Installation Guide

This guide will walk you through the process of setting up a Wii-Linux system using the official ArchPOWER images.

Requirements

• A Wii modified to run homebrew apps via BootMii (Wii Hacks Guide will walk you through this process)
• An SD or SDHC card (no larger than 32 GB, can also be used for other homebrew as space allows)
• USB storage device for the root partition (optional)
• Access to a Linux system
  • GNU tar is required to properly extract the rootfs.
  • We assume this is a physical machine. Virtual machines will require special configuration to pass through the root device, which is beyond the scope of this guide
  • Use of Windows Subsystem for Linux or the ChromeOS "Linux development environment" (aka Crostini) is also beyond the scope of this guide.

We also assume you are comfortable with technical tasks like partitioning media and installing packages.

Preparing Media

1. From the Wii Linux downloads page, download "Latest build's ArchPOWER rootfs (.tar.gz)" and "Latest build's ArchPOWER SD Card files".
2. Partition the media. You will need a FAT32 partition on your SD card, and will need an ext4 partition on either the SD card or USB storage.
   • The SD card files take up around 34 megabytes of space. To ensure plenty of space for updating, we recommend at least 512 MB for the FAT partition.
   • If you are using USB storage for the root, you don't need to partition the SD card.
3. Format the root partition as ext4.
   • You will need to ensure that the verity and metadata_csum_seed ext4 features are disabled, because the Wii Linux kernel is too old to support them.
   • sudo mkfs.ext4 -O '^verity' -O '^metadata_csum_seed' -L 'arch' /dev/[root block device here]
4. Extract the SD card files to the SD card's FAT32 partition.
   1. sudo mount /dev/[SD card block device here] /mnt
   2. cd /mnt
   3. tar -xzvf [/path/to/boot_files.tgz]
   4. cd; sudo umount /mnt
5. Extract the rootfs.
   1. sudo mount /dev/[root block device here] /mnt
   2. cd /mnt
   3. tar -xvP --acls --xattrs --same-owner --same-permissions --numeric-owner --sparse -f [/path/to/rootfs.tar.gz]
      • You must use these flags to extract the rootfs properly
   4. sync; cd; sudo umount /mnt
6. Remove the SD card and root device from the Linux machine.

Booting

1. Insert the SD card and USB device into the Wii.
2. Enter BootMii.
   • If you were able to install BootMii as boot2, your Wii will automatically enter BootMii.
   • If you followed the Wii Hacks Guide and installed Priiloader, hold Reset as you power the Wii on, then select the "BootMii IOS" option.
3. Wait for gumboot to load the kernel.
   • You can navigate the gumboot menu using the power and reset buttons on the Wii, or the D-pad on a Gamecube controller, but that isn't needed for the first boot.
4. At the Wii Linux boot menu, select ArchPOWER (or wait).
5. Watch the systemd boot messages and wait for the login prompt.

After boot

The login prompt will have the default root password, and will instruct you to run helpmii and configmii to help set up your system. Helpmii will let you read the Getting Started Guide on your Wii, which will show you how to do important tasks like using nmtui to set up your Wi-Fi or Ethernet connection and how to add swap space.

You may want to check the Recommended Apps list to get started.