I don't believe this is ever going to get fixed, so I just wanted to post it for anyone else who comes across the issue.
I'm using USB Loader GX 3.0 Rev 1281 with a PNY 512GB Elite-X Fit USB 3.1 Flash Drive (which works great and is huge - I took a chance on it working after extrapolating likely compatible models from existing compatibility lists).
So with that flash drive hidden with UStealth (Windows) or USB_Hide (Wii U) or USB_Toggle (vWii), I can boot my Wii U as normal and the Wii U operating system doesn't bitch about the drive and all is good. I can also boot directly into the vWii by holding B at boot or by the Wii icon in the Wii U OS and with USB Loader GX 3.0 Rev 1281, using virtual emuNAND, I can boot wbfs Wii images will no problem from the hidden drive. However, running WiiWare titles just boots back to the vWii main menu (where I can again run USB Loader GX).
However, unhiding the drive allows WiiWare to boot in USB Loader GX.
This is a bit of a moot point for me as I've also used RiiConnect to install all the WiiWare titles to my SD Card so I can boot them all from the SD Card icon on the Wii main menu (except the non-USA region ones as I'm not sure how to boot out of region games directly from the Wii menu). Also, the SD Card is not hidden and that's also not a thing. I just wanted to state the last sentence to prevent any arguments going down that road. I'm only speaking to hiding the PNY 512GB Elite-X Fit USB 3.1 Flash Drive.
Nonetheless, it would be nice to have a seamless solution that would allow launching of both WiiWare and WBFS Wii images from USB Loader GX from a hidden USB drive (particularly due to USB Loader GX being happy to launch games region free). Unfortunately, this does not seem to be the case.
So I just wanted to post this for the sake of the community in case anyone else runs into issues launching WiiWare in USB Loader GX. Try unhiding your drive if it's hidden and see if that fixes the problem.
I'm using USB Loader GX 3.0 Rev 1281 with a PNY 512GB Elite-X Fit USB 3.1 Flash Drive (which works great and is huge - I took a chance on it working after extrapolating likely compatible models from existing compatibility lists).
So with that flash drive hidden with UStealth (Windows) or USB_Hide (Wii U) or USB_Toggle (vWii), I can boot my Wii U as normal and the Wii U operating system doesn't bitch about the drive and all is good. I can also boot directly into the vWii by holding B at boot or by the Wii icon in the Wii U OS and with USB Loader GX 3.0 Rev 1281, using virtual emuNAND, I can boot wbfs Wii images will no problem from the hidden drive. However, running WiiWare titles just boots back to the vWii main menu (where I can again run USB Loader GX).
However, unhiding the drive allows WiiWare to boot in USB Loader GX.
This is a bit of a moot point for me as I've also used RiiConnect to install all the WiiWare titles to my SD Card so I can boot them all from the SD Card icon on the Wii main menu (except the non-USA region ones as I'm not sure how to boot out of region games directly from the Wii menu). Also, the SD Card is not hidden and that's also not a thing. I just wanted to state the last sentence to prevent any arguments going down that road. I'm only speaking to hiding the PNY 512GB Elite-X Fit USB 3.1 Flash Drive.
Nonetheless, it would be nice to have a seamless solution that would allow launching of both WiiWare and WBFS Wii images from USB Loader GX from a hidden USB drive (particularly due to USB Loader GX being happy to launch games region free). Unfortunately, this does not seem to be the case.
So I just wanted to post this for the sake of the community in case anyone else runs into issues launching WiiWare in USB Loader GX. Try unhiding your drive if it's hidden and see if that fixes the problem.
Last edited by Pr3tty F1y,