Connecting to jailbroken Kindle via PuTTY

[DanielSt]

Hello Everyone,

I am trying to downgrade my Kindle KT2 and have been following these instructions:

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=272132

as well as these instructions about setting up USB networking: https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/Kin...USB_Networking

My Kindle is now recognized by (my friend's) Windows PC as a network device. Now the next step is to access the Kindle via the PC using a program like PuTTY. This is where I have run into another snag, probably due to my inexperience using programs like PuTTY.

The instructions are:

"Then go to Control Panel > Network and Internet > Network and Sharing Center > Change adapter settings. Find the Local Area Connection # with small text "Unidentified Network, RNDIS/Ethernet Gadget" below, Right click on it and click properties, choose the Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) and click Properties, click "Use the following IP address" and enter IP address 192.168.15.201, and 255.255.255.0 for the subnet mask, click OK twice. (take a look at the discussion page if you have problems finding the RNDIS connection)
Open your remote terminal application, and connect as root to the address 192.168.15.244, leaving the password empty (or use mario if all else fails)."

I did the "change adapter settings" bit and entered the IP address 192.168.15.201, and 255.255.255.0 for the subnet mask.

Then I opened PuTTY and tried typing in 192.168.15.201. That gave me just a small blank black screen. Then I tried typing 192.168.15.244 (according to the instructions at the other thread : "6. Once USB networking is enabled you should be able to ssh into the Kindle - in PuTTY connect to 192.168.15.244 ip address, leaving the port to default (22); enter root as the username and mario as the password - you should see the root prompt". Same small blank black screen.

In either case there was no prompt for username and password, and I don't know how to "connect as root." I simply typed each of the two ip addresses into PuTTY, with no success either time.

I have never used PuTTY before and am a novice in this whole area. Does anyone know what I need to do to access the Kindle via PuTTY now? This would enable me to proceed with the next steps (from 7. onward) of the downgrading instructions (https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=272132)

Thank you in advance!

[j.p.s]

I don't do windows so the only part of your questions I can answer is that "login as root" means that root is the user name. It is all very simple using a command line in linux or other unixish OS. I have no idea what GUI hoops PuTTY wants you to jump through.

[DanielSt]

Hi Everyone,

Just checking in if there might be someone who can help me with this -- when I put in the IP address in PuTTY I just get a blank black screen, no login prompt. Really hoping to be able to downgrade my Kindle, and all the previous steps have been successfully done.

Thanks again in advance for your help!

[Lmar.L]

Originally Posted by DanielSt

Hi Everyone,

Just checking in if there might be someone who can help me with this -- when I put in the IP address in PuTTY I just get a blank black screen, no login prompt. Really hoping to be able to downgrade my Kindle, and all the previous steps have been successfully done.

Thanks again in advance for your help!

Is there an error Connection timed out after a period of time? Can you ping your device? Have you tried just pressing enter on a black screen?

[DanielSt]

Originally Posted by Lmar.L

Is there an error Connection timed out after a period of time? Can you ping your device? Have you tried just pressing enter on a black screen?

Thanks for your reply! No error connection timed out -- I enter the IP address and try to connect and just get the blank screen. I tried pressing enter on the black screen and nothing happened. How to ping the device?

[shamanNS]

Are you using telnet or SSH protocol when trying to connect with Putty? And did you first enable USBNetworking mode on Kindle? (via KUAL menu entry or by typing ;un into search bar)

[NiLuJe]

Fun fact: if you're running a recent Windows 10 build, I *think* it now bundles an OpenSSH build, so you can just fire up PowerShell and run `ssh root@host` like a real boy, and enjoy meaningful error reports in the process .

[DanielSt]

Originally Posted by shamanNS

Are you using telnet or SSH protocol when trying to connect with Putty? And did you first enable USBNetworking mode on Kindle? (via KUAL menu entry or by typing ;un into search bar)

Yes, using SSH as connection type, and USBNetworking mode is enabled on the Kindle (the latter is verified because the Kindle then shows up as a network on the PC)

[Lmar.L]

Originally Posted by DanielSt

Thanks for your reply! No error connection timed out -- I enter the IP address and try to connect and just get the blank screen. I tried pressing enter on the black screen and nothing happened. How to ping the device?

So if your host ip 192.168.15.201, and 192.168.15.244 is kindle. Type ping 192.168.15.244 in command prompt, should get a response.
As suggested by NiLuJe you can try ssh -v root@192.168.15.244 to see error messages.
If that doesn't work, try temporarily disabling other network connections.

[DanielSt]

Originally Posted by Lmar.L

So if your host ip 192.168.15.201, and 192.168.15.244 is kindle. Type ping 192.168.15.244 in command prompt, should get a response.
As suggested by NiLuJe you can try ssh -v root@192.168.15.244 to see error messages.
If that doesn't work, try temporarily disabling other network connections.

Thank you, I will try this as soon as I have access to my friend's computer again! (The Kindle doesn't show up as a network on my laptop for some reason). I will let you know what happens, thanks again.