How to play Wii backups from a usb stick with no modchip. by Solderguy
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Tired of bad DVD burns? Wii laser die out on you? Want to rip Wii games directly from your Wii's dvd to your hard drive? This instructable is perfect for you! With this instructable, you will be able to play all your favorite Wii games on your Wii from a usb stick or usb hard drive!

Hardware requirements:
Wii
3.4 or earlier Wii firmware
Large usb stick or usb external usb hard drive.
Computer with usb ports

Software requirements:
The Homebrew channel
WBFS manager 3.0 or later
rev 10 installer with usb loader
Wii game iso
(OPTIONAL: All region Wii game covers.)
7-zip

###DISCLAIMER:
I am not the author of these program, I am not responsible for any damage you make to your Wii, computer, yourself, other people around you, your dog, you get the picture. The programs are only for playing backups of games you already own.###
 
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Step 1: Install WBFS Manager.

Download these files:

Uncompress the WBFS Manager rar file with 7-zip.
Click on the WBFS Manager setup icon.
A new screen will pop up and tell you that the program will install WBFS Manager on your computer. Click next.
It will then ask you to save to files in a folder. Either choose a folder or leave it on the default folder.
Click next. It will now tell you that it is ready to install to your hard drive. Click Next to begin the installation process. When it is done installing press "Close."
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catcha_fallinstar69 says: Jan 7, 2012. 10:02 PM
I really want to be able to play free games but I have a couple questions before I do it...do i have to mod my system in order to play downloaded games? and if i do mod my system will i still be able to do everything i could before on it? such as play store bought games? please somebody help :(
roperdoug says: Feb 20, 2012. 4:02 PM
I'm new at this. I have my black Wii with 4.3U modded with Homebrew and am able to play games loaded onto a 16 gb USB Flash drive. I use WBFS Manager to load the games. I have loaded two games ISOs which are 4.5 GB no problem. But I have other ISOs the same size that will not load. I know the WBFS are partitioned. I had three games loaded and all three runs. Why do some load and others not?
Index32dc says: Dec 22, 2011. 7:00 AM
Must I downgrade from 4.3u to get a USB Loader to work? Please can someone help me either way with a step-by-step tutorial.
vishalapr says: Sep 19, 2011. 9:35 PM
Does anyone want me to make a tutorial for the 4.3 wii or can you easily follow the website I posted in here previously...in this ible previously...
Index32dc says: Dec 21, 2011. 7:44 PM
I hoping you have a tut and the links to download tools for installing the usb loader for 4.3u, this tutorial(which I have tried hoping it works) doesn't and gives my the blank screen and controller goes out of sync, when I try to run the IOS36-64. I have soft mod HBC 1.0.8 created through letterbomb method. and have had no other issues. I have used the HomeBrew Browser to download many appz some which also have an issue with the v4.3. Any help would be greatly appreciated
gwatts1 says: Nov 28, 2011. 3:53 PM
Can i have a tut for a 4.3e wii please. i am using wiiflow and have a 1gb usb stick i have a 8gb sd card with wiiware on and i am getting a 1tb hard drive to plug in to usb port 2 but i want a tutorial that tells me how i can run the wii system off the 1gb usb stick as i don't know how to transfer the data to the usb stick and get it to read from it .....please anyone can you help a noob
vishalapr says: Nov 29, 2011. 10:16 PM
I made it :)

Here is the link :
http://www.instructables.com/id/Softmod-any-Wii-Version-10-43/

Hope you will like it
gwatts1 says: Nov 30, 2011. 5:33 AM
on a different matter my brother in law soft modded his wii but some reason priiloader enabled system updates so when his daughter put the wii on she accepted the disk update, the wii is not bricked, however neogamma no longer works and i don't think he has a back up nand. is it possible to fix?
gwatts1 says: Nov 30, 2011. 5:26 AM
cheers for that :)
i dumped my nand on to the 1gb stick last night but it appears there are no gamesaves or channels on the dump. i want my 1gb stick to have to have channels and gamesaves on so when i boot up my wii it loads all my channels and gamesaves from the usb stick 1gb is ample for what i need.

the 1tb hard drive im buying will be for my wbfs game files, how many would i get on a 1tb about 200?

thanks again for your help
vishalapr says: Nov 30, 2011. 8:38 AM
*Try comment on the ible coz others might have similar problems so they can solve it by the answers thanks :)*

In 1 TB hard drive about 350 games can fit, as I have a 500 GB hard drive and by using wii WBFS manager, I can fit about 200 games and it just depends on the game :)

Super smash bros takes 7.2 GB where as wii sports only takes 700 MB .

Using WBFS manager is good coz it scrubs the files before adding them to the dirve (Removing unwanted junk as publishers add extra junk to get the capacity to standard wii disk of 4.3 GB) and then it will add it to the disk which saves a lot of space :)

On my ible could you recommend me some good wii games like 10 -15 thx :)

ozart says: Dec 19, 2011. 7:59 PM
OMG HELP
have been at this for 3 days now an keep getting stuck...

Am running Wii 4.3E & 2TB external hard drive & 2GB SD card
have already got the homebrew channel installed :)

am trying to install the usb loader....

i try an load the WAD Manager v1.3 (keep getting Error code RET = - 1029) :(

i try an load custom ios installer v1.7 (keep getting Error code RET = - 1017) :(

also when looked at USB Loader comes up
NO WBFS partition found need to format ( I already did this via my computer then formatted and then WBFS formatted) wii tries to partion an i get RET =-6


also after i have downloaded games from (Piratebay, wiiiso & isohunt )
i extract them to WBFS an they still show as a winrar sysmbol but show as iso at the end and after using WBFS i look at my harddrive thru computer an it shows empty...

WHAT AM I DOING WRONG
HELP.... Kids r home on hoildays an driving me nuts

plzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

msørensen5 says: Dec 10, 2011. 5:05 AM
This doesn't work!!!
My screen goes black, for infinity hours, when i load the clos3610 thing, and with the WAD Manager!!!
zcbaker says: Sep 5, 2011. 12:35 PM
How could someone modify this so they could play GBA ROMs?
vishalapr says: Sep 19, 2011. 9:35 PM
Once you have homebrew installed, download this the GBAX wad for the wii and istall it via the wad manager in your HBC.
ijaredguard says: Sep 9, 2011. 5:50 AM
I have used WBSFS to upload an iso file into my usb but it wont install in my wii. What else do I need to do? I already have homebrew installed.
ijaredguard
vishalapr says: Sep 19, 2011. 9:34 PM
What do you use for it?! wiiflow or configurable usb loader or what?!
vishalapr says: Aug 12, 2011. 12:01 PM
I use wii flow because I thought it was faster and more awesomer...
Now they have realeased a new softmod...its letterbomb, works for Wii version 4.3 and no game disk required!!!!
nerdtaco says: Aug 15, 2011. 4:08 PM
Letterbomb works great, but good luck getting wbfs games to run on 4.3
pburgess4 says: Sep 15, 2011. 5:31 AM
i have 4.3 and wbfs works fine in every way,just to let those who have 4.3 know my wii is a black one
nerdtaco says: Sep 15, 2011. 7:31 AM
How did you do it? With this guide? Can you please post info?
vishalapr says: Sep 15, 2011. 10:12 AM
Here is the solution for 4.3 without game disk mate!

http://www.wiihacks.com/recommended-faqs-guides-tutorials-only/60921-guide-softmod-any-wii.html

In chapter 1 part 1 go to letterbomb!

AND IF YOU LIKE VIDEO TUTORIALS THEN GO ON YOUTUBE and type in letterbomb 4.3 wii

Hope it helps!
nerdtaco says: Sep 19, 2011. 4:06 PM
THANKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That tutorial worked perfectly! I downgraded to 4.1U and Configurable USBLoader worked great the first time!
vishalapr says: Sep 19, 2011. 9:32 PM
Glad it helped! :)
vishalapr says: Aug 15, 2011. 10:05 PM
What I did was installed letterbomb then in the installation downgraded my Wii to 4.1, and then I could easily install WiiFlow and then I just download wbfs files and convert them into ISo files or just download ISO files and then use WBFS manager to put them on USB!
cball7 says: Aug 25, 2011. 7:06 PM
I keep running into the black freeze screen as well. I have no idea what else to do
applesaucejones says: Jul 31, 2011. 11:03 AM
quick question, does the wbfs partition have to be the first partition on the drive? and by this i mean i have an external hdd with 3 partitions of data and about 200gb of unpartitioned space, would the wii still be able to pick up the stuff on partition 4 or would it read from only partition 1? if possible i would like to avoid having to move all my data to another partition

heres a diagram if that was too confusing
| data | data | data | unpartitioned |

just wondering if anyones tried this and if it worked or whatnot
other than that little issue, i love this instructable, this whole website is just amazing
shohamalh says: Feb 16, 2013. 10:55 PM
Hey!
I don't know if Someone posted a commet about this but as far as I've seen noone did.
I've followed your guide and everything was good untill I've put the USB into the wii.
I've ran the loader and it asked run from USB/SD
I've clicked USB and it sais It needs partitioning.. I've clicked ok do it and it sais error..
it's probably because I've files in the USB but still... Ideas?

Thx in advanced!

Sho
mm3 says: May 22, 2011. 1:24 PM
I'm having an issue here. My homebrew channel doesn't show anything on the screen except for "The Homebrew Channel" on the bottom left and a wifi logo on the bottom right. Aside from that, it's just bubbles when I put the SD card in. The card is formatted to fat, and I copied the file to the root. Not sure what I'm missing here.
huff610 says: Jul 5, 2011. 7:51 PM
I had the same problem back when i first put the HomeBrew channel on my wii.

All you have to do, is go onto: www.wehackwii.pbworks.com

Click "Wii Channels" in the sidebar on the right, from there, you want to scroll down to the "HomeBrew Browser" Channel

Download it, extract, put into Root of SD Card

RePlug you SD Card into your Wii

Launch HomeBrew Channel, and then

ENJOY ^_^
eman95 says: Aug 28, 2009. 4:58 AM
My wiimote is losing sinc after I load the "cIOS36rev10". Please somebody help!!
mnightmaresantillan says: Apr 27, 2011. 9:41 AM
Same Problem...someone can help us.... PLEASE?!?!?!
jaxxster1 says: Mar 29, 2011. 7:05 AM
where can one NOT find an iso? NOT find.
prowan-1 says: Mar 4, 2011. 1:00 PM
Follow this - much better and it works..

http://www.wiihacks.com/recommended-faqs-guides-tutorials-only/60921-guide-softmod-any-wii.html
Sydneysyd says: Feb 13, 2011. 8:27 AM
Thx 4 ur instructable, always run ! Great ! ^^
b-rome says: Nov 21, 2009. 4:29 AM
Thanks for that sorry about the spelling, but still having problem it can't reconise my usb stick. I have used the WBFS manager 3.0 and 2.2, I have used both Ultimate USB loader v7 and the one you suggested think 1.5. On the first I get "ERROR could not initialize USB subsysten (ret -6)" and one the other i get  Mounting device please wait ERROR (ret -1)
HollowCandy says: Jan 30, 2011. 1:59 PM
I have this problem
HollowCandy says: Jan 30, 2011. 1:56 PM
Heya, i need some help if you'd be so kind.

I have a usb(2 gig) and two sd cards(one is 1gig, the other 8 gig.) i have all the files loaded, my wii already hacked, i have 2 different usb loaders, and dvd loader. i formated my usb and sd 8 gig to be able to play backed up wii games, and i even put the game on a dvd, but every single thing i do, i cant get my wii to detect a single drive.

If you could teach me how to fix this problem, or even just help me to get it working on a dvd, id be greatfull,

i format my drives to wbfs, and i convert the iso on to the drive. plug into wii, then its not detected, and i'm instructed to resart my wii.

Please help. i don't know what to do.
metri3 says: Jan 2, 2011. 4:35 PM
Anybody looking for the easiest, best, and fool proof way to hack your wii check out gbatemp.net and search for "modmii". Awesome program for a virgin wii or if you are just looking to do further hacking such as play backup games from your usb port. I have tried a lot of things on different wiis and this was the best!
kakashi.hatakae says: Dec 27, 2010. 2:57 PM
i got a error when formatting, why id that
causkimo says: Dec 23, 2010. 3:44 PM
PROBLEM!!!! I did everything this told me to do... but when I try to load a game from my USB, it says "No SD Codes" and then proceeds to the "Error 002" screen. What do I do?
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