP, XCI, etc, etc that could get you banned? I have a switch that never had a NAND backup made before they started using SXOS on it and installed NSPs, etc.

Nope or at least one that I personally recommend.

 

[spocksbrain]

Say I have 2 Switch tablets and only one of them is banned. Is it safe to share the same joy-cons, dock, etc between them? What sort of hardware serial detection does nintendo have, if any?

Sorry if this was asked I did not see it covered in the OP or with a thread search.

 

[Draxzelex]

Say I have 2 Switch tablets and only one of them is banned. Is it safe to share the same joy-cons, dock, etc between them? What sort of hardware serial detection does nintendo have, if any?

Sorry if this was asked I did not see it covered in the OP or with a thread search.

No information is shared within the Joy-Cons, docks, or any other console accessory.

 

[fst312]

Just got another switch, it’s on 8.0.1, checked it to see if it was patched using biskeydump and it wasn’t. Hopefully checking that doesn’t give it a future ban because my 7.0.1 switch is already banned and I don’t really want to use cfw on this one yet, maybe I will eventually when emunand comes out but for now I’m not going to. Anyway since I never had to link an account on my other switch, would it be a bad idea to use my Nintendo user name I have online with this switch I just got, I cannot remember if Nintendo made people use their online account to use eshop when the switch came out and if they did, I think I did login with that on my banned switch before I got banned but I don’t think that’s considered as a linked account. At the l same time I think I have to link an account to even see if this switch I got is even banned, since I can’t access eshop without linking an account.

 

[Draxzelex]

Just got another switch, it’s on 8.0.1, checked it to see if it was patched using biskeydump and it wasn’t. Hopefully checking that doesn’t give it a future ban because my 7.0.1 switch is already banned and I don’t really want to use cfw on this one yet, maybe I will eventually when emunand comes out but for now I’m not going to. Anyway since I never had to link an account on my other switch, would it be a bad idea to use my Nintendo user name I have online with this switch I just got, I cannot remember if Nintendo made people use their online account to use eshop when the switch came out and if they did, I think I did login with that on my banned switch before I got banned but I don’t think that’s considered as a linked account. At the l same time I think I have to link an account to even see if this switch I got is even banned, since I can’t access eshop without linking an account.

While I'm not 100% sure if you need a Nintendo Account to use the eShop, there is certainly no downside to having an account linked to your console. In fact, some games require a linked Nintendo Account in order to work such as Pianista and the LAN function of Stardew Valley. There are also no fully verified account bans or for people who were banned with an account from a hacked/banned console.

 

[fst312]

While I'm not 100% sure if you need a Nintendo Account to use the eShop, there is certainly no downside to having an account linked to your console. In fact, some games require a linked Nintendo Account in order to work such as Pianista and the LAN function of Stardew Valley. There are also no fully verified account bans or for people who were banned with an account from a hacked/banned console.

ok I linked my email address to this switch, I was able to enter the eshop, I just hope checking to see if this switch was really unpatched using biskeydump doesn’t get this console banned, after all I don’t think biskeydump loads any system settings, not sure biskey counts as still being in rcm. I don’t even have an sd card in this switch.

 

[Draxzelex]

ok I linked my email address to this switch, I was able to enter the eshop, I just hope checking to see if this switch was really unpatched using biskeydump doesn’t get this console banned, after all I don’t think biskeydump loads any system settings, not sure biskey counts as still being in rcm. I don’t even have an sd card in this switch.

No payloads will ban the console because none of them modify the console in a detectable fashion. AutoRCM is the one exception however given that no one has been banned for only having AutoRCM enabled gives the impression that Nintendo is either not detecting or banning people for it.

 

[Deleted User]

Well AutoRCM has been left enabled since I got SXOS. Doesn't seem to be apart of the problem