Copy Wii games to a stick or hard drive - how it works

There are two reasons for copying Wii games to a hard drive or USB stick: the expiration of optical data carriers and shorter loading times. We show you how to do this.

Copy Wii games to hard drive or sticks

To copy your games you need some accessories:

• A Wii and a Wiimote
• A USB stick or a USB hard drive on which you can dispense at least part of the storage space
• The Windows program WBFS Manager
• An installed homebrew channel

Install the homebrew channel on the Wii

To save the games on your hard drive, you need a homebrew channel. We will show you how to install it on your console in another practical tip.

Prepare USB hard drive or USB stick for copying games

• Insert the hard drive or stick into a USB port on your computer.
• Install WBFS Manager and start the program.
• Select the hard drive or USB stick using the corresponding drive letter under "Drive" in the top left.
• Click Format and close WBFS Manager.

Install the USB loader on the Wii

First you need a so-called IOS update. Download the NUS Downloader, unzip it to any directory and start the "NUS Downloader.exe".

1. Uncheck "Keep Encrypted Contents" and put it in front of "Pack WAD" instead.
2. Click on "Database ..." at the top left and then on "IOS". There you select the version "IOS58" and later "v6176". Then click on "Start NUS Download!".
3. Repeat the step with the "IOS249". Select "latest version" in the submenu.
4. You will then find two so-called WAD files in the "titles" subfolder in the directory of the NUS downloader. Create a folder "wad" on your SD card and copy the two files WAD files there.
5. In the next step you download YaWMM and unpack the content in a separate folder. Create an "apps" folder on your SD card and copy the YaWMM folder into it.
6. Download the USB Loader GX and unzip the folder "apps" and "wad" into the appropriate folder on your SD card.
7. Insert the memory card into your Wii and start the homebrew channel. Open "YaWMM" there and click away the information with the A key. Select "Wii SD Slot" as the storage location. Then navigate to the WAD files and install both with a click on "Install". Do the same with the wad file of the USB loader.
8. Alternatively, you can also install the USB Loader GX as a channel.

Copy Wii games from disc to hard drive or stick

Now you can start with the actual copying process:

• Connect the hard drive or stick to the lower USB port on your Wii. The process does not work with the upper slot.
• Insert the game DVD in your Wii and start the "USB-Loader GX".
• The program shows you directly that a new disc has been recognized. Click on "Install" and confirm with "OK".
• The USB loader now copies the games to your hard drive.
• If you still want to download the corresponding cover images for the games, click on button 1 of your Wiimote in the USB loader. Select the desired cover format and confirm with "OK". Then choose "Yes".
• Please note, however, that you are in a legal gray area here: "Backup copies" of your own games are permitted in principle, but only as long as you do not bypass any copy protection. The Wii games are provided with such protection.

If you would like to switch to the new Wii U, we will show you in another practical tip how you can copy your Wii data to the Wii U.