The Wasabi DX is an excellent, cheap, fully featured alternative to the Drive Key, now that the Drive Key is out of production.
It provides ALL the functions of the Drive Key in addition to being FULLY updateable from DVD, no need for external JTAG programmers., only £22.99 including FREE 2-piece tri-wing and philips screwdriver set to open your Wii and FREE UK and Worldwide Shipping!

Follow our How to Open Your Wii Guide to prepare your Wii for installing the Drive Key before following this guide.

Click images for a larger version if required.

1.

IMPORTANT: The dip switches on the Drive Key MUST be set to your region/console before installing. You may have to remove an orange film as shown above before flipping the switches.

Once the film has been removed if it is present, your switches will look like above. Use a small screwdriver/needle/pencil or pen to flip the switches to the required position as shown in the image. I.E. For European consoles or consoles in the UK that are PAL, the switches should be configured such that switch 1 is on (up) and switch 2 is off (down). Likewise, for consoles in the US that are NTSC the switches should be configured such that switch 1 is off (down) and switch 2 is on (up). For other regions please refer to the image.

2.

Note: Some Drive Keys may come with 'flip up' connectors rather than 'sliding' connectors, the installation procedure is the same, just gently flip the brown plastic connector up and place the cable in to the connector and close the brown plastic connector.

Once the switches have been configured correctly (note the Drive Key in the image has not been configured yet, please ignore this) we can begin to install the Drive Key. The Drive Key is marked with 'Wii' and 'DVD' as shown in the image, this denotes where the cable should be plugged in. To insert the cable from the Wii into the Drive Key that we disconnected from the DVD drive in the opening the Wii guide simply slide the brown plastic clip forward gently, parallel to the Drive Key, you can use finger nails to do this.

Once the clip is open, slide the Wii cable gold contacts side down (black plastic upwards) into the connector on the Drive Key. Drive cable colours may vary but the plastic on the end of the cable should always be placed upwards metal contacts down in to the connector.

 

To secure the cable, make sure it is fully inserted in to the connector on the Drive Key and push the brown clip backwards fully. The cable coming from the Wii will now be secured.

 

3.

As was done with the cable from the Wii in the previous step, the cable you received with your Drive Key should now be installed in the same way in the connector marked 'DVD', again ensuring the gold contacts are face down (black plastic up) and the cable is fully inserted and secure. Again, the cable you receive with your Drive Key may vary (white for example), the procedure is the same with the blue plastic (or whatever colour is present) facing upwards.

 

4.

The cable connected to the 'DVD' connector on the Drive Key should now be connected to the DVD drive. This is simply done by gently lifting the brown clip on the connector on the DVD drive that used to be connected to the Wii and inserting the cable with the gold contacts facing down in to the connecter then pushing the brown clip down, securing the cable.

Your Drive Key is now Installed! All you have to do now is finalise the installation by insulating the Drive Key, follow the last remaining steps below.

 

5.

With the DVD drive placed next to the Wii console, you have some slack in the cable with which you are able to position the Drive Key on the metal plate that the DVD drive sits on. Position your Drive Key similarly to above. You may have noticed but on the anti static packaging that your Drive Key came in we have attached two pieces of white insulation tape, as shown in the image by the red arrow, this will be used to secure and insulate the Drive Key.

Holding the Drive Key in place, secure one side of the Drive Key with a piece of tape.

 

With one side secured, do the same to the other side with the other piece of insulation tape ensuring the Drive Key is securely fixed in place and there isn't any areas of the chip which are exposed. Your Drive Key is now fully installed and insulated!

Now, simply reattach the DVD power cable (white cable in the image above) and reseat the DVD drive in place, ensuring it is seated properly and does not wobble.

To put your Wii back together simply follow our How to Open your Wii Guide in reverse.

 

Included with your Drive Key will be a long thin white cable (JTAG Update Cable) which is used to connect the Drive Key to a programmer to update the firmware in cases where the update is too large to perform via an update disc. There is currently no update available and will likely be none for the foreseeable future so it is not essential to install the cable to the Drive Key but we do advise that you keep the cable in case it is needed in the future. We will stock the programmer as and when it is needed and will send an email out to all customers when an update has been released.

If you have any problems following the guide or require any help, feel free to Contact Us.