Kindle firmware 5.18.1 released for all 10th gen and newer Kindles

[Impextoo]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Those books were copied from a Kindle PW4 in KFX format. One sample cover was relatively low resolution at 837x1256px and in 16 glorious shades of grey. The same book downloaded via K4PC also in KFX format shows a 2401x3639px image in 24 bit colour. I do have calibre's maximum_cover_size tweak set to:



These books were not converted by calibre, this is the imported and non-metadata edited flavour. I am wondering how you are seeing a colour cover image since other than the Colorsoft, Amazon's Kindle e-Ink readers don't do colour.

If you have an older Kindle (K5/PW1 and older), Amazon wirelessly delivers .awz/.awz3 files to those devices instead of .kfx, so you get full color--even though the ebook reader can't make use of it--when you import into Calibre.

[Faceless178]

Originally Posted by Terry Mint

Hello there!

I just got myself a Kindle PW 12th Gen and have not registered it or even connected it to the internet yet. I was about to install WinterBreak but not too sure what to do with this new firmware now.

Should I go ahead and register the device before jailbreaking or is there a risk that the new firmware prevents me from doing so?

I am unsure whether WB can be installed on an unregistered device, the WB website says it's not possible but I hear otherwise too.

What would you guys suggest?

Firmware 5.18.1 breaks Winterbreak, I would personally NOT update.
However, if its an unregistered device then the problem that you face is that the moment you register it will download an OTA (presumably 5.18.1+) and thus not allow for Winterbreak. The solution that I've seen (though haven't tried myself) is to fill the Kindle's storage space up over USB, so there's only about 20mb left. Then you register and because there isn't enough space to store the OTA, it won't download. Then you can jailbreak and prevent OTAs and you might be fine. You don't need any real data, just a bunch of dummy files will do. You can delete them after you've disabled OTAs.

[Faceless178]

Originally Posted by Faceless178

Firmware 5.18.1 breaks Winterbreak, I would personally NOT update.
However, if its an unregistered device then the problem that you face is that the moment you register it will download an OTA (presumably 5.18.1+) and thus not allow for Winterbreak. The solution that I've seen (though haven't tried myself) is to fill the Kindle's storage space up over USB, so there's only about 20mb left. Then you register and because there isn't enough space to store the OTA, it won't download. Then you can jailbreak and prevent OTAs and you might be fine. You don't need any real data, just a bunch of dummy files will do. You can delete them after you've disabled OTAs.

Note that the filling method has had mixed results according to some & by others in the thread. May or may not work but you could try it.

[rantanplan]

Originally Posted by Faceless178

Firmware 5.18.1 breaks Winterbreak, I would personally NOT update.
However, if its an unregistered device then the problem that you face is that the moment you register it will download an OTA (presumably 5.18.1+) and thus not allow for Winterbreak. The solution that I've seen (though haven't tried myself) is to fill the Kindle's storage space up over USB, so there's only about 20mb left. Then you register and because there isn't enough space to store the OTA, it won't download. Then you can jailbreak and prevent OTAs and you might be fine. You don't need any real data, just a bunch of dummy files will do. You can delete them after you've disabled OTAs.

Completely filling up the flash storage doesn't sound too healthy for your kindle long term.

[Chris24680]

Obviously these things take time and no one has to work on this for free, but does anyone know if a Jailbreak for 5.18.1 is being worked on and if so what's the status of it?

[BionicGecko]

Originally Posted by Chris24680

Obviously these things take time and no one has to work on this for free, but does anyone know if a Jailbreak for 5.18.1 is being worked on and if so what's the status of it?

I believe HackerDude is working on a solution for 12th generation Kindles. It’s not clear yet whether a solution will come out for 11th gen and earlier; apparently the new firmware behaves differently on those models.

[pumpkinwhite]

Originally Posted by Faceless178

Firmware 5.18.1 breaks Winterbreak, I would personally NOT update.
However, if its an unregistered device then the problem that you face is that the moment you register it will download an OTA (presumably 5.18.1+) and thus not allow for Winterbreak. The solution that I've seen (though haven't tried myself) is to fill the Kindle's storage space up over USB, so there's only about 20mb left. Then you register and because there isn't enough space to store the OTA, it won't download. Then you can jailbreak and prevent OTAs and you might be fine. You don't need any real data, just a bunch of dummy files will do. You can delete them after you've disabled OTAs.

The filling up space trick may be device specific. It does not work on the ColorSoft for sure. I mentioned it earlier in the thread, so not repeating everything I tried — but in short, the Kindle will force an update immediately upon registering. Doesn’t matter if you fill up the drive or not, or restrict WiFi etc. There is absolutely no way around it. If you prevent the download + install any which way, it won’t proceed and ask you to keep retrying. You cannot reach the Home Screen to turn on airplane mode without going through the first update. Others in the different threads have mentioned the same, so I’m not alone in that determination. I know some folks said they turned on airplane mode without installing the update, so I guess it might be dependent on the model or existing firmware. Perhaps the fill-up trick works on their model. But like I said, at least for the ColorSoft you have to do the first update. Luckily, for now it’s enforcing 5.18.0.1.0, so you can still JB after the forced update. But presumably in the future it’ll start enforcing 5.18.1, and that’s when the JB will be locked out.

[soapyrem]

Good news y'all! Brand new 12th gen PW from Best Buy came with some early FW and I was able to jailbreak it! Here's the steps I took.
- Powered it on and skipped setup
- Filled up the storage with some garbage files
- registered the kindle and immediately put it on airplane mode
- followed the jailbreak steps (reboot, copy files, open store, etc)
- installed the hot fix
so confirmed at least with the latest paper white you can still jailbreak a brand new one if you fill the storage before registering it, and then basically have it in airplane mode as much as possible.

Good luck everyone!

Btw, the fw it came with from Best Buy was 5.17.0

[the1gamerdude]

Tried updating on a originally 1.5.17.0 fw for a Kindle signiture edition. It was jailbroken according to the guide (winterbreak). I tried to follow others updates but seems like the hotfix doesn't re-enable after installing the new 1.5.8.1 .bin.
I believe I followed others advice of
1. updating, (reboot)
2. letting it install the new dictionary/tts (reboot)
3. running the hotfix (fails, just refreshes screen)
4. Tried putting the hotfix.bin in the root directory to reinstall, but it gives update failed.

Any advice or should I return mine and get a new one since I screwed up the update? I enjoy physical buttons so the double tap feature I was looking forward too.

[Ebookus]

so, is this update worth updating to on a PW 11th gen with JB running 5.17.x?

anyone tried the recap thing? is it any good?

[MrNatas]

My unbroken Kindle automatically updated to 5.18.1. Is it still possible to jailbreak it? It is a 2018 PW4. Thank you.

[mergen3107]

Nope, 5.18.1, at least for now

[Pocketrussion]

I am about to buy a scribe 2024 on sale now and only want it if I can jailbreak. As I understand, chances are it will come with 5.17. If I chose the option "Device linked to your Amazon account to simplify setup", I shouldn't have to register it. However, it's not clear to me that I can jailbreak it before it auto updates since I don't know how to prevent the update. I understand filling up the directory till 20mb are left might work. Can anybody confirm?

[maseruki]

Originally Posted by BionicGecko

It’s great to see reports of the jailbreak surviving the update! Now we only need a brave soul with a non-jailbroken Kindle to install this update and run WinterBreak to see if it was patched

Hello, I have a paperwhite 11 virgin, it is in version 5.17.1.0.3, if you want I can update it and try if it stops, the fault of this unit is that it cannot be registered.

[NikZebi]

Originally Posted by mergen3107

Nope, 5.18.1, at least for now

here what said HackerDude on his discord

"
heads up, just because Winterbreak will never work on 5.18.1 does not mean it's unjailbreakable
we literally have a method in the works ��

Ya'll thought Winterbreak was easy?
UnnamedJailbreak is going to be even easier ��

2nd easiest jailbreak under "uploading a book to JB" back when that was a thing "

Seems like a new jailbreak (that works on 5.18.1) is coming out soon