Installing boot9strap (Hardmod)

For support in English, ask for help at Nintendo Homebrew on Discord.
If you appreciate this guide, we accept Donations.
Technical Details (optional)

An excellent guide to getting a hardmod can be found here.

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

Using a hardmod, we can dump the NAND image, install custom firmware to the NAND image, then re-install the hacked NAND image to the console.

Compatibility Notes

The instructions on this page do not currently work on the latest firmware (11.16.0). If you were directly linked to this page, return to Get Started or join Nintendo Homebrew on Discord and ask, in English, for help.

To use the magnet links on this page, you will need a torrent client like qBittorrent or Deluge.

To extract the .7z files linked on this page, you will need a file archiver like 7-Zip or The Unarchiver.

This will work on New 3DS, New 2DS, Old 3DS, and Old 2DS on all versions that you have a corresponding .firm for.

What You Need

  • Your NAND image extracted using your hardmod
  • The latest release of boot9strap
  • The latest version of hardmod-b9s-installer
    • Windows users can use the compiled .exe, while Mac and Linux users will need to have Python 3 installed to run the .py
  • The latest release of Luma3DS (the Luma3DS .zip file that isn’t source code)
  • The .firm corresponding to your device and version:
Version(s) Kernel Old 3DS or Old 2DS New 3DS or New 2DS
1.0.0 2.27-0 2.27-0_1.0_OLD.firm -
1.1.0 2.28-0 2.28-0_1.1_OLD.firm -
2.0.0 2.29-7 2.29-7_2.0_OLD.firm -
2.1.0 2.30-18 2.30-18_2.1_OLD.firm -
2.2.0 2.31-40 2.31-40_2.2_OLD.firm -
3.0.0 2.32-15 2.32-15_3.0_OLD.firm -
4.0.0 2.33-4 2.33-4_4.0_OLD.firm -
4.1.0 - 4.5.0 2.34-0 2.34-0_4.1_OLD.firm -
5.0.0 2.35-6 2.35-6_5.0_OLD.firm -
5.1.0 2.36-0 2.36-0_5.1_OLD.firm -
6.0.0 2.37-0 2.37-0_6.0_OLD.firm -
6.1.0 - 6.4.0 2.38-0 2.38-0_6.1_OLD.firm -
7.0.0 - 7.1.0 2.39-4 2.39-0_7.0_OLD.firm -
7.2.0 2.40-0 2.40-0_7.2_OLD.firm -
8.0.0 - 8.1.0 2.44-6 / 2.45-5 2.44-6_8.0_OLD.firm 2.45-5_8.1_NEW.firm
9.0.0 - 9.2.0 2.46-0 2.46-0_9.0_OLD.firm 2.46-0_9.0_NEW.firm
9.3.0 - 9.4.0 2.48-3 2.48-3_9.3_OLD.firm 2.48-3_9.3_NEW.firm
9.5.0 2.49-0 2.49-0_9.5_OLD.firm 2.49-0_9.5_NEW.firm
9.6.0 - 9.9.0 2.50-1 2.50-1_9.6_OLD.firm 2.50-1_9.6_NEW.firm
10.0.0 2.50-7 2.50-7_10.0_OLD.firm 2.50-7_10.0_NEW.firm
10.2.0 - 10.3.0 2.50-9 2.50-9_10.2_OLD.firm 2.50-9_10.2_NEW.firm
10.4.0 - 10.7.0 2.50-11 2.50-11_10.4_OLD.firm 2.50-11_10.4_NEW.firm
11.0.0 2.51-0 2.51-0_11.0_OLD.firm 2.51-0_11.0_NEW.firm
11.1.0 2.51-2 2.51-2_11.1_OLD.firm 2.51-2_11.1_NEW.firm
11.2.0 2.52-0 2.52-0_11.2_OLD.firm 2.52-0_11.2_NEW.firm
11.3.0 2.53-0 2.53-0_11.3_OLD.firm 2.53-0_11.3_NEW.firm
11.4.0 - 11.7.0 2.54-0 2.54-0_11.4_OLD.firm 2.54-0_11.4_NEW.firm
11.8.0 - 11.11.0 2.55-0 2.55-0_11.8_OLD.firm 2.55-0_11.8_NEW.firm
11.12.0 - 11.13.0 2.56-0 2.56-0_11.12_OLD.firm 2.56-0_11.12_NEW.firm
11.14.0 - 11.15.0 2.57-0 2.57-0_11.14_OLD.firm 2.57-0_11.14_NEW.firm

Instructions

Section I - Prep Work

In this section, you will download the necessary files for the hardmod and dump the NAND image in preparation to install custom firmware.

  1. Power off your device
  2. Insert your SD card into your computer
  3. Copy boot.firm and boot.3dsx from the Luma3DS .zip to the root of your SD card
  4. Copy the hardmod-b9s-installer folder from the hardmod-b9s-installer .zip to your computer
  5. Copy your downloaded .firm to the hardmod-b9s-installer folder on your computer
  6. Rename your downloaded .firm in the hardmod-b9s-installer folder on your computer to current.firm
  7. Copy boot9strap.firm and boot9strap.firm.sha from the boot9strap .zip to the hardmod-b9s-installer folder on your computer
  8. Reinsert your SD card into your device
  9. Use your hardmod to create a NAND backup
  10. Move your NAND backup to the hardmod-b9s-installer folder on your computer and rename it to NAND.bin

Section II - Installing boot9strap

In this section, you will install custom firmware to the dumped NAND image, and then install this NAND image back onto the device to install custom firmware on it.

  1. Run hardmod-b9s-installer
    • Windows Users: Run install-b9s.exe
    • Mac and Linux Users: Run install-b9s.py
  2. Flash your outputted NAND-patched.bin to your device with your hardmod
  3. Power off your device
  4. Disconnect your hardmod
  5. Power on your device
  6. Your device should have booted into the Luma3DS configuration menu
    • 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 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
  7. Press (Start) to save and reboot
    • If you get an error, just continue to the next page

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.

Continue to Finalizing Setup