System Menu
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The System Menu is software shipped pre-installed into every Wii which allows the launching of games from an officially Nintendo certified game disk, launching of Nintendo Certified channels and Virtual Console and WiiWare titles.
It plays a major role in the startup, shutdown, and transitions between system states; upon starting up, the System Menu's main() reads the following files:
- /title/00000001/00000002/data/setting.txt
- /title/00000001/00000002/data/state.dat
- /shared/sys2/NANDBOOTINFO
- /title/00000001/00000002/data/cache.dat
- ?
Based on the things read by main() (as well as certain flags set in memory?), the menu can take the following actions:
- Hang (unrecoverable brick!)
- Boot a disc title directly from cache.dat
- Shutdown system from GC mode
- Eject a disc, then shut down (if Eject was pressed)
- "Shutdown to idle" (Enable WC24, halt PPC)
- "Launch NAND app from WC24"
- Enter "recovery mode" (aka IRD mode)
- Display the Health / "Warning" screen, and proceed on with normal boot
On an un-modded system, it is the first thing a Wii user will see when s/he turns on his/her Wii having pressed 'A' at the Health and Safety screen. An X denotes that no version is available for the applicable region.
The disc-handling actions of the System Menu are governed by a complex state machine known as BS2.
Versions
| Version | JAP | USA | PAL | KOR | Release date | IOS | Changelog | CDN Availability | CDN Post Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prelaunch | x | x | x | X | Never publicly released | Unknown (may have used use IOS3,IOS9 or IOS12) | Prelaunch Developement (Does not report a version number.) | Unavailable | Unavailable |
| 1.0 | 33 | 33 | 33 | X | November 19, 2006 | IOS9 | "Launch-Day" menu shipped with early Wiis. (Does not report a version number.) | Unavailable | Unavailable |
| 2.0 | 128 | 97 | 130 | X | November 19, 2006 | IOS11 | First region-specific menu. Added SD support for savegames, "Country Settings", downloadable System Updates, parental controls, ability to rearrange channels. | 97, 128, 130 | November 18, 2006; November 30, 2006; December 5, 2006 |
| 2.1 | X | X | 162 | X | January 10, 2007 | IOS11 | Update to support the News Channel going live | 162 | Jaunary 9, 2007 |
| 2.2 | 192 | 193 | 194 | X | April 11, 2007 | IOS20 | "Resolved connection issues that affected a small number of users who connected online through a specific Internet Service Provider and supplied router." | 192, 193, 194 | April 11, 2007 |
| 3.0 | 224 | 225 | 226 | X | August 6, 2007 | IOS30 v1037 | Channels can now display data gathered by WC24 (Weather, News). Clock display. The Wii Message Board button will now flash when a message arrives. You can now rearrange the order of your Wii Friends in the address book, scroll the message text by pressing the B button on the message screen. | 224, 225, 226 | August 6, 2007 |
| 3.1 | 256 | 257 | 258 | X | October 10, 2007 | IOS30 v1039 | USB Keyboard support. New version of Internet Channel and Everybody Votes Channel | 256, 257, 258 | October 9, 2007 |
| 3.2 | 288 | 289 | 290 | X | February 25, 2008 | IOS30 v1040 | "This update does not affect any prominently-used features or menus; however it does provide some behind the scenes updates that will improve system performance." | 288, 289, 290 | February 25, 2008 |
| 3.3 | 352 | 353 | 354 | 326 | June 17, 2008 | IOS30 v2576, IOS40 v2320 | First attempt at blocking Twilight Hack. Shipped with fixed versions of IOS30, BC, MIOS. | 352, 353, 354 | June 13, 2008 |
| 3.4 | 384 | 385 | 386 | X | November 17, 2008 | IOS50 v4889 | Second attempt at blocking Twilight Hack. New EULA. Supposedly has speed fixes for DVD and SD access. An enhancement was made to the Wii console's Parental Controls. USB keyboard support with the Mii Channel. | 384, 385, 386 | November 17, 2008 |
| 3.5 | X | X | X | 390 | March 3, 2009 | IOS52 v5661 | First update to Korean Wii System Menu, Launches with new Shop and Region Select Channel | 390 | March 1, 2009 |
| 4.0 | 416 | 417 | 418 | X | March 25, 2009 | IOS60 v6174 | SDHC support added and possibility to launch channels on an SD card. Also, an update of the Wii Shop Channel to download onto an SD card. A "transfer" button has been added in the Wii console's Data Management menu. Update to block the Twilight Hack. | 416, 417, 418 | March 24, 2009 |
| 4.1 | 448 | 449 | 450 | 454 | July 3, 2009; July 15, 2009, July 30, 2009 | IOS60 v6174 | Fixes a problem related to the Wii MotionPlus video and the SD Card Menu. | 448, 449, 450, 454 | July 2, 2009; July 15, 2009, July 30, 2009 |
| 4.2 | 480 | 481 | 482 | 486 | September 28, 2009 | IOS70 v6687 | Intended solely to block hacking/piracy attempts. Among the changes were a fix for Bannerbomb v1, overwriting BootMii (as boot2) with boot2v4, blacklisting the title IDs "HAXX" and "DVDX", and several preventative IOSes (222, 223, 249, 250). Region-free hacks were blocked (now fixed), and Wiis converted to and from the Korean region were bricked with Error 003. | 480, 481, 482, 486 | September 28, 2009 |
| 4.3 | 512 | 513 | 514 | 518 | June 21, 2010 | IOS80 v6943 | Another exploit-fixing update. Among the changes were a fix for Bannerbomb v2 (visible as Error 004), deleting BootMii (as an IOS), and removing HBC. | 512 513 514 518 | June 21, 2010 |
Please feel free to add more changelog entries. Some data taken from http://www.nintendo.com/consumer/systems/wii/en_na/systemMenuFeatures.jsp
Homebrew Alternatives
With the development of BootMii, the idea of booting straight to Homebrew may soon become a reality. In light of this, there are a couple of projects out there to create a homebrew-friendly System Menu alternative, such as WiiMU.