INTRODUCTION
- If you own a newer Wii model like the Black Wii, you WILL NOT be able to play BURNED DVDs because they have the new D3-2 chip. You MUST use a USB Loader Wii homebrew app like USB Loader GX to load games via a USB drive. Click here to check what chip you have.
Welcome to How to Hack Any Wii 4.3! The reason I am making this tutorial is because there are so many scammers out there trying to profit from selling this information like Wii Unlocker Ultra, Homebrew Installer, Wii Unlock Plus, and BreWii. Each one costs $30, when they should be free …those bastards!
I bought Wii Unlock Plus, got pissed, and decided to make a free and better version of it.
I’ll show you how to download and play Wii games from a USB Drive (External USB Hard Drive or USB Flash Drive). As a demonstration, I’ll also show you how to play Call of Duty: Black Ops (COD:BO) online using the same method.
This method:
- Is simple, quick, and free to do
- Doesn’t require any games like Lego Indiana Jones, Super Smash Brothers Brawl, etc.
- Is brick free (won’t screw up your Wii)
- Is working with any Wii 4.3 region and color
- Is compatible with approximately 97.4% of all existing Wii games*
- Requires only software installation (software modding: softmod)
- Requires no physical installation of a Mod Chip (hardware modding: hardmod)
*This percentage was based off the USB Loader Wii game compatibility list here. Yes, I actually did count the total number of titles in this list, as well as the incompatible ones (24 incompatible out of 911).
This method is has six parts which are each broken down into multiple steps, and each step has a video you can follow along. To watch them on your browser just like YouTube, visit my website. These videos have no audio since I’ve included instructional captions for everything you’ll do. Besides, I sound like an asshole.
The only things you might have to pay for, if you don’t already have them, are an SD Card, USB Drive, and WiFi internet.
Basically, what you’ll do is constantly use your SD Card to hack the Wii until the Wii is ready to load games from your USB Drive. We will use the LetterBomb exploit to begin the hacking process.
Since Wii games usually take an hour to an entire day to download depending on the amount of seeders and your internet speed, I will show you how to download them first so they will be ready to be imported into your USB Drive by the time your Wii is hacked.
Before you do anything, please check that you have the required things below. I won’t list the really obvious things like a Wii, TV, WiiMote, etc.
REQUIREMENTS
- Ability to install stuff on your computer (simple clicking of next/ok/yes/I agree/etc.)
- Don’t update your Wii during or after the hacking process (you may update before though).
Updating while homebrew software is installed could brick your Wii.
- Laptop or PC with SD card slot and preferably WiFi
Laptop SD Slot Multi-Card Reader for PC /w SD slot
If you don’t have a slot on your laptop or PC, you can purchase a USB SD Card Reader. I use and recommend this one here because it’s cheap and it works. All you do is plug it into your USB drive, then stick the SD card into the reader.
- 1GB or 2GB SD Card (SanDisk Highly Recommended)
“SD” – Use this first ”SDHC” – Use only if SD doesn’t work
Just make sure you use a 1GB or 2GB SD card. You should only use SDHC if SD doesn’t work.
- USB Drive
Various Western Digital External USB Hard Drives
Various USB Flash Drives (Thumb Drives)
I use a 120 GB Western Digital External USB Hard Drive because it’s cheap, works, and holds about 30 Wii games since .ISOs average 4GB each. This is useful if you like to download a bunch of games and play them all (I’d recommend it but I don’t think they’re on sale anymore).
You can use a USB Flash Drive, but you should get one that’s over 4 GB, since some of the of good .ISOs are 4.7 GB and up. It’s useful if you just want to play one to several games at a time.
However, I recommend an External USB Hard Drive because they’re not lost easily, cost less per GB, and can store way more games than a USB Flash Drive can. Also, you won’t have to delete games you get bored of and import new games as often because you’ll have a lot of memory.
Note: Some USB Drives are incompatible with USB Loader GX. Click here to see the compatibility list.
SUMMARY
This is a quick overview of the method we’ll use. You can briefly skim over this to get a feel of what you’ll be doing, but it really isn’t necessary. You can skip ahead to the instructions since you can follow along with the videos anyway. If you want a better explanation of any of these terms, I recommend Google.
Part 1: Download and Extract Wii Games (.ISOs)
You’ll find Wii .ISO torrents on The Pirate Bay and download them with uTorrent. In most cases, you’ll need to use WinRAR to extract the .ISOs once the download is complete.
- Wii .ISO: a Wii disc image, which is an exact copy of a Wii game. (.ISOs is plural)
- WinRAR: compression and extraction (decompression) software. We will use it to extract .ISOs.
- .RAR files: file(s) compressed by WinRAR. Compression pretty much just saves download time.
- BitTorrent: a Peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing protocol usually used to share large files.
- Torrents: files read by BitTorrent clients such as uTorrent. They contain the data to share files like Wii .ISOs, movies, music, and etc. with other peers.
- TPB: a site that has torrents for Wii .ISOs, as well as other things like movies and music.
Part 2: Install The Homebrew Channel and BootMii
You’ll use LetterBomb to load HackMii, which you’ll use to install The Homebrew Channel (HBC) and BootMii.
- LetterBomb: a new exploit to load HackMii.
- HackMii: an installer for HBC and BootMii.
- HBC: a new channel that lets you load applications like USB Loader GX from your SD card.
- BootMii: enables homebrew software to boot before original Wii software does.
Part 3: Install WAD files and Priiloader
You’ll use IOS236 Installer and YAWMM Multimod Batch to “upgrade” the HBC by installing WAD files and PriiLoader.
- IOS236 Installer: restores trucha bug for proper WAD installation.
- YAWMM Multimod Batch: installs WADs.
- WAD Files: enable the Wii to properly read homebrew applications and software.
- PriiLoader: blocks Nintendo Updates that probably would brick your Wii.
Part 4: Import Wii .ISOs into a USB Drive
You’ll import your Wii .ISOs into a USB Drive with WBFS Manager.
- WBFS Manager: formats your USB Drive into WBFS format and imports Wii .ISOs into it.
Part 5: Install and update USB Loader GX to Play Wii .ISOs
- USB Loader GX: an application that allows you to play Wii .ISOs from a USB Drive.
Part 6: Configure USB Loader GX
You’ll need to change some important settings within USB Loader GX for certain games to fully work (like COD:BO). I will also cover downloading cover/disc art to add some spice to USB Loader GX.
{ 109 comments… read them below or add one }
Hey,thanks for the tutorial, but i have one question:
Can you use an SD card to load the wii ISOs, or can you only use a USB drive?
No, I believe you can only load them from USB or DVD (assuming your Wii supports burned DVDs).
Hi and thanks before all for the trouble and the great manual!
I’ve been reading that we shouldn’t update the Wii Firmware through Nintendo.
Also read what you answer to a guy that posted here it’s question about updating the Wii firmware to 4.3 before proceding with this guide.
Did meant to do the update to 4.3 through Nintendo?
Thanks in advance.
You just shouldn’t update during or after you hack your Wii. So updating to 4.3 before you softmod is OK. Yes update to 4.3 through Nintendo and then follow the guide.
I have a Lu65, 4.3u. I just want to make sure before I start. I’ve been searching around, and most places says it’s impossible for the model I have until I come across yours. So, does your method work for mine? And, what are the chances of bricking it? Thanks!!!
It will work. Chances of bricking pretty much 0 if you don’t do anything I didn’t instruct
Will iomega Prestige Desktop 500GB USB Drive work on the wii. Would be grateful if you helped me.
Thanks
It doesn’t say specifically that this drive is compatible, but since a lot of iomega 500GB drives ARE compatible, I think yours would be OK.
Gday mate, new to this stuff. Had a friend do it for me lag year but kids updated firmware & no longer works. Came across your site today & looks great.
Couple questions:
I just checked & firmware is 4.3e so will it work with this version?
Approx how long should it take me to do? (remember I’m not a techo!)
Yeah it will work with 4.3e. You can hack your Wii in 5 minutes, but the process of installing the files required to load backup games may take up to an hour.
Can I use a 4GB SDHC? Coz that’s the only thing I have.
Yeah, just try it. If it doesn’t work, then oh well.
Hey,
I have followed the steps but have had a couple of problems. When I try to go in to hack settings it says there are no settings available and when I start usb loader it cant find my USB drive. Any advice?
Managed to figure it out. Cheers
Whenever I try to load the letter bomb files into the sd card it says “write protected, please use another disk”. I’ve tried everything but nothings working please help
That means you forgot to unlock your SD card. There is a little switch on it that you need to flick.
The guide is awesome! just a small hiccup… I am able to back up my games and start it on my USB drive, but for some reason after start up of the game, it kicks me out and return to HBC. and my apps are missing.
I returned to main Wii menu and took out my SD and put it back in and my apps are back in HBC. any advice?
Thanks
Hi, does this tutorial works with 4.3u?
It works with all 4.3 versions.
Hi! I want to play Gamecube games but I recently bought the new black Wii that lays horizontally. Had I known that I would’ve encountered this problem, I wouldn’t have bought it but apparently it’s hard to get the older versions now. Is there any way that I can still get to play Gamecube backups without using the burned DVDs? I haven’t softmodded yet, I’ll be doing it soon though.
As far as I know, there is no way to play burned GC games on the Black Wii
my wii is 4.0U di i need to update it to 4.3 before doing your guide?
Yeah
hi, i followed your tutorial and all went great, the only thing different from the videos was that there were no updates available for usb loader (is that a problem?), and the first game i downloaded was super mario galaxy 2. when i click on the spinning disc, it gets stuck in a black screen and nothing happens… solutions for this problem?
Do a Google search for “mario galaxy 2 usb loader gx” and you will find the answer.
Thanks! This 50 yr old grandmother is finding your step by steps to be extremely easy to follow! Very very new to the whole torrent thing and it is so very nice to find someone who will take time to dumb down instructions !! So often I see nasty messages – wish more people remembered when they were starting out!
Hi, will this open the region restriction of my wii, i.e. can i play game disc from other regions?
Thanks.
Yes.
Thanks mate. You are a legend! Everything working perfectly, great tutorial!
Tank you for the amazing guide!
But I softmodded my wii with a WiiMotionplus controller
You didn’t run into any errors using a Wii Remote Plus controller? Interesting..
Hey there! I decided to go ahead and give it a shot with my Wiimotion Plus. No problems whatsoever. Wii is unlocked and working! Thank you for your guide!
Hi! Reading your tutorial you explain that it’s not possible to unlock the Wii with a Wii motion plus built in. Is there any other way of unlocking it WITHOUT a Wiimote (using another controller or the front keys of the Wii)? Thanks in advance, and Happy New Year!
No, you have to use a regular WiiMote. You could try a GameCube controller or a different type of Wii controller if your Wii has the slots for it.. but I don’t know if that would work.
I am having trouble getting the games onto my thumb drive. Can you please tell me what I am doing wrong? It keeps saying that there isn’t enough space for even one of them on a 16 gb thumb drive.
I am assuming there is nothing on your thrumb drive as you formatted it into WBFS. I also assume you tried importing the games with WBFS manager and it’s telling you that you don’t have enough space. Did you try importing one game at a time?
will it messed up my hard drive because my hard drive has alot of pictures in it.
You need to back up anything on your USB drive before formatting it into WBFS (formatting = deleting everything).
ok thanks i just finished hacking my wii! thanks man!
Hi,
If my SDHC 4GB can show the pictures on wii, is it possible that LetterBomb do not work on it?
Do I need to have SD and not SDHC?
You should try either one of them , and if it doesn’t work, try the other one.
Is it possible to play JPN games using this method? Import games, etc., or just NTSC/PAL?
JPN games are NTSC. But yes, you can play them all.
can i remove wii motion plus in a wiiremote that is inside
I don’t think so. You’re probably gonna have to borrow a regular one from a friend to softmod.
Can you elaborate more on the Motion Plus issues with this process? Is there a reason why these controllers won’t work with this mod? Can you use them after mod is complete, or do I have to complete replace them with older remotes? Thanks.
You only need to use the regular WiiMote to get done with Parts 2 & 3. Afterwards, you can use a Wii Remote Plus.
Hi im just wondering if it will work on firmware 4.3E
Thanks
Yes, this will work for all 4.3 Wii consoles.
Is there any way that I can use a Dvd instead of a hard drive or usb??
Thanks
Only if your Wii supports DVDs. Check out the Troubleshooting section.
can I use 64mb
Nope, at least 1GB.
what about a tutorial for mac osx users? what would be the differences to get the job done?
There is no difference except you may need to download a different backup manager instead of WBFS manager since I don’t think their MAC version works that well. Otherwise, everything else should work fine.
Can you play DVD after hacking your wii?
Not all Wii consoles can play DVDs. Check out the troubleshooting page here to find out if your Wii can here.
Does this allow you to use the Save Game Extractor?
Yep. Save Game Extractor is a wii homebrew app, so yeah.
Wow! this all souns too good to be true. I think i will give it a try. Appreciate all your efforts by putting all this info online.
A couple of questions:
1.- Can i revert changes back and have wii to its original state if anything goes wrong?
2.- Can i still play my original games using the disc?
Thanks!
1. Yes, but it is unlikely that you’d need to.
2. Yep.
I followed the instructions..everything seems ok except the usb loader is not recognizing my thumb drive. Any suggestions?
Thanx
Did you check the USB compatability list in the guide? It’s in the introduction. Also, did you put it in the right slot? Formatted it to WBFS?
I softmoded my new wii , black edition , sys menu 4.3 , serial code : LEF5x without any surprises. Thank you very very much i rlly appreciate your work and soon i will make a small donation. Thank you again.
Can I do this on my hardmoded wii? I want to update wii software to play newer games.
I’m going to have to get back to you on that after I do some research.
Does this work for loading games from an external cd reader?
Definitely not a CD reader, and it may work for an external DVD one. However, I have no experience using anything but burned DVDs and external USB hard drives, so I’d recommend you use a USB HD.
I follow the softmod tutorial here. I got my Wii softmode and home brew channel installed.
I can see IOS58 shown in HBC and CIOS 249 loading when open USB loader Gx.
But when Launch the game (Mario.and.Sonic.at.the.London.2012.Olympic.Games.PAL.Wii-GLoBALfrom) and black screen for few seconds and return back to HBC.
I tried change the loader setting to force NTSC and doesn’t work.
Any hint?
Your tutorial is awesome man !!!
I’m researching some errors people have been getting and am going to be done making a troubleshooting section in 1-2 days. I’ll be sure to address this problem too. Stay tuned!
Should each download game need to download the cover in order to play?
My games download and imported to USB HDD doesn’t show any cover when game is selected???
I wouldn’t worry about it. Sometimes WBFS manager does that. You should only worry if the games don’t work in USBLGX.
I got USBloaderGx work in HBC. It can locate the games import via WBFS Manager in my USB hard drive but there is no images. How to install and play.
I try to hit the + key in screen and it try to install from disc and forever. Any hint which I missed here
I’m going to make a troubleshooting section for this guide soon (talking about errors and how to fix). Please wait 1-2 days while I do research and provide potential fixes, since I have never encountered some errors before (like yours).
i used a micro sd card and an adapter it didnt work why
You should do this:
1. Remove things you don’t need like the Nunchuck, Wii Motion Plus, GC memory cards, etc.
2. Reformat and Re-copy the files
If that didn’t work. try different SD or SDHC cards.
I have older model which I used the Twilight hack. Can I install 4.3U over this or do I need to restor this to an original version of OS?
Joe
If you are below 4.2, you’re going to want to manually install system menu 4.2 and then use BannerBomb to install the HBC. If you are on 4.2, you can just use BannerBomb and continue on with the guide. I am working on a new guide right now on how to manually install system menus, so please wait a 24-48 hours if you want step-by-step instructions how to do this.
Just want to know something… is there any way with your method to do a nand backup ??? Saw on multiples site, we can do it in bootmii, but cannot fin where exactly, Your Bootmii software seem different than other Bootmii… Am i wrong ??? Also, in priiloader, i don’t have the hack to block Software updates ??? i just have the hack to block disc updates don’t know why…
Thanks for you work!!
I didn’t make a NAND backup, and I never learned how to make one. It seems unnecessary if you block online updates with Priiloader. I think you just need to download the new hacks_hash.ini here and put it on the root of your SD card AND your priiloader folder. (Right-click and Save link as…)
Ok. Thanks i’ll try it but your Here link doesn’t work even with the right-click and save… Also have another question for you… is it normal that i’m getting into the wad manager software when i click to start Bootmii in the HBC ?
Oops, fixed the link.
When you load the HBC, does it load the homebrew apps? I thought loading the HBC would automatically bring the apps up. Didn’t even know you had an option to load BootMii. Although I don’t know if it’s normal or not, it seems like a minor problem.
Yes homebrew apps shows up when entering HBC and if i pressed the Home Button, another menu coming and you can load bootmii from there… that’s why i told you your bootmii is different, because it was wad manager not bootmii…
anyway, everything working now…
Thanks
Can I use 4GB SD card?
Yeah.
Is every game works in multiplayer?
I don’t know, but I know that CoD:BO and CoD:MW3 works online.
Wow, nice work man
i’ll hack my wii tomorrow
Thanks for the guide, this is very detailed and can’t wait to try it!
A quick question here…using a softmodded wii (EU), can I play any NTSC Wii ISOs (i.e. US version of games) or it’s PAL only..
You can play both NTSC and PAL games.
Hi there, I just want to verify that this will work on 4.3U. Is that correct? Thanks for any replies as well as this guide.
Indeed, it will work on all 4.3 regions.
Do I need to turn the Internet On in Wii before I Insert the SD Card ?.
No, I realized that the LetterBomb exploit doesn’t actually use Wi-Fi. The only reason why you would want Wi-Fi is to download cover art, do disc updates (NOT system menu updates), and play online games.
Hi,
After formatting with FAT32, I have copied the Private folder + boot.elf into my SD card and inserted into WII. but I didn’t see any messages.
I clicked on – and + signs both. But didn’t see any red envelope with a bomb. I have 2 SD cards. One is Standard SD card and the other is Micro SD card. I tried with both the cards it didn’t work. Any other clue ?. Please help
Btw, my WII is new black color(4.3U) horizontal position(i..e, the one which does not support the backward compatibile like GameCube).
The LetterBomb message should appear on yesterday’s date, relative to the date you use the exploit. So if you used the exploit on Nov. 30, check to see if the date is Nov. 29 because some message boards glitch and don’t show yesterday’s date when you press (-) one time.
Can I use a micro sd plugged in an sd card adapter?
Yeah, that’s what I did and it worked.
Hi,
is this compatible to all Wii?
Like Super Mario’s 25th anniversary color red?
Because I am planning to softmod it.
Thanks
Yes, but I am assuming it has the new D3-2 chip that won’t allow you to play burned games. However, loading games from USB is possible for all Wiis, regardless of model/color/chip/etc. If you wanted to see if your Wii can play burned DVDs, look here.
Hey this looks good – will try it soon once I get a 2GB SD card that isn’t SDHC. Just a quick question – will this interfere with me playing my Mario Kart disc? Cheers,
Oh yeah, and will I be able to play an .iso off a DVD+R rather than a USB drive? I just really wanted a way to play backup discs. Thanks,
No, the SD card won’t do anything to your game.
You can only play backup games on DVDs if your Wii can support them. Find out here. If it can’t, you can always use USB.
I would also like to know if I need wiiflow and where to get it where it will work I can’t find any that works.
Wiiflow is a USB loader like USBLGX. You can use any USB loader you want. I just thought USBLGX’s interface is nice. I found Wiiflow here.
Thanks!! I was wondering do I have to keep the USB Loader on my SD Card and leave it in to play and load games or is there a way around this?
There is, but I never bothered with it because it takes some work. You can store USBLGX on your USB drive, but first you would need to split your USB drive into two partitions: 1 FAT32 and 1 WBFS (FAT32 for regular files like USBLGX, WBFS for Wii games).
so i tried using my Western Digital External USB Hard Drive but nothing happens if doesn’t see it and i don’t see the envelope with the bomb do i need a sd card instead ?
You can’t use USB to hack a Wii, only a SD card.
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