I keep talking about this in the shoutbox and finding new things faster than I can be bothered to add them to the main article, so I decided to make a forum thread.
What is known: -Disc was used to setup the very first batch of kiosk Wii consoles -Disc took about 2 minutes to set up -Disc contained the final Wii Menu (most likely) -Disc may still be in retail kiosk units from late 2006 -Disc had the option to install retail or demo software -Similar disc existed for Xbox 360 -Consoles that required the disc, as proven by our and Bushing's examination of the disc NAND, barely had any files on them -Disc is definitely in the possession of Nintendo, most likely in the possession of retail stores who had Wii kiosks at launch (best channel to find a disc through)
What is not known: -Specific software content of the disc -What the disc software looked like -What specifically the disc did
Goal: -Find a digital rip (ISO) or physical copy of the disc- if I receive a physical copy, I can rip it with Wii homebrew software
I swear I saw in the shoutbox that you got an ISO of the disk. (Well, I did also hear that it didn't work. ) Eh, good luck finding this.
That's a HUGE misinterpretation, I got a NAND of a Startup Disc Wii (a Wii that required this disc), a NAND being the Wii's system memory contents. It's interesting because it contains the data that consoles that required this disc had and the error screen, but it is not the disc itself. Also, I did eventually get it to work, but it's still not all that relevant to the search, just a related personal interest.
I was curious, so I dug in the basement for the box to my first wave wii.. Sure enough, the startup disc in included on "this box contains" list. Know for a fact it wasn't tho. Pretty dang interesting
I was curious, so I dug in the basement for the box to my first wave wii.. Sure enough, the startup disc in included on "this box contains" list. Know for a fact it wasn't tho. Pretty dang interesting
Very interesting- can you check the instruction manual to see if it mentions it? I haven't gotten access to a launch Wii manual (mine is from 2008)
Breaking: I recently got word on Reddit from someone who may (based on wording) have set up a Wii kiosk and got some new info:
-The disc had the option to install retail or demo firmware -There was a similar disc for the Xbox 360 -There were instructions that came with the early kiosks showing how to use the disc
Once I can verify how the poster knows this info (awaiting reply) I will add source and put it on the article.
Interesting picture, but no- that doesn't even look like a real disc in that image, probably just a prop. We sort of know what it looks like, since there is a tiny low-res image of it in the Startup Disc screen (I ripped the assets and posted it on the page). It looks completely different than that, and the account by the Reddit user who saw the disc didn't mention the massive Wii logo.
Found a Russian site with some new info - Google Translate gives this:
Mysterious Wii Startup Disc, which appears in the scope of delivery of the new console from Nintendo, in fact, used to run the system. Before turning on the console for the first time you will have to insert the disc and flash attachment for your region. Wii Startup Disc will be available in three versions, and depending on what kind of disc you put, the game of the region will work on your system - According to our colleagues from Kotaku.