Homebrew status

Current homebrew status: Working.

A combination of the Twilight Hack and the Homebrew Channel is the recommended method of homebrew application loading.

Hacks

The Zelda: Twilight Princess Exploit (Twilight Hack)

Requires: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Wii), a non-SDHC SD card (all SD cards that are 2GB or less are non-SDHC, and if you search very hard you might be able to find 4GB non-SDHC cards).

bushing, tmbinc and segher were able to modify a save game for Zelda: Twilight Princess that would make the Wii execute a stack smash and were then able to inject their own code. No hardware modification is needed. Firmware version 3.3 attempted to block use of this hack, but failed in implementation. The newest version(v0.1beta1) is compatible with all Wii firmware versions up to and including 3.3.

Trucha Signing (Signing bug)

Requires: Varies. For homebrew enablement, a drivechip and a Wii below firmware version 3.3.

This method of signing content for the Wii exploits a bug in the implementation of the RSA algorithm used in some of the Wii's software. It is simple to create a fake signature for any content, allowing the installation of custom channels (such as the Homebrew Channel) and IOSes (via PatchMii or Custom IOS Installer), the running of modified game discs (only with a drivechip), the Datel Freeloader disc, and more.

However, as of October 23, 2008, all IOSes have been patched to remove the signing bug, rendering all fakesigned discs, as well as any homebrew software reliant on the signing bug (such as AnyTitle Deleter and AnyRegion Changer) useless. The latest version of the Homebrew Channel can still be installed, as it uses a new exploit.

Homebrew Channel

Requires: Homebrew enablement via fakesigning (only on consoles that do not have the October 23 update) or the Twilight Hack.

While not a hack in itself, the Homebrew Channel is the first homebrew loading interface that does not require any other software or hardware to run. Installation, however, requires either the Twilight Hack or the ability to run fakesigned discs. It currently works on all Wii firmware versions available up to this writing (currently 3.3). The Homebrew Channel installer utilized the fakesigning exploit until beta 9. The beta 9 installer uses a different exploit to install itself, to circumvent Nintendo's October 23 update which patched the fakesigning bug out of all IOSes.

Wii System Updates

Not to be confused with System Menu.

A system update is a collection of updated titles installed via the “Wii System Update” feature, either from a disc or over the network. The System Menu is typically updated, along with certain IOSes, and sometimes some channels.

While system updates are generally referred to by version, the Wii does not store a firmware version anywhere, besides the System Menu version, although not all system updates come with a System Menu (for example, the Oct. 23 Update).

The first title to be updated in each update is boot2, whose contents are instead passed to ES_ImportBoot, in an attempt to safely update both copies of boot2. After this, the System Menu IOS is installed, followed by the System Menu itself. The rest of the updated titles are simply updated in the order they are found.

Online updates

The most common method of installing an update is by pressing the update button in the settings. When doing this, the System Menu takes the version number of boot2, the System Menu, and a single IOS, and uploads them to NUS. NUS then returns the latest version of al title.

From here, the System Menu downloads each ticket and TMD from NUS that has a later version than the version installed, or is not installed, as well as the contents listed in the TMD. These are fed to ES and installed.

Disc updates

When a disc is inserted, one thing the System Menu checks is whether any titles in the update partition have a version higher than the one on the NAND; if so, the "Wii System Update" banner is displayed on the Disc Channel instead of the normal banner (only on 3.2 and higher).

When the Disc Channel is clicked, a prompt to update appears. For each title with a version number higher than that on the NAND, and each title that does not already exist on the NAND, the title contents are fed to ES's title installation ioctls.

vWii updates

On the vWii, updates are done together with Wii U updates. The upper bits of the title IDs are modified to distinguish from Wii titles, which prevents things like BC-NAND from appearing on the normal Wii. This mapping is only done on NUS; the actual titles are still installed into the normal locations in the vWii.

NUS ID	vWii ID
00000007	00000001
00070002	00010002
00070008	00010008

Update history

Version	NUS post date	Release date	Description
1.0	N/A	November 19, 2006	Launch set of titles. Contains boot2v2, System Menu 1.0, IOS4v3, IOS9v516, BC, MIOS, Photo Channel, Mii Channel, Forecast Channel dummy, and News Channel dummy. Some consoles shipped with a functioning Wii Shop Channel, while others had a dummy version.
2.0	November 17/18, 2006	November 19, 2006	Removed setup features intended for initial setup prior to formatting. Activated online features; added release IOSes ([[IOS11], IOS12, IOS13). Updated BC and MIOS.
2.0rev02	November 17/18, 2006	November 19, 2006	Installed a functional Wii Shop Channel on Wiis that didn’t have it; updated several channels to use IOS13. Changed Forecast Channel dummy and News Channel dummy to say "You cannot use this channel until service begins." Added EULA, which the Wii Shop Channel now requires agreement to.
2.0rev03	November 30, 2006	November 30, 2006	Wii Shop Channel now uses HTTPS, and uses the newly released IOS15.
2.0rev04	December 19, 2006	December 19, 2006	Released the Forecast Channel
2.0rev05	January 26, 2007	January 26, 2007	Released the News Channel
2.1	January 10, 2007	January 10, 2007	PAL-exclusive RGB-SCART fix.
2.1rev02	January 26, 2007	January 26, 2007	Identical to 2.0rev05; released News Channel in PAL consoles.
2.2	April 12, 2007	April 11, 2007[check]	Fixed some internet issues. Released IOS20 and IOS21.
3.0	August 7, 2007	August 6, 2007[check]	Contains various minor updates such as a clock and using + and - to navigate the settings menu. Blocked the GameCube Action Replay with an updated MIOS. Released IOS30 and IOS31, which have the code needed for games to detect drivechips and show error 001. Updated the Internet Channel using a NAND Boot Program update in IOS15 and IOS21. Added a switch to detect whether to use Photo Channel or Photo Channel 1.1 instead of displaying both.
3.0rev02	August 13, 2007	August 13, 2007	Reverted the Internet Channel patch; updated IOS30 and IOS31.
3.1	October 10, 2007	October 10, 2007	Added USB Keyboard support; added back the Internet Channel patch. Reverted setup back to a 1.0-like setup process to allow this menu to be preinstalled at the factory. Added IOS33, IOS34, and IOS35, the first IOSes used by error 001 games.
3.1rev02	December 7, 2007	December 10, 2007	Added Photo Channel 1.1 and added the gift feature to the Wii Shop Channel.
3.2	February 26, 2008	February 25, 2008[check]	The Disc Channel now says "Wii System Update" if an update is needed; something about slot LED blinking was also changed.
3.2rev02	March 20, 2008	March 20, 2008	The Wii Shop Channel now supports WiiWare.
3.2rev03	March 21, 2008	March 22, 2008	Added IOS37, used by early WiiWare games. This IOS fixed the signing bug, but this did not have much of an impact.
3.2rev04	June 13, 2008	June 16, 2008	Released an updated IOS30 with the signing bug fixed.
3.3	June 13, 2008	June 16, 2008	Copied the IOS30 signing bug fix to IOS31; fixed the signing bug in BC. Fixed the Tweezer Attack and attempted to fix the Twilight Hack.
3.3rev02	July 17, 2008	July 22, 2008	Updated Photo Channel and Photo Channel 1.1 for a Japan-exclusive service
3.3rev03	October 22, 2008	October 23, 2008	Stubbed IOS4, IOS10, IOS11, and IOS20. Fixed signing bug, /dev/flash hack, and ES_Identify in all IOSes except IOS16, IOS30, IOS31, IOS37, and IOS254. Released IOS51 with a new Wii Shop Channel.
3.4	November 17, 2008	November 17, 2008	System Menu now uses IOS50; IOS30 has been stubbed. Fixed ES_Identify and /dev/flash hack in IOS31, IOS37, and IOS254. IOS37 now has new ES functions. Supposedly has disc and SD reading improvements as well. Second attempt to fix the Twilight Hack. Mii Channel now has USB Keyboard support.
3.4rev02	March 25, 2009	March 25, 2009	Fixed STM Release Exploit in all IOSes. Stubbed IOS16; released IOS60 and IOS61.
3.5	March 2, 2009	March 3, 2009	Korean equivalent of 3.4, and the first update to Korean consoles. Stubbed IOS4 and IOS40. System Menu now uses IOS52. Released IOS51.
3.5rev02	March 25, 2009	March 25, 2009	Korean equivalent of 3.4rev02.
3.5rev03	March 25, 2009	March 25, 2009	Korean equivalent of 4.0; System Menu was never released in Korea.
4.0	March 25, 2009	March 25, 2009	Fixed the Twilight Hack. Added an SD card menu, as well as SDHC support in system channels. Made various improvements to initial setup. Rephrased the warning about homebrew when updating. Removed unused symbols from main.sel.
4.1	July 16, 2009	July 15, 2009[check]	Fixed a bug where using the SD Card Menu would force users to rewatch the MotionPlus introduction. Released Photo Channel 1.1 in Korea.
4.1rev02K	July 30, 2009	July 30, 2009	Korea only; stubbed IOS16 and IOS52.
4.2	September 29, 2009	September 30, 2009	Updated to boot2v4; contains an unknown batch IOS update, including BC and MIOS. System Menu now uses IOS70. Attempted to fix Bannerbomb. Added code to delete the Homebrew Channel and DVDX on every boot.
4.2rev02	September 29, 2009	September 30, 2009	Stubbed IOS60.
4.2rev03	October 20, 2009	October 21, 2009	Updated the Wii Shop Channel to add the "One Free Title" button for users that purchased the Internet Channel.
4.2rev04	June 21, 2010	June 22, 2010	Batch IOS update to fix the HackMii Installer exploit and the /tmp/title.tmd bug. Released IOS80. IOS9 now has a build tag. Removed the NAND Boot Program from IOS15.
4.3	June 21, 2010	June 22, 2010	Successfully fixed Bannerbomb. Updated the title deletion code for the new title IDs used by homebrew. Initial setup date now defaults to 1/1/2010 instead of 1/1/2009.
4.3rev02	June 22, 2010	June 22, 2010	Stubbed IOS70 and IOS254.
4.3rev03	September 7, 2010	September 8, 2010	Updated WL in all IOSes except IOS9. Korean IOSes have now been released in all regions. Wii Shop Channel now uses IOS56 instead of IOS61.
4.3rev04	November 7, 2012	November 6, 2012[check]	Added IOS62 for Wii U Transfer Tool support.
4.3rev05J	November 26, 2013	November 26, 2013	Updated IOS59 for a new Dragon Quest X update.
4.3rev06J	February 25, 2014	February 25, 2014	Updated IOS59 for USB Flash Optimization support.