Switch hacks: Hekate 5.5.4 released

Developer CTCaer has released an update for the scene’s favorite Switch bootloader, Hekate.

What is Hekate for Nintendo Switch?

Hekate is a multi usage tool that, among other things, allows you to boot between multiple configurations on your Nintendo Switch. In essence, it lets you pick between your Custom firmware of choice or Official firmware, and supports patches and multiple partitions.

Hekate 5.5.4 Released for Nintendo Switch

This 5.5.4 update brings a handful of bugfixes that might prove useful in particular for people who are running into edge cases or misconfiguration. Specifically, from the changelog:

• Better user reporting for Mariko Warmboot Storage (MWS) with missing firmware
  In case warmboot firmware was not found in MWS cache in SD, it will now notify user that sleep mode will be disabled if continue booting is selected.
• EKS for Erista now automatically upgrades itself, in order to fix issues with normal vs r2p paths when it was created with old hekate.
• Main BCT is now checked for improper values before running Sept in Erista
  Before, launching Sept in such cases (improper BCT) it would make it black screen.
  Now an error will show up that instructs user to run sept with proper BCT at least once, in order to cache keys in EKS.
• FatFS now supports simple GPT
  In case you mangled your Hybrid MBR, this will allow you to launch Nyx if FAT partition is the first one.
• SDSC cards (<= 2GB) are now supported
• Many other bug fixes and improvements

Accompanying this Hekate update, its Graphical Interface Nyx reaches version 1.0.0, and brings the following new features:

• Resized RAW emuMMC added in Partition Manager
• eMMC/SD Benchmark IOPS test added

Hekate supports the latest 11.0.1 firmware (and has done so for a few releases already). It supports all Switch models (Erista and Mariko), provided your Nintendo switch is hacked, via the original Service Mode flaw or through a hardware modchip.

Should you update? I personally tend to wait until I run into a specific issue (typically, a new official firmware release) before updating any of the underlying tools on my switch (Hekate or Atmosphere), but that’s mostly because I’m lazy. In my experience, updates of Hekate or Atmosphere are always very smooth and well tested by their developers prior to release.

Download and install Hekate 5.5.4

You can Download Hekate on the official github here.

To update, drag and drop the “bootloader” folder at the root of your Switch SD card. This should retain your previous configuration, but make sure you make a copy of your previous bootloader folder before updating, just in case.

Source: CTCaer