Vita Jailbreak Guide
Destini Armstrong
This tutorial will show you how to safely and permanently jailbreak/mod your device so that you can run RetroArch or other emulators, plus load backups of your PS Vita, PSP, and PS1 games. Note this will work on any firmware version of PS Vita, up to and including 3.74.
There are two models of PS Vita, each with its own unique characteristics. See the video above for a deep-dive comparison between the two models. In a nutshell: they both play the same games, the PS Vita 1000 has an OLED display, and the PS Vita 2000 is thinner and lighter.
I think that a 128GB card should be the bare minimum size you buy, and I recommend getting something with 256GB. PS Vita, PSP, and PS1 games are all fairly large, so this will ensure you can load up lots of games. Here are the microSD cards I recommend:
If you already have a jailbroken PS Vita but want to start over from scratch, you can remove custom firmware by following these instructions. After removing custom firmware and updating to the latest firmware, you can also go into Settings > Format > Restore this System to completely wipe the device.
Note that improperly installing plugins can potentially BRICK the PS Vita. Be sure to consult the installation page of every plugin to ensure there are no conflicts with other plugins! The installation section is generally within the GitHub page for that plugin. If you encounter issues with a plugin, you can hold the L button while booting the Vita to bypass plugins, and then enter VitaShell to remove the issue.
The simplest way to access your device is through a USB cable running VitaShell (when in VitaShell, just press the SELECT button to start the connection). But if you want to access your device wirelessly, VitaShell has that option as well.
Open up Adrenaline, and it will prompt you to complete the download and installation of the 6.61 Adrenaline firmware. Press the X button to confirm, and once the download is complete it will exit Adrenaline. If you get an error about missing 6.61 on your device, the easiest fix is to just download v6.61 directly and place it in the folder that is indicated on the error screen (ux0:app/PSPEMUCWF/661.PBP). Be sure to rename your downloaded file from EBOOT.PBP to 661.PBP. Here is more information in case you run into this issue.
Once you have the titleid, make a folder inside the GAME folder with that titleid as the name. Within the titleid folder, you will need the game, named EBOOT.PBP (upper case). So for example, in order to play Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2, you will use the following path:
To get started, head over to this page and download the latest release of Adrenaline Bubble Manager VPK, and load it onto your device via VitaShell. Install the app via VitaShell, then open the app to complete the installation. It will prompt you to reset your device. Once rebooted, open Adrenaline one time, then close it, and then open Adrenaline Bubble Manager.
Run RetroArch once, and then close it out. Reconnect to your Vita using VitaShell, then on your PC navigate to data > RetroArch > system, and add your bios files there. BIOS files will not be shared on this website due to copyright, so you will need to dump them from an original console, or find backups on the internet. I recommend adding the following:
To actually run RetroArch, you will want to make a ROMs folder somewhere on your SD card. The easiest thing to do would be to just make a ROMS directory in the root directory of your microSD card, and then put all of your ROMs in subfolders within that directory. Then create playlists for each of those systems by pointing the playlist creator to the folders where you stored the ROMs.
When making a playlist for arcade games, you will want to do a manual scan and use this dat file to make sure that the zipped names (e.g. tmnt.zip) are converted to full names (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles). If you have questions about this part of the process, check out my RetroArch starter guide.
To access filters, you will want to go into RetroArch Settings > Directory and point the Video Filters folder to the correct filters folder (found at uxo:/data/retroarch/filters). Note that filters can affect CPU performance, so if a game is not running at full speed, I recommend removing the filter. In general, FinalBurn Alpha 2012 runs best without filters, and some demanding SNES games may need the filter to be off as well.
You can use any sort of image you want. Personally, I prefer to use the boxart for my bg.png, the title screen for icon0.png, which I get from the Libretro thumbnails repository. For the startup.png, I use the system images from screenscraper.fr.
Once complete, you will find a vpk inside the RetroBuilder/VPK folder. Move that vpk onto your Vita and then install it using VitaShell. You should now see the bubble on your home screen. Note that launching a game from the bubble takes quite a bit of time, since it has to launch RetroArch in the background.
To get started, you will need to install a few plugins to get the emulator working. Written instructions are provided by the developer (in the Installation tab) and have been frequently updated, so refer to this page for the most comprehensive details. The video above will also walk you through the process.
Once you launch the app, it will create a data folder at uxo:/data/flycast/data. Inside there you can add your dc_boot.bin and dc_flash.bin BIOS files if you want the best compatibility (and you will also see the DC boot logo when starting a game). I also put my game files in this folder.
The PS Vita has an ARM Cortex A9 CPU, which can be clocked up to 2GHz. However, Sony clocked their CPU to 333MHz in order to improve stability and battery life. Overclocking can potentially improve emulation performance on the PS Vita, especially with RetroArch and DaedalusX64.
I formatted my vita back to factory standards, then I let it upgrade all the way. After that I began the process as described above following along with his video. I have the original fat psvita w/a 32gb Sony PSV card and a 512gb Samsung extreme. It works perfect.
Hello! All went really well with the new method, however the PS store login is still not bypassed even with enso being installed. It just takes me to the login page to enter my information. Curious if I may have done something wrong here. Thanks!
Hi I had the same problem, I ended up configuring it on my pc and then put it back in and it worked. Also the YouTube videos contain some steps that are missing from the written narrative. I had to go back through the video and stop at several points to understand the step. Got it all working in the end
I followed your useful guide and successfully applied the jailbreak on my ps vita 1000: backup and homebrew works as a charm. But after a couple of days I received a system notification that a system update has been downloaded. I thought the hack blocked the original sony updates, am I wrong?
This guide explains the latest and greatest way to Jailbreak your PS Vita and install a Custom Firmware, the proper way. As of writing this guide, all PS Vita firmwares up to Firmware 3.74 (included) can be hacked.
Please note that there is some risk involved with installing Enso, as it does some permanent modifications to the boot code of the PS Vita. Do understand that if a problem happens, it could brick the PS Vita, and there is no known way to revive the console. Nonetheless, it has been used by thousands of Vita enthusiast by now, with no significant problem reported.
Hey thankyou for the guide im new to custom homebrew and ihave a psvita running 3.67 firmware do ineed to upgrade it to 3.74 or ican directly make the custom firmware install while running 3.67?
Iknow this sounds stupid i have no idea what im doing and im trying to make it right
where the folder xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx represents the AID (account ID that is 16 characters long) that you need to insert here. If the AID is valid, it will yield a key that you can now use to encrypt the demo.
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