Installing boot9strap (Fredtool)


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Technical Details (optional)

This method of using Seedminer for further exploitation uses your movable.sed file to decrypt any DSiWare title for the purposes of injecting an exploitable DSiWare title into the DS Internet Settings application.

This is a currently working implementation of the “FIRM partitions known-plaintext” exploit detailed here.

What You Need

  • Your movable.sed file from completing Seedminer
  • The latest release of Frogminer_save (Frogminer_save.zip)
  • The latest release of b9sTool (boot.nds)
  • The latest release of Luma3DS (the Luma3DS .zip file)

Section I - CFW Check

As an additional safety measure, we will perform an additional check for custom firmware. This is because using this method when custom firmware is already installed has a risk of bricking the console (rendering it unusable without recovery methods like ntrboot).

  1. Power off your device
  2. Hold the (Select) button
  3. Power on your device while still holding the (Select) button
  4. If the check was successful, you will boot to the HOME Menu and you may proceed with this guide
  5. Power off your device

If you see a configuration menu or the console immediately powers off, you already have CFW, and continuing with these instructions may BRICK your device! Follow Checking for CFW to upgrade your existing CFW.

Section II - BannerBomb3

In this section, you will trigger the BannerBomb3 exploit using the DSiWare Management menu and copy the resulting file dump to your computer so that you can use it on the next section.

  1. Reinsert your SD card into your device
  2. Power on your device
  3. Launch System Settings on your device
  4. Navigate to Data Management -> DSiWare-> SD Card (image)
  5. Use the D-Pad to navigate and press the (A) button to select “Dump DSiWare”
    • Your device will automatically reboot
  6. Power off your device

Section III - Prep Work

In this section, you will copy the files necessary to temporarily replace DS Connection Settings with Flipnote Studio, which is used to launch the boot9strap (custom firmware) installer.

  1. Insert your SD card into your computer
  2. Open the DSIHaxInjector_new website on your computer
  3. Under the “Username” field, enter any alphanumeric name (no spaces or special characters)
  4. Under the “DSiBin” field, upload your 42383841.bin file from the root of your SD card using the first “Browse…” option
  5. Under the “MovableSed” field, upload your movable.sed file using the second “Browse…” option
  6. Under the “InjectionTarget” field, set the injection target to DSinternet (NOT memorypit)
  7. Click “Build”
    • Wait a few seconds for the build process to complete
  8. In the Build History section on the left, type the Username into the “Filter Builds” field
  9. Click on the first search result
    • This result should have the latest timestamp
  10. Click the “output_(name).zip” link
  11. Navigate to Nintendo 3DS -> <ID0> -> <ID1> -> Nintendo DSiWare on your SD card
    • <ID0> is the 32-letter folder name that you copied in Seedminer
    • <ID1> is a 32-letter folder inside of the <ID0>
  12. Delete F00D43D5.bin from your Nintendo DSiWare folder
  13. Copy the 42383841.bin file from the hax folder of the downloaded DSiWare archive (output_(name).zip) to the Nintendo DSiWare folder
  14. Copy boot.firm and boot.3dsx from the Luma3DS .zip to the root of your SD card
    • The root of the SD card refers to the initial directory on your SD card where you can see the Nintendo 3DS folder, but are not inside of it
  15. Copy boot.nds (B9STool) to the root of your SD card
  16. Copy the private folder from the Frogminer_save .zip to the root of your SD card
  17. Reinsert your SD card into your device
  18. Power on your device

Section IV - Overwriting DS Connection Settings

In this section, you will copy the hacked DS Connection Settings DSiWare to internal memory, which will temporarily replace it with Flipnote Studio.

  1. Launch System Settings on your device
  2. Navigate to Data Management -> DSiWare-> SD Card (image)
  3. Select the “Haxxxxxxxxx!” title
  4. Select “Copy”, then select “OK”
  5. Return to main menu of the System Settings
  6. Navigate to Internet Settings -> Nintendo DS Connections, then select “OK” (image)
  7. If the exploit was successful, your device will have loaded the JPN version of Flipnote Studio

Section V - Flipnote Exploit

If you would prefer a visual guide to this section, one is available here.

In this section, you will perform a series of very specific steps within Flipnote Studio that, when performed correctly, will launch the boot9strap (custom firmware) installer.

  1. Complete the initial setup process for the launched game until you reach the main menu
    • Select the left option whenever prompted during the setup process
  2. Using the touch-screen, select the large left box, then select the box with an SD card icon
  3. Once the menu loads, select the face icon, then the bottom right icon to continue
  4. Press (X) or (UP) on the D-Pad depending on which is shown on the top screen
  5. Select the second button along the top with a film-reel icon
  6. Scroll right until reel “3/3” is selected
  7. Tap the third box with the letter “A” in it
  8. Scroll left until reel “1/3” is selected
  9. Tap the fourth box with the letter “A” in it
  10. If the exploit was successful, your device will have loaded b9sTool
  11. Using the D-Pad, move to “Install boot9strap”
    • If you miss this step, the system will exit to HOME Menu instead of installing boot9strap and you will need to open System Settings, then start over from Step 6 of Section IV
  12. Press (A), then press START and SELECT at the same time to begin the process
  13. Once completed and the bottom screen says “done.”, exit b9sTool, then power off your device
    • You may have to force power off by holding the power button
    • If your device shuts down when you try to power it on, ensure that you have copied boot.firm from the Luma3DS .zip to the root of your SD card
    • If you see the Luma Configuration screen, power off your device and continue to the next section

Section VI - Luma3DS Configuration

  1. Press and hold (Select), and while holding (Select), power on your device. This will launch Luma3DS configuration
    • Luma3DS configuration menu are settings for the Luma3DS custom firmware. Many of these settings may be useful for customization or debugging
    • For the purpose of this guide, these settings will be left on default settings
    • If you boot to HOME Menu, follow this troubleshooting guide
  2. Press (Start) to save and reboot

At this point, your console will boot to Luma3DS by default.

  • Luma3DS does not look any different from the normal HOME Menu. If your console has booted into the HOME Menu, it is running custom firmware.
  • On the next page, you will install useful homebrew applications to complete your setup.

Section VII - Restoring DS Connection Settings

In this section, you will restore DS Connection Settings to the way it was before it was temporarily replaced with Flipnote Studio in Section IV.

  1. Navigate to Nintendo 3DS -> <ID0> -> <ID1> -> Nintendo DSiWare on your SD card
  2. Copy the 42383841.bin file from the clean folder of the downloaded DSiWare archive (output_(name).zip) to the Nintendo DSiWare folder, replacing the existing one
  3. Reinsert your SD card into your device
  4. Power on your device
  5. Launch System Settings on your device
  6. Navigate to Data Management -> DSiWare-> SD Card (image)
  7. Select the “Nintendo DSi™” title
  8. Select “Copy”, then select “OK”

Continue to Finalizing Setup