Kindle PW2 connecting to WiFi hotspot

[wilornel]

Hi to the Kindle Developers' Corner and to Mobileread!

Thank you very much to NiLuJe, knc1, Branch Delay, Geekmaster, eeeee, ktwombley, eschwartz, yifanlu, yossarian17, ixtab, eureka and the many others who have contributed, to allow us to have these jailbreaks and downgrades and tools on our Kindles!

I am wondering, how could I connect my Kindle Paperwhite 2 (PW2) to my Android LG G4's WiFi Hotspot.

Right now, it works _fine_ if my smartphone is connected to mobile data (LTE, 4G), and my PW2 connects to the smartphone's WiFi hotspot. However, if my smartphone is not connected to mobile data, then my Kindle will not be able to connect to it's WiFi. The smartphone's WiFi hotspot (with SSID G4) shows up in the list of available wifis on the Kindle. When I select that wifi, the Kindle tries to connect, and then announces that it is not capable of doing so.

My hypothesis is that the Kindle is making am HTTP GET request to a certain IP address (probably one owned by Amazon) to try and see if it can reach the internet. In that case, the solution would be to redirect that IP request to a certain small server on my smartphone. I can spin up PHP or Python servers on my smartphone, on Termux, so this would not be difficult.

Also, I am not logged into my Amazon account on my Kindle when this issue happens.

Also, on a somewhat separate issue, when my Kindle would successfully connect to the wifi hotspot (when my smartphone was connected to mobile data), it used to show up in the list of connected devices on my smartphone. Now, it does not show up there anymore (but I can still SSH into it!!)

I am on a flight with slow internet and do not have a mobile data connection and this is a great time to hack on that Kindle!

Thank you!

Wilornel

EDIT: properly thanked big contributors to the Kindle PW2 jailbreak and downgrade

[knc1]

It is, add:
WIFI_NO_NET_PROBE
filename (all caps, no extension, no contents) to the top of visible USB storage.

[eschwartz]

You can drop a zero-byte file into the root of the userstore, called "WIFI_NO_NET_PROBE" (no file extension, and keep in mind that Windows by default hides file extensions and creates empty files with a hidden .txt file extension).

This flag file will disable the usual check-for-internet-connection check that the Kindle performs.

EDIT: ninjaed...

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by wilornel

Thank you very much to knc1 and NiLuJe for writing the guides on how to jailbreak the Kindle and to the other developers who contributed to this! I wish the hackers' usernames were mentioned in those guides.

Err, they are mentioned?

cf. the introductory paragraph of NiLuJe's 5.0.x-5.4.4.2 jailbreak, and the credits spoiler of knc1's universal downgrade jailbreak.

[wilornel]

Hey knc1 and eschwartz! Thanks tons for this

Here, I'll be linking to a previously existing post that mentions the same solution:

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=188439

I guess we also need to make sure to `restart wifid`.

Good memory, knc1!

Trying this out now

Sent from my LG-H812 using Tapatalk

[knc1]

It has always been like that, since the days of the K3.
(Which was the first Kindle to support Wifi, older models are 3G only.)

[nasser]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Err, they are mentioned?

cf. the introductory paragraph of NiLuJe's 5.0.x-5.4.4.2 jailbreak, and the credits spoiler of knc1's universal downgrade jailbreak.

I think he means their real names!

[eschwartz]

• Real names are the prerogative of members to reveal, and username handles are the traditional way of identifying members of online communities.
• He said, "I wish the hackers' usernames were mentioned".

[knc1]

Originally Posted by nasser

I think he means their real names!

That is the way I read it also.

But knowing what name my Mom gave me, or my Dad called me when I did something wrong would not be much help.

Even google has trouble finding me by those names, at least ones that are really me.

[Yourcat]

Real names like John Smith from central Texas, Amazon name: [removed] and Laurent Gaulle from jungly Paris? ;-)
I guess everyone would wonder who they are. Forum / usernames are just fine.

[wilornel]

Hey,

Yes eschwartz, you are right. I was skimming those posts trying to find them quickly but did not notice them (my mistake).

Sorry about this, just landed from my flight (for a connection). I only had an hour of WiFi so I could not edit the post in time!

Yes, I wanted to thank these people by their usernames. There's a reason we don't always put a real name in our usernames!

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by wilornel

Yes eschwartz, you are right. I was skimming those posts trying to find them quickly but did not notice them (my mistake).

Oh ye of little faith! See, people, I always know what I am talking about.

[nasser]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Oh ye of little faith! See, people, I always know what I am talking about.

Agreed!
He has updated his first post to include all the names.
BTW, my thanks to you all too.
I did not know of this trick till now.
Useful when you're with your mobile and kindle only with no other Wi-Fi or data service available.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by knc1

That is the way I read it also.

But knowing what name my Mom gave me, or my Dad called me when I did something wrong would not be much help.

Even google has trouble finding me by those names, at least ones that are really me.

The name my mom used when I was in trouble was not my real name.
Dad always used a 1972 Dolly Parton song.