Skip Navigation
Books @lemmy.world
gedaliyah @lemmy.world

Finally succeeded in removing DRM from my Kindle Library!

I've tried a couple times over the years to use Calibre to de-DRM my library. Previous attempts ended in failure. This community helped me find a way to fix my audio books, which inspired me to take one last shot at my kindle library.

I was able to follow this post comment and use a couple other comments to troubleshoot. Sorry for the Reddit link, but it's what worked for me. I'll include the text of the post in the comments below.

This method requires using Windows, but does not require a physical device as other methods that I'd found. The key points that worked for me we're using the correct program versions linked in this post and comments.

Another comment noted that changing the library download location in Kindle was a key to this outcome. I don't understand why that would be, but it turned out to be the case for me. The first try did not work, but once I changed the download location, deleted the old downloads, and re-downloaded the library everything went smoothly. Even the comic books worked!

I finally own the books that I've purchased over the years.

10 comments

  • Comment from bearCatBird:

    HERE IS WHAT WORKS AS OF AUGUST 2024 (Windows 10)

    NOTE: if these instructions don't work for you, check the replies to my comment for updates from people. I can't always update these instructions to include various work-arounds people have found.

    Thank you to u/toobnugget for the versions and more instructions, it also worked for me. Here's additional information to help people out. Just do it all in this order.

    NOTE: If any of the links are broken, try pasting the broken URL into waybackmachine.org and look for files from today's date (8/12/24) or earlier.

    CONFIRM ALL SOFTWARE IS UNINSTALLED

    1. If you had previous versions of the software installed, uninstall them.
    2. Then confirm there are no lingering data files with user settings. For example, with kindle, remove these lingering directories if they exist. C:\Users

      <USER>

      \AppData*\Amazon C:\Program Files\Amazon C:\Program Files (x86)\Amazon C:\ProgramData\Amazon
    3. You can also clear your registry (as described here) but I would save this as a last resort and only do this if you're unable to get the full instructions from this post to work.

    CALIBRE INSTALLATION

    NOTE: if you want to use a kindle e-ink device, see step 2 of u/OccasionallyPrincess's comments here and also u/SeniorSiesta's comment here.

    1. Download and install Calibre 7.13 (download here) (Some people tested with newer versions (7.2.1) and said it works, but I haven't verified.)
    2. In Calibre install the KFX input plugin (see OP's instructions up top), restart Calibre
    3. Download the DeDRM v10.0.9 (download here, the zip file at the bottom called DeDRM_tools_10.0.9.zip, then extract the zip to a folder.)
      NOTE: Some people had better luck using the alpha version of DeDRM. See this post here for more information if v10.0.9 isn't working for you.
    4. In Calibre install the DeDRM files (see OP's instructions up top), restart Calibre

    KINDLE INSTALLATION

    NOTE: Some people had to turn off WiFi and unplug ethernet so they were 100% offline when installing Kindle to avoid automatic updates before disabling it in settings.

    NOTE: Mac Users, you can probably download newer versions of the kindle app, as confirmed by this post.

    1. Download and install Kindle 2.4.0(70904)

    https://kindleforpc.s3.amazonaws.com/70904/KindleForPC-installer-2.4.70904.exe

    See u/Tilduke 's response here for more information.

    (Other sites: download here or here or here)

    6a) Disable your internet

    • Many people needed to disable their internet/wifi temporarily for step 6b

    6b) Launch Kindle (don't login if possible), then go to

    • Tools > Options > General > disable "Automatically install updates..."
    • Tools > Options > Content > define a new path to save the kindle books you download
    • Finally, re-enable internet and Login (For more information about this step, see this comment)

    7 ) Select a book, right click, download

    CONFIRM THE DRM IS REMOVED

    8 ) Find the book you just downloaded from Kindle in the new path (it will be the files that are newest, since they won't have book titles), select the .azw file, and drag it into Calibre. (Do not use the "Add Books" function.)

    NOTE: Some people had better luck NOT dragging in the file and instead loaded it from the menu. See this comment for more information.

    9 ) Once loaded in Calibre, right-click the book > view > view with calibre e-book viewer (if the book opens successfully, then the DRM has been removed. Use pgup and pgdn to see the pages). Close the viewer.

    CONVERT THE BOOK

    NOTE: This example shows conversion to EPUB, but you can convert to any format you want.

    10 ) In Calibre, right click the book > Convert books > convert individually

    11 ) Choose EPUB on the upper right, then click OK to export

    12 ) If you want to change the location where Calibre exports the book, go to preference (CTRL + P) > click "Run Welcome wizard" at the bottom > then define a new folder for your calibre books to be saved. This folder will be where the book saves when you drag in the .azw file and also where the .epub exports.

    For more context, see: https://www.reddit.com/r/Calibre/comments/1c2ryfz/2024_guide_to_dedrm_kindle_books/lhtah7p/

  • Why don’t you just make a post about what you did instead of this wall of text that says, go to Reddit?

    • I'll include the text of the post in the comments below.

      Edit: Now available - see comments.

    1. get a free vpn (like proton)
    2. buy book with drm
    3. pirate book conscience-free

    fuck drm, but there are much easier ways to circumvent it.

  • KFX is such a pain. It's is one of the reasons I don't buy from Kindle (the other one being that I don't want to give Amazon money). I don't know if this is possible for you, but Kobo ebooks, so far anyway, are much easier to remove DRM from. As a big bonus, you're not buying from Amazon.

    • Absolutely!

      This is my library from years ago, before I knew any better. It's honestly split between Amazon and Nook from those years. Since quitting that, I've been using Libby (and its predecessor) almost exclusively to check out eBooks and audiobooks from the library. I don't often have much interest in re-reading, but it is also nice nice to own certain books, and there are some that I re-read or use as reference.

      New books will be coming from more friendly sources. I've learned my lesson!

10 comments