Dealing with Kindle for PC/Mac 1.19 and KFX in calibre

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by bookkat

Any ideas?

Ask for help with DRM removal problems at either Apprentice Alf’s blog or Apprentice Harper’s GitHub. Assistance with that is not allowed on MobileRead.

(I assume that conversion is failing due to DRM. If there is a different conversion problem then post in the calibre Conversion sub forum.)

[maddz]

They've really got serious about updating. Just been auto-updated to 1.31 without the option of refusing the update. Of course, although books are downloaded in awz format, it's DRM'ed and I can't convert.

[lkmiller]

They are probably KFX format.

[maddz]

The file extension was awz, not kfx. However, the icon was blue not the usual brown.

I deleted the app and reinstalled an old version over the top. It's going to be a pain if I have to keep on doing that; I'm going to have start buying from Kobo instead of Amazon.

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by maddz

The file extension was awz, not kfx. However, the icon was blue not the usual brown.

I deleted the app and reinstalled an old version over the top. It's going to be a pain if I have to keep on doing that; I'm going to have start buying from Kobo instead of Amazon.

The same file extension is used regardless of format in the newer Kindle for PC/Mac versions.

The first post in this thread has instructions for preventing unwanted updates.

[maddz]

Originally Posted by jhowell

The same file extension is used regardless of format in the newer Kindle for PC/Mac versions.

The first post in this thread has instructions for preventing unwanted updates.

I run a Mac not a PC, so the bat file method doesn't work. Despite telling Kindle4Mac multiple times I don't want to upgrade via the pop-up, and having the auto-upgrade unchecked, it still went and stealth upgraded.

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by maddz

I run a Mac not a PC, so the bat file method doesn't work. Despite telling Kindle4Mac multiple times I don't want to upgrade via the pop-up, and having the auto-upgrade unchecked, it still went and stealth upgraded.

Sorry, instructions for the Mac were discussed in this thread, but never made it to the first post. (You were part of that discussion.)

Did you have the "updates" folder set to read only?

If so can you confirm that this was not effective at preventing it from updating?

[maddz]

Originally Posted by jhowell

Sorry, instructions for the Mac were discussed in this thread, but never made it to the first post. (You were part of that discussion.)

Did you have the "updates" folder set to read only?

If so can you confirm that this was not effective at preventing it from updating?

Yes, I was wasn't I. Hopefully you've corrected the omission!

Firstly, I'd replaced the Updates folder to an empty text file called Updates. At some point, K4Mac rebuilt the deleted folder, which I set to read only; and K4Mac was still downloading the update into the folder and asking did I want to upgrade? In both cases, I had the K4Mac preference set to no automatic upgrades. I've now set the Updates folder to be No Access; we'll see if the older K4Mac version I've installed over the unwanted version sticks.

K4Mac seems to be automatically forcing the upgrade every few months.

[odamizu]

I've used chmod -w on the "updates" folder of K4Mac 1.28 since last November and have never had a forced upgrade. Instead, every time I open K4Mac it asks me if I want to update, and I choose "skip this version".

[maddz]

Originally Posted by odamizu

I've used chmod -w on the "updates" folder of K4Mac 1.28 since last November and have never had a forced upgrade. Instead, every time I open K4Mac it asks me if I want to update, and I choose "skip this version".

That's what I'd been doing.

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by maddz

Yes, I was wasn't I. Hopefully you've corrected the omission!

I don’t have much experience with Macs. If someone posts instructions for disabling updates on Kindle for Mac I will link to it from the first post.

[odamizu]

Originally Posted by jhowell

... If someone posts instructions for disabling updates on Kindle for Mac I will link to it from the first post.

For K4Mac, look for the "updates" folder in the User > Library > Application Support > Kindle folder. If you can't find it there, try: Application Support > Containers > com.amazon.Kindle

Follow instructions from Apple Support to change the "updates" folder permissions to "Read only"

If you're comfortable with Terminal, you can make the "updates" folder read-only by applying chmod -w

You can also try replacing the "updates" folder with an empty .txt file named "updates" (no extension)

Note: If you downloaded K4Mac from the Apple App Store rather than Amazon, there may not be an "updates" folder since K4Mac will update via the App Store rather than through Amazon. Just be sure to turn off auto-updates in System Prefs.

[maddz]

The .txt method worked up until earlier this month - when I ended up with both the .txt file and the updates folder and got auto-upgraded to 1.31. Reverting to an older version, and setting folder permissions to Read only worked for a while although I kept having to dismiss the pop-up, then it happened again. I'll see what happens now I've set the updates folder to no access.

I have started looking at using Kobo instead. That's also annoying because I have to keep ADE 2.0 running, and when I go full 64-bit, I will have to look at Parallels to keep it going.

[jhowell]

Thanks odamizu. I have updated the first post to link to your instructions.

[odamizu]

Originally Posted by maddz

The .txt method worked up until earlier this month - when I ended up with both the .txt file and the updates folder and got auto-upgraded to 1.31. Reverting to an older version, and setting folder permissions to Read only worked for a while although I kept having to dismiss the pop-up, then it happened again. I'll see what happens now I've set the updates folder to no access.

@maddz — Which older version of K4Mac are you using that keeps getting auto-updated? And what macOS?