9.2.0 Downgrade - lourinaldi/Guide GitHub Wiki

All variations of sysUpdater, not just sysDowngrader, have a very small chance of causing a "soft brick" once the downgrade is complete and the device reboots. This will cause the system to boot directly to the Nintendo error screen instructing users to power off the device.

The reason for this is unknown, but can be prevented by performing a system format before downgrading. It seems to happen very often on systems with ambassador status or who have DSiWare installed.

Once this error happens, it can only be fixed by using recovery mode (A + R + L + Up on the D-Pad) to update to the latest system version.

As of the time this is written, the latest version (11.1.0) has completely blocked all software downgrading, and if someone encounters this error they will be locked out of any further downgrading unless they downgrade their firmware.

If you encounter this error and cannot use recovery mode, you can edit the connection settings as long as the 3DS completely fails to connect to any access point (such as if the point being out of range).

This version of sysDowngrader (which is compatible with >9.2.0 systems) uses an unstable exploit, and because of this it may take many tries to work.

If sysDowngrader crashes at any point during the downgrade (which can happen occasionally), you can power off the system by holding the power button. You will be left with what's called a "partial downgrade" or "partial", which is recoverable.

Although a partially downgraded system may show 9.2.0 as the system version, you are not done. You must restart from the beginning of this page and downgrade a second time to install any files that were not installed. Browserhax will work for partial downgrades as long as you are using the recommended version of sysDowngrader.

You MUST downgrade with the correct pack for your console/region or you will BRICK.

If you are on version 11.0.0 or 11.1.0, you MUST have downgraded your firmware to successfully complete this part.

Some regions may downgrade to another version such as 9.1.0 or 9.0.0. This is fine as those versions function nearly the same for our purposes.

What you need

  • The Homebrew Launcher and an entrypoint (such as menuhax)
  • The latest release of sysDowngrader
  • The latest release of Decrypt9WIP
  • The 9.2.0 firmware pack zip file for your device and region:

Instructions

Section I - Prep work
  1. Create a folder named files9 on the root of your SD card if it does not already exist
  2. Copy the Decrypt9WIP folder from the Decrypt9WIP zip to /3ds/ on your SD card
  3. Copy and merge the 3ds folder from the sysDowngrader zip to the root of your SD card
  4. Delete any existing updates folder from your SD card if there is one
  5. Copy the updates folder from the 9.2.0 firmware zip to the root of your SD card
  6. Reinsert your SD card into your 3DS
Section II - Downgrading
  1. Boot into the Homebrew Launcher (if you followed the previous part, you can do this by holding D-Pad down on boot)
  2. Open sysDowngrader
  3. Press (Y) to downgrade to 9.2.0
  4. If you are stuck being unable to acquire the am:u service, power off your 3DS by holding the power button and try again (this can take many tries)
  5. Wait; do not touch anything even if it appears to freeze
  6. If, after around 30 seconds, it is still frozen, it is safe to power off and try again
  7. If you get an error before installation, power off your 3DS by holding the power button and try again (this can take many tries)
  8. If you get an error in the middle of installation, follow the instructions in the beginning for partial downgrades
  9. If you freeze on the "Rebooting in 10 seconds" line for longer than 10 seconds, it is safe to power off your 3DS by holding the power button
  10. Clear Home Menu's extdata by navigating to /Nintendo 3DS/(32 Character ID)/(32 Character ID)/extdata/00000000/ on your SD card
    • EUR Region: Delete 00000098
    • JPN Region: Delete 00000082
    • USA Region: Delete 0000008f
    • KOR Region: Delete 000000A9
    • TWN Region: Delete 000000B1
  11. Reinsert your SD card into your 3DS and boot
  12. If you still get a black screen after downgrading and deleting the folder, follow this troubleshooting guide
  13. Do Homebrew Launcher (Browser) (skip changing the date and time and initializing savedata in the beginning)
Section III - Launching Decrypt9
  1. Check the system settings, you should be on 9.2.0
  2. Launch the Homebrew Launcher using the entrypoint of your choice (such as menuhax)
  3. Open Decrypt9WIP (This can sometimes take a few tries)
    • If you cannot launch Decrypt9WIP after many tries, you most likely have a partial downgrade and should redo Section II

You can now continue from Part 2 - 2.1.0 ctrtransfer.