NH Switch Guide

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Sending a Payload ​

WARNING

If you are here to test if your Switch is patched

Make sure you have put your device into RCM and downloaded hekate. Once finished, if your console is not patched, continue with the "Preparing hekate" section at the bottom of the page.

Now that the device is in RCM, we will need to send it a payload. The methods are mostly the same but slightly differ depending on what hardware you have available.

Injecting a payload ​

Section I - Requirements ​

  • The latest release of OmniRCM (OmniRCM-win-x64.exe)
  • A USB-A to USB-C cable (or a standard USB-C cable if your computer natively supports USB-C)

Section II - Instructions ​

  1. Download and open OmniRCM.
    • If you get a SmartScreen popup, click More info and click Run anyway.
  2. Connect your Switch in while it's in RCM to your PC using the USB cable.
  3. Click the red Install Driver button near the top of the window.
    • If you face issues when installing the driver, follow the driver installation with Zadig section below.
  4. Under Payloads, click the ↓ Update button to fetch the remote payloads.
  5. Select the hekate payload.
  6. Click the Green ► Inject Payload button
    • If your payload was successfully injected your switch should have yellow text that says "Update bootloader folder!", this will be resolved soon.

If you experience issues with driver installation or you just want to try a different payload injector, you can check out TegraRcmGUI and Zadig sections by unfolding them below.

Alternative payload injector for Windows

Section I - Requirements ​

  • The latest release of TegraRCMGUI
  • A USB-A to USB-C cable (or a standard USB-C cable if your computer natively supports USB-C)
  • The latest release of hekate. The hekate payload (hekate_ctcaer_(version).bin) is located inside of the hekate_ctcaer_(version).zip.

Section II - Instructions ​

  1. Install and run TegraRcmGUI.
  2. Navigate to the Settings tab, then press Install Driver and follow the on-screen instructions.
  3. Connect your Switch in RCM to your PC using the USB cable.
  4. Navigate to the Payload tab of TegraRcmGUI
    • Your Switch should be shown as detected in the bottom left corner.
  5. Press the file button next to Inject payload, and navigate to and select the hekate_ctcaer_X.X.X.bin file.
    • Do not use the hekate payload included in TegraRcmGUI. It is outdated and missing a feature needed later in the guide.
  6. Click Inject payload to launch the payload you selected.
    • If your payload was successfully injected your switch should have yellow text that says "Update bootloader folder!", this will be resolved soon.
Optional - Driver installation with Zadig (click to unfold)

Optional - Driver installation with Zadig ​

Follow these steps if you face issues when installing the driver with OmniRCM. You will need the latest version of Zadig.

  1. Launch Zadig. In the Options menu, be sure that List All Devices is enabled.
  2. Connect your Switch in RCM to your PC using the USB cable.
  3. In Zadig, select "APX" in the device list.
  4. Select libusbK (v3.1.0.0) in the driver list.
  5. Click Install Driver and wait for the installation to finish.

Section I - Requirements ​

  • The latest release of OmniRCM (OmniRCM-Linux-(architecture), based on your device's architecture)
  • A USB-A to USB-C cable (or a standard USB-C cable if your computer natively supports USB-C)

Section II - Instructions ​

  1. Download and open OmniRCM.
    If you cannot open the executable...

    You'll need to make the executable executable if your file manager doesn't allow you to run the executable from your file manager directly. To do this, follow the instructions below:

    1. Open a terminal window,
    2. Enter the following command: chmod +x /path/to/OmniRCM-linux-(architecture) (replacing /path/to with the actual path to the executable).
    3. You should now be able to double click the app to open it from your file manager.
    • Note: most file managers do allow you to make a file executable by right clicking the file and going to Properties > Permissions (or similar) > Allow executing file as program. The process is roughly the same for all Linux distributions.
  2. Connect your Switch in while it's in RCM to your PC using the USB cable.
  3. Click the red Setup udev button near the top of the OmniRCM window.
  4. Fill in your root password in the dialogue box that appears.
  5. Click Install
  6. Log out and back in.
    • On some distributions (notably, Fedora) require a full reboot for group membership to take effect. If you still cannot inject without root permissions, try rebooting.
  7. Re-open OmniRCM
  8. Under Payloads, click the ↓ Update button to fetch the remote payloads.
  9. Select the hekate payload.
  10. Click the Green ► Inject Payload button
    • If your payload was successfully injected your switch should have yellow text that says "Update bootloader folder!", this will be resolved soon.

If you experience issues with OmniRCM or you just want to try a different payload injector, you can check out the web injector by unfolding the section below.

Alternative payload injector for Linux

Section I - Requirements ​

  • A USB-A to USB-C cable (or a standard USB-C cable if your computer natively supports USB-C)
  • A Chromium based browser (ex. Chrome, Brave, etc..)

Section II - Instructions ​

  1. Set up the udev rule for rootless injections
    • This is necessary unless you wish to run your browser as root every time you want to inject.
  2. Head over to https://omnircm.nintendohomebrew.com/web/
  3. Connect your Switch in RCM to your PC using the USB cable.
  4. Click on Connect device... and select APX.
  5. Download the hekate payload by clicking the button labeled hekate_ctcaer_*.bin.
  6. Click on Add payload... and select the hekate payload you downloaded in the previous step.
  7. Click the Blue Inject button.
    • If your payload was successfully injected your switch should have yellow text that says "Update bootloader folder!", this will be resolved soon.

Section I - Requirements ​

  • The latest release of OmniRCM (OmniRCM-osx.zip)
  • A USB-A to USB-C cable (or a standard USB-C cable if your computer natively supports USB-C)

Section II - Instructions ​

  1. Download the latest release of OmniRCM.
  2. Extract the OmniRCM-osx.zip archive somewhere (if needed, usually automatic).
  3. Use Finder to open OmniRCM.app.
  4. Connect your Switch in while it's in RCM to your PC using the USB cable.
  5. Under Payloads, click the ↓ Update button to fetch the remote payloads.
  6. Select the hekate payload.
  7. Click the Green ► Inject Payload button
    • If your payload was successfully injected your switch should have yellow text that says "Update bootloader folder!", this will be resolved soon.

If you experience issues with OmniRCM or you just want to try a different payload injector, you can check out the web injector by unfolding the section below.

Alternative payload injector for macOS

Section I - Requirements ​

  • A USB-A to USB-C cable (or a standard USB-C cable if your computer natively supports USB-C)
  • A Chromium based browser (ex. Chrome, Brave, etc..)

Section II - Instructions ​

  1. Head over to https://omnircm.nintendohomebrew.com/web/
  2. Connect your Switch in RCM to your PC using the USB cable.
  3. Click on Connect device... and select APX.
  4. Download the hekate payload by clicking the button labeled hekate_ctcaer_*.bin.
  5. Click on Add payload... and select the hekate payload you downloaded in the previous step.
  6. Click the Blue Inject button.
    • If your payload was successfully injected your switch should have yellow text that says "Update bootloader folder!", this will be resolved soon.

Section I - Requirements ​

  • The latest release of OmniRCM (OmniRCM-android.apk)
  • A USB-C cable
  • If your device has a USB-C port, you may use a C-C cable
  • If your device only has a Micro USB port, you will need a USB OTG adapter and a USB A-C cable

Section II - Instructions ​

  1. Install the OmniRCM-android.apk file.
  2. Open the app from your Home menu.
  3. Connect your Switch in while it's in RCM to your Android device using the USB cable.
  4. Allow OmniRCM to access the APX device. (either temporarily or permanently)
  5. Tap on the Fetch Payloads button to fetch the remote payloads.
  6. Select the hekate payload.
  7. Tap on the Inject button.
    • If your payload was successfully injected your switch should have yellow text that says "Update bootloader folder!", this will be resolved soon.

If you experience issues with OmniRCM or you just want to try a different payload injector, you can check out the web injector by unfolding the section below.

Alternative payload injector for Android

Section I - Requirements ​

  • A USB-A to USB-C cable (or a standard USB-C cable if your computer natively supports USB-C)
  • A Chromium based browser (ex. Chrome, Brave, etc..)

Section II - Instructions ​

  1. Head over to https://omnircm.nintendohomebrew.com/web/
  2. Connect your Switch in RCM to your Android device using the USB cable.
  3. Click on Connect device... and select APX.
  4. Download the hekate payload by clicking the button labeled hekate_ctcaer_*.bin.
  5. Click on Add payload... and select the hekate payload you downloaded in the previous step.
  6. Click the Blue Inject button.
    • If your payload was successfully injected your switch should have yellow text that says "Update bootloader folder!", this will be resolved soon.

Section I - Requirements ​

  • A jailbroken iPhone
  • A lightning to USB A OTG adapter
    • Not required if you use a USB-C iPhone.
  • A good quality USB A to C cable
    • If your phone has a USB-C port, you may use a C-C cable.

Section II - Instructions ​

  1. Visit the OmniRCM Sileo Repository.
  2. Press the Add button corresponding to your Package Manager.
  3. Add the repository and sync your sources.
  4. Navigate to OmniRCM > Utilities > OmniRCM and tap GET.
  5. Install the app from the queue. In Sileo, this is in the bottom right of your screen.
  6. Open the app.
  7. Connect your Switch in while it's in RCM to your Phone using the USB cable.s
  8. Tap on the Fetch Payloads button to fetch the remote payloads.
  9. Select the hekate payload.
  10. Tap on the Inject button.
    • If your payload was successfully injected your switch should have yellow text that says "Update bootloader folder!", this will be resolved soon.

Section I - Requirements ​

  • A USB-A to USB-C cable

WARNING

About USB-C

If your Chromebook has a USB-C port, do note that this will not work using a C-C cable.

Section II - Instructions ​

  1. Head over to https://omnircm.nintendohomebrew.com/web/
  2. Connect your Switch in RCM to your PC using the USB cable.
  3. Click on Connect device... and select APX.
  4. Download the hekate payload by clicking the button labeled hekate_ctcaer_*.bin.
  5. Click on Add payload... and select the hekate payload you downloaded in the previous step.
  6. Click the Blue Inject button.
    • If your payload was successfully injected your switch should have yellow text that says "Update bootloader folder!", this will be resolved soon.

DANGER

If nothing happens after you send the payload

If your console's screen remains black after you've sent hekate (or any other payload), it's possible your payload was corrupted, or that your console is patched. If your payload injector program shows that zero or 0x0000 bytes were sent, then it is patched. This isn't a one-time glitch or up for debate; it is patched. Consider an alternate method that isn't via RCM.

Preparing hekate ​

We will prepare the microSD card for formatting/partitioning before going to the next page. Removing the microSD card while in hekate is safe so turning off the console is not necessary and keeping it on will save time that would be spent re-injecting the payload.

DANGER

Following the guide will delete everything on your microSD card!

Later in the guide, you will be formatting and/or partitioning your microSD card. This means that all data on the microSD card will be lost. Now is a good time to back up all of its data to a safe place (for example, on your PC or external drive) so that you can restore it later. You can do this by following the instructions below.

Section I - Requirements ​

  • The latest release of hekate.
  • Your microSD card

Section II - Instructions ​

  1. Without turning your Switch off, remove the microSD card from the Switch.

  2. Insert your microSD card into your computer.

  3. Copy the Nintendo folder (and any other important data) from the root of your microSD card to a safe space on your device.

  4. Extract the hekate .zip to a location on your computer

  5. Inside the extracted hekate folder you will find a folder named bootloader.

  6. Copy the bootloader folder to the root of your microSD card.

  7. Put your microSD card back into your Switch.

  8. Press either volume button or power to continue to the hekate menu.

  9. Use volume up and volume down to navigate the hekate menu. Hover over 'load nyx' and press the power button to select. Your screen should now have the hekate GUI (Nyx) pictured below.

    Nyx

Click the button below to continue to choosing your CFW environment.

Continue to choosing your CFW environment →

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