For the noobie


Free McBoot is a method of running homebrew applications directly off a Memory Card as a stand alone loader. No boot discs or modchips are required once installed. You will however need to have a method to install FMCB to the MC.

This guide assumes you have a method to boot the installer already, if not read thru the How-to  guides and return when ready to install FMCB.
*NEW for v1.8
The Installer now has a GUI with much more informative screens to help you with your installation. Press left or right to select from the menu and press X to execute the selection. Pressing triangle displays a credits screen
GUI screen



What you need:
A Boot method for the installer { How-to Guides }
A Memory Card with minimal 3.5MB free
A PS2
A USB stick
The Free McBoot Noobie Package


-=< IMPORTANT >=-
Free McBoot comes only with the necessary files/folders required to run Free McBoot's launching application from the Memory Card its installed to. Many applications can be used with Free mcBoot, but none will be included with the Official FMCB release package.

However, due to the  increase of noobies, i have created a Noobie Package you can download , containing the recommended apps already set into the INSTALL folder.
I have included the apps assigned by the default installation to work right away, without any need to configure them. This is for those of you who simply cant understand the User Guide.  :)
 
The apps listed below are included vesions in the noobie package and links to the developement forums they originate, so you can read about them and get the latest versions when they are updated.
Recommended apps for Free McBoot :
uLaunchELF   {uLaunchELF v4.30}
SMS            {SMS Version 2.9 }
ESR               {ESR_GUI_test2 - R9B}
HDLoader       {HDLv0.8c with fmcb 1.8 theme skin}
FMCB Configurator  {is included with EVERY release, located in the FMCB_CFG folder}

Prepare  files for installation:
The Free McBoot Noobie Package contains the FREE_MCBOOT.ELF {installer} and an INSTALL folder.
 Inside the INSTALL folder is everything needed to run Free McBoot 1.8 after installation,  no need to do anything to it.

1 - Simply copy them to your USB stick or CD compilation and it should look like this:



2 - Now just run the FREE_MCBOOT.ELF on your PS2 and read the Installation section below.

These files will be listed and linked to run from the Sony main menu {OSD menu} after the install.

menu
Free McBoot MUST be installed to a Memory Card and can not be copied off another.  A copy will only work on the MC it was installed on.
Cross Region installations  will not work!  This means installing  with a console from one region will not work on another console from a different region.

Installer Options:
Normal install will  install the  required system files for your console version..
Multi-Version install will install additional files for other console versions of the same region to work with the same MC.
Launch fmcb will load the newly installed Free McBoot .
fmcb configurator Launches the Configurator Application
format mc If you dont have anything worth saving on the MC, then format the card for a better chance of a successful install.

uninstall multi-version reverts a multi-install to normal install.


*NEW for v 1.8
You now have the option to install to either MC from slot1 or slot2
choose MC slot


A successful install should look similar to the below images:
Successful installation   installation log

If you wanted to do more than install the basic default installation, then please move on to the Advanced Users Guide

Places to find help: