How to de-DRM Kindle books on Windows 10 (2021 edition).

[reddragdiva]

Here is how to de-DRM the books you damn well paid for. You can also convert them to ePubs if you like.

Rather than the old AZW format, Kindle for PC now tries to download Amazon's new KFX format by preference.

You need Kindle for PC no later than 1.26, you need to nobble the KFX format, and you need to block Kindle for PC from its aggressive auto-updating. (And always say "no" when it asks you to update.)

This does not always work. Amazon try super-hard to beat all possible DRM cracking schemes, whether you "bought" the book or not. I expect to tweak these instructions further.

The instructions below are for Kindle for PC 1.17, which is from 2016. But it seems to work for me, for now.

If you're on Linux, as I am: Kindle for PC doesn't work in Wine, and I couldn't be bothered with the faff to set up DeDRM standalone. So I use Windows 10 in a virtual machine, e.g. VirtualBox. I don't think you need to authenticate it — I certainly didn't. Just download the ISO from Microsoft and authenticate at your leisure, or maybe never. I gave my Windows VM 2GB RAM. Taylor Swift says set UAC to full.

If you're on a Mac, I have only very old how-to sites; if you de-DRM your own Kindle books, please post any guides you use, and I'll link them. I've had one report that an ancient Kindle for Mac 1.12 and Calibre with DeDRM work, following instructions similar to the ones below.

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WHAT YOU NEED:

• Kindle for PC 1.17.44183 (direct link on Internet Archive)
• Calibre
• DeDRM
• KFX Input

STEPS TO SET THIS UP:

1. Uninstall your present Kindle for PC. Just set it on fire. Delete every trace.

2. The tricks in this post won't work with Kindle later than 1.26, so you need to go fishing for old versions.

   The file for 1.17.44183 is called: kindle-for-pc-1-17-44183.exe
   File size is 66,693,792 bytes
   The SHA-256 is: c3861198d6a18bf1eef6f6970705f7f57b5ff152b733abbadaadd4d1bff4be17

   This file is mostly to be found on variably reputable download sites. So CHECK THE SHA-256 SUM, e.g., here.

3. Once you've verified this is the genuine Kindle 1.17, and not virus-riddled malware, install it. Now close the application.

4. Attempt to disable KFX by removing the KFX tester. Open the CMD app and run:

   ren %localappdata%\Amazon\Kindle\application\renderer-test.exe renderer-test.xxx

5. Kindle for PC auto-upgrades even when you tell it not to. So we need to disable its ability to update. Run the following in CMD by hand, or as a batch file (sourced from here):

   @echo off
   set KINDLE=%LocalAppData%\Amazon\Kindle
   if not exist "%KINDLE%\application\Kindle.exe" goto :nokindle
   if exist "%KINDLE%\storage" if not exist "%KINDLE%\storage\" del /Q "%KINDLE%\storage"
   if exist "%KINDLE%\updates" rmdir /S /Q "%KINDLE%\updates"
   echo This file disables Kindle for PC downloads. > "%KINDLE%\updates"
   echo Kindle for PC downloads are now disabled
   goto :exit
   :nokindle
   echo Cannot disable downloads - Kindle for PC is not installed at expected location
   :exit
   pause

6. Download and open the DeDRM zip file. Inside that you will find a folder called "DeDRM_calibre_plugin", and inside that you will find a file called "DeDRM_plugin.zip". Drag that second zip file to your Downloads folder (don't unzip it).

7. Download the KFX Input plugin (don't unzip it). Hopefully you'll never need it, but it's there if you do.

8. Open Calibre. Open "Preferences". Go to "Plugins". Click "Load plugin from file". Load"DeDRM_plugin.zip" and "KFX Input.zip". Close Calibre (so that it'll load the plugin next time it starts).

9. Open the Kindle app, log yourself in, and download your books. (You need to log into the Kindle app to generate your DRM key that DeDRM then uses.)

   In the Kindle app, go into Tools->Options->General and untick "Automatically install updates when they are available without asking me."

10. Open Calibre again, ready for the next step.

11. Open Windows Explorer. Under your username, you should have a folder "Documents\My Kindle Content". This should have several folders, each with an ebook in them. Go to the search box at top right, and search here for ".azw", which will conveniently list them all.

12. Select all the .azw files, and drag them to the Calibre window. This should load them all, readably.

    If Calibre shows the format as AZW3, MOBI or KFX, you're probably OK. If it's KFX-ZIP, that DRM hasn't been cracked yet.

13. If it's KFX, you want to convert to ePub, so anything can read it. Select all the new books in Calibre. Right-click, select "Convert books->Bulk convert". Just use the defaults, you can do it again if you want to fiddle with stuff.

14. If you get errors on KFX conversion in Calibre, go "Preferences->Input options->Allow conversion to complete even if errors are detected", and check the conversion log to see if it tells you anything useful. Check for updated versions of the KFX and DeDRM plugins, and see if those help.

You now have a pile of .epub/.azw/.mobi files in various subfolders of "Documents\Calibre Library". You can search for ".epub" or whatever here if you want to select them all and drag them to some convenient place.

Previously: the 2017 version of this post.