ps5upload/FAQ.md

FAQ

Answers to the questions that come up most often while using ps5upload. Organized by topic — use the search box in the FAQ tab to jump to what you need.

---

Disclaimer

Use this software entirely at your own risk. Provided "as is", without warranty of any kind.

• It interacts with a modified PS5 — a jailbroken console with kernel exploits already loaded by you. Modifying console state, bypassing platform integrity checks, or running unsigned code can void your manufacturer warranty, violate the platform's terms of service, and, under certain operations, leave your console unrecoverable without a reinstall.
• It writes to your PS5 filesystem and can install / register packages with Sony's installer. Mistakes can corrupt the app database or leave Sony's mgmt service wedged. Back up important saves before bulk operations.
• It is intended only for content you legally own and hardware that belongs to you. How you use it is your responsibility.
• No support guaranteed — free volunteer-built tool.

If those terms aren't acceptable, do not use this software.

---

What ps5upload does (and doesn't)

Q: What is ps5upload? A cross-platform desktop app for moving files, game folders, and disk images from your computer to a jailbroken PS5. Built around a small custom payload that runs on the PS5 and speaks a binary protocol (FTX2) over your LAN.

Q: What does it actually do?

• Transfer files and folders at near-wire speed, with BLAKE3 per-shard verification and resume on drop.
• Upload a compressed archive — .zip, .7z, or .rar — of a game, decompressed on your PC and streamed in so it lands already extracted on the PS5 (no manual unpack, no temp copy of the whole game). RAR handles multi-part sets (pick the first part — the rest are found automatically) and password-protected archives. (RAR is desktop-only; Android uploads .zip and .7z.)
• Mount .exfat and .ffpkg disk images natively on the PS5 (via MDIOCATTACH + nmount). No third-party tool required.
• Install fakepkgs — pick a .pkg and it uploads, installs, and (optionally) cleans up the staged copy. On the Upload tab a .pkg is a first-class queue item, so it rides the same queue as your folders, images, and archives — add it and it ends up playable. Or Stream install it straight from your PC with no copy on the PS5. Installs go through ps5upload's own on-console installer; verified with PS4 base games, updates and DLC and PS5 fake packages on FW 5.10.
• Register + launch in the XMB — Library row's Play button always registers first (idempotent), retries with a DRM-type patch on rejection, then launches. Unmount unregisters every title inside the image first so the dashboard stays clean.
• Browse games installed on the PS5 and disk images anywhere on any drive.
• File System navigation with chmod / delete / move / copy / mkdir.
• Hardware monitoring (model, serial, uptime, RAM, CPU freq) and fan-threshold control.
• Send payload — push .elf, .bin, .js, .lua, or .jar files to the PS5's loader port (typical defaults: .elf → 9021, .js → 50000, .lua → 9026, .jar → 9025 for BD-JB / BDJ), with a replay-from-history panel.
• SMB / NAS — browse a share and upload a file or folder to the PS5 in one step.
• FTP server — optional on-console FTP for external clients (port 2122 by default).

Q: What does it NOT do? Install system pkgs (NPXS-prefix — Store updates, Settings app patches, built-in apps). Sony's sceAppInstUtilInstallByPackage is designed for game pkgs; for NPXS the register call is accepted but the install path freezes the PS5's mgmt service mid-flight. Use the on-PS5 Settings → Debug Settings → Game → Package Installer for those — that path is privileged in a way ps5upload can't replicate. Game pkgs (UP / EP / JP / HP / CUSA / PPSA / PCSA / etc.) work fine.

---

Supported platforms

Q: Which desktop OSes run ps5upload?

• macOS — Apple Silicon (arm64) and Intel (x86_64), shipped as .dmg.
• Windows — x64 and ARM64, shipped as a -setup.exe installer or a .zip containing a portable PS5Upload.exe (no installer, no admin prompt — unzip and run).
• Linux — x64 and arm64, shipped as .deb, .rpm, and a .zip containing PS5Upload.AppImage. Install the package for your distro, or use the AppImage anywhere — chmod +x and double-click. If you installed the .deb or .rpm, the built-in updater detects that and offers the same package type rather than the AppImage.
• Android — .apk (sideload), built for ARM only (arm64-v8a and armeabi-v7a). There is no x86 / x86_64 Android build, so Intel-based Chromebooks and emulators are not supported. Same interface, mobile-friendly; manages your PS5 over Wi-Fi. See the Android section below for setup, permissions, and uploading from your phone.

There is no 32-bit x86 (i386 / i686) build for any desktop OS.

Q: Which PS5 firmware works? ps5upload is built against PS5 Payload SDK v0.42, which resolves kernel offsets at startup for every firmware it knows about. The same binary runs on the full range 1.00 – 13.60.

• Hardware-tested: FW 5.10 and 9.60 (in-house) and FW 12.20 (user-confirmed). Core features — transfer, mount, file browse, hardware monitor, and .pkg install — work across this range.
• 1.00 – 13.60 supported. The same binary runs everywhere the SDK has offsets. The Hardware tab reads process names from kinfo_proc, so it does not require a separate firmware-specific fallback table.
• .pkg install additionally needs the console's jailbreak to have live kernel patches (kstuff / fpkg-enable). Where those aren't active (observed on some 9.60 setups), the installer says so honestly instead of reporting a false success — it never claims a game installed when the content didn't actually land.

What actually gates users in practice is the PS5-side ELF loader on port 9021 — a third-party component, not part of ps5upload. Loader coverage is roughly 4.x–12.x today.

Q: Which PS5 models are supported? All models: original CFI-1xxx, Digital, Slim (CFI-2xxx), and Pro (CFI-7xxx). Transfer, mount, volume listing, and hardware info work on every one.

---

Android

Q: How do I install the Android app? Download PS5Upload-<ver>-android.apk from the Releases page and open it on your phone. Android will ask you to allow installing from your browser / file manager the first time — that's normal for a sideloaded app. Updates install in place and keep your settings (builds are signed with a stable key from v2.20.0 on). If an older build refuses to update, uninstall it once, then install v2.20.0 or newer.

Q: The app's text/buttons are huge (or tiny) on my phone and names get cut off. (3.2.0+) This is your phone's Display size (or Font size) accessibility setting scaling the whole app up. Open Settings → Text size in ps5upload and pick a smaller percentage — it rescales the entire interface so list rows stop getting clipped to "ps5-image…". It works on desktop too, and persists.

Q: I picked a game folder, a .zip, or a .pkg, but it fails — "could not read", "No such file or directory", "not an ELF", or it just won't send / install. Android needs All files access before the app can read your files. This is the single most common Android issue.

• On v2.20.0+ the app asks for it: when you tap Choose folder, Choose file, or Add .pkg, an in-app file browser opens. The first time, tap Open settings, turn on "Allow access to manage all files" for PS5Upload, come back, and tap Retry. Then browse your storage and pick the file/folder.
• On older builds (≤ v2.19.x) the app used Android's system file picker, which only returns a content:// link the engine can't open — that's exactly why loading failed. Update to v2.20.0+.
• You can grant it any time: Android Settings → Apps → PS5Upload → Permissions → All files access → Allow (the app also nudges you on first launch).

Q: How do I upload a big game (a folder or a .zip) from my phone? Open Upload → Choose folder (or Choose file for a .zip dump), pick it in the in-app browser, choose the destination, and Start. With All-files access the engine reads the file in place — nothing is copied — so a multi-GB / tens-of-thousands-of-files game streams straight to the PS5 over Wi-Fi.

Q: "ShadowMount+ — downloaded asset is not an ELF (first bytes [50, 4b, 03, 04])." Fixed in v2.19.3+. ShadowMount+ now ships its payload inside a .zip; the app extracts the real .elf automatically. Update, then Send to PS5 (with the payload chain loaded — see the next answer). 50 4b 03 04 is just the "PK" signature of a zip file.

Q: The helper dot at the bottom of the app is red. That dot is the PS5-side ps5upload payload, not the app itself. Red means it isn't running on the console yet, so Install Package, mounts, and file-system actions can't complete. Load the recommended chain first — Set up your PS5, or the Payloads tab (kstuff → ShadowMount+ → ps5upload). Once the payload is running, helper turns green. The other dot, engine, is the app's own service and is green whenever the app is open.

---

Prerequisites

Q: What do I need installed to run ps5upload?

macOS

Nothing. macOS 11 (Big Sur) or newer runs the app as-is. First launch: right-click PS5Upload.app → Open → Open again in the Gatekeeper dialog (the app is ad-hoc signed, not notarized). Subsequent launches don't prompt.

If macOS says "PS5Upload is damaged and can't be opened" — that's the quarantine extended attribute Safari/Chrome/Firefox added when the .dmg was downloaded. One-line fix:

xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/PS5Upload.app

This is a normal macOS workflow for unsigned tools (same as ItemzFlow, ftpsrv-mac, and most homebrew utilities — none of these pay Apple $99/year for Developer ID + notarization). The bundle's hash hasn't changed; you're just telling Gatekeeper "yes, I know where this came from."

Windows

Nothing on Windows 10 (20H1 / build 19041 or later) and Windows 11 — both ship Microsoft Edge WebView2 runtime by default.

On stripped installs (LTSC, Windows Server without Desktop Experience, some N/KN editions), install WebView2 once from https://developer.microsoft.com/microsoft-edge/webview2/. One-time; runtime is shared across every WebView2 app you'll ever run.

If Windows shows "Windows protected your PC" (SmartScreen) — the app isn't signed with a paid code-signing certificate, so SmartScreen treats fresh downloads as low-reputation. Click More info → Run anyway. SmartScreen builds reputation silently after that; subsequent launches don't prompt.

If your IT policy blocks "Run anyway", right-click PS5Upload.exe → Properties → tick Unblock at the bottom of the General tab → OK. That removes the Windows mark-of-the-web that gates SmartScreen.

Like macOS quarantine, this is normal for unsigned scene tools. EV code-signing certs cost ~$400/year and require a hardware token — not something a free homebrew project ships.

Linux — Debian, Ubuntu, Mint, Pop!_OS

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y \
  libfuse2 \
  libgtk-3-0 \
  libwebkit2gtk-4.1-0 \
  libsoup-3.0-0 \
  libjavascriptcoregtk-4.1-0 \
  libappindicator3-1 \
  librsvg2-2

• libfuse2 is needed because .AppImage self-mounts via FUSE2 at startup. On Ubuntu 24.04 the package name resolves to libfuse2t64 — the above still works via apt's virtual-package resolution.
• WebKit2GTK 4.1 is what Tauri 2 links against. Ubuntu 22.04 and earlier only have 4.0 — upgrade to 24.04+ or build Tauri 4.0-compatible yourself.

Linux — Fedora, RHEL, CentOS, Rocky, Alma

sudo dnf install -y \
  fuse \
  gtk3 \
  webkit2gtk4.1 \
  libsoup3 \
  javascriptcoregtk4.1 \
  libappindicator-gtk3 \
  librsvg2

• On RHEL / Rocky / Alma 9: enable EPEL first (sudo dnf install -y epel-release).
• RHEL / CentOS / Rocky / Alma 8 ship webkit2gtk3 (the 4.0 series). ps5upload targets 4.1 and won't run on 8.x without a manual webkit2gtk4.1 backport — 9.x is the minimum.

Linux — Arch, Manjaro, EndeavourOS

sudo pacman -S fuse2 gtk3 webkit2gtk-4.1 libsoup3 \
               libappindicator-gtk3 librsvg

Linux — why the long list?

.AppImage bundles webkit and GTK inside the image, but a few core libs (libc, libgcc, X11 / Wayland client libs, FUSE userspace) are expected to come from the host so the image stays portable across distros. Modern desktop Linux installs have most of these already; the explicit list covers stripped / server images and fresh container shells.

Q: Minimum distro version? / "GLIBC_2.39 not found" or the app installs but won't launch.

All three Linux artifacts (.deb, .rpm, and the .AppImage) are built in CI against glibc 2.39, so they need a distro that ships glibc 2.39 or newer:

• Ubuntu 24.04+, Debian 13 (trixie)+, Fedora 40+, RHEL/Rocky/Alma 10+, current openSUSE Tumbleweed, current Arch.
• Too old: Ubuntu 22.04 (glibc 2.35), Debian 12 / bookworm (2.36), Fedora 39 (2.38), RHEL 9 (2.34).

This is a glibc floor, not a missing package — on an older release the .deb/.rpm install cleanly (their package dependencies all resolve) but the binary then fails at launch with GLIBC_2.39 not found, and the AppImage hits the same wall because it bundles WebKitGTK but still uses the host's glibc. There's no way to bundle glibc itself into a native package. On an older distro, build from source on that machine: make install then make dist-linux (it links against whatever glibc that box has).

Q: The keep-awake toggle says "error" on Linux.

Keep-awake uses systemd-inhibit, which needs systemd + systemd- logind. Present on every mainstream desktop distro. If you're on a non-systemd distro (Alpine, Void, Gentoo OpenRC, Devuan) the toggle won't work — everything else does.

Q: The window opens but it's just a white/blank screen (Bazzite, SteamOS, NVIDIA, etc.).

This is WebKitGTK failing to render with accelerated compositing / the DMABUF renderer on your GPU/compositor — common on gaming distros (Bazzite, SteamOS) and NVIDIA. Fixes, easiest first:

1. Update to the latest version — the fix is built in, and now adapts to your graphics stack. The app detects what it is running on at startup and applies only the workarounds that stack needs:

   Your setup	What the app does automatically
   Any Linux	Disables the DMABUF renderer
   NVIDIA on Wayland	Also disables accelerated compositing
   NVIDIA on Wayland, AppImage	Also preloads your system's libwayland-client

   This works for a plain double-click of PS5Upload.AppImage, the .deb / .rpm / folder build, and the PS5Upload.sh wrapper — with one exception: the libwayland-client preload is only applied by PS5Upload.sh, because LD_PRELOAD has to be set before the process starts. On NVIDIA + Wayland, launch via ./PS5Upload.sh rather than the bare AppImage.

   Why it is not simply all of them, everywhere: disabling accelerated compositing makes WebKitGTK render the whole page in software, which is fine for a static window but makes scrolling sluggish — and this app's main screens are long lists (a library of hundreds of games, a file browser of thousands of entries). An earlier version set it for everyone, which is why scrolling felt heavier on Linux than on Android or Windows. It is now scoped to the stack that needs it.

2. Still white? Apply the compositing switch by hand — your stack may need it without being NVIDIA-on-Wayland:

   WEBKIT_DISABLE_COMPOSITING_MODE=1 ./PS5Upload.sh
   

   If your setup needs the libwayland-client preload but is not detected as NVIDIA (an unusual driver setup, a container), force it:

   PS5UPLOAD_FORCE_WAYLAND_PRELOAD=1 ./PS5Upload.sh
   

   Every automatic setting above is skipped if you set that variable yourself, so you can also turn one back off (WEBKIT_DISABLE_DMABUF_RENDERER=0 ./PS5Upload.sh).

3. Still white? Force X11 instead of Wayland:

   GDK_BACKEND=x11 ./PS5Upload.sh
   

4. Still white? Fall back to software rendering (slower UI, but reliable — good for confirming it's a GPU-path problem):

   LIBGL_ALWAYS_SOFTWARE=1 ./PS5Upload.sh
   

You can combine these (e.g. GDK_BACKEND=x11 LIBGL_ALWAYS_SOFTWARE=1 ./PS5Upload.sh). If even software rendering shows a white screen, run ./PS5Upload.AppImage from a terminal and share the output — a WebKitWebProcess/WebKitNetworkProcess crash there points at a WebKitGTK packaging problem rather than a GPU one, which is a different fix.

On the immutable-OS distros (Bazzite, Silverblue, etc.) the host WebKitGTK libraries are layered with rpm-ostree install and need a reboot to take effect; the AppImage bundles its own copies, but the core GTK/Wayland/X11 client libs still come from the host.

Don't launch with sudo. None of these fixes need root, and running the app as root writes root-owned files into ~/.ps5upload — after which a normal launch fails to read its own settings, which looks like a new bug. If you have already done it:

sudo chown -R "$USER:$USER" ~/.ps5upload

---

Network setup — direct Ethernet (optional, best stability + speed)

Q: Do I need anything special on my network? No. The default setup is: PS5 and computer both on the same WiFi / LAN, the app finds the PS5 by IP. That works fine for most uses, including multi-GB folder uploads.

Q: When is direct Ethernet worth setting up? When you upload multi-hundred-GB game folders or disk images and want the fastest, most reliable path. Running a cable straight between the PS5 and the computer:

• Bypasses WiFi entirely — no congestion, no roaming, no retransmits, no "blip during a long upload" failure mode.
• Bypasses your router — no NAT, no QoS competing with whatever else is on the LAN, no MTU surprises.
• Saturates the PS5's NIC — the PS5 (and PS5 Pro) ship with a gigabit Ethernet port (~118 MiB/s practical ceiling). Over WiFi you'll see anywhere from 5 MiB/s (Wi-Fi 5 in a busy 2.4 GHz house) to ~60 MiB/s (Wi-Fi 6 line-of-sight); over a direct cable you'll pin the link.

The cost: you need a second NIC for internet on the computer (any WiFi works, or a USB Ethernet adapter back to the router) because the direct cable carries no internet route. On the PS5 the direct cable replaces the LAN port's usual internet config, so if you want the console to reach PSN you'll switch its network back to WiFi / router when you're done uploading — or just leave PSN off while you transfer (PSN isn't required for any of ps5upload's features).

Step 1 — Cable + addresses

• Cable: any Cat5e or better, straight-through. Auto-MDIX on modern NICs means crossover cables aren't needed.
• Addresses we'll use (any private /24 works — pick what doesn't collide with your home network):
  • Computer: 192.168.88.1, mask 255.255.255.0
  • PS5: 192.168.88.2, mask 255.255.255.0, gateway 192.168.88.1
• Why these: both sides on the same /24 so packets stay link-local; the PS5's "manual" network screen requires the gateway field to be set even though nothing routes anywhere — we point it at the computer so the form saves.

Step 2 — Configure the COMPUTER

Windows 11

1. Settings → Network & Internet → Ethernet (the entry for the adapter your direct cable is plugged into — not WiFi).
2. IP assignment → Edit → Manual → flip IPv4 on.
3. Fill in:
   • IP address: 192.168.88.1
   • Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0
   • Gateway: leave blank — this is critical. If you put anything here, Windows treats the cable as a possible default route and may try to send internet traffic through it.
   • Preferred DNS: leave blank
4. Save. The adapter status will show "No internet" — that's correct, this link only carries PS5 traffic.
5. Firewall: set the Ethernet network profile to Private (Settings → Network & Internet → Ethernet → Network profile type → Private). The default Public profile blocks inbound on the ports the helpers reply on. If Windows Defender still prompts, allow PS5Upload.exe on Private networks.
6. Keep WiFi on for internet — Windows automatically prefers the route with a lower metric (the WiFi default gateway), so your browser etc. keep working.

macOS

1. System Settings → Network, pick your Ethernet interface (built-in on Intel Macs, USB-C/Thunderbolt-to-Ethernet adapter on Apple Silicon — Apple's $29 dongle or any Realtek/Intel 2.5 GbE adapter works).
2. Details… → TCP/IP → Configure IPv4: Manually
   • IP Address: 192.168.88.1
   • Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
   • Router: leave blank — same reason as Windows. macOS respects the empty Router field and doesn't promote the cable to default gateway.
3. DNS → Configure DNS Servers: empty.
4. OK → Apply. The interface will show "Self-Assigned IP" or a yellow status if the PS5 isn't configured yet; that goes away once Step 3 is done.
5. Service order: System Settings → Network → ⋯ → Set Service Order — make sure WiFi sits above the Ethernet interface. That keeps macOS from preferring the (internet-less) cable for general traffic.
6. Firewall (System Settings → Network → Firewall): if it's on, allow incoming connections for ps5upload and PS5Upload. On a fresh install the firewall is off by default.

Linux (GNOME — Ubuntu, Fedora, Bazzite, Pop!_OS)

1. Settings → Network → Wired, click the gear next to the direct-cable adapter.
2. IPv4 tab → Method: Manual
   • Address: 192.168.88.1, Netmask: 24 (or 255.255.255.0)
   • Gateway: leave blank
3. DNS: blank, Automatic off.
4. Apply, then toggle the connection off/on.

Or via nmcli (works on every NetworkManager distro including Bazzite / SteamOS desktop mode):

# replace eth0 with your interface name (`ip link` to find it)
sudo nmcli connection add type ethernet ifname eth0 \
  con-name ps5-direct ipv4.method manual \
  ipv4.addresses 192.168.88.1/24
sudo nmcli connection modify ps5-direct \
  ipv4.gateway "" ipv4.dns "" ipv4.never-default yes
sudo nmcli connection up ps5-direct

The ipv4.never-default yes is the Linux equivalent of leaving the gateway blank on Win/macOS — it tells NetworkManager this connection must never become the default route.

KDE Plasma: System Settings → Connections → click the wired entry → IPv4 → Method: Manual, same values; under "Routes…" check "Use only for resources on this connection."

Firewall (firewalld on Fedora/Bazzite):

sudo firewall-cmd --zone=trusted --add-interface=eth0 --permanent
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

On Ubuntu with ufw the default is allow-outbound / deny-inbound; nothing extra needed since ps5upload only makes outbound connections to the PS5.

Step 3 — Configure the PS5

1. Settings → Network → Settings → Set Up Internet Connection.
2. Use a LAN Cable.
3. Custom (not Easy).
4. IP Address Settings: Manual
   • IP Address: 192.168.88.2
   • Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
   • Default Gateway: 192.168.88.1
   • Primary DNS: 1.1.1.1 (Cloudflare — the PS5 won't actually reach it on this cable, but the field can't be empty and a real public IP avoids the DNS-timeout latency you'd get pointing at 192.168.88.1 since the PC isn't running a DNS server)
   • Secondary DNS: 1.0.0.1 (or leave blank — most firmwares accept an empty secondary; 0.0.0.0 is rejected by some)
5. MTU Settings: Automatic.
6. Proxy Server: Do Not Use.
7. Save. The PS5 will run Test Internet Connection automatically — it will FAIL ("Cannot connect to internet"). That's expected and fine. The "Obtain IP Address" / "Connect to LAN" steps will show Successful — those are what matter.

Step 4 — Verify the link

On the computer:

# Should return replies in <1 ms — both sides see each other.
ping 192.168.88.2

If ping works, you're done — open ps5upload and use 192.168.88.2 as the PS5 address. The payload-send (Connection → Send payload) and every transfer afterwards goes over the direct cable.

Notes / gotchas

• PSN, the Store, game updates, online play — all require internet. While the PS5 is on the direct cable, those won't work. Switch the PS5's network back to WiFi (or your router) when you want them; ps5upload remembers the last-used IP so re-pointing it at the WiFi IP afterwards is a one-line change in Settings.
• PS5 Ethernet port is gigabit — practical sustained ceiling is around 110–118 MiB/s for huge files. The 2.16.0 multi-file posix_fallocate fix is what keeps multi-GB transfers from collapsing under that ceiling; before that fix, throughput degraded the longer a single file ran.
• 2.5 GbE / 10 GbE adapters on the computer are fine and still negotiate to 1 Gbps because the PS5 is the slowest link. The extra headroom helps if you ever swap consoles.
• Don't share two connections at the same IP — if your PS5 is on both WiFi (DHCP from the router) AND this direct cable, give them different IPs so the routing table doesn't get confused. The 192.168.88.x range above sidesteps any conflict with the common 192.168.0/1.x home subnets.
• Resuming an interrupted upload still works — if you start an upload over the direct cable, swap to WiFi mid-way (PS5 picks up a different IP), the engine's resume-by-tx_id flow lets you re-target the WiFi IP and pick up where it left off.

---

Getting started

Q: Do I need the payload? Yes. The PS5 has to be running ps5upload.elf before the app can do anything beyond the Connection tab. The app walks you through sending it on first run.

Q: How do I send the payload? Open ps5upload → Connection tab → enter your PS5's IP → click Check, then Send payload. The app waits up to 20 seconds for the payload to come up, then unlocks the rest of the tabs.

Q: How do I send a different payload (kstuff, kernel patches, plugin scripts, etc)? Open the Send payload tab, click Choose, pick any .elf, .bin, .js, .lua, or .jar file, set the port to whatever your loader listens on (the screen has a built-in cheat sheet — .elf → 9021, .js → 50000, .lua → 9026, .jar → 9025 for BD-JB / BDJ), and click Send. The app probes the file, shows you whether it looks like a ps5upload payload or something else, and records the send in a history panel so you can replay it without re-picking the file.

Q: The Send button is greyed out and says "Waiting for payload…" for a long time. That's the normal probe window — up to 20 seconds for the PS5 to come online after the bytes finish sending. The elapsed time is shown in the button label. If it times out, the payload likely crashed on load; send it again.

Q: Can I use a payload that's already running on the PS5 (loaded by another tool, or by my previous ps5upload session)? Yes — open the Connection tab while the payload is up and the app skips Step 2 automatically. The Connected card shows the payload version it detected; if that version is older than what this build of ps5upload ships, you'll see a warning with a "Replace payload" button. The bundled payload always carries the fixes the app expects.

Q: Can multiple computers connect to the same PS5 payload at the same time? Yes. The payload's TCP listeners on ports 9113 and 9114 accept concurrent connections, so two laptops both running ps5upload against one PS5 is supported. Read-only operations (browse, hardware monitor) interleave cleanly. The thing to watch for is destination races: two simultaneous uploads writing to the same path will fight — the payload doesn't lock by destination, it commits the shards each transfer ACKs in arrival order. For routine use ("one person uploading, another browsing"), no coordination is needed.

Q: Can I run the transfer engine on a different machine (remote / self-hosted engine)? (3.3.7) Yes. The app normally launches its transfer engine as a bundled background process on 127.0.0.1:19113, but you can run that engine somewhere else — a home server, a NAS — and point the app at it in Settings → Engine URL. An official multi-arch image (linux/amd64 + linux/arm64) is published at ghcr.io/phantomptr/ps5upload-engine — use :latest for the newest release or :<version> to pin (e.g. docker pull ghcr.io/phantomptr/ps5upload-engine:3.3.16). When the URL isn't loopback, the app skips the bundled engine and talks to your remote one (cover art included). Two things to know: (1) the engine's API has no password, so to let a remote machine reach it you set PS5UPLOAD_ALLOW_IP to that machine's IP — do this only on a trusted home network, never expose the engine to the internet (it can read, write, and delete files on your PS5); and (2) the engine still needs a network route to the PS5 (PS5_ADDR). Leave Engine URL blank/loopback for the normal all-in-one mode.

PS5UPLOAD_ALLOW_IP takes single IPs or ranges, comma-separated (192.168.1.0/24), so phones and laptops that change address keep working. If it's wrong, the engine answers 403 and names the address it refused.

With a remote engine, file pickers in the desktop app browse the engine's disk, because that is the machine that reads the file. Install Package → From this device uploads a package from your computer to the engine first.

Linux server (homelab, NAS, mini PC): use the ready-made engine/compose.yaml — set your PS5's IP, your LAN's range and your package folder, then docker compose -f engine/compose.yaml up -d. It uses host networking, and that matters: a stream install has the PS5 download the package from the engine, and on Docker's default bridge network the engine can only offer its internal 172.17.x.x address, which the PS5 can't reach. (The engine warns about this at startup.) On Docker Desktop (macOS/Windows), which has no host networking, publish port 19113 and set PS5UPLOAD_PKG_HOST_IP to that computer's LAN IP instead. Keep a volume on /data: saved servers, install history and the artwork cache live there.

Q: Docker says "Permission denied (os error 13)" when I upload. Do I need to set PS5UPLOAD_DATA_DIR? No. PS5UPLOAD_DATA_DIR only moves saved servers and install history; it doesn't fix this, and you don't need it.

• Current images: nothing to set. Uploads are staged in the image's own /tmp, and the engine keeps its state in /data, including when you run the container as another user (user: "1000:1000"). Mount a volume on /data so that state survives upgrades.

• The 5.40 image had no writable /tmp or home folder, which is what caused the error (#346). If you're still on it, point both at a folder you've mounted:

      environment:
        - TMPDIR=/mnt/ps5/.ps5upload/tmp
        - HOME=/mnt/ps5/.ps5upload/home
      volumes:
        - /mnt/ps5:/mnt/ps5
  

  The folders are created for you. Keep TMPDIR on a real disk rather than a tmpfs: a package is staged there in full while it uploads, and a tmpfs would hold a 50 GB package in RAM. Remove both lines after updating.

Q: Can I use ps5upload from a web browser (no desktop app)? (3.3.25) Yes. A webui build of the engine serves the full app over HTTP, so you can manage your PS5 from any browser on your LAN — useful on a NAS or headless box where you don't want to install the desktop app. An official multi-arch image is published at ghcr.io/phantomptr/ps5upload-engine-webui (:latest or :<version>); or build it yourself with docker build -f engine/Dockerfile.webui -t ps5upload-engine-webui . (run that from the repo root, not engine/ — the build needs client/ to compile the frontend first). Run it the same way as the plain engine image and open http://<host>:19113. Same security rules as the self-hosted engine above: it's unauthenticated, so only reach it from IPs you add to PS5UPLOAD_ALLOW_IP, and only on a trusted LAN — never expose port 19113 to the internet.

Upload works in the browser — but it picks files from the engine's own filesystem, not the browser machine's. There's no way for a browser tab to read files off a different computer's disk (the one running the engine), so the in-app file/folder picker instead browses whatever the engine process can see — e.g. mount a folder into the Docker container with -v /host/games:/pkgs:ro and browse to /pkgs. Install Package → From this device is the exception: it uploads a package from the browser's machine to the engine, then installs it. Plain files and folders upload the same as desktop; archive uploads (.zip/.7z/ .rar) are still desktop-only for now (the archive-inspect step streams progress in a way the browser shim doesn't support yet — picking one shows a clear "not available in the browser yet" message instead of failing silently). The upload queue also doesn't persist across a full page reload in browser mode (queue persistence is desktop-only).

Other actions that need your PC's own filesystem are still desktop-only and hidden in the browser UI: Payloads (sending a .elf/etc. from disk) is hidden from the sidebar entirely; on other screens, only the specific affordance that needs a local file is hidden — installing a .pkg you pick from your PC, saving a save-data backup to your computer (even the "back up to USB" flow round-trips through a local scratch file), downloading a file/screenshot/video clip, and attaching a file to a bug report. Everything that operates on the PS5 itself — browse, transfer, install from a PS5-connected USB drive, hardware monitor, saves list, profile — works the same as the desktop app.

Q: What is "Stream install" on the Install Package screen? It installs a .pkg straight from your PC — the PS5 pulls the bytes over your network instead of the file being uploaded to the console first. That saves disk space (no "package + installed game both taking room") and a whole transfer step. Keep the computer on and connected until the install finishes. The PS5 has to be able to reach your computer: if a stream install fails before anything downloads, see "Stream install fails before the PS5 downloads anything" below, or use Upload & install, which copies the package to the PS5 first and needs no connection back to your computer.

Q: Opening the Hardware screen drops the connection ("Couldn't read hardware info — connection refused"). A single hardware reading that misbehaves on a particular firmware or ELF-loader could take the whole helper down — you'd see "connection refused" and have to re-send the payload. Fixed in 2.28.1: a reading that misbehaves now just shows as a dash for that one field instead of dropping the connection, and the helper logs exactly which reading misbehaved so a bug report pinpoints it. If you're on an older build, update; if a console ever still drops, re-send the payload from the Connection tab (reboot the PS5 only if it won't reconnect).

Q: Can I manage several PS5s at the same time? Yes (2.29.0+). Add each console — the Connection screen, or the + on the console tab strip — and a tab appears at the top for every PS5, each with its own live status dot. Click a tab to view and operate that console. Each console runs its own upload queue and its own package installs independently and in parallel: start an upload or install on one, switch tabs, start another — they don't wait for each other. (Switching tabs only changes what you're looking at; every console's work keeps running in the background.) The single-console layout is unchanged until you add a second PS5.

Q: Is it safe to do many things on several consoles at the same time? Yes — and 2.30.0 hardened this further. The helper running on each PS5 now serializes its low-level kernel operations internally, so things that happen to overlap — reading a console's live CPU/SoC temperature while a package is installing, registering a game on one console while another is mid-install — can't collide and crash the helper or black-screen the console. On the desktop side, a slow or very large upload to one console no longer holds up the others: each console's requests are handled on their own, so one busy PS5 can't freeze the app for the rest.

---

Transferring

Q: How do I stop my PS5 from going into rest mode? Settings → Upload → "Keep the PS5 awake" has three modes:

• Off — the PS5 rests on its own schedule.
• During transfers (default) — while an upload is running, the app periodically resets the console's auto-standby timer so a long transfer can't be killed by rest mode.
• Always while connected — for as long as the app is open, every console whose helper is running is kept out of auto-rest entirely. A small ⚡ "keeping awake" indicator appears in the status bar so you always know it's active.

In every mode, putting the PS5 to rest manually (controller / console button) still works immediately — the app only defers the idle timer, it never blocks an explicit rest request. Closing the app returns the console to its normal power schedule.

Q: Can I wake the PS5 from standby, or turn it off, from the app? Yes. The Connection screen has Rest mode, Reboot, and Shut down buttons, and — when the console is asleep — a Wake button.

Waking uses Sony's own discovery protocol (a PS5 ignores Wake-on-LAN magic packets), and it only works if three settings are enabled on the console first — the app lists them, because without any one of them the wake just fails silently:

• Enable Remote Play — Settings › System › Remote Play
• Stay Connected to the Internet — Settings › System › Power Saving › Features Available in Rest Mode
• Enable Turning On PS5 from Network — same menu

Wake needs a one-time wake code (your console's Remote Play registration key as a number). Enter it once in the wake-setup panel and it's remembered.

A plain wake powers the console on to the user-select screen. If you also provide the console's two Remote Play session keys (registration key + RP-Key, in the panel's advanced section), the button becomes Wake & sign in and brings the console up straight on your user's home screen — the same thing the official Remote Play app does. (If your user has a login passcode, the console will stop to ask for it, so sign-in needs a passcode-free user.)

Q: Do I still have to "Register" a game after uploading it? Not anymore. When you upload a game folder, "Add to PS5 home screen when done" is on by default — the game is registered automatically the moment the transfer finishes (also from the upload queue), ready to launch. If that step ever fails the upload itself is unaffected; open the Library and choose "Add to home screen" on the row (this is the action formerly called "Register").

Q: Where do uploads go by default? Under /data/homebrew/ unless you pick a different drive in the Upload screen. Common presets are offered: homebrew (recommended), exfat, ps5upload.

Q: Why can an upload say there is not enough space when the PS5 still shows free space? The raw filesystem number is not the same as space Sony's content allocator will let a homebrew process consume. Internal storage keeps a fixed system pool that statfs does not report accurately; filesystem metadata and other console activity also need headroom. The Volumes screen therefore shows both raw free space and safe for new uploads. ps5upload checks the expanded size of files, folders, ZIP, 7z and RAR transfers before sending, and repeats the check on the PS5 for retries/resumes using the transaction's actual durable progress. If the payload reports preflight_insufficient_space, free the amount shown in the error or choose another destination. Partial upload files are credited on Resume, so already-allocated data is not charged twice.

Q: What happens when the destination already has files? The app asks: Override, Resume, or Cancel.

• Override — wipe destination and start fresh.
• Resume — size-compare remote files to local; re-upload only what differs. Faster for re-running a big transfer.
• Cancel — abort.

Set Settings → Always overwrite if you want to skip the prompt.

Q: Can I upload a disk image? Yes. Drop any .exfat or .ffpkg image. After upload, open the Library tab and hit Mount on the row — the payload attaches the image via /dev/lvd* and mounts it at /mnt/ps5upload/<name>/. The Volumes tab shows the result with a progress bar and Unmount button.

Q: Can I upload a compressed .zip of a game? Yes — and the files arrive already extracted on the PS5. Keep the game as a single .zip on your PC (less disk, easier to move), drop it on the Upload screen, and ps5upload decompresses it on your computer while streaming the files into the normal transfer pipeline. There's no manual unzip step, and no temporary copy of the whole game on your disk — large entries are streamed as they decompress (the wire stays busy, so the console won't drop a quiet connection mid-inflate). A 100 GB archive doesn't need 100 GB of free RAM. The screen previews what the archive expands to (zipped → extracted, file count, and the % saved on disk) and detects the embedded game if it has a sce_sys/param.json. The destination folder is named after the .zip (minus the extension). Resume, excludes, the bandwidth cap, and mirroring to other consoles all work the same as a folder upload.

A note on space savings: PS5 game data is often already compressed, so DEFLATE (ZIP's method) sometimes shrinks a dump a lot and sometimes barely at all — the preview's "saves N%" shows the real number for your archive before you commit to sending it.

Since 2.18.5 the scan is effectively instant on any size archive, and while it's reading the file you'll see a "Scanning archive… N entries" counter so you can tell the app is working — useful when the archive is on a slow USB drive that takes a moment to spin up.

Q: What about .rar / .7z? Both work. .zip, .7z and .rar are all extracted on your computer and streamed to the console, so the result is the same as uploading the extracted folder.

• .7z — LZMA2, which is what almost every .7z uses.
• .rar — including multi-part sets and password-protected archives. Pick the first part (name.part1.rar, or the plain .rar for old-style .r00/.r01 sets) and keep every part in one folder; the rest are pulled in automatically. If one is missing, the error names it.
• .rar needs the desktop app. It is not available in the Android build or the self-hosted web UI, which will say so rather than fail vaguely. .zip and .7z work everywhere.

For .zip specifically, only the standard "Deflate" method is supported (Windows's "Send to → Compressed (zipped) folder" always does the right thing). Deflate64, LZMA, BZip2, Zstd and AES-encrypted zips are rejected with a clear message.

Q: Does an archive upload need free space on my PC? It depends on the format.

• .rar and .7z — no. Both are decompressed and sent at the same time: bytes go straight from the decoder onto the network, so nothing is written to your disk. You only need room for the archive you already have.
• .zip — sometimes. Each file inside the zip is decompressed before it is sent. Anything under 512 MB is held in memory, but a larger file is written to your temp folder first and deleted once it has been sent. Only one file is held at a time, so the space you need is the size of the single biggest file inside the archive — not the whole game. A zip containing one 20 GB .pkg needs 20 GB free in temp; the same game as a .rar or .7z needs none.

If your temp drive is small and the game is large, prefer .rar or .7z. You can also raise the in-memory limit with the FTX2_ZIP_RAM_THRESHOLD_MB environment variable, at the cost of more RAM.

This changed in a recent version. Older builds extracted a .rar in full first, which meant a 180 GB game needed 180 GB free on top of the archive. If you set FTX2_ARCHIVE_STAGE_MB to work around that, you can remove it — it no longer does anything.

Q: Which archive formats work on which system?

OS / arch	.zip	.7z	.rar
macOS x86_64	Decompress first	Stream	Stream
macOS arm64	Decompress first	Stream	Stream
Linux x86_64	Decompress first	Stream	Stream
Linux arm64	Decompress first	Stream	Stream
Windows x86_64	Decompress first	Stream	Stream
Windows arm64	Decompress first	Stream	Stream
Android arm64-v8a	Decompress first	Stream	not supported
Android armeabi-v7a	Decompress first	Stream	not supported
Android x86 / x86_64	no build	no build	no build
i686 / i386 (any OS)	no build	no build	no build
Browser	not supported	not supported	not supported

• Stream — decompressed straight onto the network. No disk used.
• Decompress first — each file inside is decompressed before it is sent (see the question above for how much space that needs).
• not supported — there is a build for that system, but it cannot read that format. RAR is missing on Android because it needs the UnRAR library, which is not part of the Android build.
• no build — no ps5upload binary ships for that system at all.

Streaming or not is a property of the format, not your computer: a .7z streams the same way on every system that can open one.

Q: Why does the Library sometimes show a game twice? If the same title is present both as a folder on disk and inside a mounted disk image, both paths appear — but Library dedupes by title_id and prefers the mount-backed path. Refresh the tab if something still looks off.

Q: Can I queue several uploads to run back-to-back? Yes — the Upload screen has a queue panel below the single-shot controls. Each row shows live progress, current speed, and ETA while running; the wall-clock-average MiB/s after it completes. The runner processes one item at a time (the PS5 transfer port is single-client), and the queue persists across app restarts so a queued item interrupted by a crash picks up cleanly when you press Start again. Tick Continue on failure to keep going when one item fails instead of stopping the whole batch.

Q: How do I jump between PS5 volumes in the File System tab? The toolbar has a Volume dropdown above the breadcrumb (2.2.24+) that lists every writable, non-placeholder volume on the PS5 with its free-space readout (e.g. /mnt/ext1 · 412 GiB free). Pick one and the screen jumps to that volume's root — no more walking up to / and back down. The picker hides on machines with no writable volumes.

Q: Does the File System tab remember where I was last? Yes (2.2.24+). The last-browsed path is persisted to localStorage per host, so two PS5s on the same desktop each remember their own location independently. The PS5 IP itself is also persisted now — no more retyping it on every launch.

Q: Where can I see what's currently running across screens? The OperationBar (the strip at the bottom of the window) shows every in-flight operation as long as one is running, with the elapsed time, bytes/total, and live MiB/s. As of 2.2.24 it covers uploads, downloads, FileSystem cut/copy/paste, FileSystem delete, and Library actions (Move, Delete, Chmod, Mount, Unmount, Download). Click it for the full Activity tab with historical outcomes.

Q: My big upload dies partway through. Why, and how do I stop it? A multi-hour upload holds one TCP connection open the whole time. If either end goes to sleep, that connection drops and the transfer fails (you'll see a network/connection error, or — on external USB/exFAT targets — a file that looks done but is incomplete). Two things go to sleep:

1. Your computer. ps5upload now keeps the computer awake automatically while any upload, download, or install is running (macOS caffeinate, Linux systemd-inhibit, Windows SetThreadExecutionState) and releases it when the queue goes idle. You don't have to do anything. If you want the machine to also stay awake while the app is open but idle, turn on Settings → Keep Awake. (On non-systemd Linux that toggle is greyed out — the OS has no inhibitor to call.)

2. The PS5 itself. The console's rest-mode timer is console-side — ps5upload can't see or stop it from your computer. For a long transfer, raise or disable it first: Settings → System → Power Saving → Set Time Until PS5 Turns Off, and set both During Media Playback and During Gameplay / General Use to a longer value (or Don't Turn Off). A quick workaround if you'd rather not change settings: tap the controller every so often during the transfer — any input resets the idle timer (this is what some users do already).

If a transfer does get cut off, you usually don't lose the bytes already sent: re-run it and pick Resume at the prompt (or press Start again on the queued row) — it size-compares what's on the PS5 and only sends what's missing. On external USB/exFAT, prefer Override + a fresh run if a "completed" upload looks wrong, since a console that lost power mid-write can leave the destination in an inconsistent state.

If your network itself is the unreliable bit (flaky WiFi, congested router, multi-hundred-GB transfers), a one-time direct Ethernet cable between the computer and PS5 gives the most stable + fastest path — see the Network setup — direct Ethernet section above for per-OS instructions and addressing.

---

Mount + unmount

Q: I uploaded a game folder (dump), but ShadowMount+ won't mount it — yet .exfat images mount fine. Why? Because ShadowMount+ mounts game image files (.ffpkg / .exfat / .ffpfs), not loose extracted folders. It watches /mnt/usb*, /mnt/ext*, and /data for those image files and auto-mounts + registers them — so your .exfat uploads "just work," but a raw dump folder sitting in those paths is invisible to it. This is a workflow difference, not a corruption bug (your upload completed correctly).

You have two ways forward:

• Keep the folder — register it directly in ps5upload (no ShadowMount+ needed). In the Library tab, on the uploaded folder game (it needs eboot.bin + sce_sys/param.json at its root), click Register, then Launch. This installs the title into the PS5's app database with a bind mount and starts it — the native, hardware-validated path for folder dumps. If a PSN- or disc-extracted dump fails Register with a DRM error, use Register (patch DRM) (rewrites applicationDrmType to standard). If the home-screen tile is blank after registering, enable the ShadowMount+ metadata healer in ps5upload (it copies icon0.png/art into /user/appmeta).
• Keep using ShadowMount+ — give it an image, not a folder. Package the game as an .exfat (or .ffpkg) image and upload that — exactly what already works for you. Don't upload the extracted folder if ShadowMount+ is your launcher.

On the "old config.ini from a 1.xx version": that's not what's blocking the folder mount (the folder-vs-image distinction above is), and since your .exfat images mount fine your config is clearly functional. But mixing a stale ShadowMount+ config/autotune with a newer ShadowMount+ build is worth tidying: ShadowMount+ regenerates defaults if they're absent, so you can back up and delete /data/shadowmount/config.ini and /data/shadowmount/autotune.ini (the autotune file holds version-specific, learned per-game timings — least worth keeping across versions) and let the current build recreate them. Check Library → ShadowMount+ panel → debug log for the exact reason a given item didn't mount.

Q: How do I find one game in a long library? The Library tab has a search bar above the games + images sections (2.2.25+). Type a name fragment, a title ID prefix (PPSA…, CUSA…), or a path fragment (ext1) — matching is live, case-insensitive, and runs across all of name, titleId, absolute path, scan scope, and volume. Multi-word queries AND-match across fields, so space ext1 narrows results to titles named "space" on /mnt/ext1.

Q: Can I pick where a .exfat / .ffpkg mounts? Yes (2.2.25+). The Library Mount button opens a modal with the same UX as the Upload screen's destination picker:

• Volume — pick any writable PS5 volume from the dropdown (/data, /mnt/ext1, /mnt/usb0, …). Free-space readout appears next to each.
• Subpath — free-form, with the same preset chips as Upload (homebrew, exfat, ps5upload).
• Name — auto-derived from the image filename (e.g. MyGame.exfat → MyGame), editable.

The resolved final path appears under the inputs in real time. Your last-used volume + subpath is persisted per host so the next Mount on the same console opens with the same selection.

Heads-up: third-party PS5 game scanners typically only scan /mnt/ps5upload/ for installed games, so mounting outside that root works for the payload but the game may not show up in those scanners. The modal shows a soft warning when the resolved path is outside /mnt/ps5upload/.

Pre-2.2.25 payloads only honor a mount_name (no volume picker) and always anchor mounts under /mnt/ps5upload/. The modal detects the older payload, hides the volume + subpath rows, and shows a "Replace payload to enable" banner.

Q: A mount from a previous session is still showing after I re-sent the payload. That's expected — /mnt/ps5upload/* mounts are held by the PS5 kernel and survive payload restarts. Only a PS5 hard reboot clears them. At payload startup we reconcile: any mount whose backing device is gone is unmounted automatically.

Q: The Library has a MOUNTED badge on a .exfat file. What does that mean? The file is currently attached at /mnt/ps5upload/<name>/, and the Mount button has flipped to Unmount. The Volumes tab shows the mapping explicitly, with the source image path under each mount.

Q: Does Unmount leave ghost tiles in the PS5 dashboard? No (2.2.60+). Unmount unregisters every title inside the image first (Sony's appinst Uninstall removes the app.db row), waits 400 ms for the commit to land, then unmounts. Pre-fix the kernel unmount worked but app.db was left with stale rows pointing at the now-gone path, surfacing as ghost tiles or 0x80980103 invalid title id on the next launch attempt.

Q: Can I edit what's inside a mounted image — replace files, add DLC, or apply a backport patch? Yes. Mount the image read-write, then edit it in the File System tab like any other folder on the console.

• Library → the image → Mount, and leave "Mount read-only" unchecked. (In the upload flow the same choice is the "Mount read-only" sub-option under Mount after upload.)
• Browse to the mount — it appears under /mnt/ps5upload/<name>.
• Add files copies files from your computer into the folder you're looking at. The Replace button on a file row overwrites just that file, keeping its name — that's how you drop in a patched eboot.bin or a rebuilt .prx.
• Unmount when you're done so the filesystem is flushed cleanly.

This is what makes the backport workflow possible when a game ships as an image rather than a folder: the SDK Version Changer (step 2) rewrites eboot.bin and every prx/sprx in place, and BackPork (step 3) needs a fakelib/ folder created inside the title. Neither can happen through a read-only mount. Adding DLC or replacing assets works the same way.

Read this part before you start. Edits go straight into the image file — there is no undo and no staging copy. A bad eboot.bin or a corrupted sce_sys/param.json can leave the title unbootable, and if the image is your only copy of the game, it is gone. Copy the image first if it matters to you. Two more things worth knowing: the PS5 can write save data into a read-write mounted image on its own (which is why read-only is the default and the safe choice for anything you just want to play), and on some firmwares the kernel refuses a read-write mount of a UFS .ffpkg regardless of what you asked for — when that happens the app tells you the mount came back read-only, and writes will fail until you convert or re-create the image.

Q: ShadowMount+ mounts my game read-only — how do I edit it? Use Library → the image → ⋯ → Edit files…. That is a checkout: the app moves the image out of ShadowMount+'s scan folder, waits for ShadowMount+ to let go of it, and mounts it read-write where you choose. When you press Finish editing it unmounts (which is what flushes your changes into the image file), moves the image back, and ShadowMount+ picks it up and re-registers it within about a minute.

The detour is not busywork. ShadowMount+ mounts everything it manages read-only by default, and it re-attaches any image whose mount disappears on its next scan sweep (15 s by default) — so simply unmounting its mount and re-mounting the image yourself would leave two attachments on one image file, one of them writable. Moving the image out of its view is the only way to get exclusive access.

Two consequences worth knowing before you start:

• While the session is open, the game is gone from the PS5 home screen. ShadowMount+ can't see the image where it now is, so the tile disappears until you finish. The app shows a standing banner on the Games and Files screens for exactly this reason.
• An interrupted session is recoverable. The checkout is journalled on the console itself, so if the app crashes, the console reboots, or you just close the window mid-edit, the banner comes back the next time you connect — from any machine — and Finish editing still puts the image back.

Everything in the previous answer about there being no undo applies with full force here: you are editing a real game image in place.

Q: Can I unmount while a game is running? No — the kernel refuses with EBUSY because a process inside the mount has files open. The UI surfaces this as: "the game inside this image is currently running on the PS5. Exit it (PS Home → close the game) and try again." Same protection applies whether you trigger Unmount from the Library tab or the Volumes tab.

---

Install Package

Q: Can I install fakepkgs from the desktop? Yes. Install Package is a package library: click Add package and pick a PS4 .pkg or PS5 .fpkg install package. (A PS4 fake package commonly still uses the ordinary .pkg extension; the extension does not prove how it was signed.) It uploads once to /user/data/ps5upload/pkg_library/ on the PS5 and stays there. The screen lists every uploaded package with cover art and size, and each row has Install, Reinstall, and Delete — so you can install again any time without re-uploading. You can also skip the upload: Stream install installs a package straight from your PC (see the Stream install question above).

Every install runs through ps5upload's own on-console installer (port :9115). The app sends it to the console when it isn't already running; it runs alongside the ps5upload helper, so the connection doesn't drop while you install. An install is only reported as done once the console has pulled the whole package and the result checks out. Hardware-validated on FW 5.10 with PS4 base games, updates and DLC and with PS5 fake packages, through both Stream install and Upload & install.

Q: Stream install fails before the PS5 downloads anything? The PS5 pulls the package from your computer, so it has to be able to reach it. Allow ps5upload through your computer's firewall (on Windows, for both Private and Public networks), keep the computer and the PS5 on the same network with any VPN off, and set the PS5's Proxy Server to "Do Not Use" (Settings → Network → Settings → Set Up Internet Connection → your connection → Advanced Settings). The app names the cause when it can tell. Upload & install works without this connection.

Q: How do I turn a game folder into an installable package? (Convert to FPKG, beta) Turn on Settings → Beta features, then open Convert to FPKG. Pick a decrypted game folder, or an .exfat / .ffpkg image; the app checks it has everything a launchable package needs and builds a fake package on your computer (not on the console), compressed the way Sony's own packages are. When it's done, choose Stream install or Upload & install — or keep the package and install it later. The console needs fake-package support loaded first (kstuff, a53_ppr_install_fast.elf, shadowmountplus.elf). It's beta: keep the game files you converted from.

Q: Can I install a package that's already on a USB / external drive? (3.2.0+) Yes. Plug the drive into the PS5, open Install Package, and any .pkg or .fpkg install packages on connected USB / external drives show up in an External Packages section — each with a PS4/PS5 badge and an Install button. No upload from your computer needed. Under the hood the app copies the package from the drive to internal storage first and installs from there, because Sony's installer can't read the exfat USB mount directly (it accepts the request but installs nothing). The copy is on-console (drive-to-drive), so it's fast.

Q: What is the difference between .pkg, .fpkg, and .ffpkg here? .pkg and .fpkg are accepted by Install Package. The app validates their actual header instead of trusting the suffix: PS4-style packages use a CNT container, while a finalized PS5 package uses an FIH envelope with an embedded CNT. .ffpkg and .ffpfs are UFS filesystem images and remain in the mount / File System workflow; they are not sent to Sony's package installer.

For a PS5 FIH package the app also reports fake/debug versus retail from the envelope. Installing a retail package can be useful for reinstalling owned content or applying an official update, but installation does not grant a license—the console still needs a valid entitlement to launch licensed content. PS4 CNT fake-versus-retail classification requires a deeper cryptographic probe, so the app leaves it unknown rather than guessing from .pkg or a filename.

The A53/PPR patches are a separate mount-time PFS-key path; they do not disable Sony's package-registration policy. Package installation still relies on kstuff's ShellCore installer patches and Sony's AppInst installer.

Q: I have a base game and an update — does the order matter? (3.2.0+) Yes — install the base game first, then the update. A base game and its update share the same ID, so the app keeps them in separate places and never lets one overwrite the other (the base lands in /user/app/<id>/, the update in /user/patch/<id>/). If you try to install an update before its base is on the console, the app warns you — Sony's installer would otherwise accept it and silently install nothing.

Q: The app says a package is "installed but may not launch" — what's that? The app confirms a game actually landed on the console before reporting success. If the install was accepted but the content never appeared (a firmware/jailbreak that lacks the kernel patches fakepkg installs need), it tells you honestly instead of a false "installed." If a title genuinely won't start, reinstall from the console: Settings → Debug Settings → Game → Package Installer.

Q: The app said the install failed, but the game is on my PS5 and plays fine. (3.3.4) This was a verification bug — fixed in 3.3.4. If your PS5's install location is set to an extended / M.2 SSD, games install to that drive (/mnt/ext…) instead of internal storage, and the app used to look only in the internal location — so it wrongly reported "install failed" even though the game installed perfectly. 3.3.4 confirms the install by the actual data written to any drive, so extended-storage installs are recognized correctly. If you saw this on an older version, the game was fine all along — just launch it.

Q: I'm installing a game update (patch) — is my installed game safe? (3.3.7) Yes. A game's update carries the same ID as the game, so an older build could end up re-installing that ID and wiping the game instead of patching it. The app reads the real "update vs. full game" flag straight from the package — however it reached the PS5 — and applies an update on top of your game. After an update installs, the app checks that the game's version actually went up, and tells you if it didn't rather than calling it a success. If an update won't go through the app, install it from the PS5's own Package Installer (Settings → Debug Settings → Game → Package Installer). Always install the base game first, then the update.

Q: "Port 9021 is not open on " — but I loaded an ELF loader. Port 9021 belongs to the ELF loader, which is a separate jailbreak component, not part of ps5upload. This message means nothing answered on that port — so the check is working, and the problem is upstream of us.

Work through these in order:

1. Is 9021 the port your loader actually uses? Loaders differ. elfldr listens on 9021, but some all-in-one payloads (BD-JB disc autoloaders, PPPwn chains, "goldhen-style" bundles) either use a different port or expose no ELF loader at all. If yours listens elsewhere, change the port in Settings → the app will use it.
2. Did the loader actually start? Many autoloaders run a fixed list of payloads and silently skip one that failed. Re-run the jailbreak and watch for the loader's own on-screen notification.
3. Did the console sleep or reboot since you loaded it? Everything jailbreak-side is lost on reboot and usually on rest mode. Re-run the exploit chain, then the loader.
4. Is it the right IP? Check PS5 Settings → Network → Connection Status. A stale DHCP lease is a common cause.
5. Can your computer reach the console at all? On Wi-Fi, "AP isolation" / "client isolation" on the router blocks device-to-device traffic entirely. Wired Ethernet avoids this and is faster anyway.

A useful check: if Find PS5s on the network locates the console but 9021 still reads closed, the network is fine and the loader is the problem. If discovery finds nothing either, it is the network.

Q: A PS4 .pkg update won't install. PS4 packages are recognised (the installer handles the PS4GD / PS4AC / PS4DP types), and updates install through ps5upload's own on-console installer like everything else. If the console rejects one, that is Sony's verdict, and the usual reasons are:

• The base game isn't installed. An update patches something; with no matching PS4 base title on the console there is nothing to patch.
• Version mismatch. An update expects a specific base version. A 1.05 patch will not apply over a 1.02 base — you need the intermediate updates, or a merged package.
• Different content id / region. A patch is tied to its exact content id; a US patch will not apply to a EU base.
• The jailbreak lacks live kernel patches. Fake-signed packages need kstuff / fpkg-enable active. Without them the installer refuses, and we report that rather than claiming a false success.

Self-hosted / web UI: a browser cannot talk to the console's loader port or carry the installer ELF itself, so the engine must. Use a released ps5upload-engine / …-engine-webui build (or Docker image) — those embed the installer. An engine built from a full checkout has it too (ps5upload-installer.elf is in the repository); otherwise point PS5UPLOAD_PAYLOAD_DIR at a directory that holds it, or installs will stop before the console ever sees the package.

If the app reports an install failed but the game plays fine, that is a different thing — see the verification question above.

Q: Can I move a save from one PS5 to another?

Yes, and you don't need a USB stick for it. There's no one-click "send to my other console" button, but the two-step route works today:

1. On the source console, open Saves, find the title, and press Download. You get a .zip on your PC.
2. Switch to the other console in the roster sidebar, find the same title in Saves, press Restore, and pick that .zip.

Backup to USB / Restore from USB does the same thing without the PC in the middle, if you'd rather carry a drive between the consoles. Either way there are "all titles" buttons at the top to move everything at once.

Two things to know before you do it:

• The target console must already list a save for that title. Restore writes into an existing save's folder; it can't conjure a save slot out of nothing. So install the game on the second console and launch it once — far enough for it to create its own save — then restore over it.
• Restore wipes the current save first, and there's no rollback. If the upload is interrupted partway, that save can be left empty. If the save on the target console matters, download it first.

For PS4-format saves, the emulator may not notice the new data right away; close and reopen the game, or restart the console, if it doesn't show up.

Q: A system (NPXS) pkg won't install. What do I do? System app pkgs (NPXS-prefix content_id — Store updates, Settings patches, built-in apps) aren't what ps5upload's installer is built for and often won't complete. Install those from the console itself: on-PS5 Settings → Debug Settings → Game → Package Installer — a privileged code path ps5upload can't replicate.

Q: Does Play in the Library register the title first? Yes (2.2.55+). Always-register-first: the Play button calls appRegister (idempotent if already registered), retries with a DRM-type patch on rejection, waits 600 ms for the app.db commit to land, then calls appLaunch. Pre-fix the flow tried Launch first and registered as a fallback — which surfaced misleading "not registered" errors before registration kicked in.

Q: Can I install a split pkg (*.0, *.1, …)? Not through Install Package — the installer takes a single package file, so split sets are rejected with a note when you add them. Pick the single lead .pkg only.

Q: Where do uploaded packages live, and are they cleaned up? They live at /user/data/ps5upload/pkg_library/<ContentID>.pkg and persist by default, so you can reinstall any time without re-uploading. Remove one with the Delete button on its row (or from the File System tab); that frees the PS5 disk space. If you'd rather not keep them, turn on Auto-delete each package from the PS5 after it installs on the Install Package screen. A Stream install never puts a copy on the PS5 at all.

---

Troubleshooting

Q: The payload isn't responding; ports appear open but connections get reset. The payload may have wedged on a Sony API call. Recovery:

1. PS5 Settings → Network → disable / re-enable Wi-Fi or Ethernet.
2. If that doesn't clear it, reboot the PS5.
3. Re-send the payload.

Q: Why doesn't Launch from the Library tab actually start the game? It does, on every firmware we've validated. Register (sceAppInstUtilAppInstallTitleDir) runs from our own process because the full credential jailbreak we apply at startup satisfies its caller-context check. Launch (sceLncUtilLaunchApp) checks getpid() == SceShellUI.pid specifically, so the payload routes Launch through the same ptrace RPC mechanism it uses for sensors — the call runs from inside SceShellUI's address space where the check passes. Hardware-validated on FW 9.60: hitting Launch starts the game (SoC power draw jumps from idle ~30 mW to ~170 mW within a few seconds of the title coming up).

Q: I see errors in the status bar but don't know what happened. Open the Logs tab. Every runtime error, failed API call, and console warning ends up there with timestamps and expandable detail. Click Copy or Download to grab a plain-text dump for a bug report.

Q: An upload fails with "Upload failed — BeginTx rejected (Error): manifest_invalid". The PS5 refused the list of files before any data was sent. Two common causes:

1. A file or folder name contains an unusual character — most often a }. Older payloads mis-read it and rejected the whole upload. The 2.23.0 payload reads these names correctly, so reload the payload (Connection → Send payload) and retry.
2. A single destination path is too long (the PS5 caps paths at 512 bytes). From 2.23.0 the app catches this before the upload and names the offending file so you can shorten or rename it. If you can't reload the payload right now, rename the offending file or folder (drop the }, or shorten a deeply-nested path) and try again.

Q: Deleting a huge game folder used to fail with a "502 Bad Gateway" error. Fixed in 2.2.22. The recursive walk on a small-file-heavy folder (roughly 200k files / 20k dirs) takes minutes on PS5 UFS — long enough that the engine's old 30 s socket timeout fired mid-walk while the payload was still deleting in the background. Now fs_delete uses the same 1-hour deadline fs_copy already does, and the operation reports live progress (bytes freed) to the bulk-delete banner with a Stop button that cleanly bails between directory entries.

Q: An upload of a small-file-heavy game failed with pack_worker_io_error partway through. Fixed in 2.2.22. The payload's pack worker used to flip a sticky worker-error flag on the very first transient open() or write() failure, aborting a 75k-shard transaction outright. It now retries transient errnos (EIO/EMFILE/ENOMEM/EINTR/EAGAIN) up to 3 times with 20/50/100 ms backoff before giving up. Unrecoverable errors (ENOSPC/EROFS/EACCES/ENAMETOOLONG) still fail fast — there's no point retrying a full disk. The retry counts surface in COMMIT_TX_ACK so post-mortem logs show exactly how many transient hits were absorbed.

Q: Library Move shows "Live progress unavailable — your PS5 payload is older than this app" but I'm on the latest payload. Fixed in 2.2.24. Two coupled bugs produced the false positive:

• The payload registered the in-flight FS_OP slot after the recursive_size pre-walk. On small-file-heavy trees the walk outran the client's 250 ms initial poll delay, so the first FS_OP_STATUS poll landed on a not-yet-registered op — the engine surfaced that as a transient parse error, which the client mis-attributed to an old payload. The payload now registers up front with total_bytes=0 and patches the total in via fs_op_set_total once the walk completes.
• The client used brittle substring matching on error text ("unsupported_frame" / "decode FS_OP_STATUS_ACK body"), which can appear in transient errors even on a current payload. It now consults the running payload's reported version: known-old payloads latch a threshold-specific banner (predates 2.2.16 or predates 2.2.7); current payloads tolerate up to 5 consecutive transient failures and stop silently with no banner — never the misleading "older than this app" string.

If you saw this on 2.2.23 or earlier, click Replace payload on the Connection screen once you're on 2.2.24+ and the move runs cleanly thereafter.

Q: After clicking Replace payload, the version number on the Connection screen still shows the old one for a few seconds. Fixed in 2.2.24. The probe loop already had the new version + kernel from payloadCheck but was discarding both, leaving the store with the old values until the next 10-second background tick. Two fixes:

• The probe now writes the freshly-booted payload's version + kernel into the store the moment it answers — the version block flips to the new numbers in lock-step with step 2 going "ok," not 10 s later.
• A new "rechecking…" badge with a spinner renders in the VersionBlock while a probe is in flight. Stale numbers are dimmed in italics (or the row reads "Probing…" if there's no prior value), and the outdated-payload nudge is suppressed during the recheck since the comparison would be against in-flight data.

Q: Where are app settings saved?

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/com.phantomptr.ps5upload/
• Windows: %APPDATA%\com.phantomptr.ps5upload\
• Linux: ~/.local/share/com.phantomptr.ps5upload/

The path is shown in Settings → Storage.

Q: Where does the send-payload history go? Same folder as above, in send_payload_history.json. Cleared via the Clear button in the Recent sends panel on the Send Payload tab. Duplicate sends (same path + host + port) refresh the timestamp in place instead of piling up new rows.

---

Reporting a bug / sending logs

Q: How do I report a bug so it actually gets fixed? Open Diagnostics → Bug report in the sidebar. Write what happened (steps to reproduce, firmware, jailbreak/loader, file sizes), attach screenshots if you have them, then click Create bug report (.zip). Post the .zip in the #bugs-report channel on the Discord. A zip with logs is worth ten "it doesn't work" messages — it usually has the exact error in it.

Q: What's in the bundle? A single .zip containing only diagnostics (never your games or app data):

• report.json — app version, OS, your description, and a snapshot of the connected PS5 (model, firmware, storage, running processes, loaded modules).
• logs/app.jsonl — the app's log for the time window you pick.
• logs/engine.log — the transfer engine's full log (survives a crash).
• crash-reports/ — anything auto-collected when something errored.
• ps5/klog.txt, ps5/syslog.txt — the PS5 kernel logs (if a console was connected).
• images/ — the screenshots you attached.

Q: It's intermittent / hard to reproduce. How do I capture it? On the Bug report page set Recording level to Debug or Trace, reproduce the problem, then create the report. The app keeps a rolling on-disk log (under ~/.ps5upload/logs/), so pick a time window (last 1–120 minutes) that covers when it happened — you don't have to catch it live. The level also lives on the Logs tab.

Q: Is it safe to post publicly? Yes by default — Redact IPs & serial is on, which strips your PS5's IP address and serial number from the bundle. Untick it only if a maintainer asks for the raw values in a private channel.

Q: Where are the logs kept, and do they fill my disk? ~/.ps5upload/logs/ (one file per day). They're capped — files older than a few days are dropped and the folder is size-limited — so they can't grow without bound. Use Open logs folder on the Bug report or Logs page to find them.

---

FTP, SMB, metadata, and backport helpers

Q: My FTP client says "Cannot rename across devices". Why?

Because the alternative was crashing your console.

On the PS5, renaming a file from one drive to another (say a USB drive to internal storage) doesn't fail cleanly the way it does on a PC — it panics the kernel and locks the console up hard. Many FTP clients implement "move" as a rename, so dragging a file between two folders on different drives would trigger it.

The server now checks first and refuses with a 553 instead. To move a file between drives, copy it to the new location and delete the original — that's byte-level I/O and is perfectly safe. Renaming within one drive still works normally.

The same protection applies to the File Manager and to mv in the Shell screen.

Q: What is the FTP Server screen for? It starts a small FTP server on the PS5 (like ftpsrv.elf), so FileZilla, curl, or another PC can connect to the console. Default port is 2122 so it does not fight with ftpsrv on 2121. Use this for interop with other tools — for bulk game uploads, prefer the Upload tab (FTX2 is faster and resumes).

Q: What is the SMB Browser for? It browses a Windows share or Samba NAS from your computer (not on the PS5). You can download a file to this PC, or upload a file or whole folder straight to the PS5 in one step: the engine streams from the share into a temp folder, then FTX2 transfers it. Destination works like Upload — set a parent path such as /data/homebrew and the source name is appended.

Q: What is Game Metadata (was “TMDB”)? Not The Movie Database. It looks up a title ID’s display name. Names come from the console’s app database when the title is installed; the old PlayStation Store scrape no longer works. Most users never need this screen — Library already shows titles.

Q: SDK Changer vs Fakelib / BackPork — is that “backport”? Related halves of a workflow, not one magic button:

1. SDK Changer — rewrites a folder dump’s declared firmware/SDK when the files are not signed SELFs.
2. Fakelib — put newer system libraries in game/fakelib/, optionally apply a BPS patch first.
3. Runtime — BackPork or ShadowMount+ mounts that fakelib when the game launches (don’t run both).

We help prepare and ship files; we do not guarantee every high-FW title will boot on an older console.

---

Console tools

Q: What does the Game Activity Tracker actually track? Any game you launch, however you launch it — with your controller, from the PS5 dashboard, or from this app. It works by watching the console's process list, so it has no idea how a game was started.

Two things to know before you trust the numbers:

• It only counts time while the payload is loaded. Reboot or rest mode stops the payload, and play time during that window is never seen.
• It polls every 30 seconds, so a very short session can be missed entirely. Your history survives re-sending the payload.

The Recently Played list is separate — it reads the console's own app database, so it shows titles regardless of whether the tracker was running. It is not Sony's play-time record; the console does not expose that to us.

Q: What is the Cheats screen? It applies memory patches to a running game — the usual trainer model. A watcher polls every few seconds for a game process, applies always-on patches automatically, and re-applies the ones you toggled. Cheat files can be downloaded from community repositories from inside the screen.

Two formats work (native JSON and SHN trainer XML). The encrypted MC4 format is not supported. Cheats only affect the running game, change nothing on disk, and stop when the game does.

Q: What is the Remote Play screen? It requests a Remote Play registration from the console, so you can pair a client without navigating the PS5's own menus. It shows the pending PIN and lets you cancel a request in flight. It does not stream anything itself — pairing only; you still use Sony's Remote Play app or Chiaki to connect.

Q: What is nanoDNS? A small DNS server that runs on the console (from the Payloads catalogue, not built in). It blocks PSN and update domains by default and can redirect any domain to a machine on your LAN — useful for staying offline-friendly while jailbroken. This app's nanoDNS screen edits its config: it detects which version is running and preserves your existing rules, comments and custom resolvers rather than rewriting the file.

Point the console's DNS at it once it's running.

Q: What is the Backup screen? It snapshots console-side files to a tagged copy on the PS5 and restores them later. It is meant for the small, breakable things — app database state and configuration — before a bulk operation, not as a game backup. For save data specifically, use the Save data screen.

---

Advanced

Q: Can I run the engine standalone (without the desktop app)? Yes — ps5upload-engine is a self-contained HTTP server listening on localhost:19113. The desktop app uses it under the hood; CLI users can hit the /api/* endpoints directly.

Q: Can I write my own client against the payload? Yes. The FTX2 binary protocol is defined in engine/crates/ftx2-proto/src/lib.rs — all frame types, body shapes, and flag bits are documented there. The mock server in engine/crates/ps5upload-tests/tests/mock_server.rs is a reference implementation of the minimum subset needed for transfer, which you can read as example protocol code.

Q: How do I contribute a translation? Edit the strings in client/src/i18n.ts or use the helper script at scripts/translate-i18n.py. PRs welcome.

Q: Why is my anti-virus flagging the app? Tauri apps often trigger false positives because they bundle a small web runtime. Release builds are unsigned (no paid certs), so Windows SmartScreen and macOS Gatekeeper will warn on first run until the binary accumulates reputation. Click "More info → Run anyway" (Windows) or right-click → Open (macOS) once. Grab the download straight from the Releases page (not a mirror) and report any AV false positive to your vendor.

Q: How do updates work? The app checks GitHub once per launch (24h-cached) and shows a dot on the Settings entry in the sidebar when a newer version is available. Settings → Updates → Download streams the platform-appropriate archive to your Downloads folder and opens Finder/Explorer/Files. Quit the app, replace the old one with the new download, and relaunch. No automatic install, no signing cert needed — the download URL is the GitHub release page.