Tutorial WatchThis - Software Jailbreak for any Kindle <= 5.14.2

[riothamus]

Originally Posted by rfog

I had serious problems jailbreaking my PW4 and PW5. At the end I did it without so many instructions, as for example, ;enter_demo did nothing. I factory reset both, then typed ;enter_demo, restarted, then typed ;uzb, then typed ;demo, filled dummy store data, tap on side load, then create the .demo folder and put files. Kindle complained no program has recognised, reseted via button, repeated ;uzb and ;demo, exited, went to the help menu and restarted. Jailbroken happened. Then followed with "Post Jailbreak" instructions.

Just successfully performed the jailbreak on my PW3 with 5.14.2! After making a noob mistake it went smoothly. Had to follow the above instructions and also special thanks to user spacequince for the collated instructions for KUAL, renametobin, and KOReader!

Question, on some reddits I've seen mention of possibly downgrading the FW however it seems to my noob eyes that it requires opening the kindle and removing the battery connection. Anyone know of a software downgrade option post jailbreak?

Many thanks to everyone that contributed. I've been able to at revert to the previous UI thanks to instructions from reddit (though it may revert to the new one whenever I connect to wifi...).

[yaygya]

I don't know if this is a jailbreak thing or a recent Kindle software thing, but I can't install Rescue Pack on my PW3. It keeps failing to install when it reaches the stage "copying debrick scripts to main partition". I can edit and provide more details later.

[mallums]

Originally Posted by Michal Jancik

I understand, but this PATH should, among other things, end (leave / deactivate) the DEMO mode.
I mean, after applying that PATCH and applying this update, KINDLE will restart to the user account.

In case I misunderstood, I am very sorry to my friend.

Well I was unsure the patch would take on an un-JB kindle. At any rate, I managed by resetting through the DO_FACTORY_RESTORE in root trick, Thanks for your suggestion.

[kittwalker]

Originally Posted by EndlessEggroll

I don't have a solution but I also have this issue on my KOA3. I wonder what exactly causes it. If I open Goodreads while my Kindle is not connected to wifi, it tries to load the homepage and if I reconnect then, it loads properly, so it's at least a bit usable.

I'm glad it's not just me.

So, I'm wondering if it's only effecting a few users, or if it effects everyone, but no one has noticed because only a minority use Goodreads on the kindle!

I like having being able to easily share my progress as it happens, rather than just marking a book as complete, but I guess it's not a deal breaker. I *think* I prefer having a jailbroken kindle over the convenience of the share menu.

[Pichael]

This is fantastic. Thanks to OP and everyone else who are helping contribute to this thread.

I jailbroke my old PW2 the other day thanks to this thread.
Now I can run KOreader and use dark mode ("night mode") on my PW2. Something you are not able to normally do on this model due to how old it is. So freaking cool.

Thanks

[riothamus]

Originally Posted by Pichael

This is fantastic. Thanks to OP and everyone else who are helping contribute to this thread.

I jailbroke my old PW2 the other day thanks to this thread.
Now I can run KOreader and use dark mode ("night mode") on my PW2. Something you are not able to normally do on this model due to how old it is. So freaking cool.

Thanks

Is darkmode available on the kindle menu or is it something in KOReader?

[Gaqs]

Hello everyone, I've been reading about how jailbreaking works with the kindle but I'm still not sure if I understand how everything works, and I feel like I won't until I bite the bullet and actually jailbreak it.

So I wanted to ask, is it possible to "un-jailbreak" it and go back to the official firmware later? I don't know what kind of things I'll lose access to once I jailbreak but from what I understand I might not be able to use wi-fi after I jailbreak because amazon can sometimes "push" upgrades through it, so it would be good if I'm able to "restore" my kindle once I'm done messing around.

[Brynwall]

Originally Posted by Gaqs

Hello everyone, I've been reading about how jailbreaking works with the kindle but I'm still not sure if I understand how everything works, and I feel like I won't until I bite the bullet and actually jailbreak it.

So I wanted to ask, is it possible to "un-jailbreak" it and go back to the official firmware later? I don't know what kind of things I'll lose access to once I jailbreak but from what I understand I might not be able to use wi-fi after I jailbreak because amazon can sometimes "push" upgrades through it, so it would be good if I'm able to "restore" my kindle once I'm done messing around.

You can always force install the latest firmware. An example is in the very first page of this thread.

[Brynwall]

Is it safe to leave wifi on after this? I used the Kual Helper + option to prevent OTA updates, but wasn't sure if it still worked...

Also, I found the answer to one of my previous questions - you CAN change the language back to US English once you complete the JB. It works just fine.

[Gaqs]

Originally Posted by Brynwall

You can always force install the latest firmware. An example is in the very first page of this thread.

Do you mean this section?

Originally Posted by katadelos

If you're concerned about the security of your device and do not wish to jailbreak, install firmware version 5.14.3 from this link - I've been working with Amazon to create a fix and can confirm that this version has been hardened against this vulnerability."

That's one of the things I didn't understand, I wasn't sure if this meant that I could force install 5.14.3 after I'm done with the jailbreak or if I should install it if I don't want to jailbreak, the phrasing makes it sound like this is a suggestion for people who don't want to jailbreak at all. Plus the amazon link doesn't have the 5.14.3 update anymore, only 5.14.2

Either way you're telling me that at any point I can download the update from the amazon website and install it and remove my jailbreak without any issue or risk of bricking or anything like that? What if I follow this after following the OP guide?

[shamanNS]

@Brynwall That option in Helper doesn't stop OTA updates. That hasn't worked since firmware 5.12.x

Use "renameotabin" KUAL extension to block OTA updates by renaming the 2 binary files that do the actual OTA check and downloading.

[Pichael]

Originally Posted by riothamus

Is darkmode available on the kindle menu or is it something in KOReader?

It's a feature in KOReader.
So if you have an older Kindle like the Paperwhite 2 for example, that does not support dark mode officially, you still won't have it unless you use something like KOReader.

[Gaqs]

Ok, I tried having a go at this but I'm having issues right at the start, can't get to step 4 and instead get stuck in demo mode.

Here's what I'm doing:
1-Factory reset
2-once it finishes select English(UK)
3-tap "set up on this kindle"
4-tap "set up later"
5-type ;enter_demo on the search bar and tap the return key
6-restart kindle

So now, instead of getting to a demo menu where I need to skip things like the demo payload like the post describes I just get put into the "normal" kindle menu but with the "settings" and other options greyed out, is this supposed to be the demo mode?

Do I need to try the alternative demo mode entry or something?

[riothamus]

Originally Posted by Gaqs

Ok, I tried having a go at this but I'm having issues right at the start, can't get to step 4 and instead get stuck in demo mode.

Here's what I'm doing:
1-Factory reset
2-once it finishes select English(UK)
3-tap "set up on this kindle"
4-tap "set up later"
5-type ;enter_demo on the search bar and tap the return key
6-restart kindle

So now, instead of getting to a demo menu where I need to skip things like the demo payload like the post describes I just get put into the "normal" kindle menu but with the "settings" and other options greyed out, is this supposed to be the demo mode?

Do I need to try the alternative demo mode entry or something?

Try the method by rfog at this post.

[BionicGecko]

Originally Posted by kittwalker

I'm glad it's not just me.

So, I'm wondering if it's only effecting a few users, or if it effects everyone, but no one has noticed because only a minority use Goodreads on the kindle!

I like having being able to easily share my progress as it happens, rather than just marking a book as complete, but I guess it's not a deal breaker. I *think* I prefer having a jailbroken kindle over the convenience of the share menu.

I confirm having the same issue on my Voyage (firmware 5.13.6).

Katadelos hasn't released the technical details of the jailbreak yet so we can only guess, however seeing that it does require an empty "goodreads" folder inside the .demo folder, it seems likely that this jailbreak somehow hijacks parts of the goodreads code.

Let's hope this can be fixed