FAQ and Troubleshooting

Primary FAQ

How risky is hacking my console?

There is very low risk to hacking your console. The Wii requires very little equipment to hack and can usually be done entirely through software. As long as you follow the general advice laid on the brick overview page, install BootMii and Priiloader, and apply instructions as written, you should be OK. If you have specific concerns about the hacking process, feel free to join the Nintendo Homebrew discord at the bottom of the page.

How can I remove parental controls?

The mkey generator can generate the code required to remove parental controls.

I think my Wii is bricked, or something is seriously wrong, what do I do?

See this page.

Error Code FAQ

I got error code XXXXXX, how do I fix it?

In order to check what the error means, please visit the Wiimmfi error page. More common errors have fixes listed below:

Error 051330/51330

Run an Internet connection test by going to Wii Settings -> Internet -> Connection settings -> Connection -> Test this connection

Error 220602

For WiiLink Users

You are using an old DNS server for WiiLink. You should set your DNS to what is specified on the WiiLink website.

For non-WiiLink Users

Your Primary DNS server is incorrect or not working.

This can also happen if you use a proxy server and it is down.

Error 107304

For WiiLink Users

If you receive the above error or you see Nintendo's User Agreement without WiiLink's logo, that means your ISP (Internet Service Provider) or network is blocking the use of WiiLink DNS. You can set the Auto-Obtain DNS option to On to resolve this. You can also use the WiiLink DNS Server as an alternative.

For non-WiiLink Users

If you receive this error, your Internet or DNS server is having issues. Try again later.

FORE000006

If you receive error FORE000006, your Wii's clock is likely set incorrectly. See the RTC clock update guide for instructions on how to properly sync it. If you continue to recieve this error, remove the Wii's clock battery (located on the bottom of the system behind a screw) for an hour and reinsert it. Then, set the Wii's clock to the correct time.

Storage Device FAQ

DANGER

Flash drives are NOT recommended to be used on a Wii if possible because of their unpredicability and potential to become corrupt on the console. Using a USB flash drive may result in the following behavior:

• Game backups failing to load
• UI glitches in homebrew apps
• Data randomly becoming corrupted

If you experience the issues above, or other inexplicable issues with your flash drive, use a USB hard drive or an SD card instead.

WARNING

For stock Wii Menu versions lower than 4.0, a limitation in the Wii system software prevents SD cards bigger than 2GB from being used.

For stock Wii Menu versions 4.0 or higher, this limitation is removed and SD cards of any size can be used.

INFO

The Wii can read SD cards of any capacity (even those larger than 32GB), but the card must be formatted to FAT32/MS-DOS (not exFAT or NTFS).

For USB devices, FAT32/MS-DOS is also recommended. However, users should be aware of FAT32 limitations, which only allow volumes up to 2TB in size and files up to 4GB in size. WBFS is another file system used for Wii game backups (not to be confused with WBFS files) commonly used in the past, but it is now outdated and should not be used.

INFO

For the BlueBomb, str2hax, and FlashHax exploits, you do not need an SD card to hack your Wii. However, it is highly recommended to use one anyway for homebrew and other tasks.

Storage Space Recommendations

When considering, buying, or using an SD card or USB storage device, it is worth considering what you will be using it for. Based on your planned usage, sizing recommendations are outlined below:

Device Usage	Recommended Storage Space
Exploit-only	128MB
NAND backups	Minimum: 512MB Recommended: 1GB+
Homebrew usage	2GB+
Emulation usage	32GB+
GameCube backups	64GB+
Wii backups	128GB+

Buying SD Cards

DANGER

Listings for SD cards larger than 2TB are almost certainly scams, and would not work on a Wii anyway as it is not compatible with the SDUC standard.

When buying SD cards, it is generally recommended that you stick to well-known brands, especially with higher capacity cards. You can buy a generic 2GB SD card and it will most likely work as intended, but the same cannot be said for something like a 512GB SD card. General current pricing for SD cards is around 10-35 USD for 256GB and below, whereas 512GB is around 60 USD. When buying off of Amazon, make sure that your card is either Sold by/Shipped by Amazon or Sold by [brand], Shipped by Amazon. Be careful when buying storage on eBay.

Our recommended brands:

• Samsung (EVO Select, EVO Plus, PRO Plus)
• SanDisk (Extreme, Ultra, etc)
• Lexar (E-Series, Professional)
• Silicon Power (3D NAND, Elite)
• PNY (Elite, Elite-X, etc)
• INLAND by Micro Center

Buying USB Devices - Hard Drives

When buying USB hard drives, there are only three existing present-day HDD manufacturers: Western Digital, Seagate, and Toshiba. Any and all other hard drive companies are defunct and have either went bankrupt, or were absorbed by the three aforementioned companies. With that said, if you have an extra hard drive lying around made by another company, it should still work! Hard drive technology has remained largely the same within the past 10 or so years. Just make sure to check the S.M.A.R.T data to ensure that the drive isn't failing before you throw all of your data on there.

For hard drive sizing, 2.5 inch drives should work fine in most cases running off of USB power alone on a Wii, but 3.5 inch drives consume more power and will always need an external power adapter. Make sure to plan for this when determining what you want to do with an external drive.

For Wii U users, it is highly recommended to have a hard drive that uses external power, or to use a powered USB hub and/or Y cable for 2.5 inch drives. This is due to the Wii U not providing enough power over its USB ports, unlike the Wii.

For Wii mini users, it is recommended to have an externally powered USB hub in order to have external storage, internet adapters, and other peripherals connected simultaneously. You may also want to use a Y cable for drive power.

As for your choices in shopping, this largely comes down to three different scenarios:

• Buying a new external hard drive from scratch: New external drives come brand new around 60 USD for 2TB, 50 USD for 1TB, around 30 USD for sizes lower than 1TB. Try to stick within the three present manufacturing brands listed above, but bear in mind that offerings are sparse for drive sizes lower than 1TB.
• Buying a new hard drive, and a new enclosure: You can buy a hard drive, as well as an enclosure to store this hard drive, with the added benefit that the drive can be swapped as desired. 2.5 inch enclosures can normally be powered off of USB alone, while 3.5 inch enclosures almost always need externally provided power. An example is buying a 1TB 2.5 inch hard drive as well as 2.5 inch drive enclosure, which may cost around 80 USD.
• Buying an enclosure for an already existing hard drive: If you already have a usable drive, you can slot it into an enclosure and use it with your Wii. Enclosures can be found for prices ranging between 10 to 20 USD on Amazon.

Buying USB Devices - Solid State Drives

WARNING

For the purpose of using a drive with a Wii, external SSDs are often more expensive than conventional hard drives for no visible gain in speed on a Wii (the console only supports up to USB 2.0 data speeds). If you would like to buy one or already have one lying around, it's an option, but generally it's recommended to just go for a hard drive if you don't already have one.

Networking FAQ

The Wii's wireless networking hardware supports the maximum standard of 802.11g on the 2.4 GHz band (retroactively named Wi-Fi 3), with a maximum security level of WPA2-PSK (AES). Therefore, the Wii will NOT be able to connect to the following access points (APs):

• APs enforcing WPA enterprise encryption, or WPA3 only
• APs not backwards compatible with WiFi 3, or broadcasting only on the 5 GHz band
• APs not supporting legacy 802.11b or 802.11g rates (i.e. APs supporting only 802.11n)

ISPs known to provide routers incompatible with these settings:

• Xfinity
• Spectrum
• Cox

If your ISP will not let you change these settings, or your current networking hardware is not supported, you have a few options:

• You can try to use a cellular hotspot. This is not recommended as a first choice as it often results in an unstable connection.
• You can use a LAN adapter. It must have the ASIX AX88772 chipset or say “compatible with Wii”. Here is a recommended LAN adapter by Plugable.
  • Note that variants of the chipset (eg. ASIX AX88772E) will not work with the Wii.
• Alternatively, you can buy a secondary router and continue to use the network you already have, like a mesh. Any cheap router meeting the above standards (such as the Linksys WRT54G) will work.

For the Wii U, vWii uses the internet settings set in the Wii U's main settings, but can be optionally separated with the Wii VC Launch Aroma plugin.

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