Run Backups on any Wii Without a Modchip (Updated)

NOTICE: I just updated the instructable, if there are any errors, tell me. I will be editing my instructables for the next week or so.

The first version of this instructable was extremely outdated and the DVDs were really annoying.

In this version, you will be loading ISOs from you SD Card, USB Stick, or USB HDD.

P.S. - I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR WII OR WHAT YOU DECIDE TO DO WITH IT. I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGES TO YOUR CONSOLE OR ACCESSORIES

Ace - If your gonna add to the instructable please use proper capitalization, grammar, line spacing, etc. Each step has an outline of what needs to be written there. The outline can be erased once you finish writing that step

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What you Need:

Separate SD Card -or- USB Stick -or- USB HDD

Homebrew Enabled Wii (go here to enable it for homebrew)

Computer with SD Card Reader <= Required (even if your using usb to load ISOs)

If Using USB: Computer with USB Slots

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Troubleshooting:

2011 or similar errors- Fixing this is no longer hard, there is now a Trucha Bug restorer. PLEASE READ EVERYTHING ON PAGE...INCLUDING DISCLAIMERS.
Link

Step 1: Pre-notes

**
Please note that you will probably not need a 4.7 gigabyte storage device to hold one game. This may come as a shock to those of you who have messed around with ISOs for awhile, but a game like Wii Play is only 0.09 gigabytes. No I didn't mess up the decimal. The extra stuff that makes the ISO 4.7 gigabytes is sheared off and you get a cISO, or a compressed ISO. Wii Sports is only 0.3 gigabytes. Other games with more textures and story play are bigger, like Metroid Prime 3, which is 4.1 gigs. Supersmash Brothers Brawl is 6.4 gigabytes because the disc is dual layered. if you use a WBFS manager to copy over your ISOs you will see an "estimated size". I saw this size and almost fainted lol. my prediction of 25 games for 80 gigabytes of space shot up to 50+. I'm telling you this so you dont go overboard shopping for a 32 gigabyte flashdrive. If you have one of the older ipods with alot of free space, say about 10 gigabytes (you can do this with less, but i like 10 gigs), you could partition it off and store the cISO wii games on the Ipod itself! I will discuss this further in step 5.
**

Step 2: Preparing the SD Card

1. Download this
---1a. Unzip CoverFloader-v1.2.zip
---1b. Copy the CoverFloader folder into the SD://apps/ folder

2. Download this
---2a. Unzip It
---2b. Copy the Cios Rev 14 folder into the SD://apps/ folder

3. Download this
---3a. Unzip It
---3b. Rename WAD-Manager_v1.4.dol to boot.dol
---3c. Make a folder in the apps folder on your SD card called WADManager
---3d. copy boot.dol to this WADManager folder

4. If you Have no internet Connection on your wii, download this
---4a. Copy IOS38-64-v3610.wad to the root of your SD card

Step 3: Installing cIOS36 rev 10

1. Open up your homebrew channel and launch the cIOS36 rev 14 installer.

2. You press A to accept the agreement and then use left and right to choose your installation method. I would reccomend Network, but there are the inevitable few who do not have their wii hooked up to wireless internet. You will need to get the IOS38-64-v3610 wad from the download link in step 2 and it should already be in the root of the sd card. Select wad installation if you have no internet access. Once the program is finished, restart the wii.

Step 4: Installing CoverFloader Channel

This is optional if you are using the CoverFloader1.2-Forwarder.wad file, but it is still recommended.

If you are using the CoverFloader1.2.wad this is absolutely necessary.

1. Open up the Homebrew Channels and select the WADManager/boot.dol application.

2. Accept the Agreement

3. Select "SD Card" as Storage Device

4. Hit plus (+) on the wiimote next to the proper CoverFloader WAD File

5. Select Install
---5a. It will install and send you back to the same screen

6. Hit Home (House Picture) on your wiimote to restart the wii

Step 5: Preparing ISO Storage Device

Guide to format things to WBFS:

Option 1: on Wii
Use this option if you do not have any other data you wish to keep on the drive, as it will all be erased. Put the usb drive in one of the 2 usb slots in the back of the wii and launch cover floader from either the forwarder channel or the homebrew channel. It will say no WBFS drive found, press 2, I think, to format. you want to format. You can now move on to the next step to figure out how to add games to the wbfs drive.

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Option 2: on computer
Use this option if you want to partition, or divide, the hard drive into 2 or more sections. I will be using a flashdrive as in example.

**ONLY FOR WINDOWS VISTA AND WINDOWS 7**
1. Download (and Install) this program.

2. Plug your flash drive into your computer.

3. Click the start circle in the lower right corner of your screen. Right click on computer and press manage. Click "Continue".

4. Over on the left click Disk Managment. You will see a number of disks. Look for one with an amount of space that matches your flashdrive.

5. Right click to the right of it where the blue bar is and press shrink volume. Enter the amount of space to shrink in MB. 1024 would be one gigabyte, 2048 being 2 and so on. Click "Shrink". You should get either unallocated or raw space.

6. Right click it and press new simple volume. Give it a drive letter but DO NOT format it. It should now be raw data.

7. Launch the program you downloaded above. Change the Drive to whatever letter you picked earlier. Press format. Now after it is done you have your WBFS drive.

Step 6: Adding ISOs

Guide on how to add ISOs

Option 1: on Wii

1. Plug your drive into the usb slot on the wii and start CoverFloader.

2. With the game you want inserted, press the little plus symbol in the lower right corner.

3. Press ok. Wait for it to register the disc.

4. If you have enough space press ok/install/load whatever is there. Depending on the size of your game this may or may not take a while. When it is done coverfloader should say "Game Succesfully iInstalled". It will be a blank box.

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Option 2: on Computer

1. Obtain ISO on Computer

2. Plug ISO Device into computer

3. Open WBFS Manager (if you do not have it, Download it here)

4. Select the Drive Letter of your WBFS Device and click "Load"

5. Click "Browse" and select your ISO file. you may do this as many times as needed for multiple ISOs.

6. Click "Add to Drive"

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All of my (A.C.E.'s) extras require a wireless internet connection, except extra 2 but it's no fun without internet.

Extra 1: cover art

Press the little gear down at the bottom left to get the settings. Press download covers. If you have an internet connection on the wii you will get covers.

Extra 2: 3D boxes

There is also a 3d cover option. This simulates a real box instead of a 2d sheet. Open the settings and toggle 3d covers to the On position. You may need to go into the graphics tab to do this. You will need to repeat the cover downloading process, but instead it will say download 3D covers.

Extra 3: Ocarina Cheat Codes

Ocarina codes are the equivilant of gameshark for the nintendo 64. You can usually find ocarina codes for games even if there arent normal cheats. Open the settings and toggle cheats on. Click on a game like you would when you would launch it. Click the gear at the top of the window. toggle cheats to On and yet download the cheat file. Press manage for the cheats. Select them then press done. Press yes/ok. Load the game like normal and viola!

Step 7: Playing Games

How to play games:

Just select the cover of a game by aiming at it and pressing A, then press load. The game should load and you should experience extremely short loading times :D YEAH!! If it doesnt load or is in black and white, restart your wii. Reopen cover floader. Click the game and click the gear for options. Under video mode switch it to "Force NTSC". You might also want the VIDTV patch. Load the game. It should work fine now.

Comments

[wiihacks]

Hi, i dont understand when you say "Copy the CoverFloader folder into the SD://apps/ folder" wheres SD://apps/folder? Is it in my sd card? im confused

[wiihacks]

since i didnt understand where to copy coverfloader and cios rev 14, i copied them to the root of my sd card and when i plugged my card on the wii, i see nothing in the homebrew channel, please help!! sorry for being such a noob :(

Am I supposed to make a "Apps" folder in my card? :S

[BigPrestige]

i have a similar problem, when i make an apps folder it has the same problem as yours. HELP US PLEASE!!!!!

[Raxxen]

Yes, if you do not have an "Apps" folder you should make one.
You sd card should have:
SD://apps/CoverFloader
SD://apps/Cios Rev 14
SD://apps/WADManager

hope that makes sense.

[Ahmendo]

does his work with sd cards?

[gccc56]

I accept the agreement and choose IOS36 and then SD card and then it says something like

mounting device.....success
retrieving files......failed

Any help?

[yogurtisfurry]

i cant shrink any volume, is it necessary for me to shrink volume? if it is can someone please help me to shrink volume. look at the two pictures so that its easier to understand.

[poolio]

In WBFS , there is a little tab at the top that says Format. Al you have to do is select the drive (E) and then click format, it automatically formats for you, then continue the rest of the steps.

[endsenten]

 The seme here. How to solve it?? HELP!!

[asdfps2123]

does this work on 4.3?

[Josh1999]

plzzzzz help!!! i don't have the cIOS36 rev 14 installer. what do i do

[openskys]

Well I am going to try this method out I think. I have tried to do this softmod with no success. So now this is going to be my last shot at it. I will follow this Instructable to the letter and see what happens. I will let anyone who is still following this know how it goes. If I am able to make this work anyone can. This will be a few days. Good Luck To Me!!

[Wii_User]

Coverfloader doesnt evn show as a wad file on mine

[Wii_User]

ok i got it good luck to everyone else

[dxer]

where did you find it?

[Svoboda]

Can i use the same card with homebrew installer on it?

[LastResort29]

it wont let me unzip it

[ColdForge]

I am having similar issues as many of the other posters here. I went through and redid all the previous instructions 3 times just to be sure I had not made an error. I'm running 4.2 of course, so this may be the issue. Also, I'm using an 8gb sd hc card which I've used in the past to run homebrew with zero issues.

When I try to run the cIOS36 rev 10 installer, my remote freezes up and I get a black screen. I've waited a decent amount of time while periodically trying to turn my remote on with no success. If anyone has any ideas or solutions, I'd greatly appreciate it.

[ColdForge]

I found at somewhat stable cISO here: www.starcube.co.uk/2009/08/wii-cios-38-rev-14/

But, now I am running into another issue I've seen people have run into. When I press A in the version selection screen (which is the first screen after selecting the cIOS installer in Homebrew) my remote no longer communicates with my Wii and I'm left at this first screen. I've tried my other remotes and simply waiting for over an hour with no positive results. Again, any help or suggestions are greatly appreciated.

[ColdForge]

Hah! Long story short, I had to choose cIOS36 because I had not previous cIOS installed. If you use the link above, download that cISO and have no previous cIOS installed, choose cIOS36 and you should be able to move on to the next step. Onward!

[cv07nguyend]

 hi, I am running 4.2 also, I was wondering what you meant by choosing cIOS36 again since in your first post you said you had the black screen, since thats what I am getting too, I also tried your link to cIOS38 and same thing happened to me. What rev of cIOS36 did you end up using and can you post a link to it please? Thanks!!

[ColdForge]

Your having the same problem as I had because of the Truncha Bug. It's too long for me to explain and better minds have already done a great job on making a guide for it. READ IT FROM THE VERY BEGINNING, WORD FOR WORD. Here's the link:
gbatemp.net/index.php

I'm at the point where I've backed up all my games on an external harddrive and play them right from the harddrive. It took me a lot of research to get to this point and that link is where nearly 95% of that knowledge came from. Have fun. :)

[wiihacks]

@ColdForge, so what i have to do is to download the truncha bug and copy it to my sd card then plug it into my wii? its not clear enough on the page >.<

[valleycrosser]

 The link is very helpful! Everyone should read (or at least skim) the guide before doing any wii hacking except for maybe homebrew channel and homebrew brower.

[matstermind]

when i get to install the cios, i can move left and right to select the ios, but when i press "A" the remote disconnects. i am running 4.2U

thanks

[akinich]

hey nice instructable
i have a question for you
i have a wii and it has a mod chip in it
can i do this if the mod chip is still inside?
will this damage my wii if there is a mod chip inside it when i do this
thanks
akinich

[TheMightyStaindFan]

I'm having a little trouble with the 2.0 installer. I think I've got everything installed correctly, I used the network option so all patches were applied ect. But I can't find the RunBackup channel anywhere on my Wii. I'm on 4.2E
Help? :-(

[TheMightyStaindFan]

Okay, so a step by step of what I'm doing once I've run the cIOS36 rev 14...

1. I'm taken to a navigation page saying the following:

[+] Select IOS version to use during installation:
<IOS249> (My Wii freezes if I choose any option other than < Do Not Reload IOS > or < IOS254 >)

I get the disclaimer, to which I agree.

I select the WAD installation option as I seem to get further with that than I do with the Internet Option...

Everything goes fine except:
[+] Installing Custom IOS, please wait...
         >> Install Error! (ret = -2011)

Then below that it says:
[+] Finishing Installation, please wait... OK!
Press any button to restart...


Then I press a button on the Wii remote and I'm sent back to the Wii Menu with nothing changed. I've never done this before so I don't have a clue whats going wrong!
Any help would be greatly appriciated
Thank you :-)

[arcteryx_bird]

So...I was able to install the Homebrew Channel using bannerbomb, but then I was using the old walkthru and managed to install cIOS36 rev7...now I can NOT install anything from the Homebrew channel anymore. I get the black screen and disconnected remote, etc. I can't downgrade the cIOS, can't install WADManager, or anything. What the heck do I do now?

I am on 4.2, btw.

[ColdForge]

Did you install bootmii and make a backup of your OS in the last most stable condition? If not, your better off restoring your wii and starting from scratch. If so, just restore the OS with bootmii and you should be fine.

[arcteryx_bird]

No, I didn't install Bootmii or make a backup. I missed that somehow. How do I restore the wii? I'm fine with starting over....

[ColdForge]

Goto the last part of Wii Settings and Press Reformat Wii System Memory. After doing that, use HackMii as through Bannerbomb and be sure to install all three things! (HomeBrew, DVDx, and BootMii) After that, FIRST thing you should do is make a backup using BootMii on an SD card. I back mine up every time I'm going to make any software changes and I store the back-up on my PC, this way, I can restore back to any point if I make a mistake in the chain of changes.

[arcteryx_bird]

OK, reformatted the Wii, installed HBC, installed DVDx, installed BootMii as IOS...first thing it did was "prepare an SD card" in HackMii...then, in HBC when I go to start BootMii, it freezes

[ColdForge]

I'm a little confused. Boot Mii should start when you turn your Wii on, it's a preloader. You shouldn't have to run it from the HBC, it should be on when you turn on your wii(keep in mind your wii remote WILL NOT WORK in BootMii, you have to use a gamecube controller or the power/resent buttons on your console). Plus, after you refomatted your wii, did you update to OS 4.2 through nintendo? Also, are you using the most up to date Bannerbomb? Let me know as much as you can so I can help u out.

[arcteryx_bird]

OK...so last night (early this morning!) I read through ALL of nabster's guide on GBAtemp which I think you linked to before and got EVERYTHING working fine. The last time I installed bootmii as IOS instead of boot2 and then didn't know about the remote not working for it.

Long story short...I have two games that I'm playing now (and am very well informed) :) thanks!

[ColdForge]

Your welcome. I'm glad I was able to help. Soft Modding can be really overwhelming and intimidating. Plus, I lot of the more experienced/knowledgeable can be really harsh on the forums. Calling people noobs and then getting mad when they don't read EVERY freaking post in some forum is really lame.

[frriction]

for those who have menu 4.2 follow this guide http://www.wiihacks.com/recommended-faqs-guides-tutorials-only/24630-full-hacking-guide-4-2-system-menus.html
this is worked for me

[xxHolyxxWolfsbanexx]

Whenever I select the option to load the Custom IOS Installer V1.7, my Wii Remote freezes. Any help?

[stuiedaman]

same with me, are you on 4.2, because i am. that may be part of the problem

[weegee1989]

 im using 4.2 as well... i wish that they would respond to this problem...