R35S/R36S Ultimate Setup Guide - ArkOS, Roms and BIOS

In this video, I'm going to show you how to setup your brand new R35S/R36S, which includes installing ArkOS, adding Roms, adding Box Art and tweaking settings to get everything perfect.

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Timestamps
00:00 - Introduction
00:50 - What You Need
03:49 - Flashing ArkOS
05:04 - Possible Issue
08:20 - Two Card Method Only
09:36 - Adding ROMs & BIOS
11:04 - Conclusion

[JoeysRetroHandhelds]

10/26/2023 Update - There is now an R35S image, use that instead of the RG351MP image.

If the R35S image doesn't work, use the one shown in the video and steps.

[LoLo]

You deserve a raise lol 🙏🏾. I bought this as a Christmas gift for my husband and I’d like for it to be setup and updated when he opens it. This is the first video I found out of many that I’ve watched that lays it all out step by step clearly!! Thank you!!

[ized]

You don't need a separate tool to assign a letter to the boot drive. The default windows partition programm works fine.
I like the "default" arkos with the brandings a bit better, but it was a pain to find a dump online.
A tutorial how to use wifi and scrap the games would have been a great addition

[swede]

Thanks for providing this guide, it made the task much easier. I received my R36S today and immediately went to work following your instructions. Everything worked great, but I thought I would leave some notes about my experience for other R36S users:

1) I used the RG351MP image. I didn't try the R35S image, so I'm not sure about the success of using that image
2) After flashing the OS image, I was able to access the Boot partition without any additional steps (didn't need the Minitool Partition application, Windows automatically mounted it)
3) I replaced the .dtb file with the one provided BEFORE the first boot as you suggested

Thanks again, I'm now a subscriber to your channel.

[AceNoguera]

Just want to say a million thanks for this! as this device gets more and more popular among those just starting on this journey this was extremely helpful!

[stevemchugh]

Thank you so much, You speak clearly and dont move on too fast. i had never heard of you before this tutorial, i will have a browse through your channel to see what other nuggets you have. Thank you again buddy

[ntroglycrn]

This video was such a lifesave! I despised the dual cards and wanted to move to a single larger mSD. I struggled multiple times until I saw your comment about needing a different dtb file. Switched to Panel 4 and it booted up right away.

[foxxy]

From india purchased r36s got boot issue due to card used all your steps purchased sd card card reader all and just followed everything and boom all work well now it's working also working much much better than that of the time when I purchased thank you you Joey ❤

[StefanTsanoff]

Just got my R36s. Thanks for the video! Will enjoy it for a bit as it is and will replace the cards and will follow all the video <3 Thanks man!

[vanillyBacke]

Thank you so much for that guide! My wife played Pokemon on that stock sd card and her 12h savegame crashed. After extracting the savegame and installing a new sd card with your guide she could continue her game. Thanks!

[hyperplayrpg]

Thanks so much, luv. That "white screen of doom" help really, er, helps!

[nomadslandart]

Worked for me! I didnt want to wait to download the 120gb set, so i just copied the original files to my desktop, then copied into the new sd card. Its been working for me!

[opdbcyz]

You saved me

I revived a first one with panel 4 data, then i revived a second one with panel 3 data. Once you already know the steps, its super fast

[TheFTPchannel]

I really like how slow you go through these steps when you speak them its really helpful compared to a lot of people who make guides i really enjoyed this

[ameanasaur]

Fantastic guide. I typically like text guides for stuff like this but you are really good at clearly describing everything, chaptering your video and referring to the links you provide. Kudos on updating the video afterwards with the new RG362 image

[OJ]

Awesome tutorial it worked very well with my new R36S.

Tip: Just use the dtb files that come with the stock SD card if your having a black screen problem :)

[ROVolvo]

I have one coming in the post very soon. This video couldn’t be any more perfectly timed. Thank you.

[DookeyLukey]

Dude, this video helped me SOOO much. Thank you. I had the black screen but was able to solve it with help from your comment. Bought an r36s for my brother's birthday and was testing it out on my own with just the preinstalled card and everything I looked up said to replace it so I just did. These retro styled handhelds, emulation, and finding my old psp have really reignited my love for gaming =)

[Koto]

I searched all over the internet for a fix because everytime I tried to flash the firmware I got a black screen and finally I found the answer was just using different files for the new screen and I finally got it to work with the 4th panel files! thank you so much!!

[mitchthepreacher]

This worked like a charm to get an R35S I had sitting in a closet fixed and ready to sell on Marketplace ;)