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HOWTO: Install Priiloader to help prevent system bricks if you cannot use Bootmii as boot2

***IMPORTANT***
Priiloader will only work on the following European/Australian and American System Menus. 3.2, 4.0-4.2 do not use priiloader on any other region or any other system menu version. I advise you to update to system menu 4.2 using the safe updater by clicking here if you are on any other European/Australian or American system menu other than 3.2 or 4.0-4.2

Priiloader is a small application which places itself before the system menu. It?s main feature is to directly boot the Homebrew Channel or a file you can install from a FAT device. This is useful, incase you brick your Wii you can still gain access to the Homebrew Channel to try and restore the system menu.

Priiloader is not the same as Bootmii and is not able to backup your NAND. If you was able to install Bootmii to boot2 (you get the grey/silver screen with 4 icons when you power on your Wii before the Health and safety screen) then Priiloader is not needed. However if you was unable to install Bootmii to boot2 then Priiloader is very good app to have installed as it enables you to access the Homebrew Channel if you brick your system menu, which will enable you to access Bootmii as an IOS in order to restore a NAND backup.

Priiloader is also able to apply memory patches to the system menu to remove limitations or other things.

Since priiloader places itself before the system menu any problems that would cause the system menu to fail are not causing your whole wii to stop working.

If autoboot is enabled and you want to access priiloader?s menu simply hold RESET while powering the wii on.

Requirements:
Homebrew Channel to already be installed.
Not necessarily required but if you come across installation problems you may need to have IOS36 trucha patched. Visit the getting started page and follow the instructions for installing the trucha patch for your version system menu.

1. Download this file.

2. Check what version system menu you are on, by clicking the Wii Options icon in the buttom left hand corner of your main Wii system menu, and choose Wii Settings. Your system menu version will be displayed in the top right hand corner.

3. From the download go into the hacks folder, and the folder that corresponds to the system menu you are currently on. Note for Australian Wii consoles, use the European hacks. If you are not on a 3.2,4.0 -4.2 system menu then you can safely upgrade your Wii to system menu 4.2by following the instructions here.

4. Copy the necessary hacks.ini file from the folder to the root of your SD card.

5. Copy the the apps folder on the download, to the root of your SD card.

6. Load the Homebrew Channel and select preloader

7. On the install screen press +.

If you get no error message continue with step 8.

7.1 At this point if you get the error: ?Got Root! Ticket could not be found, aborting mission? place your SD card back into your computer. go into the apps folder and then the preloader folder. Rename boot.dol to boot.old and rename preloader0.29-jodi.dol to boot.dol. Place the SD back into the Wii.

Go back to homebrew channel and re-run preloader. Follow the on screen instructions to install preloader. Once Preloader is installed you?ll be placed into the Preloader menu choose to return to the homebrew channel.

Eject the SD card and again place back into your PC. Back in the preloader folder in the apps folder, delete the boot.dol file and rename the boot.old file back to boot.dol. Put the Sd card back into your wii.

Run the homebrew channel and again run the preloader install. It will now install the 0.30 version.

If your still getting errors be sure you have modified the correct IOS files for your system menu beforehand by following the prep guides again:
System Menu 4.1 and below
System Menu 4.2

8. When you next turn on your Wii, hold down the reset button to access the priiloader menu.

9. When in the priiloader menu scroll down to system menu hacks and enable block disc updates. This will disable any original or backed up games that have an update partition on them from running and potentially disabling all your homebrew or at worst, bricking your Wii. Scroll down to save settings. Once settings are saved, press B to return to the menu.

In the settings menu. Change autoboot to system menu. Scroll down to save settings. Once settings are saved, press B to return to the menu.

Select system menu to boot to the wii system menu.

In future if you need to access priiloader before the system menu, hold down the eject button as you power on your Wii.

Bootmii as IOS

To restore a NAND backup from Bootmii as IOS you will need already have Priiloader installed. A Nintendo Gamecube controller will also need to be connected.

In the Homebrew Channel press the home button on your Wiimote and select Launch Bootmii.

If at this stage your Wiimote stops working to navigate the menus you need to use the buttons at the front of your Wii, or use a Gamecube controller.

The power button allows you to toggle through the menus so you can highlight which option you want. And the reset button selects it.

So, press the power button until you hover over the settings icon, and then press reset.

Hit reset on the backup to SD card option (the first icon on the left)

Press Eject to start the NAND backup. The Wii system will begin to backup to your SD card. This will take 5 or so minutes to complete, so go and make a cup of tea.

You now have a backup of your NAND. It is advisable to also back up the nand.bin file that will be created at the root of your SD to a safe blace on your computer also, so you have a backup, of your backup!!

Note that Bootmii will only ever use the nand.bin filename, so if you create another nand backup it would erase the current one on your SD. If you would prefer to keep the existing nand when you want to create a new one, be sure to rename your old one to something that?s relevant to you.

*** Before restoring an old nand file it is advisable if possible to save your game saves using the homebrew savegame manager application. As some games such as Mario Kart Wii and Wii Fit are known to lose their saved game data back to that of when you made the backup. So if you want to keep your current saved game progress I advise to use the savegame manager to backup your saved games to your SD. If the savegame manager app is not already listed in your homebrew channel, it can be downloaded from here ***

To restore a backed up nand when you power on your Wii hold down the reset button. The priiloader menu should launch. Select to go into Bootmii IOS.

Press the power button until you hover over the settings icon, and then press reset.

Hit reset on the restore from SD card icon.

Press reset to do a simulation restore of your NAND. Bootmii will warn you that it is not installed as boot2 and that it is risky to do this process. To continue you must hold down A+B+X+Y all at the same time on a Gamecube controller. It may take a few times for you to perfect this but you will eventually be able to do it and Bootmii will continue.

Once the simulation is finished, press the Eject button to start the real restore. Once the real restore is completed, reboot your Wii and you will be back to the point of when you created your NAND backup that you used.

Problems: Before posting a comment below, check the list of common error codes found here with solutions on how to fix, and then read other comments below to see if your problem has been reported and solved previously.

Special thanks go out to all the coders that made these apps possible. I did not do any coding of them and have just supplied my own custom downloads with easy to follow guides. Special thanks especially to Team Twiizers, Waninkoko, Comex, Pembo, tekncal, Hermes, Kwiirk , Starcube, Crediar, tona, red squirrel, Wiipower, Marc, Wiigator, WB3000, xzxero, DacoTaco, phpgeek & Kongznutz.

LEGAL DISCLAIMER: I am not personally responsible should you damage your Wii system in any way by following any of the guides on these pages. You do so at your own risk.

1. what you need:

A Wii.
An SD card (For backing up NAND purposes I recommend at least 2GB in size, however if you just want to get up and running for the time being then 512MB will do.)

1. Power on your Wii, and click on the Wii icon in the bottom left hand corner. Click on wii settings, Make a note of the system menu version you are on which will be displayed in the top right hand corner.

Click the right arrow to get to page 2.

2. Click WiiConnect24

3. Turn Off WiiConnect24 (this does not disable online gaming, it just disables your Wii from automatic updates, however you will not receive news flashes from various channels such as the shop or news channels anymore.)

4. Ensure your SD card is blank, if it already has data on it then back this up to your computer first.

3. Download one of the below files:

System Menu 4.1 or below, download THIS PACK. (this will open in a new window, where the download link can be found at the bottom of the page)
System Menu 4.2, download THIS PACK (this will open in a new window, where the download link can be found at the bottom of the page)

Extract the contents of the zip file to the root of your SD card.

4. Dependant on your system menu follow one of the below steps

System Menu 4.1 and below: Press the A button over the Wii circle icon in the bottom left hand corner.

Click data management, then click channels and click on the SD card tab in the top right corner.

You?ll be presented with a message that says there is no SD card inserted. So put your SD card with the downloaded content into your Wii.

System Menu 4.2: Click the SD card icon on the main channels page.

5. It will ask you if you want to run boot.dol/elf. Click yes. the Hackmii installer boot screen will show, be patient, this displays for around 10 seconds before allowing you to move on. Press 1 to continue. (If at this stage your Wii freezes, download an alternative version of Bannerbomb from the this page

6. A screen will show detailing what can and cannot be installed. Hopefully all 3 will display as being able to be installed. Click continue.

7. Go up and select install the homebrew channel, followed by yes continue. The Homebrew Channel will commence installation.

8. Now select to install DVDx, followed by yes continue. DVDx will commence installation.

9. Now select Bootmii, and choose install Bootmii as boot2, followed by yes continue. First the SD will card will get prepared, and then you will be asked to install Bootmii to boot2. Select yes to continue. Hopefully this will display as success. If your Wii is newer than late 2008 odds are you will not be able to install bootmii to boot2.

10. Now select Bootmii again and this time choose to install to IOS. Do this even if you was able to install Bootmii to boot2. Select yes to continue. and follow any prompts.

11. Once all 3 have been installed select to keep going back and to return to the main menu and exit the installer. You will be placed inside the Homebrew Channel, which at this stage the only apps you will have listed is the Bootmii Configuration Editor, Homebrew Browser & Savegame Manager. Press the home button on your wiimote and select exit to return to the main Wii system menu. If you are asked to perform an update to the Homebrew Channel at any point it is safe to do this.

***If you was unable to install bootmii as boot2 the following steps are not applicable to you, I now recommend you install an application called preloader which will also help protect your Wii from a system brick. Click here for instructions on how to install Preloader with details of how you can still backup and restore your NAND. If you was able to install bootmii to boot2 then continue on with the guide below***

12. For this stage you need to ensure that your SD card has at least 580MB of free space.

Reboot your Wii. When it next comes on you will have a grey screen with 4 icons. At this stage of the Wii you will be unable to use your Wii remotes as they have yet to sync with the system. So to navigate the menus you need to use the buttons at the front of your Wii. The power button allows you to toggle through the menus so you can highlight which option you want. And the reset button selects it. So, press the power button until you hover over the settings icon (furthest on the right,) and then press reset.

13. Hit reset on the backup to SD card option (the first icon on the left)

14. Press Eject to start the NAND backup. The Wii system will begin to backup to your SD card. This will take 5 or so minutes to complete, so go and make a cup of tea.

You now have a backup of your NAND. It is advisable to also back up the nand.bin file that will be created at the root of your SD to a safe place on your computer also, so you have a backup, of your backup!! Should you brick your Wii in the future you now have the bootmii safety net of being able to restore your System back to where it was at this point in time.

Note that Bootmii will only ever use the nand.bin filename, so if you create another nand backup it would erase the current one on your SD. If you would prefer to keep the existing nand when you want to create a new one, be sure to rename your old one to something that?s relevant to you.

If at any point you ever need to restore you nand, you can follow this guide.

15. Now, reboot your wii and press the power button to select the homebrew channel and press reset to select it.

21. In the homebrew channel run the Bootmii configuration editor application.

22. Choose the video mode that is correct for your system, If you are unsure leave it at auto, select where you would like your Wii to autoboot too, if you would prefer it loaded to the main wii system menu, then select system menu. Then select the boot delay. I usually select 5 seconds. Then choose exit saving changes.

Now when you next power cycle your Wii the Wii will auto boot into the Wii system menu after 5 seconds, so you don?t need to faff about with the power and reset buttons unless you need to boot into the homebrew channel or restore your nand because you have bricked your system. But you give yourself 5 seconds to get over to your Wii and press the necessary buttons to get to them.

Your Wii is now ready for using Homebrew applications. Lots of free games, applications, utilities can be downloaded to your Wii via the Homebrew Browser which has been included in this pack and can be loaded from the Homebrew Channel.

If you wish to play commercial software on your Wii for free you will need to modify it further. Refer to the getting started section of this blog to follow the correct path for further softmods dependant on your system menu version.

Problems: Before posting a comment below, check the list of common error codes found here with solutions on how to fix, and then read other comments below to see if your problem has been reported and solved previously.

Special thanks go out to all the coders that made these apps possible. I did not do any coding of them and have just supplied my own custom downloads with easy to follow guides. Special thanks especially to Team Twiizers, Waninkoko, Comex, Pembo, tekncal, Hermes, Kwiirk , Starcube, Crediar, tona, red squirrel, Wiipower, Marc, Wiigator, WB3000, xzxero, DacoTaco, phpgeek & Kongznutz.