I stumbled upon a hack this morning during my one hour of free time. This allows you to have Classic GUI on the 5th gen iPod. It’s not a hard hack to do, but it doesn’t have Cover Flow (yet!)

It’s an easy hack, but requires you to download several applications and Windows:

1. Download iPodWizard 1.3.7 here
   
2. Download the firmware here . Make sure you know if you which version of the iPod you have. There is a very suttle difference between 5th gen and 5.5 Gen!

Now follow these steps:

1. Select “Firmware File” as edit mode and press “Open Firmware” after.
2. Locate the folder where the you unzipped the 5G Classic Firmware.
3. Double click the file called “5G Classic Firmware”
4. Modify the firmware the way you want to. The background image is at index 138.
5. Press “Write” first and press “Write to iPod” next. Make sure you press “Write” first of the changes won’t be saved.
6. Go into your taskbar and look for the “Safely Remove Hardware” and unmount the iPod
7. Your iPod will automatically reboot itself with the new UI

Caution
There have been many reports of this firmware putting ipods into an endless boot loop.
BUT DON’T WORRY
This problem is not permanent, and is EASILY fixable.
But before you do anything, to help avoid this problem, Take caution to some vital steps in the installation proces.

• Make sure you have the correct firmware for your ipod. If you have a 5g get the 5g firmware. If you have a 5.5g get the 5.5g firmware.
• Make sure your using the latest version of IpodWizard. The latest version, 1.3.7, can be found on this site.
• Make sure no other programs are accessing your ipod at the time of writing the firmware. Including Itunes.
• Make sure you give IpodWizard time to write the firmware, it will alert you when the writing is complete.
• Safely eject your ipod with the “Eject” button in IpodWizard.

If you install this firmware onto your ipod and it doesn’t start up, and remains at the Apple logo
Then it’s in a Boot Loop, but is VERY easily fixed
Press and hold the center button, and the play button at the same time, until the “Disk Mode” screen appears.
From here you can connect your ipod to your computer and safely restore your firmware Using any backups or other firmwares you may have. You can then use iTunes and restore your iPod back to the stock firmware

Don’t let this Cautionary Warning scare you out of trying out this firmware.
There have been numerous successful installs and the firmware is a great addition
The worst thing that can happen is you’d have to put it into disk mode and restore your firmware.
Which is a very small process, amounting in a few minutes of work.

Enjoy and let me know if you have questions