Work Around System Updates If Your Wii Is Homebrewed

System updates are dangerous to a Wii console with homebrew installed to it; the update can "brick" the system or force you to restore the Homebrew Channel.

However, some some game disks contain a system update and won't let you play the game until your Wii is updated.

Using the below method will patch the Wii's System Menu so that games will stop bothering you to update them before they're playable. You'll be able to keep the Homebrew Channel without having to update those games.

Note: See How to Update Wii Channels If I Have Homebrew Installed if you need help doing that.

The easiest way around this, if your Wii is running System Menu 4 or higher, is to use StartPatch. Otherwise, StarFall should be used for version 3.2.

Tip: To check your system menu version, go to you Wii Settings; the version number is on the upper right.

These applications can apply various hacks to your Wii, including one that will allow you to play import games and another that turns off the annoyingly repetitive system menu background music.

There is also a hack that prevents the Wii from checking to see whether a game disk includes a system update. If you use StartPatch/StarFall to install this hack, you will no longer have game disks insisting on updating before you can play them.

It should be noted that these applications, since they rewrite your system flash memory, can be considered somewhat dangerous. You can play it safer with Gecko OS, which lets you play import and update-insistent games without altering flash memory.

However, Gecko does fail with some games, including Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands.