Kobo Update - Signin - Why??? Can i reverse?

[Papered Over]

I booted up the Kobo which hadn't been used in a while and it sync'd and updated to an update and to my horror it is forcing a sign in to use the device.

I'm getting very fed up these days with companies doing this to hardware devices unannounced.

What are my options other using a hammer or going for another device, to reverse the damage to my device.

Is there a way to root it and reinstall previous versions or something like that?

Appreciate the help in advance.

I really miss my now inoperable iLiad - they got so much right with that device. Sigh.

[geek1011]

You can connect it to a computer, use the setup with kobo desktop option, and insert a row with dummy values to the user table in .kobo/KoboReader.sqlite.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by Papered Over

I booted up the Kobo which hadn't been used in a while and it sync'd and updated to an update and to my horror it is forcing a sign in to use the device.

I'm getting very fed up these days with companies doing this to hardware devices unannounced.

What are my options other using a hammer or going for another device, to reverse the damage to my device.

Is there a way to root it and reinstall previous versions or something like that?

How did you use the Glo before without signing in? No firmware version released for the Glo would work without signing in first. There has been workarounds to this, but they required the manipulation of the database that geek1011 mentioned. For the earlier devices and firmware versions, this could be skipped, but it did limit some function (don't ask me what, it's been to long).

What is most likely to have happened is that the internal database on the device was corrupt. This gets detected during the restart of the device during the firmware update. At that point, if the database corruption was something that couldn't be handled, the device will clear the database and put you into the setup mode. And hence prompting for the same Kobo account details you had been using before.

If you want to back out to an older firmware, there is plenty of discussion here about how to do this. But, it won't change the fact that the Kobo devices have always needed to be setup. And the database manipulation that geek1011 mentioned is also well discussed.

[Papered Over]

Originally Posted by geek1011

You can connect it to a computer, use the setup with kobo desktop option, and insert a row with dummy values to the user table in .kobo/KoboReader.sqlite.

Where exactly do these value go?

I'm looking at the file in atom or textmate.

Thanks in advance for help.

[meeera]

Originally Posted by Papered Over

I booted up the Kobo which hadn't been used in a while and it sync'd and updated to an update and to my horror it is forcing a sign in to use the device.

I'm getting very fed up these days with companies doing this to hardware devices unannounced.

What are my options other using a hammer or going for another device, to reverse the damage to my device.

I don't understand the dramatics. Feel free to use a throwaway single-use address. No one cares what address you use.

I'm also don't understand what's so "unannounced" about it - all the Kobos I've ever had have needed this, to the best of my recollection.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by meeera

I don't understand the dramatics. Feel free to use a throwaway single-use address. No one cares what address you use.

I'm also don't understand what's so "unannounced" about it - all the Kobos I've ever had have needed this, to the best of my recollection.

The original Touch with the factory firmware version 1.9.11 (or thereabouts) allows you to start using it without signing in. But, you can only sideload. To enable WiFi, you had to sign into a Kobo account. But, as I said a year ago, it was impossible to use the Glo without setting up an account of some sort. Either sign in, or fake it in the database.

@Papered Over: How to handle the setup has been discussed here many times. A search of the forum will find the database method.