[Guide] Update Your Vita With Previous FW Releases

[Yuki]

Hi all :3

I'm writing this guide for those who wish to upgrade their Vita consoles from factory firmware (<=1.06) to a version which is older than the most recent (currently 1.61). Personally, I decided to go to 1.50 as this is as far back as you can go while still having the ability to use (Open)CMA.

NOTE: I have not tried to downgrade a console using this method and any attempts to do so are at your own risk. However, I have attempted to restore the same version as I am currently on and this DID work.


You will need (in addition to a Vita and a PC on the same Wi-Fi network):

• Our old friend Charles
  
• A "nulled" psp2-updatelist.xml for your region: EU / JP / UK / US (Right Click + Save As)
  
• The "full" payload for the firmware you want to update to. Many can be found HERE but if the links are down then you can get 1.50 from HERE. I'll put up some other ones if the demand is high enough.

This guide will be aimed at people who are already somewhat familiar with Charles however there's nothing too difficult in here and I'll include screenshots as I go along. If anyone wants to rewrite the guide to make it more noob-friendly then I would appreciate it if you contacted me by PM beforehand for permission.


The Guide Itself

What we are basically looking to do here is fool the Vita into thinking we're giving it the latest firmware when in fact we're giving it our own .PUP of the version we'd like to update to instead. This is pretty trivial as none of the update process is done over HTTPS, and there's hardly any validation in the update feature itself.

I acknowledge that Charles isn't the most elegant way of doing this but it's the one I'm most familiar with so with this proviso I will continue...

1. Personal Preference - Configure Charles
   
   When I'm doing this kind of thing with Charles I don't want it being crowded up with other requests. By default it sets itself as default proxy for the entire OS which isn't very helpful. To disable this, navigate to Proxy > Proxy Settings and untick all the boxes on the Windows and Mozilla Firefox tabs.
   
   
   
2. Set The Proxy On Your Vita
   
   Go into Settings -> Network -> Wi-Fi Settings and choose your network (set it up now if it's not already). Go to Advanced Settings and tick Use Proxy Server. The IP will be whichever computer is running Charles and the port (unless you've changed it in Charles) will be 8888.
   
   
3. Check For An Update - DON'T ACCEPT
   
   Check for an update from Settings > System Update (Choose Update Using Wi-Fi)
   Let it get to the A new version of the system software... screen and then press Cancel.
   
   NOTE: You may have to "Allow" the Vita's connection to Charles on the PC.
   
   
4. Create The XML Rule In Charles
   
   In the Structure tab of the main Charles window you should now see fxx01.psp2.update.playstation.net (xx corresponding to your region). Expand the tree until you get to psp2-updatelist.xml, right-click on it and choose Map Local...
   Click Choose and point it to the XML you downloaded above for your region, then click OK.
   
   
5. Check For An Update Again
   
   This time it should report FW Version "not1.61"
   
   If you see this it is safe to press Next, it will then error out because the links in the XML file are dead.
   
   
6. Create The PUP Rule In Charles
   
   In the Structure tab of the main Charles window you should now see dxx01.psp2.update.playstation.net (xx corresponding to your region). Expand the tree until you get to PSP2UPDAT.PUP, right-click on it and choose Map Local...
   Click Choose and point it to the desired PUP, then click OK.
   
   
7. Update
   
   Pretty self explanatory, this one. Just make sure it says not1.61 before you press Next. If you want to be double sure, check the Sequence tab in the main Charles window to see the requests as they come in.
   
   
   IF YOU THINK YOU'VE DONE SOMETHING WRONG, DECLINE THE TERMS OF USE TO GO BACK TO THE SETTINGS MENU
   

Hope you find this guide helpful and feel free to PM me with any questions you may have :3

Regards,

-Yuki