How to Play Wii Backups From a Usb Stick With No Modchip.

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.###

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."

Step 2: Download the Wii Iso to Your Usb Device.

This next step explains how to load a Wii ISO to you usb device.

The first step is to get a Wii iso backup file. (I can't tell you where.)

Plug in your usb device in your computer . Click on the WBFS Manager 2.5 icon on your desktop. A new scree n will open. Use the drop-down tab under "Edit" in the upper left corner to choose your usb device drive letter.

(WARNING: Be very careful not to format your hard drive! Make sure you're drive number is right!)

Now click format to delete the contents on your USB device and change the format to WBFS.

(Note: You will not be able to use the USB drive only to store Wii isos because the computer operating system doesn't recognize the WBFS format).

After you're done formatting click the "Load button to load the contents of your USB device. It's empty.

Click the "Browse" button in the lower right corner to open a new window, locate your Wii ISO, click it, and click "Open" in the lower right corner.
It will take a few seconds to load. You should see it in the right half of the WBFS Manager window. Hover your mouse over it to see it's game cover.
Now click "Add to Device" to compress your Wii ISO and add it to your usb device.
It will take about 5 minutes to upload the file to a usb device.
After it's done, either close the program and take your usb device out of your computer and go to the next step, or add more games to your usb device.

Step 3: Install USB Loader Application on Your Wii Homebrew Channel.

This next step will explain how to usb loader on your Wii.

Before you can install usb loader to your Wii you first need the files in your SD card.

Unrar the usb hack rar file with Winrar or 7-Zip and copy the contents of the "Copy contents to root" folder to the root of your SD card. Pretty self explanatory. If you get a window asking you to merge folders click yes. Now comes the tricky part.

(Optional: You can also download the covers for the games.
The reason I say it's optional is because it contains over 1300 game covers and will occupy 100 MB in your SD card. But it's convenient to have so you don't have to squint to read the game text on the tv. Just download it, uncompress the Covers zip file with 7-ZIP and drag the covers folder to the usb-loader folder in the root on your SD card.. You will get a prompt to merge folders and click yes )

Remove any Gamecube memory cars and Gamecube controllers from the Wii.
Insert the SD card into your Wii, turn the Wii on and go to the Homebrew channel.

Click on "cIOS36rev10" and click load. The screen will go black for a second and you will then be in the cIOS36rev10 installer. Use the directional arrows to choose WAD installation and click A. After a few minutes it will have completed the installation of cIOS rev 10.
Now, restart your wii, go back to the Homebrew channel, and go to Wad Manager 1.3 and click load.
Choose the SD card, press A, then choose the WAD "USBLoadermodBrisma.wad" and press the + button on your Wii remote. After a few moments it will have completed installing the USB channel.
Press "HOME" on your Wii remote to restart your Wii.

Step 4: Install USB Loader Channel in Your Wii.

This step will explain how to install the usb loader channel to your Wii menu.

First go to the homebrew channel then load the WAD manager.

The screen will go green for a second and you will see a disclaimer on the screen. Press "A" on your Wii remote to continue.
Use your left and right directional arrows on your Wii remote to select SD card.
Now you will see a USBLoadermodBrisma WAD file.
Use the down key to select it and press "+" on your Wii remote to install it.
After it finishes installing, press your HOME button te restart the Wii.
On your Wii menu there should be a new channel called usb loader channel.

Step 5: Using the USB Loader Channel and Playing Your Games.

In this next step I will explain how to use your new Channel, and how you can play your games on it.

First, plug your usb device into your Wii usb slot and start the USB loader channel.

Here are the controls for the USB loader channel:

"+" button: Lets you install a game. (I haven't figured out how this works.)
"-" button: Lets you delete a game.
"A" button: Lets you select and start a game.
"B" button: Lets you go back to menu if you choose the wrong game.
"1" button: Forces the game to play in PAL mode.
"2" button: Forces the game to play in NTSC mode.

Next, use the left and right directional arrows to choose "USB mass storage device", and click A.

It will load all the games on your USB drive and if you downloaded the covers it will show you their cover. Use the up and down directional arrows and press "A" to choose your game. Press "A" again to load your game and press "A" one last time to play your game.

If you have any problems just ask it in the comments below.

Step 6: Troubleshooting.

I finally had the time to write the solutions to some Wii error codes. If at any time you Wii spits an error code at you, here two of the most common errors, and their solutions.

Common error codes and solutions:

Error Code:ret= -1 
Cause:You are missing a Cios (249, 222 or something like that)
Solution: Install Cios 249 or 222, or whatever cios is needed by the usb loader you are using.

Error Code:ret= -2011
Cause: A signing bug that allowed the execution of code was patched by /nintendo is system menu 4.0 and higher.
Solution: Run trucha bug restorer to restore the exploit on your Wii.

For the errors that I didn't bother to write down, here is a list of common Wii errors and their solutions:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AsG1QflcbnLndE5JQUpIbS1BZEEyb2VzSTJad2RZNlE&hl=en

Always remember, THE HOMEBREW CHANNEL IS FREE.

Comments

[MrZeroTFennekin]

"Backup games", lol xD

[2mailjesse]

How do I change the oil in the Wii?

[Octron]

O I L ?

[2mailjesse]

Really tks for the hard work and all your dedication to helping people like me...tks..Rockout!!

[Izzibts]

Not sure if anyone else has had this problem but i followed the instructions, however when i go to load USBLoadermodBrisma.wad - it doesn't appear in the available WAD packages. Can anyone help?

[Octron]

DON'T USE WAD MANAGER! It doesn't work. Instead use Wii mod Lite, thats better
lol

[Maffin]

There is no setup file for me in the wbfsmanager.zip

[aritza489]

can you fix the rev 10 installer with usb loader download link please?

[BradP43]

You can use this instead. I had the same issue, and used it and it worked out fine.
https://sourceforge.net/projects/usbloadergx/

Before you can use it (as suggested in this instructable), you need to install this as well:
https://sites.google.com/site/completesg/backup-launchers/installation

which i didnt quite understand how to do from this instructable, but this video on YouTube walked me through the process and it now works.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D66pyQLQCmg

AND as a follow up, you may find that many of the wii games you'd like to use have a .wbfs extension, not .iso. If so this video shows you how to use those, and doesn't need "WBFS Manager" at all, but uses a different tool, "Wii Backup Manager"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIF3tg-4XJI

Wii Backup Manager: Note that when I went to download this in Chrome, Chrome wouldn't let me use it, as it said the site had malware in the past, which I don't doubt. I downloaded the file in Firefox, and scanned it it seemed ok, but fyi ;-)
http://www.wiibackupmanager.co.uk/downloads.html

[aritza489]

or can someone give me another link similar to the broken one?

[The Cabineteer]

The WBFS Manager has no executable. The link diverts to an archive where you can download all the files ever made concerning it, but no installations. lots of source code but no way to install it. I realise I'm late to the party here, but still.... Any options?

[BluePixelStarz.]

Found this link, it worked for me.
https://www.filecroco.com/download-wii-backup-file-system-manager/download/

[jakobs31]

are you able to do this on a chromebook?? i only have a chromebook

[thomadash.]

Sadly, no. The Chromebooks operating system is not able to run .exe files, making WBFSManager useless.

[BenjaminJ23]

No, it only works on a wii

[BrandonC179]

I am trying to format my usb on my mac and I format in ms dos fat and then load the wbfs files onto my usb and try and load onto usb loader but it doesnt seem to work. any ideas?

[Rayhaant]

Can Gamecube isos be used?

[BrandonC179]

Just download the Nintendont channel for homebrew and download iso's onto usb or hard drive

[Mudkiper]

Does this work on SD card or does it have to be usb

[xpreudhomme23]

I bought a modded wii on ebay. It came with all the retro games and 15 wii and gamcube games. Evrything loaded on a sd card. I am trying to play games from Usb but i cant figure out how to get usb loader to recognize the usb also instead of just the sd.
Please help