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Documentation Index

Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://mintlify.com/WiiLink24/WiiLink24-Patcher/llms.txt

Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

WiiLink Patcher is designed to make the file transfer step effortless. When an SD card or USB drive is connected to your computer, the patcher automatically detects the removable drive via SdClass.DetectRemovableDrive and copies the patched channel WADs and homebrew apps directly to its root when patching completes. If no removable drive is available, every output file is saved to a local WiiLink/ subfolder in whichever directory you run the patcher from, and you can copy them manually later.
Insert your SD card or USB drive before launching the patcher for the smoothest experience. The patcher detects removable drives on startup, so your drive will already be shown as confirmed when you reach the SD card step.

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Auto-Detection

On launch, the patcher scans for a removable drive that has an apps/ folder at its root. The detected path is shown on the main menu:
  • Detected: Detected SD Card / USB Drive: /path/to/drive (displayed in green)
  • Not detected: Could not detect your SD Card / USB Drive! (displayed in red)
Auto-detection also runs again after each install finishes, so a drive plugged in mid-session will be picked up. You can trigger a manual re-scan at any time by pressing R at the main menu.
KeyAction
RRe-run automatic SD card / USB drive detection
MOpen the manual path entry screen
Detection paths by operating system:
OSScanned locations
WindowsAll removable drives reported by DriveInfo
macOS/Volumes/<name>
Linux/media/<username>/<name> and /run/media/<username>/<name>

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Manual Selection

If auto-detection does not find your drive, press M at the main menu (or choose Manually Select SD Card / USB Drive Path during the SD card setup step) to enter the path yourself. The patcher asks for a different input depending on your operating system:
OSWhat to enterExample
WindowsDrive letter only (1 character)E
LinuxFull mount path/media/username/Wii
macOSFull volume path/Volumes/Wii
The patcher validates the entry against several checks before accepting it:
  • The path must exist on disk.
  • On Windows, the drive must be classified as a removable drive.
  • The root of the path must not be your boot drive.
  • An apps/ folder must already exist at the root of the selected path. If it is missing, the patcher will tell you to create it and try again.
Type EXIT (case-insensitive) to cancel and return to the previous menu without changing anything.

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Inserting Your SD Card Before Patching

1

Insert SD card or USB drive

Connect your SD card or USB drive to your computer before launching the patcher, or at any point before reaching the SD card setup step during installation.
2

Verify detection on the main menu

On the main menu, look for the line that reads Detected SD Card / USB Drive: /path. If it shows your drive path in green, the patcher is ready to copy files automatically.
3

Re-detect or enter path manually if needed

If the line shows in red or displays the wrong drive, press R to retry automatic detection, or press M to type the correct path manually.
4

Proceed with installation

Continue through the installation steps. The patcher will copy the WAD/ and apps/ folders to the root of your SD card or USB drive automatically once patching is complete.

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File Layout on the SD Card

After a successful install with a detected SD card or USB drive, the patcher places two folders at the root of the drive:
FolderContents
WAD/Patched channel WAD files ready for installation on your Wii
apps/yawmME (YAWM ModMii Edition) and any other homebrew apps included in the install
Both folders must remain at the root of the SD card or USB drive — not inside any subfolder — for the Homebrew Channel and yawmME to find them.

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No SD Card Detected

If you proceed without an SD card or USB drive (by choosing Start without SD Card / USB Drive at the SD card setup step), all output is written to a WiiLink/ subdirectory inside the folder where the patcher executable is located: 
WiiLink/
├── WAD/          ← patched channel WAD files
└── apps/         ← yawmME and homebrew apps
Before installing channels on your Wii, copy both the WAD/ and apps/ folders to the root of your SD card or USB drive.
If you are installing in vWii mode (Wii U’s Wii backwards-compatibility mode) via Express Install, the patcher automatically includes the EULA channel WAD alongside the other channels so that vWii has everything it needs.

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