Hacking Updating WiiU for modding

[ThaDraGun]

I just got a WiiU and its on 5.4.0U. It has never been modded, hacked or anything yet.
I know the current version is 5.5.2U. Everything I have read says its better to be on 5.5.1. Can I update to that version, or my only option is to go to 5.5.2?

I've tried to read/watch alot of tutorials but they are all specific to 5.5.1 or 5.5.2 so I need to get the update out of the way first before I figure out how Im going to hack it.
I'm not sure if Im going to install cfw on it, or just go to the browser website hack. Can cfw be installed without buying a specific vc game, or thats the only way?

Ideally I would just like to turn the wiiu on like normal and run a game from the usb drive that is installed on the wiiu main menu. Or even just open up a usb backup loader from wiiu menu like you can do on original wii and select a game from there if thats even possible. I dont want to have to boot into the browser, then homebrew launcher, then load up the temp cfw, then load the game. That would be fine for me, but too many steps for my son.

 

[Kafluke]

Update to 5.5.2 normally and then install HaxChi (you'll have to spend 10 bucks or less but it will be worth it)

After you have HaxChi installed then install CBHC. Done and done.

Read the noob guide

 

[Hozu]

CBHC has some risks and is optional, but convenient. Haxchi doesn't have the same risk of bricking, but you have to launch it every time you want to use the features.

 

[DaTank45]

You could find a game with the 5.5.1 update on it and update it manually

 

[ThaDraGun]

I got my 32GB sd card ready, now I'm trying to find a hard drive to use. I read that WiiU can only read up to 2TB, is that correct? Its hard to find small hard drives for cheap here. Usually the bigger drives go on sale. If I got one bigger then 2TB, could it be partitioned and used for something else as well. wii games, or gamecube or something?

 

[Ryab]

I got my 32GB sd card ready, now I'm trying to find a hard drive to use. I read that WiiU can only read up to 2TB, is that correct? Its hard to find small hard drives for cheap here. Usually the bigger drives go on sale. If I got one bigger then 2TB, could it be partitioned and used for something else as well. wii games, or gamecube or something?

i suggest getting 2tb or lower because when you firm plug in the drive the wii u will say you have to format it and it wont be able to format it if its bigger than 2tb and you dont need to worry about storing gamecube/wii games on another drive because forwarders are a thing

 

[ThaDraGun]

i suggest getting 2tb or lower because when you firm plug in the drive the wii u will say you have to format it and it wont be able to format it if its bigger than 2tb and you dont need to worry about storing gamecube/wii games on another drive because forwarders are a thing

If I just use a small usb thumb drive to get started and try it out, can I switch to a bigger 2gb external hard drive later on without re-hacking? I realize I will lose all my games. I just wasnt sure if important system files will go onto the thumbdrive and its a pain to switch.
the day after xmas they have big boxing day sales so I thought Id be good to wait till then to buy a drive

 

[Lacius]

If you don't want to update to 5.5.2, you have the option of using homebrew to install 5.5.1 without buying a disc with the 5.5.1 update. The only reason to do this would be if you didn't want to use Haxchi.

If you plan on buying a game for Haxchi regardless, then there's no reason not to update to 5.5.2.

 

[ThaDraGun]

If you don't want to update to 5.5.2, you have the option of using homebrew to install 5.5.1 without buying a disc with the 5.5.1 update. The only reason to do this would be if you didn't want to use Haxchi.

If you plan on buying a game for Haxchi regardless, then there's no reason not to update to 5.5.2.

It sounds like haxchi is the best way to go for the easiest wiiu experience. So if i have to pay $10 its not that big of a deal. I'll just update

 

[Ryab]

It sounds like haxchi is the best way to go for the easiest wiiu experience. So if i have to pay $10 its not that big of a deal. I'll just update

essentially the reason you need to spend some money for haxchi is because the way haxchi works is you purchase one of the exploitable ds games from the eshop one of them being Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training: How Old Is Your Brain? which is the cheaptest of the choices at 7$ and what haxchi does is you use the very unstable browser exploit that freezes 60% of the time to eventually get into the homebrew launcher then use the haxchi installer app to overwrite the ds vc game with haxchi (Basically an icon on your home screen that boots into homebrew)

 

[w35l3y]

you use the very unstable browser exploit that freezes 60% of the time to eventually get into the homebrew launcher then use the haxchi installer app to overwrite the ds vc game with haxchi

Why not doing this now in 5.4.0 while it's 100% rate and update the firmware later ?
Does haxchi installer work only with homebrew 1.4+ ?

 

[Kafluke]

Why not doing this now in 5.4.0 while it's 100% rate and update the firmware later ?
Does haxchi installer work only with homebrew 1.4+ ?

HaxChi needs 5.5.1 or greater

 

[ThaDraGun]

So no matter what you do, you always have to click a link to go to homebrew launcher then you click to go to your game?

There is no way to just start a game from Main menu like normal?

 

[Lacius]

It sounds like haxchi is the best way to go for the easiest wiiu experience. So if i have to pay $10 its not that big of a deal. I'll just update

For your setup purposes, sure. 5.5.2 and Haxchi is the easiest thing to setup. I usually setup people's Wii U systems on 5.5.1, configuring the browser to automatically launch CFW upon launching the browser, so the ease of use is very similar to using Haxchi, but without having to spend the money.

HaxChi needs 5.5.1 or greater

I believe it needs 5.5.0 or greater.

So no matter what you do, you always have to click a link to go to homebrew launcher then you click to go to your game?

There is no way to just start a game from Main menu like normal?

I'm not sure what you're trying to do exactly. To run homebrew or CFW, you have to manually launch Haxchi. If you install CBHC after installing Haxchi, it will automatically launch CFW on boot, but it comes with brick risks if you don't understand exactly what you are doing.

Assuming you're installing games properly, you shouldn't have to launch the Homebrew Launcher at all to be able to play them, regardless of if you're using Haxchi, CBHC, or even Mocha. You only need the Homebrew Launcher to install them.

What are you trying to do, step by step?

 

[ThaDraGun]

Assuming you're installing games properly, you shouldn't have to launch the Homebrew Launcher at all to be able to play them, regardless of if you're using Haxchi, CBHC, or even Mocha. You only need the Homebrew Launcher to install them.

What are you trying to do, step by step?

Sorry I haven't started doing anything yet. It's for my son for Xmas so I can't work on it when he's around. I was just trying to figure out how it works and how you actually play a game to see what way is best for us. I wanted something really easy to use for my son.

I modded our original Wii and it was just a matter of opening the USB loader gx which was on the main menu and running the game from there. Then I set it up to automatically boot into the USB loader as soon as you turned the Wii on and that was even easier to use.

I'll just have to test them out and see how it goes.

 

[Lacius]

Sorry I haven't started doing anything yet. It's for my son for Xmas so I can't work on it when he's around. I was just trying to figure out how it works and how you actually play a game to see what way is best for us. I wanted something really easy to use for my son.

I modded our original Wii and it was just a matter of opening the USB loader gx which was on the main menu and running the game from there. Then I set it up to automatically boot into the USB loader as soon as you turned the Wii on and that was even easier to use.

I'll just have to test them out and see how it goes.

You will download games using Wii U USB Helper. You will install games to the NAND or a dedicated USB drive using WUP Installer GX2. After you install the game, you just have to launch it from the Wii U home menu. Launching games doesn't get much easier than that. If it's a game that only got an eShop release and didn't get a disc release, then you will also have to launch CFW (Haxchi, CBHC, or Mocha) before installing or playing the game.

To be clear, to use a USB drive with the Wii U for Wii U games installed this way, the entire drive will be formatted, and it will only work with the Wii U. You cannot use the drive for anything else.

 

[DaTank45]

I modded my Wii U for my son as well. I stayed away from cbhc for fear of a brick because he is so young. I would recommend haxchi and use Wii U usb helper to download the 140 or so titles on there. You better hurry if this is a Christmas gift as downloading, copying games to an sd card, then installing games can be time consuming. Probably will take you a few days to grab all the games you want.

 

[ThaDraGun]

What do I do when Haxchi doesn't see any available games on the nand? I'm trying to go through the guide. I already downloaded and installed brain age. I verified it runs.
After finally getting into homebrew launcher after trying browserhax at least 15times Haxchi gave me the error there is no game. I did not have my USB drive plugged in.

 

[AboodXD]

CBHC has some risks and is optional, but convenient.

To be honest, it's not convenient at all. You are risking a brick for what, not waiting 5 seconds for the Wii U menu to boot?

 

[Cyan]

CBHC is convenient for kids because you boot the console and launch the game.

But, for kids, it's dangerous because you can say goodbye to your console if :
- you format the WiiU
- You delete the profile who bought the NDS game

If it's for kids, maybe it's better to educate them that they need to launch Haxchi channel after booting the console before launching any games.
set haxchi to patch system menu with CFW instead of launching homebrew launcher by default (there's a config file to change that behavior).


No Idea why haxchi installer can't see your NDS game.
where did you get haxchi installer from ? which version? the NDS game is installed to the console, not USB, right?


Edit:
I see you have duplicated help thread. You should use only one, it's hard for users to help you if many people give you different information. We don't know what have already been suggested, what you already tested etc.
please, just continue here :
https://gbatemp.net/threads/guide-noob-guide-to-wii-u-hacking.451297/