Hacking UStealth - Wii U 'Format Disk' Nag workaround :)

jayjay123

jayjay123

Well-Known Member
OP
Member
Level 4
Joined
Jul 24, 2013
Messages
212
Trophies
1
Age
54
XP
392
Country
I've created a small Windows app to hide or un-hide a drive so that Wii U doesn't nag you to format it every time you start. At this stage, the disk is only useful for USB loading of backups in vWii until support is added to more apps for the 'hidden' drive.

1. Create your NTFS / FAT32 / WBFS partition on your removable media for your backups to run under vWii in the various USB loaders.

2. Add games as usual

3. Use the U-Stealth drive hider app to toggle the 'hidden state' of the drive - Hidden / Normal. The source can be found on the U-Stealth google code page: https://code.google.com/p/u-stealth
Latest compiled app for Windows: UStealth_R8.exe

Some people have reported issues with R8 - if you do, try R7 here *Thanks Markehmus*

4. Either edit the source and compile the WiiFlow / CFG USB Loader / etc. to support a boot signature of 55AB yourself, or download one of these releases I've provided until support for the hidden drive is included in the various app's main trunks. These support both standard and 'hidden' drives:
- WiiFlow 4.2 (or higher) has support built in to the official release, thanks to Fix94! https://code.google.com/p/wiiflow/downloads/list
- USB Loader GX r1216 (and higher) https://www.mediafire.com/folder/6a48l4qn0aa1h/
- CFG USBloader (based on 70 r63) http://tinyurl.com/cfgusb-ustealth

(just copy the .dol into the correct apps/appname folder and rename it to boot.dol)

That's it! You can backup games from DVD to the 'hidden' drive in the above apps as before too.

*NOTE* when the drive is hidden, it won't be visible to anything other than an app that specifically supports it, and currently I only know of the three USB loaders above (as well as the u-stealth app itself)... hopefully more will be added. Fix94 is adding support to CFG while Cyan has kindly offered to include support in USBLoaderGX. Watch this space for more support in future.

Note that this doesn't solve the issue that the drive can't be used by both Wii U and vWii - that issue isn't likely to be easily resolved. The hidden drive will be totally ignored by Wii U (and Windows and everything else except supported apps) until it is un-hidden using the tool. Windows will tell you the drive is not formatted and ask you if you want to format it when connected after hiding it - obviously the answer is no unless you want to lose everything on it :) Simply run U-Stealth and unhide it to work with it in Windows again.

Please test and let me know your experiences. Don't use it on a drive with critical data until you've tested it. I've tested extensively, but you never know.

The app won't hide the operating system drive for obvious reasons. It also checks for the presence of a standard boot signature before doing it's work. If non-standard entry is found at the boot-signature address, it will be labelled as an unknown drive and will ignore it.

I'll maintain this opening post with future updates. Thanks a million to Cyan, Fix94, hippojay for your assistance.
----
*EDIT* 13 August
Some users are having trouble running the app (it crashes). I've tested on Windows 8 and 7 64 bit (not 32 bit). If anyone has trouble running it, please let me know.

-Please note that Antivirus software may prevent it from doing it's job of re-writing the boot sector... if you have trouble, please disable antivirus and test again.
-I haven't tested on a UEFI system. My system runs regular BIOS. If anyone with UEFI enabled can test, I'd appreciate!
----
*EDIT* 15 August
Added USB Loader GX to the list of supported apps
Added some error handling on getting the drive handle / reading MBR. Hopefully it won't crash on some systems.
Added more error handling - some systems had 'phantom' devices that weren't actually attached and it couldn't get the size so was causing unhandled exception. It *should* skip any phantom devices now.
It's also been tested with GPT partition and seems to be working fine with those too.
----
*EDIT* 16 August
Added code to prevent crash on systems with card readers. It now skips over the empty card reader drives which were causing it to crash previously when it tried to read the details of the media in the drive. Thanks again Air2004!
----
*EDIT* 16 September
Replaced the corrupt EXE on the web with working one after a month's absence. SORRY!
Use the URL above to get the latest copy.
----
*EDIT* Official WiiFlow release 4.2 or higher now supports the partition modified by U-Stealth, thanks Fix94!
Official USBLoaderGX Revision 1216 or higher now supports the partition modified by U-Stealth too.
---
*EDIT* 22 Feb 2014
Added support for newer drives with 4k sectors - thanks to RobJanssen.
Fixed a bug in systems with nameless interfaces (SD card drives etc) - thanks to Onion_Knight.
---
*EDIT* 23 Feb 2014
Updated code and R7 .exe to reflect RobJanssen's fix for the crash on startup on certain systems. Thank you!
---
*EDIT* 17 April 2014
Updated the build to include the new icon, thanks OriginalHamster. No other updates in this release
---


List of natively compatible homebrew



List of specific version recompiled homebrew
For all homebrew depending on libfat to check the partition table, recompile your homebrew using this libfat library. (old)
Or this one:
LibFat v1.1.1 with Ustealth patch
https://filetrip.net/dl?AIkKo9H8Dv
note: UNTESTED, I only edited line 183 of partition.c and recompiled with devkitPPC r29-1 (Cyan)
 
Last edited by Cyan,
  • Like
Reactions: Powerful, SaulFabre, marlewuk and 41 others
The Real Jdbye

The Real Jdbye

*is birb*
Member
Level 24
Joined
Mar 17, 2010
Messages
23,815
Trophies
5
Location
Space
XP
14,790
Country
Norway
jayjay123 said:
I've created a small Windows app to hide or un-hide a drive so that Wii U doesn't nag you to format it every time you start. At this stage, the disk is only useful for USB loading of backups until support is added to more apps for the 'hidden' drive.

1. Create your NTFS / FAT32 / WBFS partition on your removable media for your backups to run under vWii in the various USB loaders.

2. Add games as usual

3. Use the U-Stealth drive hider app to toggle the 'hidden state' of the drive - Hidden / Normal. The compiled app can be found on the project wiki page.
U-Stealth project page: https://code.google.com/p/u-stealth/admin
Latest compiled app for Windows: http://tinyurl.com/ustealth

4. Either edit the source and compile the WiiFlow / CFG USB Loader / etc. to support a boot signature of 55AB yourself, or download one of these releases I've provided until support for the hidden drive is included in the various app's main trunks. These support both standard and 'hidden' drives:
WiiFlow (based on 4.1.3) http://tinyurl.com/wiiflow-ustealth
CFG USBloader (based on 70 r63) http://tinyurl.com/cfgusb-ustealth
(just copy the .dol into the correct apps/appname folder and rename it to boot.dol)

That's it! You can backup games from DVD to the 'hidden' drive in the above apps as before too.

*NOTE* when the drive is hidden, it won't be visible to anything other than an app that specifically supports it, and currently I only know of the two USB loaders above (as well as the u-stealth app itself)... hopefully more will be added. Fix94 is adding support to WiiFlow and CFG while Cyan has kindly offered to include support in USBLoaderGX. Watch this space for more support in future.

Note that this doesn't solve the issue that the drive can't be used by both Wii U and vWii - that issue isn't likely to be easily resolved. The hidden drive will be totally ignored by Wii U (and Windows and everything else except supported apps) until it is un-hidden using the tool. Windows will tell you the drive is not formatted and ask you if you want to format it when connected after hiding it - obviously the answer is no unless you want to lose everything on it :) Simply run U-Stealth and unhide it to work with it in Windows again.

Please test and let me know your experiences. Don't use it on a drive with critical data until you've tested it. I've tested extensively, but you never know.

I haven't tested on a drive with 4kb sectors (newer) as I don't have one and it may work on one with 512b sector emulation, but I don't know. Just make sure you have a backup before taking the plunge.

The app won't hide the operating system drive for obvious reasons. It also checks for the presence of a standard boot signature before doing it's work. If non-standard entry is found at the boot-signature address, it will be labelled as an unknown drive and will ignore it.

I'll maintain this opening post with future updates. Thanks a million to Cyan, Fix94, hippojay for your assistance.
Click to expand...
Just wanted to say the project page link is broken.
Anyway looks nice. I'll definitely be using this on my Wii U, that nag screen is annoying.
Is there any way you could make it still work in Windows? Having to run the program every time I want to add games or play Dolphin is a bit annoying.

tj_cool said:
Remove the admin part from the end of the URL:
https://code.google.com/p/u-stealth/
Click to expand...
Yeah I know, but not everyone will be able to figure that out.
 
  • Like
Reactions: jayjay123
jayjay123

jayjay123

Well-Known Member
OP
Member
Level 4
Joined
Jul 24, 2013
Messages
212
Trophies
1
Age
54
XP
392
Country
The Real Jdbye said:
Just wanted to say the project page link is broken.
Anyway looks nice. I'll definitely be using this on my Wii U, that nag screen is annoying.
Is there any way you could make it still work in Windows? Having to run the program every time I want to add games or play Dolphin is a bit annoying.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the heads up - it was late my side when I posted. Link has been updated.
Unfortunately I can't see a way of having Windows recognize it other than perhaps creating a seperate .exe that runs when your specific drive is inserted that changes the boot signature... I think that's a longer than long shot... besides, it takes 15 seconds to run and if you only need it when transferring stuff... :)
 
Cyan

Cyan

GBATemp's lurking knight
Former Staff
Level 25
Joined
Oct 27, 2002
Messages
23,745
Trophies
4
Age
46
Location
Engine room, learning
XP
15,689
Country
France
Some users were already using this method since December 2012, it was just not made public and no automatic obfuscating application released.

I want to say that this idea was primarily thought when we discussed how the WiiU detected partitions
Can you make a Wii U Partition?

With the work and tests made my KDH and PsyBlade, they found that WiiU didn't warn to format the drive if there weren't any partition table.
The WiiU is checking for : MBR, GPT and GPT backup (at the end of the drive).

Deadman then proposed to alter the MBR signature and update the USBloaders to accept the altered one, and it worked. (it didn't on first try, but it was because of incorrect test version)
We decided that we wouldn't add it in the loaders for few reason, being:

- Altering the MBR could result in corrupted drive if done wrong. We will have so many more N00bs asking how to fix their drives now, be ready to answer their questions and help them!
- connecting an unrecognizable drive to Windows (since Vista) automatically asks to format it, and I know people would answer yes...
- It would work only with updated/modded homebrew.
- It's very easy to fix by Nintendo, instead of looking for a partition table, they could check partition presence themselves (you don't need a table to have partition)
- The longer it stays "not well known" by users, the longer they could use that trick until nintendo update the detection routines.


Edit:
Jayjay tested a GPT drive, with only the stealth MBR the WiiU doesn't ask to format it.


Another important thing that Jayjay123 didn't mention:

- It will work only with Wii Disc-based backups on FAT32/NTFS/Ext/WBFS
- Not compatible with WBFS partition format (It could work, like above formats the loaders are using FragList for WBFS too). Tested by Jayjay123 and working fine.
- Not compatible with EmuNAND Channels, neek2o, etc.

For the last points, cIOS d2x needs an update to support the new signature.

Just try and report if it really doesn't work with EmuNAND as nobody tested it yet.
 
  • Like
Reactions: VatoLoco and Coto
Cyan

Cyan

GBATemp's lurking knight
Former Staff
Level 25
Joined
Oct 27, 2002
Messages
23,745
Trophies
4
Age
46
Location
Engine room, learning
XP
15,689
Country
France
you could try it, that way we will know if it works or not.
I don't think anybody tested it yet

USBLoaderGX is using fraglist for WBFS too, it was added to support bigger virtual sector size.
edit: oh, you don't have GX to test, check your PM.
 
jayjay123

jayjay123

Well-Known Member
OP
Member
Level 4
Joined
Jul 24, 2013
Messages
212
Trophies
1
Age
54
XP
392
Country
It's working on WBFS with WiiFlow and CFG USBLoader on my system. I initialized MBR under Windows and formatted it using WBFS manager. I have PM and will test and let you know. As for noobs all around us - that will forever be an issue... bricked consoles are a bigger threat IMO. As mentioned, the software does first check for existing boot signature 55AA and if it doesn't exist, it marks it 'unknown' and wont allow changes to that drive.
 
jayjay123

jayjay123

Well-Known Member
OP
Member
Level 4
Joined
Jul 24, 2013
Messages
212
Trophies
1
Age
54
XP
392
Country
Cyan said:
Altering the MBR could result in corrupted drive if done wrong. We will have so many more N00bs asking how to fix their drives now, be ready to answer their questions and help them!
Click to expand...
It could happen and there are plenty warnings on the 'label'.

- connecting an unrecognizable drive to Windows (since Vista) automatically asks to format it, and I know people would answer yes...
Click to expand...
Personally I think it's easier to format it on the Wii U than Windows... at least an adult is mostly going to be connecting it to Windows...
- It would work only with updated/modded homebrew.
- It's very easy to fix by Nintendo, instead of looking for a partition table, they could check partition presence themselves (you don't need a table to have partition)
- The longer it stays "not well known" by users, the longer they could use that trick until nintendo update the detection routines.
Click to expand...
True... there is always a fine line between this kind of open source being helpful to the community or kept to ourselves.
 
jayjay123

jayjay123

Well-Known Member
OP
Member
Level 4
Joined
Jul 24, 2013
Messages
212
Trophies
1
Age
54
XP
392
Country
JiggyEyeJoe said:
Great work. Tested and works perfectly with your provided Wiiflow-dol on a PAL-WiiU. Is it possible to do this with USBLoader GX?
Click to expand...

Just an update - we're testing with USBLoader GX but I'm running into trouble getting it going. I have no doubt it should work but I think I may need to tweak my IOS first. I'll keep you all posted.

Some people report that the app is crashing on them. I'll send feedback as soon as I've been able to reproduce the issue.
 
  • Like
Reactions: wezlyons

Site & Scene News

Go to forum More news

Popular threads in this forum

Unable to dump OTP.bin with de_fuse

Mario Kart 8 crashed on start up

Homebrew  Starting Nintendont from Wii U menu breaks controllers

Hacking  Rebuilding Wii U Internal Memory fails

Gaming  Play NDS games on TV using Wii U

Using mods in .asm format on Real Wii U

Perfect Dark decomp on Wii U

Decrypt NAND Dump

General chit-chat
Help Users
    K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2: I gotta be up at 6 tomorrow 😩