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 card of at least 2GB (unlike official Wii Software, Wii-Linux doesn't require an SDHC or smaller SD Card)
• USB storage device for the root partition (optional)
• Access to a Linux system that can hold your root partition
  • 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.

Installation process

1. Ensure that you meet the requirements.
2. Identify which install process you would like to use, the script-based PC Installer, or Manual Installation
3. Follow the steps shown for that process.
4. Continue to boot the system and after-boot setup to set up anything you'd like (such as networking)
5. Success!

PC Installer

If you get any errors during this process, please ask for help via #support in the Wii-Linux Discord Server

1. Download the installer
   • git clone https://github.com/Wii-Linux/pc-installer
2. Run the installer
   • cd pc-installer; sudo ./installer.sh
3. Select what disk you would like to use by it's number listed in the brackets
4. Pick whether or not you would like to store the root filesystem on a different device (for example, USB storage).
   • If yes, you must have followed the partitioning steps from the manual installation section.
   • If yes, you will be prompted to select your root device shortly.
5. If you didn't chose yes above, you'll be asked if you want to do an Automatic or Manual install.
   • Automatic will partition and format your SD Card for you
   • Manual will assume that you've partitioned your SD Card already, and will format the partitions you specify if you haven't already.
6. After the card has been partitioned, the necessary files will be downloaded and installed for you.
7. You will need to answer a few configuration questions.
8. Success! Continue to boot your freshly prepared install!

Manual Installation

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 256MB for the FAT partition.
     • If you plan to use other Wii homebrew from your SD Card, you probably want to have more space, likely at least 1GB
   • 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 if you have a dedicated one) 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.
   • You can also open the menu from the Homebrew Channel (HOME button on a Wii Remote, START button on a GameCube controller)
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 a few seconds).
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.