retropie folder not populating

[blazin-asian]

hi all,

just purchased a Pi Zero 2 W with retropie 4.7.19-rpi1_zero. i have it connected to a mini screen via hdmi and a joystick via usb to micro usb.

i can load retropie just fine, but i am getting stuck at the part where it says to create a "retropie" folder on the sd card and then retropie will populate that folder.

it does not seem to be doing it for me no matter what i try. ive done this before on an older pi so i am not sure what i am doing wrong this time around.

any help is greatly appreciated. thank you!

[sleve_mcdichael]

@blazin-asian said in retropie folder not populating:

i can load retropie just fine, but i am getting stuck at the part where it says to create a "retropie" folder on the sd card and then retropie will populate that folder.

Where does it say to do that?

[A Former User]

I may have not read this right, but you need to use a USB drive or SSH to put anything into the retropie folder. The SD card will not just "populate" the folder with a bunch of games. Try doing this again. Use the USB stick this time and see what happens.

[retropieuser555]

@blazin-asian bit of a side point but the retropie 4.7.19-rpi1_zero won't work with the pi w 2, you need to use the pi3 image as it's that style of arm

[DanEmuLt3r]

Is it normal for the experimental emulators taking quite a few hours to install on a pc running ubuntu?

[A Former User]

@danemult3r
Emulators might take a bit to install. Experimental emulators will take longer. It really depends on your PC's speed, not Retropie's ability to download.

[blazin-asian]

@luddo183

i am using a microsd card so i assumed usb stick and microsd are interchangeable depending on your version of the pi. maybe i need to leave it plugged in for longer or something, but the folder does not get populated with the emulator and respective rom folders

@retropieuser555

thank you! i was confused which one to use and was trying different ones hoping it would fix this issue

[retropieuser555]

@blazin-asian I used to use this usb method when I started with the pi, you should see the led flash when you plug it in to show the usb stick is being populated. The usb stick is formatted and things like that? Honestly I would just setup the WiFi on your pi and use ssh to transfer ROMs, once you get the hang of it it's much easier

[A Former User]

@retropieuser555
I never really liked SSH, so I never used it.

[blazin-asian]

ended up flashing the pi3 version and setting up ssh and it seems to work well now.

thank you everyone for the help!