Kobo Aura HD - Linux Walkthrough - Registration bypass

[davidfor]

You'll note you are following instructions from 2013. Things have changed such as the columns in the the table user. Plus how the firmware handles this has changed with the firmware version. Look for a much more recent version. Or have a look in the thread discussing 3.19.5761.

Alternatively, just register with a fake email address. Kobo do not do any checking except to make sure it looks valid.

[very_rude_Turnip]

Originally Posted by davidfor

Alternatively, just register with a fake email address. Kobo do not do any checking except to make sure it looks valid.

Sorry to dig up this old thread, but it had valuable information in it and I was able to successfully bypass registration on my Kobo before moving on to own it.

So thanks to everyone who provided info.

Regarding the above advice to put in a fake email address: I think this is really bad advice. Kobo already has your known email address, mailing address, billing address, full name, and similar info that you gave up when you purchased the device (assuming you bought it online from them directly). They have the serial number of the device already, and when it checks in on the internet, they tie it all together with the source IP address.

So they have your IP, physical location, name and similar info, and they start building a profile of your reading habits. What you like. What your preferences are.

[Desdinova]

Originally Posted by very_rude_Turnip

So they have your IP, physical location, name and similar info, and they start building a profile of your reading habits. What you like. What your preferences are.

If you're really concerned about tracking on line, then drop your web browser and use Gopher. Personally, I dont think the fact that Kobo make book recommendations is a serious issue. Oh, and btw Ubuntu and osx user!

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by very_rude_Turnip

So they have your IP, physical location, name and similar info, and they start building a profile of your reading habits. What you like. What your preferences are.

And a couple of times a week I look at the recommendations they make. And while I don't buy the recommendation very often, I have gotten the first in a series or some other book by a recommended author quite often.

In case you don't realise, I'm not worried. Kobo know who I am. And if they profile my reading habits and use that to improve their ereaders, I'll be very happy.

[datanoise]

This did work fine for me to "register" an h2o2 running factory firmware:

sqlite3 KoboReader.sqlite "INSERT INTO user(UserID,UserKey) VALUES('1','');"

[bobodude]

Originally Posted by datanoise

This did work fine for me to "register" an h2o2 running factory firmware:

sqlite3 KoboReader.sqlite "INSERT INTO user(UserID,UserKey) VALUES('1','');"

Thanks, just worked on a new H2o2

[EEyesSore]

this worked for me on an SDcard burned with an img. backup from a 'helper' at this forum..
as the sqlite user table had 10 fields and OP had 7 .

(successfully formatted card to fat32 and burned image with mintstick Mint18 linux).

sqlite> INSERT INTO "user" VALUES('Linux User','Linux User','LinuxUser@mailinator.com','LinuxUser@mailin ator.com',NULL, NULL,'false','true','false',NULL);

[Pegel03]

Tried resetting a defective device, on a windows machine. It will connect to kobo.com/desktop and search for setup files which are no longer supplied

Ran into this thread and used https://github.com/pawelsalawa/sqlitestudio/
to edit the KoboReader.sqlite database. A free, open source, multi-platform SQLite database manager written in C++, with use of Qt framework.

The Aura probably is a somewhat older device, since it had only 7 fields in the user table.

Adding the user datatable row was a breeze. After unmounting and restarting the device worked flawlessly.

This trick was not know to me, so very happy with the provided solution!

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by Pegel03

Tried resetting a defective device, on a windows machine. It will connect to kobo.com/desktop and search for setup files which are no longer supplied

No Kobo device has ever connected to kobo.com/desktop. If you are seeing a message about that, it is a message to telling you to go there and download the Kobo desktop application. You can use that application to do the setup when you cannot use WiFi for some reason. And visiting it just now, the page is there and the download is available.

If by "resetting", you mean you did a factory reset, then unfortunately, doing the setup over WiFi probably won't work. This is because early last year Kobo had to remove the support for older security protocols as they are no longer considered secure. A factory reset of an Aura HD will probably put it back to a version of firmware that uses the older protocols. The workaround is to either use the above desktop application to do the setup, or download and sideload a newer firmware version that has the supported security protocols. If you do this, I recommend at least version 3.19.5761, but, you can go direct to the latest firmware version.

[Quoth]

^^^
What David says.
Also since there is no payment details required and it need not even be a working email the earlier posts on this thread aren't relevant. It's simplest to register a Kobo (updating FW via USB first if too old).
Unlike Kindle, though at least the very old unregistered Kindles let you create Collections via Calibre.