The Kindle has more restrictions than any of the fantastic e-readers now on the market. Although Kobo is a close second, adding third-party software to your Libra Color is much easier than doing it on your Kindle. These four simple yet scary procedures will help you jailbreak your Kindle.
How to install the WinterBreak jailbreak
Now let us explore that lovely filesystem.
The Kindle’s file system is made accessible in the initial step of the jailbreaking process, allowing the addition of new apps that Amazon has not reviewed. Here’s how:
1.Download the WinterBreak package. It comes in a .tar.gz file, which you’ll decompress (we recommend using 7-Zip).
This is a .tar file within a .gz file, so you may have to decompress the .gz file to access the .tar file, which you will then decompress.
2.Put your Kindle in airplane mode and plug it into your PC.
3.Copy the files you decompressed to the root drive of your Kindle.
4.After that’s done, eject the Kindle from your computer.
5.Restart your Kindle.
6.When it powers back up, go to the Kindle Store by tapping the shopping cart next to the search bar at the top of the UI.
7.You are prompted to turn airplane mode off. Tap Yes.
8.Tap the WinterBreak icon when it appears.
After about 30 seconds, text covers the screen. Don’t worry about what it says because your Kindle is jailbroken. Before we can take advantage of that, we need to do a few more things.
How to install the hotfix for WinterBreak
Don’t let Amazon take your jailbreak away
The hotfix is software that (in theory) prevents firmware updates from undoing the jailbreak. Think of it as an Amazon vaccine for your jailbreak.
- Download the latest hotfix. It is a .bin file.
- Connect your Kindle to your PC.
- Copy the hotfix file into your Kindle’s root directory.
- Eject your Kindle from your PC and disconnect the USB cable.
- Update your Kindle. On the Kindle Basic 2022, it’s under Device options in the Settings menu.
- After the Kindle updates and restarts, find and open the Run Hotfix book in your library.
Your Kindle restarts again. Every time you update your Kindle, you’ll run this program to make sure your jailbreak persists through the new update.
How to install MRPI and KUAL
Trust us, this is as important as the jailbreak
Now that we have root access and have “vaccinated” our jailbreak, we need a way to install programs and a way to launch them. Enter the MobileRead Package Installer and the Kindle Unified Application Launcher.
- Download and extract MRPI and KUAL, which are wrapped in .tar.xz files.
- Connect your Kindle to your PC.
- From the MRPI archive, copy the extensions and mrpackages directories into your Kindle’s root directory.
- Go to the KUAL archive you decompressed, find update_KUALBooklet_*_install.bin, and copy it into the mrpackages directory you added.
- Eject your Kindle and disconnect the USB cable.
- In your Kindle’s Search bar, enter ;log mrpi and tap Enter.
If everything goes as planned, you’ll see a “Hush, little baby” message near the bottom of the screen. Then, the Kindle UI resets. We got an error message, but our UI restarted successfully and a KUAL “book” appeared in our library.
Be cautious as you proceed.
Up until you unintentionally brick your Kindle, jailbreaking it is all fun and games. Then, it is a huge disappointment. We successfully jailbroken the 2022 basic Kindle without encountering any issues. However, read the MobileRead forum about this jailbreak and the creator’s advice about some of the issues you can run into when using different Kindle models with different firmware.
Is it worthwhile? Most likely. Although this jailbreak carries some danger, it is a good thing to not be the first to market because new upgrades are released every day. Additionally, books you wish to read on KOReader must be compatible with the Amazon ecosystem.
