Table of Contents

Troubleshooting TKMM-NX booting issues


    Image Error


If you get errors preventing you from booting into TKMM-NX (wrong image format for bootm command, or failed to launch kernel for example), there are several possible reasons:

  • files can get corrupted when transferred with a bad USB cable, or faulty microSD adapter.
  • the file system of the SD card can get corrupted if it not ejected properly.
  • the SD card may just be incompatible (check compatibility guide link at the bottom of this page).

Note

The warning Failed to open switchroot/joycon_mac.bin can be safely ignored.

This troubleshooting section only concerns booting issues, not setup or game dump issues.


Try either of the two methods below to fix the boot errors.


Method #1: Scanning and repairing the SD card

If your PC is on Windows, plug your micro SD card to your PC, either by using an adapter, or with a USB cable (using Hekate UMS on your Switch). Then, right click the SD card in your File Explorer and go to Properties. Inside the properties window, go to the Tools tab and press the Check button (see screenshot below). This will scan the SD card for corruption issues and repair them.

    Scan and repair SD card

If your PC is running Linux or macOS, follow this guide.

After doing so, you may try to boot to TKMM-NX again and see if the boot issues are fixed. If not, try reinstalling TKMM-NX using a different file transfer method, like FTP, or Hekate UMS (with the best quality cable you can find), or directly install it from the Homebrew App Store.


Method #2: Formatting the SD card

If nothing works at all, you may attempt the steps described below.

    1. connect the Switch to your PC with a USB cable, then in Hekate, go to Tools > USB Tools > SD Card
    1. extract tkmm-nx.zip to the SD card's root again (overwrite all files), eject the SD card safely, and try booting to TKMM-NX again
    1. if that still didn't work, return to Hekate UMS and copy all files from the SD card to a folder somewhere on your PC
    1. after all transfers are completed, right click the SD card on your PC and select "Eject"
    1. go to Tools > Partition SD Card in Hekate
    1. leave everything on the default settings, and click "Next Step"
Important

THE STEPS DESCRIBED BELOW WILL ERASE THE SD CARD, IF YOU HAD A SPECIFIC PARTITION LAYOUT FOR EMUMMC OR LINUX/ANDROID THEN USE AN EXTERNAL TOOL TO WIPE THE FAT32 PARTITION ONLY

WE DO NOT TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY LOSS OF DATA, PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK.

    1. validate when it asks you to confirm if you really want to erase everything
    1. go back to the USB tool in Hekate
    1. copy all files back from your PC to the SD card
    1. go to More Configs in Hekate and try to boot to TKMM-NX again

SD Card Compatibility

If none of the methods provided helped fix the boot errors, it is highly likely that your SD card is simply incompatible (check the Switchroot SD card guide). You may need to acquire a new SD card to get TKMM-NX working on your Switch, if so, the Samsung Pro ones are the ones we most recommend.

Alternatively, you may use the Desktop version of TKMM on your PC, and export the mods to your SD card.

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