Welcome to the tutorial on how to hack your Wii. You can either watch the moderately out-of-date video made by OMIGHTY1 (OMIGHTYGUY) on Youtube, or follow the text tutorial here. Both should work for Wiis up to System Menu v4.2.
[I haven't gotten the chance to use 4.3 yet, so I don't know much about it. Any needed installers should already be updated to work with the new firmware, so it shouldn't be anything to worry about.
-OMIGHTY1]
Video (outdated):
[PLACE VIDEO HERE]
Step 1: What you need and obtaining the files
The things you need are:
A TV
A Wii (Any System Menu 4.1 or below are easiest)
An SD card (256MB minimum, 1GB or larger for NAND backup and more apps)
A computer with an SD slot (preferably Windows xP)
Wireless broadband internet (the Wii automatically downloads the files the apps need without you doing anything)
TIME
Ok, let's get started hacking!
The files you need are:
BootMii BannerBomb:
The first thing you want to do is back up your "private" folder on your SD card. You can either move it to another secure location, or rename it to anything but "private"; just name it privateapplesauce, or something. After you do this, move the folder containing Bannerbomb to your SD card.
Once that's done, move the HackMii installer to the root of your SD card. The root of any drive or computer storage device is the very lowest you can get in it. You don't go inside of any folders (Windows users, go to Computer> SD card, and you're at the root. Mac users, double-click on the icon on the desktop, and you're in the root.) The HackMii installer should be named "boot.dol". Otherwise, Bannerbomb will not find it.
Ok, we're done with the computer for now. Insert your SD card in your Wii. This is where it differs if you have a version below 4.2 or not. If you have a version below 4.2, go to Wii Settings -> Data Management -> Channels. There should be a pop-up, asking you if you want to run boot.dol/boot.elf. Of course, you want to say yes.
If you're on 4.2, just go to the SD card channel (blue icon on Wii Menu). The same message should be shown.
If your system freezes, just download another version and try that. If none of them work, just message me. I'll try to find what's wrong.
Now, once you select "Yes", the installer should launch. There is a warning to those that paid for the program, telling them that if they paid, they were scammed. Just wait for a message saying "Press 1 to continue" to appear, and follow its instructions.
Now you should be at the install menu. Select to install the Homebrew Channel. After that, you have to make a choice for installing BootMii; either as boot2 or IOS. For new users, this is a bit hard to understand, so I'll make it simple; if you can install as boot2, DO IT. This allows a backup of your Wii to be made and restored should something happen and you can longer boot your Wii to the System Menu.
After everything is installed, you may leave the installer.
Congratulations! Your Wii is now hacked on the 1st level! However, there are many more hacks to be installed, such as cIOS (Custom IOS), WADs, and more! Click here or the button below to continue on to the next section: Advanced Hacks!
