Wii U Homebrew Setup

What is Homebrew?

Homebrew usually refers to software that is not authorized by Nintendo. It allows you to run homebrew games, tools like save editing and backup, and emulators for various older systems.

Running homebrew on your console is 100% free using nothing but the system’s browser.

What is Custom Firmware?

Custom Firmware (“CFW”) enables you to use more advanced hacks that userland homebrew can’t easily do, in addition to anything homebrew can do.

CFW can be easily set up on any console in any region on the latest version.

What does this guide install?

This guide has the end goal of taking a completely unmodified Wii U from stock firmware to Coldboot Haxchi powered Mocha Custom Firmware. It utilizes homebrew as a stepping off point, but Custom Firmware is still the goal.

What can I do with Custom Firmware?

Play all game discs and eShop games, regardless of region
Backup, edit, and restore saves for many games
Play games for older systems with various emulators, using RetroArch or other standalone emulators.
Install homebrew titles to your system, and have them appear on your system menu
Dump your discs to a format you can install, and play them without needing the disc

What do I need to know before starting?

Before beginning the guide, you must know the risks of Wii U hacking: EVERY time you modify your system, there is always the potential for an UNRECOVERABLE brick. They’re rare, but still a possibility so make sure you follow ALL directions EXACTLY.
This guide will work on all Wii U devices in all regions on the version 5.5.0 to 5.5.2.
If everything goes according to plan, you will lose no data and end up with everything that you started with (games, NNID, saves, etc will be preserved).
Your SD card is recommended to be at least 16GB or 32GB to have enough space for dumping and installing games.
Your SD card should be MBR, not GPT.
If you need to format a brand new SD card, you can use guiformat and set to an Allocation Unit Size of 64K.

Get Started

These steps will prepare your SD card for installing Coldboot Haxchi custom firmware.

Before beginning, you should make sure your Wii U is currently on firmware 5.5.0, 5.5.1 or 5.5.2. Older versions aren’t currently supported.

Your SD card is recommended to be at least 16GB or 32GB to have enough space for dumping and installing games. If you want to make a backup of your Wii U’s system in case it needs to be restored in the future, you will need an SD card at least twice the size of your Wii U’s system memory (16GB SD card for an 8GB white console; 64GB SD card for a 32GB black console).

Your SD card must be formatted as FAT32 (64KB clusters if possible). Most SD cards will be formatted this way by default.

If you need to format an SD card on Windows, do not use the built in formatter or it may cause issues. Use guiformat instead and set to an Allocation Unit Size of 64KB.

Your SD card cannot be named wiiu, or it will cause problems.

Before starting, you may want to check your SD card for errors using H2testw (Windows), F3 (Linux), or F3X (Mac)!

What you need

config.txt
The latest release of Homebrew App Store
The latest release of WUP Installer GX2 (Homebrew Launcher)
The latest release of WUP Installer GX2 (Channel)
The latest release of disc2app
The latest release of hid_to_vpad
The latest release of Mocha CFW
The latest release of savemii_mod
The latest release of the Homebrew Launcher Channel(the channel .zip file)
A previous release of the Homebrew Launcher (the launcher .zip file)
The latest releases of Haxchi and CBHC (both .zip files)
The latest release of NNU-Patcher

Instructions

Section I - Prep Work

Power off your device
Insert your SD card into your computer
Create a folder named wiiu on the root of your SD card
Create a folder named install on the root of your SD card
Copy the apps folder from the Homebrew App Store .zip to the /wiiu/ folder on your SD card
Copy and merge the contents of the Homebrew Launcher .zip to the root of your SD card
Copy and merge the contents of the Haxchi .zip to the root of your SD card
Copy and merge the contents of the CBHC .zip to the root of your SD card
Copy config.txt to the /haxchi folder on your SD card
Create a folder named hbc in the /install/ folder on your SD card
Copy the contents of the Homebrew Launcher Channel .zip to the /install/hbc/ folder on your SD card
Copy the WUP_Installer_GX2 folder from the WUP Installer GX2 (Channel) .zip to the .zip/install/ folder on your SD card
Create a folder named mocha in the /wiiu/apps/ folder on your SD card
Copy mocha.elf from the Mocha CFW .zip to the /wiiu/apps/mocha/ folder on your SD card
Copy the savemii_mod folder from the savemii_mod .zip to the /wiiu/apps/ folder on your SD card
Copy and merge the contents of the WUP Installer GX2 (Homebrew Launcher) .zip to the root of your SD card
Copy and merge the contents of the disc2app .zip to the root of your SD card
Copy and merge the contents of the hid_to_vpad .zip to the root of your SD card
Copy and merge the contents of the NNU-Patcher .zip to the root of your SD card
Reinsert your SD card into your device
Power on your device

Section II - DS Virtual Console Game

There are two methods for using Wii U custom firmware.

The first method is to run a browser exploit through the browser which will patch the system. Unfortunately, the nature of this exploit is that this must be run after every reboot. Additionally, the browser exploit compatible with 5.5.2 is very unreliable making this an even less usable option.

The second method is to purchase a very cheap exploitable DS Virtual Console game to launch your Custom Firmware automatically at boot. This is essentially required for users on 5.5.2 because of the aforementioned instability with the 5.5.2 browser exploit.

The DS Virtual Console game must be a legitimately purchased copy of the game installed to the internal memory of your device. You cannot install this DS Virtual Console game to a USB drive.

If you want to use the DS Virtual Console method, you should purchase the game before proceeding to the next section.

The following DS Virtual Console games are compatible:

Compatible Haxchi Games
Animal Crossing: Wild World
Big Brain Academy
Brain Age
DK: Jungle Climber
Dr. Kawashima’s Brain Training
Kirby: Canvas Curse
Kirby: Mass Attack
Kirby: Squeak Squad / Kirby: Mouse Attack
Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks
Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time
Mario Kart DS
New Super Mario Bros.
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of the Sky
Pokemon Ranger
Pokemon Ranger: Guardian Signs
Pokemon Ranger: Shadows of Almia
Starfox Command
Super Mario 64 DS
Wario: Master of Disguise
WarioWare: Touched
Yoshi’s Island DS
Yoshi’s Touch & Go

Currently, Brain Age is the cheapest of these titles on the eShop ($6.99 USD).

If already own Brain Age or Brain Training and have had it installed on your Wii U for a while, try deleting it and redownloading the game from the eShop. Older versions of the game are not compatible with the exploit.

Section III - Block System Updates

Note that, to access the eShop with these DNS addresses set, you must first run NNU-Patcher through the Homebrew Launcher. Additionally note that NNU-Patcher is a temporary patch and will need to be ran again if you need to access the eShop after a reboot.

Note that, unless you block updates with this method on all current and future connections, updates on the Wii U are performed automatically and cannot be disabled.

Go to the “System Settings”, then “Internet”, then “Connect to the Internet” then press (X) to display your current network connections

For each of your connections (and all future connections), do the following
- Select the connection
- Select “Change Settings”
- Move to the second list and choose “DNS”
- Set the DNS to “Don’t Auto-Obtain”
- Set the DNS server IPs to the following servers
- 168.235.092.108
- 081.004.127.020
- Select “Confirm”, then press (B) to save
- These servers will block your SysNAND from being updated

Homebrew Launcher

The Homebrew Launcher is a homebrew application that lists and allows the launching of other homebrew applications from the SD card.

We launch this using the Wii U’s built in browser, so your Wii U will need to be able to access the internet.

Instructions

Section I - Preparing Browser

Launch the browser on your device
Go to the browser settings and select “Reset Save Data”
- This will prevent issues with the browser exploit
- This will also delete all save data including settings, history, and bookmarks
Return to the browser

Section II (i) - Versions 5.5.0 & 5.5.1

Go to http://loadiine.ovh
- You may want to bookmark this address to save time on typing in the future
Ensure that the drop down box shows “Homebrew Launcher 1.4 (5.5.0 - 5.5.1)”, then press “Submit”
- This may take many tries
- In some situations, the “Homebrew Launcher 1.3 (5.3.2 - 5.4.0 - 5.5.0 - 5.5.1)” option may be more reliable for launching the Homebrew Launcher
- If it freezes, just force the console to power off by holding the power button, then try again
Your console should load the Homebrew Launcher

Section II (ii) - Version 5.5.2

Open the browser curtains
- This improves the success rate of the 5.5.2 browser exploit
Go to http://u.drg.li/
- You may want to bookmark this address to save time on typing in the future
Select “2” for the first exploit attempt
- This may take many tries
- If it freezes, just force the console to power off by holding the power button, then try a different number
- You may need to try all exploit numbers more than once before one works
Your console should load the Homebrew Launcher

Methods

Mocha CFW

This method requires that you rerun the web exploit used above after every reboot. It is not recommended that you use this on 5.5.2 as that version’s web exploit is extremely unreliable.

Continue to Mocha CFW Guide

Haxchi

This method uses a cheap exploitable DS Virtual Console game to launch your Custom Firmware automatically at boot. This is essentially required for users on 5.5.2 as the web exploit for that version is extremely unreliable.

Continue to Haxchi Guide