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Home FAQ Troubleshooting Checking for CFW

FAQ

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Table of Contents

Pre‐Installation FAQ

Q: I am on the latest system version. Is my device hackable without any external hardware?

Q: What devices is this guide compatible with?

Q: How risky is hacking my console?

Q: Can I run awesome homebrew and emulators with this?

Q: Can I use this to play games from other regions?

Q: Will I lose any features if I install CFW?

Q: Can I keep my NNID?

Q: Will my 3DS be banned for having CFW?

Q: Can I do this without a computer (e.g. an Android phone)?

Q: What size SD card can I use?

Q: I heard about this thing I have to pay for (Gateway, Sky3DS, ntrboot, R4, etc). Is that something I need?

Q: What’s the difference between custom firmware and homebrew access?

Post‐Installation FAQ

Q: Is it safe to update my 3DS to the latest version with CFW?

Q: How do I upgrade my SD card?

Q: Can I system transfer with CFW?

Q: How do I change the system language of a Japanese 3DS?

Q: How do I update homebrew applications?

Q: How do I update games from outside of my 3DS region?

Q: Help! Something bad happened and now I cannot boot…

menuhax / A9LH / Gateway FAQ

Q: I modded my device x years ago. What should I do?

 Q: I modded my device x years ago. What should I do?

Q: My setup works for me. Why should I upgrade it?

Q: Will I lose anything if I upgrade my setup?

Q: How do I move saves from an existing Gateway setup to a more modern setup?

The latest 3DS firmware is 11.15.0. Here’s what you should know:

If your device is running Luma 10.2.1 or newer, it is 100% safe to update.

If your device is on an older Luma version, you should update Luma before you update your device to 11.15.0.
No homebrew titles are known to have been affected by this update. They will work as they did on 11.14.0
and earlier.

Pre‐Installation FAQ

Q: I am on the latest system version. Is my device hackable without any external

hardware?
A: Yes! The latest firmware ﴾11.15.0﴿ has a free method for getting CFW named Seedminer.

Q: What devices is this guide compatible with?

A: The instructions are the same for all retail 3DS, 3DS XL, 2DS, New 3DS, New 3DS XL, and New
2DS XL devices. If your system version string displays as “0.0.0‐0”, then you may have a developer
unit.

Q: How risky is hacking my console?

A: Bricks are now effectively impossible unless you are purposely trying to brick your device.

Q: Can I run awesome homebrew and emulators with this?

A: Yes! This guide will install a few useful homebrew applications, including Universal‐Updater,
which acts as a homebrew app store.

Q: Can I use this to play games from other regions?

A: Yes; Luma3DS will automatically ignore the region check for cartridges and installed titles.
Some games may need to make use of Luma’s locale emulation feature in order to work properly
on out‐of‐region devices.

Q: Will I lose any features if I install CFW?

A: No. Devices with custom firmware can still use the eShop and run physical cartridges as any
other 3DS can.

Q: Can I keep my NNID?

A: Your NNID ﴾if you have one﴿ will not be affected by this guide. Devices with a region of KOR,
CHN, or TWN do not have NNID functionality to begin with and are thus unaffected.

Q: Will my 3DS be banned for having CFW?

A: There was a ban wave in May 2017 that banned CFW users from online play ﴾eShop access,
NNIDs, and Nintendo Accounts were unaffected﴿, seemingly at random. A ban wave at such a
scale has not been seen since. That being said, we don’t know what Nintendo may have in store
in the future. At this time, we don’t think that bans are something that you need to worry about.

Q: Can I do this without a computer (e.g. an Android phone)?

A: All you need is the ability to put files on a compatible SD card!

Q: What size SD card can I use?

A: You will need at least 1.5GB of free SD card space to follow this guide in its entirety. While the
3DS is officially compatible with SD cards up to 32GB, larger SD cards can be used if they are
manually re‐formatted as FAT32. It is not recommended to use SD cards greater than 128GB due
to known issues with GBA graphics and custom themes.

Q: I heard about this thing I have to pay for (Gateway, Sky3DS, ntrboot, R4, etc). Is
that something I need?
A: No. Custom firmware can be installed for free on the latest firmware without any hardware
devices. In fact, 3DS‐mode flashcarts like Gateway and Sky3DS are not recommended because
they are obsolete and may carry ban or brick risk.

Q: What’s the difference between custom firmware and homebrew access?

A: Historically, the 3DS used to have userland homebrew access through older exploits like
ninjhax. The level of system access granted with userland allowed you to run basic homebrew
and emulators but did not allow you to ﴾easily﴿ modify games or dump cartridges. It was also a
lot less stable, with homebrew often ungracefully crashing and requiring a full reboot. Custom
firmware grants a far greater level of system access while also being more stable than homebrew‐
only entrypoints.

Post‐Installation FAQ
Q: Is it safe to update my 3DS to the latest version with CFW?
A: If you are using Luma3DS, your custom firmware loader ﴾boot9strap﴿ will never be removed
when performing a system update. There have been updates in the past that have resulted in
Luma3DS crashing on boot, so it is a good idea to wait a couple of hours to ensure that the latest
update will not temporarily render the device unusable until Luma3DS is updated. System
updates can be performed the same way as they are on a stock 3DS: through System Settings,
Safe Mode, or the update prompt when the update is automatically downloaded.

Q: How do I upgrade my SD card?

A: Copy and paste your SD card contents to a new SD card formatted as FAT32. For 128GB cards,
an allocation size of 65536 is recommended. SD cards larger than 128GB are not recommended
due to known issues with GBA graphics and custom themes.

Q: Can I system transfer with CFW?

A: Yes, system transfers can be performed through the official System Transfer function to other
consoles with CFW ﴾inconsistencies may occur if the target console is stock﴿. Tickets for
illegitimate titles ﴾homebrew﴿ will not transfer but can be made to reappear with faketik. Make
sure that you do not perform a wireless transfer, as this will delete illegitimate titles. CFW will
remain on both consoles.

Q: How do I change the system language of a Japanese 3DS?

A: The only way to change the system language of a Japanese 3DS to a language other than
Japanese is to perform a region change. Note that this is very likely to break the Nintendo eShop
on your device, which means you will be unable to update your games whether they are in‐
region or out‐of‐region.

Q: How do I update homebrew applications?

A: It depends on the format of the homebrew application. Generally speaking:

Homebrew in CIA format can be updated by installing the new CIA, which will usually
overwrite the old one. If the old CIA is not overwritten, you can delete the old one from
Data Management as you would any other 3DS title.
Homebrew in 3DSX format can be updated by replacing the 3DSX file in  /3ds/  with a
fresh copy. If the homebrew application includes additional assets, you may need to place
that folder somewhere else. Refer to the documentation of the homebrew application.
For updating Luma3DS, see this page. For updating GodMode9, see this page.

Q: How do I update games from outside of my 3DS region?

A: You will need to dump the updates from a 3DS that has the updates installed. The Nintendo
A: You will need to dump the updates from a 3DS that has the updates installed. The Nintendo
eShop only contains updates for the console’s region ﴾a Japanese 3DS will only have updates for
Japanese games﴿.

Q: Help! Something bad happened and now I cannot boot…

A: Please look at the troubleshooting guide. Uninstalling CFW when your device is in an
unbootable state is not recommended, as it is very likely to lead to a brick.

menuhax / A9LH / Gateway FAQ

Q: I modded my device x years ago. What should I do?

A: It is recommended that you upgrade your setup to a modern, boot9strap‐based one. Follow
the Checking for CFW guide to see how to upgrade your setup.

Q: My setup works for me. Why should I upgrade it?

A: The vast majority of modern homebrew ﴾such as Checkpoint and BootNTR Selector﴿ have only
been tested on modern, boot9strap‐based setups and may not work entirely ﴾or at all﴿ on older
setups based on menuhax, A9LH, or Gateway. In addition, depending on your setup, you may be
unable to safely update to the latest firmware. Modern, boot9strap‐based setups allow for a
greater level of system access than previous hacks, including the ability to dump your console’s
bootrom.

Q: Will I lose anything if I upgrade my setup?

A: Your old setup ﴾including your EmuNAND, if you have one﴿ can usually be directly migrated to
boot9strap with no data loss. If you have data that is particularly important to you, it would be a
good idea to make a decrypted backup of your save data before upgrading your setup with a
tool like JKSM.

Q: How do I move saves from an existing Gateway setup to a more modern setup?

A: See this thread.

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