Part 5 (arm9loaderhax & Cakes) - dalphyx/Guide-3ds-Chinese GitHub Wiki

The final step of this guide is to install arm9loaderhax and setup CakesFW to run just milliseconds into the boot. This is accomplished by using SafeA9LHInstaller by AuroraWright, then setting it up to work with BootCtr9, a boot manager that lets us load things on boot.

This will install Delebile's Fork of arm9loaderhax.

If you followed an old version of this guide that did not include Updated SysNAND and want to switch to Updated SysNAND + Cakes, just do this entire Part, but skip "Section II - Installing arm9loaderhax"

If you currently have Updated SysNAND + Luma3DS / AuReiNand and want to switch to Updated SysNAND + Cakes, just follow "Preparatory work" and "Configuring CakesFW".

This guide uses "Updated SysNAND" mode, in which we copy our RedNAND to SysNAND (to keep games and such) and install arm9loaderhax to have permanent SysNAND hax with no RedNAND required at all.

We will also setup the ability to launch Decrypt9 from arm9loaderhax, giving us the ability to unbrick our SysNAND from situations that would normally brick us by restoring from backup.

What you need

• boot_config.ini
• data_input.zip (mirror)
• payload_input.zip (mirror)
• slotkey_input.zip (mirror)
• The latest release of hblauncher_loader
• The latest release of BootCtr9
• The latest release of Decrypt9WIP
• The latest release of EmuNAND9
• The latest release of SafeA9LHInstaller
• The latest release of Uncart for arm9loaderhax
• The latest release of CakesFW (just the .zip file)
• New 3DS:
  • CakesFW firmware.bin (mirror)
  • CakesFW firmkey.bin (mirror)
• Old 3DS:
  • CakesFW firmware.bin (mirror)
  • CakesFW firmkey.bin (mirror)

Instructions

Section I - Preparatory work

2. Delete the Decrypt9 folder from the root of your SD card if you have one
3. Copy the a9lh folder from data_input.zip to the root of your SD Card
4. Copy and merge the a9lh folder from payload_input.zip to the root of your SD Card
5. Copy your console specific OTP.bin (the one you got in Part 4) to the /a9lh/ folder on the root of your SD card
6. Copy and merge the 3ds folder from the SafeA9LHInstaller zip to the root of your SD card
7. Copy SafeA9LHInstaller.dat from the SafeA9LHInstaller zip to the root of your SD card
8. Copy arm9bootloader.bin and arm9loaderhax.bin from the BootCtr9 zip to the root of your SD card
9. Copy hblauncher_loader.cia from the hblauncher_loader zip to the root of your SD card
10. Copy boot_config.ini from the "What you need" section above the to the root of your SD card (not from the BootCtr9 zip)
11. Copy Decrypt9WIP.bin from the Decrypt9WIP zip and arm9loaderhax.bin from the Uncart zip to the /a9lh/ folder on your SD card
12. Rename arm9loaderhax.bin from the Uncart zip in /a9lh/ to uncart.bin
13. Copy the contents of slotkey_input.zip to the root of your SD card
14. Copy the contents of the CakesFW zip to the root of your SD card
15. Copy firmware.bin and firmkey.bin to the Cakes folder on your SD card
16. Copy Cakes.dat from the CakesFW zip to the /a9lh/ folder on your SD card
17. Copy and merge the 3DS folder from the EmuNAND9 zip to the root of your SD card
18. Copy EmuNAND9.bin from the EmuNAND9 zip to the /a9lh/ folder on your SD card
19. Copy your emuNAND_original.bin backups from Section I to the root of your SD card

Section II - Installing arm9loaderhax

12. Reinsert your SD card into your 3DS
13. Get into the Homebrew Launcher on SysNAND through the entrypoint of your choice
14. Launch SafeA9LHInstaller
15. "Exploiting arm9" should be nearly instant, if you get stuck restart and try again
16. Select Full Install
17. The installer will now install arm9loaderhax on your device (this is very fast)
18. Your 3DS should reboot into the CakesFW menu. If you get a black screen, follow this troubleshooting guide.

Section III - Configuring CakesFW

17. Go to "Select Patches"
18. Deactivate the "Enable EmuNAND" patch if it is active
19. Activate the "Block FIRM partition updates" and "Disable Signature Checks" patches, then press Start to continue
    (MAKE SURE YOU SELECT THE BLOCK FIRM PARTITION UPDATES PATCH OR THE NEXT SYSTEM UPDATE WILL BRICK YOU)
20. Select "More options"
21. Select "Toggleable options"
22. Select "Enable autoboot (Press L to enter the menu)"
23. Press Start to continue
24. Press B to get back to the Main Menu
25. Select "Boot CFW" to enter CFW SysNAND

Section IV - Copying RedNAND data to SysNAND

11. Reboot, then open Decrypt9 from arm9loaderhax by holding Start on boot
12. Go to "SysNAND Options"
13. Go to "SysNAND Backup/Restore..."
14. Select "NAND Restore (keep a9lh)"
15. Confirm and restore from emuNAND_original.bin

Section V - Removing RedNAND from your SD

2. Press Select on the main menu to eject your SD card
3. Delete emuNAND_original.bin from the root of your SD card
4. Backup every file on your SD card to a folder on your computer, all files will be deleted in the next step
   (if you followed Part 3 of this guide, you can delete the SD card backup from that - this will replace it)
5. Reinsert your SD card into your 3DS.
6. Hold Y on boot to launch EmuNAND9
7. Go to "SD Format Options", then "Format SD..."
8. Select the "Format SD Without EmuNAND" option
9. Press Select on the main menu to eject your SD card
10. Put your SD card in your computer, then copy all your files back into it

Section VI - Finalising setup

15. From EmuNAND Manager Options, make a backup of SysNAND to sysNAND.bin
16. Press Select on the main menu to eject your SD card, then put it in your computer
17. Rename sysNAND.bin to sysNAND-A9LHAX.bin and copy it to a safe location on your computer; this is a SysNAND backup containing arm9loaderhax (Your backup should match one of the sizes on this page; if it does not, you should delete it and make a new one!)
18. Delete sysNAND-A9LHAX.bin from your SD card
19. Reinsert your SD card into your 3DS then press Start to reboot
20. Update your CFW SysNAND to the latest version using system settings
21. Open Health and Safety (which is now FBI)
22. Navigate to hblauncher_loader.cia and press A to install
23. Exit with the home button
24. Launch the HomeBrew Launcher from the home menu icon at least once to download the payload

If everything has gone according to plan, arm9loaderhax will be installed to your device, your RedNAND will have been copied to your SysNAND, you will no longer need RedNAND, you will have a CIA installer, and you'll be able to launch the Homebrew Launcher from an icon on your home menu. Your device will now automatically launch into CFW SysNAND.

You will no longer be able to boot without the SD card in, that is normal.
You will now boot a Custom Firmware based SysNAND by default.
You can now hold Start on boot to launch Decrypt9, a full featured NAND tool.
You can now hold L on boot to launch the CakesFW configuration menu.
You can now hold Y on boot to launch EmuNAND9, a full featured RedNAND and SD management tool.
You can now hold X on boot to launch Uncart, a tool for converting a physical game cart to an installable file. (in the linked guide, replace Brahma with arm9loaderhax)

You can remove any extra files from the root of the SD card that are not in the image.