DRM workaround: Kindle for Android

[shamanNS]

Originally Posted by bizzybody

I got a Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 8" running Android 7. Rooted it,...

Since you already have root you can just simply copy /data/data/com.amazon.kindle/databases/map_data_storage.db and import that into Calibre deDRM plugin.

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by shamanNS

Since you already have root you can just simply copy /data/data/com.amazon.kindle/databases/map_data_storage.db and import that into Calibre deDRM plugin.

Yep, that should actually be in the instructions for Bluestacks. The only reason it is not, because some devices are harder to root than others. Even though Bluestacks is not rooted from the beginning, just that ADB has easy access to root.

[Roger Rabbit]

When I want to extract my kindle keys from my old android smartphone with "adb backup com.amazon.kindle", then I only get a 47 byte file. When I choose "adb backup -all" then I get a 82kb file but Calibre can't import any of these 2 files! Can somebody help me please? Am I doing something wrong?

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by Roger Rabbit

When I want to extract my kindle keys from my old android smartphone with "adb backup com.amazon.kindle", then I only get a 47 byte file. When I choose "adb backup -all" then I get a 82kb file but Calibre can't import any of these 2 files! Can somebody help me please? Am I doing something wrong?

ADB backup will only work if version 4.17 or earlier of the Kindle app is installed on your Android device.

[Roger Rabbit]

Originally Posted by jhowell

ADB backup will only work if version 4.17 or earlier of the Kindle app is installed on your Android device.

Yes I have used Kindle for Android 4.16 but I still could not make any export.
I got it from here.

[Roger Rabbit]

EDIT: For some reason I have installed the latest Kindle for Android version. Now I have installed 4.16 but I am not even able to log into my Amazon account and nothing is really working anymore. Did they disable everything?

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by Roger Rabbit

Yes I have used Kindle for Android 4.16 but I still could not make any export.
I got it from here.

When you start the backup it should pop up a confirmation dialog on the Android device. I assume you are seeing that and choosing to accept it. If not there is a problem.

I have seen reports of incompatibilities between different ADB and Android versions. You may want to check into that.

Perhaps someone else will have more ideas for you to try.



A couple of other ideas:

Make sure that you have launched the app and signed in before doing the backup.

Check the app version on the device to make sure that it has not auto updated.

[hchris]

I followed the spoiledcats instructions from the start of this thread using my phone to install v4.17 of Kindle. I can create a .ab file that is 23.6Mb but when I use the DeDRM plugin I get the "Please use a Kindle for Android backup file" when I select that file. Now as far as I can see there is one issue which is that my phone insists that I set a password when it is prompted to download the backup because it says my phone is encrypted and therefore I need to encrypt the download. I am guessing that causes the file to be unreadable? There is no way though to disable the prompt to encrypt the .ab file and there seems to be no way to disable the encryption on my phone. I am using an old Samsung Galaxy S10 with Android 12 on it. Has anyone else run into this issue and found a workaround?

[rogerinnyc]

@hchris Just ran into this and fixed it (running a rooted OnePlus 9 with Android 13 and Kindle 4.16)
.
I was trying to import the backup.ab file directly from where it was stored on my Windows PC -- deeply nested folders -- e.g., Users/[my name]/AppData/Local/Virtual Storage....etc. I think the plug-in struggles to import from there and throws up the error message we each got.

Instead, copy the backup.ab file to a common, low security, folder, such as "downloads" and try to import it from there. You'll know it's done correctly if, after you click "choose back up file" and then choose your backup.ab file, the name backup.ab appears immediately to the right of the "choose back up" file tab in the plug in configuration dialog.

In other words, the error message was appearing because NO file was loading, not because the backup.ab file we generated is not a backup for kindle android file.

Hope that works for you too.

[booklover2005]

Originally Posted by toady42

Under Nougat 32-bit using K4A 4.16 I ran into a similar problem where I would launch K4A 4.16 and hit the "Start Reading" button and BlueStacks 5 would crash.

I'm not sure if you tried this already but I changed the Graphics renderer from OpenGL to DirectX and that fixed the K4A 4.16 app from crashing in my case.

The setting is in Settings->Graphics->Graphics renderer shown in the attached image.

After I changed the Graphics renderer to DirectX, I restarted BlueStacks 5, launched K4A 4.16 and when I hit the "Start Reading" button I was brought to the Amazon Sign in screen and was able to sign in to my account.

Sorry for such a late reply but this worked and thank you so much!

[Claudia-L]

I'm not a tech-girl. So I followed the pdf-file to a dot. On my Win-11 notebook. until I had the adb backup com.amazon.kindle, there it said, no device found. nothing could change that. So i thought, check, if the other steps would work. that was not a problem, I had my kindle for my US account, I could download books, I couldn't of course insert the backup in calibre, but I could insert maybe 60% of the downloaded books, because they were azw3, the rest was PCR.
So I thought, hey, I have my back-up-notebook with Win10, let me try there. And what should I say? It worked. I could create the backup in the command field, I could insert it in calibre. Just: when I open kindle in bluestacks, it was the GERMAN amazon. And nothing I tried let me change it to USA. I mean, I 'could' open there an account, but in USA I still have my KU and all my purchased books. So please, how can I change in bluestacks the kindle log in to Amazon USA? I hope, someone can help me.

[ownedbycats]

If you have a Kindle and can use download & transfer, the Android method is pretty much unnecessary - note that the downloaded files there will be PRCs as well.

What is your issue with Download & Transfer? PRC files (not PCR) work in Calibre usually change to azw3 (maybe sometimes mobi, not entirely sure) when I import them.

If the DRM is failing to remove, better to ask on the NoDRM github.

[Ma'am-I-Am]

Originally Posted by Claudia-L

I'm not a tech-girl. So I followed the pdf-file to a dot. On my Win-11 notebook. until I had the adb backup com.amazon.kindle, there it said, no device found. nothing could change that. So i thought, check, if the other steps would work. that was not a problem, I had my kindle for my US account, I could download books, I couldn't of course insert the backup in calibre, but I could insert maybe 60% of the downloaded books, because they were azw3, the rest was PCR.
So I thought, hey, I have my back-up-notebook with Win10, let me try there. And what should I say? It worked. I could create the backup in the command field, I could insert it in calibre. Just: when I open kindle in bluestacks, it was the GERMAN amazon. And nothing I tried let me change it to USA. I mean, I 'could' open there an account, but in USA I still have my KU and all my purchased books. So please, how can I change in bluestacks the kindle log in to Amazon USA? I hope, someone can help me.

NOT an expert here by any means, but that sounds like either a language setting or a registration error. Does the K4A you're using show up in your US account?

To all: does anyone here know if she'd have to go thru the whole process again if she uninstalled and reinstalled K4A?

[Claudia-L]

Originally Posted by Ma'am-I-Am

NOT an expert here by any means, but that sounds like either a language setting or a registration error. Does the K4A you're using show up in your US account?

To all: does anyone here know if she'd have to go thru the whole process again if she uninstalled and reinstalled K4A?

the 'regular' kindle-App on my PC I used before was always on US account, since I don't have a German account. Also with the same downloaded files on Win 11 I got to the US-Account, just with my Win 10 I got the German account and I can't choose anything to change that. I'm afraid to delete or reinstall, since I'm happy that it's working after hours and hours of trying. If all is failing, I have to bite in the sour apple (as we say) and open a German account. But that would be my last option.

[Comfy.n]

Originally Posted by Claudia-L

I'm not a tech-girl. So I followed the pdf-file to a dot. On my Win-11 notebook. until I had the adb backup com.amazon.kindle, there it said, no device found. nothing could change that. So i thought, check, if the other steps would work. that was not a problem, I had my kindle for my US account, I could download books, I couldn't of course insert the backup in calibre, but I could insert maybe 60% of the downloaded books, because they were azw3, the rest was PCR.
So I thought, hey, I have my back-up-notebook with Win10, let me try there. And what should I say? It worked. I could create the backup in the command field, I could insert it in calibre. Just: when I open kindle in bluestacks, it was the GERMAN amazon. And nothing I tried let me change it to USA. I mean, I 'could' open there an account, but in USA I still have my KU and all my purchased books. So please, how can I change in bluestacks the kindle log in to Amazon USA? I hope, someone can help me.

I'm not familiar with Bluestacks, as I prefer an old emulator I already had on my system, but I'm thinking this issue could be related to either location or locale. So I found these two links, perhaps they help you troubleshoot it:

https://support.bluestacks.com/hc/en...n-BlueStacks-5

https://support.bluestacks.com/hc/en...n-BlueStacks-5