DRM workaround: Kindle for Android

[Claudia-L]

Originally Posted by Comfy.n

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

Thanks, I checked with it, but settings are correct to USA, so still no idea, why the german store was popped up. Seems the safest bet is to pay for now double and open a German KU and amazon account also.

[tmangia]

Originally Posted by Bastet

Posted with permission of Ownedbycats!

Not being as tech savy as some of the folks here, it took me several hours to work thru the original process on a Windows 11 PC. I made notes and took screenshots and essentially process mapped to create instructions for those like me who may not be familiar with use of SDK Platform Tools or Command Prompt. I hope this helps! A big thank you to Ownedbycats for coming up with this method!

Thanks for helping on this. Ive got some problems on step 6 (around 3:32 mark on the video, on the setting informations on my Bluestacks on my Windows 10 PRO). I couldn't find the "about phone" > "software information" > "build number" > PIN and not USB debugging.

But it worked fine without finding those settings UNTIL step 17, when asked to put the AB backup file into the DeDRM plugin. In line 34, it says

"On the right-hand side of the plugin’s customization dialog, you will see a button with an icon that looks like a green plus sign (+). Clicking this button will open a new dialog with two main controls."

There's no "choose backup file" option for that.

But ignoring that, I've synced the Kindle app in Bluestacks, went thru Media Manager and didn't find any file on that.

Can you help me on this, please?

[dullspoon]

How do I remove downloaded content from Bluestacks after I don't need it anymore?
So I followed the instructions and managed to get everything setup and it seems to be working. I have managed to download and convert the files I wanted but I can't seem to figure out how to delete the downloaded folders from the Bluestacks Media Manager. I can delete the files but the folders are still there. Even once I have removed the books from the device and returned the book on Amazon.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by dullspoon

How do I remove downloaded content from Bluestacks after I don't need it anymore?
So I followed the instructions and managed to get everything setup and it seems to be working. I have managed to download and convert the files I wanted but I can't seem to figure out how to delete the downloaded folders from the Bluestacks Media Manager. I can delete the files but the folders are still there. Even once I have removed the books from the device and returned the book on Amazon.

From Library => Downloaded, I click and hold on a book until it gets a checkmark. Repeat for all the downloaded books and then click on the 3 vertical dots menu and Remove Download. Remove Permanently would also work but then redownloading the book ends up being a pain. Looking at the /sdcard/Android/data/com.amazon.kindle/files folder shows some of the files used by Kindle for Android are still there but the book folders are gone. If I remove the K4A system folders from Media Manager, they get recreated the next time K4A gets run so I don't worry about them.

[Ma'am-I-Am]

Originally Posted by DNSB

From Library => Downloaded, I click and hold on a book until it gets a checkmark. Repeat for all the downloaded books and then click on the 3 vertical dots menu and Remove Download. Remove Permanently would also work but then redownloading the book ends up being a pain. Looking at the /sdcard/Android/data/com.amazon.kindle/files folder shows some of the files used by Kindle for Android are still there but the book folders are gone. If I remove the K4A system folders from Media Manager, they get recreated the next time K4A gets run so I don't worry about them.

You can also use BSTweaker. It has a file manager that looks much like the Windows Explorer. Just pick the one that works with your version of BS.
https://bstweaker.tk/

[dullspoon]

Originally Posted by Ma'am-I-Am

You can also use BSTweaker. It has a file manager that looks much like the Windows Explorer. Just pick the one that works with your version of BS.
https://bstweaker.tk/

Thanks, my version of BS was not supported but I did find FX File Explorer.

[Hekse-Mie]

In the end it worked, after a lot of tinkering. It took a day (). Kindle for Android 8.1.0 + PC.
Thanks a lot!

[Bazster]

I simply could not get Bluestacks or any other Android emulator to work on my Windows 10 PC (I tried several emulators; Bluestacks crashed every time I launched Kindle, others either wouldn't run at all or refused to run Kindle).

Eventually I dug an old Android 'phone out of a drawer and used that. Worked like a charm. Took far less time than I'd already wasted trying to get an emulator to run!

[Bazster]

"Thanks so much for his method!!

Any idea how long this will be viable?"

I guess the problem Amazon has got, if it wants to stop people using old Kindle versions on Android (just as it's now stopped us using old Kindle on PC, at least for new books), is that Android devices usually only get Android updates for a year or two so Amazon has to either make sure new versions of Kindle run on ancient versions of Android or force customers to buy a new device.

Neither would be particularly attractive to them.

[hengyu]

Originally Posted by DuckieTigger

Workaround to get high resolution image downloads. This is an anomaly with Bluestacks that refuses KFX downloads, for now at least. So I suggest you keep a Bluestacks version that has the old 4.16 app which does not support KFX. To get high res do this:

1. Create a new Nougat VM with the Bluestacks multi-instance manager. (alternatively you can clone your working Kindle 4.16 VM, then skip #2)
2. Follow the instructions in first post to install, login, and backup the Kindle for Android version 4.16.
3. Download Kindle for Android version 8.51.1.0 (oldversion doesn't have it, I used apkpure Kindle for Android version 8.51.1.0 - the arm64-v8a will only work for 64bit Bluestacks and the armeabi-v7a will work for 32bit and 64bit Bluestacks)
4. Install the downloaded APK - if using adb, you need to use "adb install -r XYZ.apk" to update existing app, the builtin APK installer in Bluestacks does that automatically.
5. download and install the AZW6 Image Merge into calibre
6. delete and redownload books that have previously been downloaded with the Kindle 4.16 version, e.g. if you cloned your instance
7. for each book extract the .prc and .ast file (the quick and dirty way is to use "adb pull /sdcard/Android/data/com.amazon.kindle/files" - then traverse the files folder and drag and drop the .prc files into calibre)

This will NOT work on Android Emulator or on a Nexus7 tablet, it probably won't work anywhere else than Bluestacks.

Followed these steps and for some reason, 2 of the books were added into Calibre fine, but one remained a .PRC in Calibre that says it's "DRM locked"

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by hengyu

Followed these steps and for some reason, 2 of the books were added into Calibre fine, but one remained a .PRC in Calibre that says it's "DRM locked"

That means it didn't work. Did you get the backup file and added it to the plugin settings? How large was your backup file?

[Ma'am-I-Am]

Originally Posted by hengyu

Followed these steps and for some reason, 2 of the books were added into Calibre fine, but one remained a .PRC in Calibre that says it's "DRM locked"

Just add that book again (look at the ASIN number in the ID(?) field to determine which one), then delete the .prc from Calibre.

[riverz]

I had no luck using bluestacks on both my lenovo tiny pcs. On one bluestacks would freeze, the other the adb backup always failed for some reason I couldn't figure out at returning the file.

I did get it working using nox player (version 7.0.5.8) as the emulator. I didn't have to install adb also as it comes with the install and is in the installed nox/bin directory.

In nox player:
1. I enabled root first from within settings->general
2. I enabled usb debugging for data tfer by going into the tools folder on the main screen. Chose settings and tapped several times on About Tablet to enable developer options. Then back to settings->developer options and enabled USB Debugging.

After this I loaded the Amazon kindle apk - same one mentioned earlier in this thread version 4.16.0.75, then registered with Amazon and sent a book to the reader.

To extract the backup file for the calibre key I went to the nox/bin install directory and ran adb backup com.amazon.kindle from there.
To extract the books I used the adb pull command. I appended the path to where I wanted the books to go to (c:\kindle_books) in my case. Otherwise leave that part out.
adb pull /sdcard/Android/Android/data/com.amazon.kindle c:\kindle_books

This retrieved file tree is what you browse through to import the .prc book(s) into calibre.

I am a novice and would have had zero chance without all the information others have posted here. It was a godsend So thank you all very much !!! I just made this comment in case it helps someone having no luck with bluestacks.

[riverz]

Originally Posted by riverz

adb pull /sdcard/Android/Android/data/com.amazon.kindle c:\kindle_books

Sorry. Typo here.
Should be:
adb pull /sdcard/Android/data/com.amazon.kindle c:\kindle_books

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by hengyu

Followed these steps and for some reason, 2 of the books were added into Calibre fine, but one remained a .PRC in Calibre that says it's "DRM locked"

Sounds like you may have failed to get the 4.16 version working correctly. Go back to your instance that is running 4.16, see if it imports fine and removes DRM, then and only then install 8.51 over it.