Share this story (This story has been updated with further information at the bottom of this post) Downloading Nintendo’s massive, day-one Wii U firmware update took over an hour, but the length of time didn't bother me. I would finally be able to transfer the Virtual Console games I bought for the Wii over to my new Wii U.
Lo and behold, the wii transfer tools worked fine on both sides and never asked anything about stuff like the homebrew channel and out of region. During the transfer process where it tries to go online to download the information it needs on my Wii (after inserting the prepared SD card from my Wii U), I get. Dec 10, 2012. WHAT YOU NEED: (A) 1 or 2GB SD card FAT32 formatted (B) boot.elf from hackmii_installer_v1.2 in the root of your SD Card (C) Smash stack hack files on your SD (D) MMM in your apps folder (E) IOS236 Installer MOD v6 Special vWii Edition (v2, w/ latest HW_AHBPROT patches) folder in your apps.
Then I could finally remove the old console itself from my entertainment center. Unfortunately, my plan failed. Nintendo’s over-zealous DRM scheme, combined with a malfunction in my launch-era Wii hardware, instead trapped my purchases on the Wii. Unless I’m willing to pay Nintendo to help me out, $400 of downloaded games will remain in limbo. An error occurred Moving content from an old Wii to a new Wii U could have been as simple as transferring Wii-based content to an SD card, then inserting that card into the Wii U. Instead, Nintendo set up a convoluted DRM system, hoping to ensure Wii owners could only play downloaded games (or access other personal content) on a single console.
The actual transfer process is handled by a free “Wii Transfer Tool,” which you download from the Wii Shop Channel to both the old and new systems. As the on-screen instructions explain in great detail, the process has three main steps: • Insert an SD card with at least 512MB free into the Wii U. The Wii U then registers the system and SD card with an Internet server. Next, it prepares a partition on the SD card for the transfer. • Put that same SD card into the Wii. The system connects to the Internet (presumably to confirm this content hasn’t been copied to another system yet), then copies the entire contents of the Wii system memory to the SD card.
It will simultaneously delete that content from the source Wii. Installed Software Report Altiris Pizza. • Put the SD card back into the Wii U. After a final Internet check, all the data and personal information on the Wii is copied to the Wii U. Getting this entire process set up was time-consuming and inconvenient.
It required a lot of remote juggling and TV input switching. But after half an hour, I was finally watching a bunch of cute Pikmin slowly copy the accumulated contents of my Wii to the SD card. Then, with Step 2 of the above process roughly 33 percent done, the screen suddenly went black. My Wii displayed the message shown at the top of this post: “An error occurred while accessing Wii system memory. Refer to the Wii Operations Manual for details.” At this point, I had one thought—I was totally screwed. The Wii Transfer Tool warned me a dozen times not to turn off the system or remove the SD card during the transfer process. My data might have been corrupted.
Or perhaps Nintendo’s servers already registered my transfer attempt and would prevent me from even trying again. The system wasn’t responding to any Wii Remote input or even to a normal press of the power button. I finally bit the bullet: it was time to hold the power button down to perform a hard reset.
Initially, things looked good, and I was surprised to find my data was unaffected. The transfer process started up again without a hitch. But the calm didn't last long; my second transfer stopped at exactly the same point as the first. A third attempt yielded the same results. I finally listened to the screen and looked at the manual. The Wii Operations Manual pointed me to the Nintendo Support Website. The Nintendo Support Website directed me to an 800 number.
The representative there delivered the news coolly: my system needed to be repaired before I could continue the transfer process. My Wii is well past its 12-month warranty, so this process would cost $75 plus a $10 cherry on top for the shipping.
What's actually trapped. / Luckily, my data wasn't lost. Just trapped.
Without the repair, I could recover some data from my Wii. My most important save data is already backed up to an SD card, and the rest can also be copied over to my Wii U without issue. (However, the Wii U oddly insists that I play each game on the new system before I’m allowed to copy over said data.) But the Wii hardware actively prevents me from copying the save data for some games, most notably Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Mario Kart Wii.