@
edman44,
Kindle questions rightfully belong in the Kindle forum, not the Nook forum. You'll get more answers there.
But I recommend you make sure you are using the win32 version of Kindle for PC -- not the Metro app, which you might well be using if your laptop is Windows 8 or 10.
The Metro app won't work at all -- it's an app, it uses weirdly obfuscated app storage instead of the "My Kindle Content" folder.
Direct download link to Kindle for PC (win32 version):
http://amazon.com/kindlepcdownload