Exactly how to remove DRM

Preparing

DeDRM works on books for:

• older E-ink Kindles,
• older versions of Kindle for PC or Mac,
• Adobe Digital Editions 2.0.1.

It requires workarounds for:

• E-ink Kindles with firmware later than 5.6.5: Instead of downloading books to the device as normal, instead choose that device for "download & transfer via USB",
• Kindle for PC or Mac later than version 1.26: Disable KFX format downloads,
• Barnes & Noble nookbooks: If you do not already have your key, you will need to manually retrieve it: https://www.aricrenzo.com/2019-12-13-Liberate-Your-Nook-Ebooks/.

It does not work on books from:

• Kindle Fire,
• Kindle for Android or iOS.

1a: Books from Kindle for PC or Mac

TODO: The instructions here should possible be merged with those from this forum post: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=283371

First off, you must decide if you want to use the KFX format or not.

• If you want to use the KFX format, you must use Kindle v1.26 or earlier:

  Version 1.26 Exe Archive: https://keybase.pub/koumaza/Archive/kindle-for-pc-1-26-55076.exe

• To disable KFX downloads for Kindle for PC v1.30:

  • Download the lastest version of Kindle from Amazon
  • Install Kindle. The Kindle app will open automatically after installation. Go to Settings and disable automatic updates. Then immediately close it.
  • Go here and download the attached zip file. Unzip it and double click on the cmd file. It will automatically open the Kindle app with KFX download disabled
  • Download any book from the Kindle app. It will be downloaded in the AZW3 format (not the KFX format)

• To disable KFX downloads for Kindle for PC v1.24 or earlier, rename renderer-test as described here. The last PC version in which KFX can be disabled using this method is 1.24.3 (51068).

  (The 1.24 download link is dead. You can use 1.17 instead.)

• To disable KFX downloads for Kindle for PC v1.17, it is not necessary to do anything, as it is disabled by default

  Version 1.17 Exe Archive: https://keybase.pub/koumaza/Archive/kindle-for-pc-1-17-44183.exe

3. Install, launch, and register this Kindle installation with your Amazon account credentials. For some reason, if you use kindle 1.17 you might not be able to login with your credential, if you have this issue, follow the fix in this tread : https://github.com/apprenticeharper/DeDRM_tools/issues/1345

4. Go into Kindle's settings, and disable the auto-update. Otherwise, when you exit the program, it will update to the latest version, which does not work with DeDRM.

1b: Books from Adobe Digital Editions (ADE)

Start ADE and go into the settings and choose "Authorize computer", and sign in with an Adobe ID.

2: Install Calibre

On Windows or Mac

Install Calibre and the DeDRM plugin on the same machine (and user) as the book source (Kindle, or Adobe Digital Editions (ADE)),

so that DeDRM can automatically retrieve the decryption key.

Alternatively

You can install Calibre/DeDRM elsewhere

On Linux

Copy the Kindle key to DeDRM manually, see below.)

• Calibre 4.x works with the current releases of DeDRM (up to 6.8.0)
• Calibre 5.x does not work with DeDRM, until DeDRM 7.0.0 is released in the future.

i.e. You must install Calibre v4.x to use DeDRM.

https://calibre-ebook.com/download

3: Install DeDRM Plugin

1. Download Latest Release From: apprenticeharper / DeDRM_tools / releases

   (E.g. DeDRM_tools_{version}.zip)

2. Extract the above zip to find DeDRM_Plugin.zip

3. Install

   1. Open Calibre

   2. Preferences > Plugins > Load plugin from file

   3. Select DeDRM_Plugin.zip (not DeDRM_tools_{version}.zip)

      If this produces an long error message:

      • Check you are using the correct versions, re-read "Install Calibre" above.
      • Check you are selecting the correct zipfile, re-read this section.

4. Configure (Linux only)

If you installed Calibre on Linux or different machine/user

Than your Kindle for PC/Mac for other reasons, then get your Kindle.

For PC key

1. By running the kindlekey.py script.
2. Add this key to the DeDRM plugin configuration.

(TODO: detail or link to exactly how to do this. Also, what to do for ADE?)

Remove DRM

1a. For Kindle

Launch Kindle for PC/Mac & login.

Download the book from which you want to remove DRM. (Use Right-Click)

It will be downloaded to C:\Users\username\Documents\My Kindle Content\***\***.azw

1b: For Adobe Digital Editions (ADE)

Open the ACSM file in ADE, to get the Adobe DRM PDF/EPUB.

2. Import the book into Calibre

Use any of the UI methods to import the book: Drag-and-drop, the import wizard, etc.

Important: DRM is removed when importing books to Calibre, not when converting to other formats.

3. This is the end of the process. Good job on your hard work & enjoy your book.

With reference to

1. From @ElleKayEm https://github.com/apprenticeharper/DeDRM_tools/issues/1328#issuecomment-712930550