How to Make Your Own Wii Channels

The Home menu of the Nintendo Wii appears when the game console is first turned on and provides icons that let you quickly go to games and other programs. You can create your own icons, or “channels” that will appear on the Home menu, once the Wii’s operating system has been modified or “modded.” The modding is not illegal to do, although it voids the Nintendo warranty, as creating your own channels does. You will use software on a PC to create a disc that will modify the Wii, and then you will be able to download software to the Wii to let you create your own channels.

Modding the Wii

Download a Wii modification program to the PC’s desktop, for example, the Homebrew Installer program (see the link in Resources). Double-click on the Wii modification program’s icon when it has fully downloaded. Follow the command prompts to install the program on the PC’s hard drive. Restart the PC.

Insert a blank recordable DVD into the DVD drive.

Double-click on the icon of the Wii modification program to launch it. Click on the “Devices” button on the Wii modification program’s main screen and select the name of the DVD drive from the drop-down menu. Click on the “Start” button.

Eject the DVD disc when the a confirmation window appears on the screen. Click the “OK” button to close the confirmation window. Quit the Wii modification program.

Insert the DVD disc into the slot on the front of the Wii.

Wait for the modification window to appear on the screen. Follow the command prompts to install the Wii modification onto the game console’s operating system. Restart the Wii when told to do so by the Wii modification program. Press the “Eject” button on the front of the Wii to eject the DVD disc. Turn the Wii off.

Turn the Wii on. Select the "Homebrew channel" icon from the Home menu. Click on "Start" in the new window that appears. Select a game or program from the list on the screen. Click on the "Download" button to download the game or program to the SD card in the Wii. Turn off the Wii. Remove the SD memory card.

Adding Channels to the Wii

Download a Wii Channel installer program to the desktop of the PC, for example, the WAD installer program (see the link in Resources). Double-click on the Wii Channel installer program once it has downloaded fully. Follow the menu commands to install the program on the PC’s hard drive. Restart the PC. Attach the cable from the SD card reader into a USB port on the PC. Insert the SD memory card into the SD card slot on the SD card reader.

Double-click on the Wii Channel installer program’s icon to launch it. Enter a name in the “Channel Name” field of the text box that appears. Press the “Browse” button on the text box next to “File.” Navigate in the window that appears to one of the programs installed in the “Apps” folder inside of the SD memory card. Click on the program and press the “OK” button to return to the text box.

Press the “Browse” button on the text box next to “icon.” Navigate in the window that appears to any program or game whose icon you want to use. Click once on the program or game. Click “OK” to close the window. Press the “Browse” button on the text box next to “icon logo.” Navigate in the window that appears back to the program or game whose icon you are using. Click once on the program or game. Click “OK” to close the window.

Click on the “Create” button on the Wii Channel installer program’s main screen. Name the channel you are making in the “Name” field of the window that appears on the screen. Click “Open” to close the window. Continue entering the name of the channel in the “Name” field of the windows that open. Follow the command prompts to install the channel onto the SD memory card. Quit the Wii Channel installer program when the confirmation window appears to say that it is done. Right-click on the SD memory card’s icon on the desktop. Select “Eject” from the pop-up menu. Disconnect the SD card reader's cable from the USB port of the computer.

Insert the SD memory card into the SD memory card slot on the Wii. Turn on the Wii. Go to “Devices” and select the SD memory card. Select the Wii channel file you have made. Select “copy to Home menu” from the menu choices. Wait as the Wii channel file is copied to the Wii. Restart the Wii. Wait for the Home menu to appear with the icon of the Wii channel you have made on it.