SD Preparation
We will now place the required files for the Atmosphere custom firmware and some additional homebrew files on the SD card.
Atmosphere has its own bootloader, called fusee. For the purposes of this guide we will be using Hekate instead, so that we can back up the system's NAND (internal storage) and take advantage of other advanced features in the future.
FAT32 vs exFAT
Your SD card will need to be formatted as either FAT32 or exFAT, but FAT32 is recommended as it is more stable and will work out of the box with the Switch's operating system. Using exFAT on the Switch should be avoided due to the filesystem being prone to corruption, and sometimes preventing custom firmware from booting. You will also need to install the exFAT update for your Switch, which is downloaded when you insert an exFAT formatted SD card in to your Switch. Note that this will update your console and requires an internet connection.
File name extensions
If you use Windows, you should enable file name extensions before continuing. See this link for a guide on how to do this.
What you need
- The latest release of Hekate (Download the
hekate_ctcaer_(version).zip
release of hekate) - The hekate config file: hekate_ipl.ini
- The bootlogo zip folder: bootlogos.zip
- The latest release of Atmosphere. Download the
atmosphere-(version)-master-(version)+hbl-(version)+hbmenu-(version).zip
release of Atmosphere. - The latest release of Lockpick_RCM (Download the
Lockpick_RCM.bin
release of Lockpick) - The latest release of JKSV (Download the
JKSV.nro
release of JKSV) - The latest release of FTPD (Download the
ftpd.nro
release of FTPD) - The latest release of NXThemeInstaller (Download the
NxThemesInstaller.nro
release of NxThemeInstaller) - The latest release of NX-Shell (Download the
NX-Shell.nro
release of nx-shell) - The latest release of the hbappstore (Download the
appstore.nro
release of hbappstore)
Instructions
- Insert your Switch's SD card into your PC
- Copy the contents of the Atmosphere
.zip
file to the root of your SD card - Copy the
bootloader
folder from the Hekate.zip
file to the root of your SD card - Copy the
bootloader
folder from thebootlogos.zip
file to the root of your SD card- If you're asked to merge the bootloader folders, do so.
- Copy
hekate_ipl.ini
to thebootloader
folder on your SD card - Copy
Lockpick_RCM.bin
to the/bootloader/payloads
folder on your SD card - Create a folder named
appstore
inside theswitch
folder on your SD card, and putappstore.nro
in it - Copy
JKSV.nro
,ftpd.nro
,NX-Shell.nro
andNxThemesInstaller.nro
to theswitch
folder on your SD card - Reinsert your SD card back into your Switch
Your SD card should look similar to this. The Nintendo
folder will not be present if your switch has not already booted with the microSD card inserted.