To take Citra (and your aes_keys.txt ) on a flash drive, you need to force Citra into "Portable Mode."
When you install Citra using the standard Windows installer, the emulator stores its system files—including the aeskeys.txt file—in Windows' directory (e.g., C:\Users\[YourName]\AppData\Roaming\Citra\ ).
slot0x0DKeyX=0123456789ABCDEF0123456789ABCDEF slot0x0DKeyY=0123456789ABCDEF0123456789ABCDEF slot0x0DKeyN=0123456789ABCDEF0123456789ABCDEF slot0x18KeyX=0123456789ABCDEF0123456789ABCDEF slot0x1BKeyX=0123456789ABCDEF0123456789ABCDEF slot0x25KeyX=0123456789ABCDEF0123456789ABCDEF slot0x2CKeyX=0123456789ABCDEF0123456789ABCDEF slot0x2DKeyX=0123456789ABCDEF0123456789ABCDEF slot0x2DKeyY=0123456789ABCDEF0123456789ABCDEF slot0x2DKeyN=0123456789ABCDEF0123456789ABCDEF slot0x31KeyX=0123456789ABCDEF0123456789ABCDEF slot0x31KeyY=0123456789ABCDEF0123456789ABCDEF slot0x31KeyN=0123456789ABCDEF0123456789ABCDEF slot0x3DKeyX=0123456789ABCDEF0123456789ABCDEF common0=0123456789ABCDEF0123456789ABCDEF common1=0123456789ABCDEF0123456789ABCDEF
Right-click inside the folder, select , and choose Folder .
Once your portable environment is established, you must place the decryption keys in the correct subdirectory so the emulator can locate them. Navigate to your main Citra Portable directory. Open the newly generated folder. Locate or create a subfolder named sysdata . aeskeystxt citra portable
: You can now launch Citra by double-clicking citra-qt.exe . It will now read and write all its data exclusively from the user folder in its own directory. Congratulations, your portable version is ready!
The best and most complete way to acquire the text file is to automatically dump it from your own Nintendo 3DS. This requires a hacked 3DS console with installed. This method is preferred because a script will automatically dump not only the required AES keys but also a seeddb.bin file if your console has any "seed" encryption keys. This ensures you have everything necessary for a smooth experience.
: Extract the contents of the .7z archive to your desired portable location (e.g., D:\CitraPortable ). You can use tools like 7-Zip or WinRAR.
By default, Citra stores user data in your computer's system folders (e.g., AppData on Windows). To force it into : To take Citra (and your aes_keys
If you’ve ever tried to play your Nintendo 3DS library on a PC using , you’ve likely run into the dreaded "encrypted" error. This is where aes_keys.txt comes into play. For those using a portable installation of Citra, managing these keys is the final hurdle to a perfect, on-the-go gaming setup. What is aes_keys.txt?
: The file must contain hex strings (e.g., slot0x2CKeyX=... ).
: Extract your Citra nightly or community fork files (such as executables like citra-qt.exe ) directly into this folder.
To set up a portable emulation environment, you must understand how these two components interact. Navigate to your main Citra Portable directory
This is the most common point of failure. You must copy your aes_keys.txt file into the sysdata folder you just created. The file path should be: [Your Citra Folder]/user/sysdata/aes_keys.txt
: Ensure it is exactly aes_keys.txt (not aes_keys.txt.txt ).
The strings of numbers in the example are placeholders. You must replace them with the actual 32-digit hexadecimal values for each key.