3DS-Linux - Installation Guide
------------------------------
Back to main page

This guide will walk you through the process of setting up a 3DS-Linux system using the official 3DS-Linux images.

Requirements

- A 3DS (any model) modified to run Luma3DS (3DS Hacks Guide will walk you through this process) - An SD Card of 2GB or more in capacity - Linux computer for installation - GNU tar is required to extract properly - Some idea of what you're doing (you should read the guide once before doing anything)

Manual Installation

This is the only option currently 1. From the 3DS-Linux Downloads page, download the Latest Void-Linux rootfs (.tar.gz) and the latest sd card files. 2. Partition your SD card. the recommended layout is a FAT 32 partition and an EXT4 partition. - Partiton 1 - FAT 32 (Luma3DS and bootloader) The SD card files take no more than 50 MB, Luma3DS included. However, to leave space for the stock OS's (Horizon OS; HOS) files (game saves) and homebrew apps, 1GB is recomended. - Partiton 2 - EXT4 (Void-Linux root filesystem) The rootfs is by default slightly over 500MB, to have space for updates and more programs, 1GB is a minimum. 4+ GB recomended. 3. Formatting partitions !!! If you did not erase the 1st partiton when partitioning, formatting it is not required, and will cause you to lose all data if not backed up !!! You have been warned. - Partition 1 - FAT32 sudo mkfs.vfat -F 32 -n '3DS-SD' /dev/[sd block device here] - Partition 2 - EXT4 sudo mkfs.ext4 -L 'void' /dev/[rootfs block device here] 4. Extract the SD card files to the FAT32 partition 1. sudo mount /dev/[SD block device here] /mnt 2. cd /mnt 3. tar -xzvf [/path/to/sd_files.tgz] 4. cd -; sudo umount /mnt 5. extract the rootfs 1. sudo mount /dev/[rootfs block device here] /mnt 2. cd /mnt 3. tar -xvP --acls --xattrs --same-owner --same-permissions --numeric-owner --sparse -f [/path/to/rootfs.tar.gz] - All of the flags are required for proper extraction of the rootfs 4. sync; cd; sudo umount /mnt - This might take a bit of time if your card or reader is slow. Dont interrupt it ! 6. Remove the SD card from your computer.

Extracting the WiFi firmware (required for WiFi functionality in Linux)

1. Download this GM9 script and place it in your SD card at /gm9/scripts/ 2. Insert the SD card into your 3DS. 3. With the console powered off, press and hold the START button, then press the power button. (You can now let go of START) 4. In the Luma3DS chainloader that appears, choose GodMode9. - If GodMode9 is not an option, you have done something wrong when modding your console. - See the guide. 5. In GodeMode9, press the HOME button, select "Scripts..." then "wifi_fw". This script will extract and decrypt the wifi firmware from your 3DS. 6. Power off your console (R + START) 7. Insert the card back into your computer. 8. Download the extractor script. 9. Run the script with Python 3 (3.8.10 and up known working). 10. Enter the Path to wifi_fw.app (eg /home/express/wifi_fw.app) 11. Copy fw-ar6014.bin to the rootfs (the "void" partition) in (void)/usr/lib/firmware/ath6k/AR6014/hw1.0/fw-ar6014.bin I know this is long, and i would just ship the firmware if i could. Problem is, if i do that Nintendo and/or Atheros would send ninjas after me.

Booting

1. Insert the SD card into your 3DS. 2. With the console powered off, press and hold the Y button, then press the power button. (You can now let go of Y) - FIRM Linux Loader should appear for a moment, then switch to linux. - If FIRM Linux Loader does not appear, wait for HOS to boot, power off the console, then retry step 2. 3. Wait for Linux to boot to the login prompt 4. Enter the login "root" and password "a". This password was chosen to facilitate login, as the touch keyboard isn't exactly practical. 5. Enjoy

This site is proudly written in basic HTML and near-zero CSS

(C) Copyright 2026-2026 ToyotaAE86Trueno. Some rights reserved
See legal disclaimers, privacy policy, copyright, and trademark notices