Dealing with Kindle ebooks in calibre

[texasnightowl]

Originally Posted by DahliaRose

Okay so I got my Kindle Paperwhite. And I attempted to break the drm on one of the books I bought and it still comes up saying cannot convert...

I added dedrm and the kfx plugin but it doesn't seem to have worked.. Anyone know why?

I haven't updated the kindle since getting it, it's on v5.12 and the books are shown in calibre as kfx-zip.

What do I do?

which version of dedrm? did you follow instructions to add your serial number to the dedrm customization? For info on that, read the DeDRM_plugin_Readme.txt at https://github.com/noDRM/DeDRM_tools/tree/master

[DahliaRose]

Originally Posted by texasnightowl

which version of dedrm? did you follow instructions to add your serial number to the dedrm customization? For info on that, read the DeDRM_plugin_Readme.txt at https://github.com/noDRM/DeDRM_tools/tree/master

The serial number was what I was missing. Oops. Works fine now. Stupid me.

[sirus]

After the recent events I found my kindle 10 and wanted to try method 3 but failed. It seems that calibre only reads the outermost kfx file which is less than 1mb, and when I import by adding a folder, it imports the outermost kfx, metadata and the first kfx file in assets/attachables, which are all small as well.

I installed the kfx input and output plugins, installed dedrm and filled in the serial number, they are all up to date. kindle system version is 5.12

I wonder why calibre won't import the full file?

[texasnightowl]

1. what version of dedrm did you install?

2. how are you adding the book? are you dragging and dropping it from windows explorer into Calibre or did you, in calibre, click on the device button to view the books on your kindle and right click on the book and tell it to add to library?

fwiw, I am able to add books from all 3 of my kindles (K5, Oasis 3, PW5).

[texasnightowl]

Originally Posted by sirus

...I found my kindle 10 ... kindle system version is 5.12

also...this doesn't seem right. an updated 10th gen Kindle would be running 5.18.1. 5.12 would be a K7 or PW2? Though I will admit I don't know what firmware was on a K10 at first release.

[sirus]

Originally Posted by texasnightowl

also...this doesn't seem right. an updated 10th gen Kindle would be running 5.18.1. 5.12 would be a K7 or PW2? Though I will admit I don't know what firmware was on a K10 at first release.

You're right, 5.12 was before the update, now it's 5.18.1, I misremembered. the version of dedrm is v10.0.9.
I tried the way you said to click on the device in calibre, and also tried add from folders and sub-folders in the add books button in calibre, but dragging and dropping it directly from windows explorer I didn't try

[texasnightowl]

Originally Posted by sirus

...the version of dedrm is v10.0.9.
I tried the way you said to click on the device in calibre...

So...I guess I'm unclear from your original post...what exactly happens?

Does the book get added? I mean, ebooks are small? The book I just read is only 0.56mb in Calibre. So the book being small is not an issue by itself. Does the book get added and is is dedrmed...ie., can you convert it to epub?

[sirus]

Originally Posted by texasnightowl

So...I guess I'm unclear from your original post...what exactly happens?

Does the book get added? I mean, ebooks are small? The book I just read is only 0.56mb in Calibre. So the book being small is not an issue by itself. Does the book get added and is is dedrmed...ie., can you convert it to epub?

I didn't write it clearly, I opened the kindle folder with the books in it and found that each book will have a kfx file and a sdr folder, when I add a book to calibre, it will only add the kfx file that I mentioned.

This confused me, I was adding books that were tens of mb in size and only getting a file that was tens of kilobytes, while the main content of the book in the sdr folder is not being added. And when I convert it prompts drm present.

So I checked the thread and tried to add the book by adding the whole folder, but the result was pretty much the same, which is what I said in my original post.

It looks like I did the same thing as method 3, testing with books published in February and earlier, but it still failed.

I checked the log afterward and the file says “Unknown booktype kfx. Passing back to calibre unchanged”. I'm not sure if it's a dedrm failure or something else that's causing this problem

[pdurrant]

Detailed help with DRM removal is not permitted at MobileRead. Please ask at NoDRM's github or elsewhere.

[yoshi]

I use Kindle for PC 2.1 because this version allows Japanese books to be downloaded as AZW3.

Last year, I executed "disable_k4pc_download.bat." In the past, every time I launched Kindle for PC, the installer for the newer version was downloaded to "AppData\Local\Amazon\Kindle," but it failed to execute successfully.

Today, I noticed that no installer was downloaded when I started Kindle for PC. The last modified date of "AppData\Local\Amazon\Kindle" was March 31, 2025. This suggests that Amazon has stopped forcing updates from April onward, at least for version 2.1.

The "disable_k4pc_download.bat" script changes the "updates" folder in "AppData\Local\Amazon\Kindle" into a file named "updates." I tested restoring it, but the forced update did not occur.

[MrPjax]

I can remove DRM for some books in Kindle for PC 2.4 but now I am getting messages saying I need to 2.7 to just even download them. Is there a workaround?

I currently can use my PW2 to do it using Calibre but more steps involved because cover are grayscale and I had to add color ones.

Even my Epubor Ultimate won't work with 2.7 just 2.4 books that is downloads.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by MrPjax

I can remove DRM for some books in Kindle for PC 2.4 but now I am getting messages saying I need to 2.7 to just even download them. Is there a workaround?

I currently can use my PW2 to do it using Calibre but more steps involved because cover are grayscale and I had to add color ones.

Even my Epubor Ultimate won't work with 2.7 just 2.4 books that is downloads.

Using your PW2 is the only workaround at the moment.

[IvanXQZ]

Apologies if this has already been mentioned. And it's not actually that useful given the work required, but for thoroughness: I saw the note in the first post that Mac versions of Kindle after 7.24 can't be used, and since they are distributed from the Mac App Store, there's no way to get older 7.x releases if you don't already have one. It turns out that's not entirely true -- while still seemingly not as useful as the other methods, there's actually a way to still get Kindle for Mac 7.1.

To get it:
- You need to have already have "purchased" (downloaded, for free) the Kindle app from the Mac App Store, meaning if you have never done so, you'll need to do so with macOS 13 Ventura or later.
- You then need to re-download it on a system running macOS 11.x Big Sur. You'll get a warning that the latest version requires macOS 13.0, but then if you click Continue, you get version 7.1.

If you are already past macOS 11, and you're on an Intel-based (that is, not M1/2/3/4) Mac, you can get an external drive (solid state drive recommended, rather than hard disk drive), hold down shift-command-option-R during startup, which will take you to Recovery mode, and from there you'll be able to format the external drive, and then install the original version of macOS that the computer came with to it, and then start up from it (on a Mac with a T2 chip, meaning most from 2018-2020, you'll also need to allow booting from external drives in the Startup Security Options of the Utilities menu before you start the installation). If the computer came with Big Sur, great and that's what the external drive boots your computer into, you're done. Otherwise, you can use Safari to find Apple's support page for old versions of macOS (Google "download old macos"), and upgrade the system on the external drive to Big Sur. Then you can download Kindle 7.1, and copy it from the Applications folder on the external drive to the one on your internal drive.

If you're on an Apple silicon (M1/2/3/4) Mac on macOS 12 or later, it's trickier. Your options are to either use a second Mac (of any kind) to wipe the entire Mac back to its factory state, using macOS 11 firmware. Or, you can use software that provides emulation (not virtualization) and install macOS 11 as a guest; a popular free option is UTM. Either option requires technical moves beyond what I can get into here, but I wanted to mention it.

[odamizu]

Interesting ... albeit exceedingly complicated and convoluted.

But once you have 7.1, does it work with DeDRM? My understanding is that 7.x only works with "DRM-free" Kindle books, which is a lot of effort for a very limited subset of Kindle books.

Originally Posted by IvanXQZ

Apologies if this has already been mentioned. And it's not actually that useful given the work required, but for thoroughness: I saw the note in the first post that Mac versions of Kindle after 7.24 can't be used, and since they are distributed from the Mac App Store, there's no way to get older 7.x releases if you don't already have one. It turns out that's not entirely true -- while still seemingly not as useful as the other methods, there's actually a way to still get Kindle for Mac 7.1.

To get it:
- You need to have already have "purchased" (downloaded, for free) the Kindle app from the Mac App Store, meaning if you have never done so, you'll need to do so with macOS 13 Ventura or later.
- You then need to re-download it on a system running macOS 11.x Big Sur. You'll get a warning that the latest version requires macOS 13.0, but then if you click Continue, you get version 7.1.

If you are already past macOS 11, and you're on an Intel-based (that is, not M1/2/3/4) Mac, you can get an external drive (solid state drive recommended, rather than hard disk drive), hold down shift-command-option-R during startup, which will take you to Recovery mode, and from there you'll be able to format the external drive, and then install the original version of macOS that the computer came with to it, and then start up from it (on a Mac with a T2 chip, meaning most from 2018-2020, you'll also need to allow booting from external drives in the Startup Security Options of the Utilities menu before you start the installation). If the computer came with Big Sur, great and that's what the external drive boots your computer into, you're done. Otherwise, you can use Safari to find Apple's support page for old versions of macOS (Google "download old macos"), and upgrade the system on the external drive to Big Sur. Then you can download Kindle 7.1, and copy it from the Applications folder on the external drive to the one on your internal drive.

If you're on an Apple silicon (M1/2/3/4) Mac on macOS 12 or later, it's trickier. Your options are to either use a second Mac (of any kind) to wipe the entire Mac back to its factory state, using macOS 11 firmware. Or, you can use software that provides emulation (not virtualization) and install macOS 11 as a guest; a popular free option is UTM. Either option requires technical moves beyond what I can get into here, but I wanted to mention it.

[wahredua]

Ever since Amazon nixed download & transfer via USB, I've been using Method 2a: Kindle for PC. Yesterday, I opened K4PC (2.4.70904) to download my most recent Kindle purchases and I'm having two problems:

1. My library is not syncing. The most recent book synced in my library was bought on May 13, 2025. I've bought several more books between then and now but they aren't being synced into my library. I tried using 'Deliver or Remove from Device' (in my content library on Amazon.com) to send books to K4PC, but that isn't working either.

2. Even if I could get my newest purchases to sync, I can't download any books in my K4PC library, not even ones published before April 23, 2025. The cover says 'Pending' for a long time and then shows an exclamation point in the bottom right corner, but no error message appears.

Anyone else having a similar issues? My first thought was maybe Amazon has blocked syncing/downloading in out-of-date K4PC versions.