Kobo Aura HD - Linux Walkthrough - Registration bypass

Come home happy with your new Kobo Aura HD and Unbox your device

Try to download the Linux Kobo Client,
be pissed because there is no Linux Kobo Client,
Call and email all Kobo numbers/emails addresses and complain

Have a thee to calm down, and charge your device meanwhile

Take your Kobo Device again in your hands, and connect it to your linux machine via USB

Select "Language"

Select "Setup over Computer"

(before this selection the devices can not be mounted on your linux machine)
Just after that selection the device pops up as a VFAT device with the name KOBOeReader on your Linux machine

(if you do a mount command you see something like)

/dev/sdc on /run/media/myuserID/KOBOeReader type vfat (rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime,uid=1000,gid=1000,fmask= 0022,dmask=0077,codepage=437,iocharset=ascii,short name=mixed,showexec,utf8,flush,errors=remount-ro,uhelper=udisks2)

If you now browse with nautilus or nemo to the /run/media/myuserID/KOBOeReader folder it appears empty but it really contains 2 hidden folders

.adobe-digital-editions
.kobo


open a terminal and verify the 2 hidden folders with
> ls -la

and now go into .kobo/ folder


> cd /run/media/myuserID/KOBOeReader/.kobo/
> ls

you will see a KoboReader.sqlite file that we need to edit

but we like to have a backup copy of the KoboReader.sqlite as it came with the device,
just in case we make an error

> cp KoboReader.sqlite BackupKoboReader.sqlite

We will be using the sqlite tool, so make sure sqlite isinstalled on your system.
Use your package manager to install sqlite first or use something like

yum install sqlite
(on a Fedora/RHEL/CentOS machine as root user)

Now we are going to edit the KoboReader.sqlite,
put in some fake information so that the device works under Linux,
and we will never buy a Kobo book from their store until they have a Kobo Linux Client


But first let's see what info is already in the database :

> sqlite3 KoboReader.sqlite '.dump user'


This is the result:
<start here
PRAGMA foreign_keys=OFF;
BEGIN TRANSACTION;
CREATE TABLE user(UserID TEXT NOT NULL,UserKey TEXT NOT NULL,UserDisplayName TEXT,UserEmail TEXT,___DeviceID TEXT,FacebookAuthToken TEXT,HasMadePurchase BIT DEFAULT FALSE,PRIMARY KEY (UserID));
INSERT INTO "user" VALUES('61df00a6-XXXX-48XX-b349-4367651fcab5','e2015759-a200-42e4-b58c-XXXX','trilogybundle@kobo.com','trilogybundle@kobo .com','11:22:33:44:55:66',NULL,'FALSE');
COMMIT;
ends here>


Now add some fake ID stuff, enter sqlite3 KoboReader.sqlite

> sqlite3 KoboReader.sqlite
SQLite version 3.7.17 2013-05-20 00:56:22
Enter ".help" for instructions
Enter SQL statements terminated with a ";"
sqlite>


you now have a sqlite prompt where you can insert that magic string with garbage registration info,
so copy and paste the next line after the sqlite> prompt

INSERT INTO "user" VALUES('Linux User','Linux User','LinuxUser@mailinator.com','LinuxUser@mailin ator.com',NULL, NULL,'false');


finish off with a .quit command to get back to your bash prompt

Admire your work with a new dump of the database

sqlite3 KoboReader.sqlite '.dump user'

sqlite3 KoboReader.sqlite '.dump user'
PRAGMA foreign_keys=OFF;
BEGIN TRANSACTION;
CREATE TABLE user(UserID TEXT NOT NULL,UserKey TEXT NOT NULL,UserDisplayName TEXT,UserEmail TEXT,___DeviceID TEXT,FacebookAuthToken TEXT,HasMadePurchase BIT DEFAULT FALSE,PRIMARY KEY (UserID));
INSERT INTO "user" VALUES('61df00a6-XXXX-48XX-b349-4367651fcab5','e2015759-a200-42e4-b58c-XXXX','trilogybundle@kobo.com','trilogybundle@kobo .com','11:22:33:44:55:66',NULL,'FALSE');
INSERT INTO "user" VALUES('Linux User','Linux User','LinuxUser@mailinator.com','LinuxUser@mailin ator.com',NULL,NULL,'false');
COMMIT;


umount the kobo via nautilus or umount and disconnect your kobo device


It will now come back with the "meet your eReader" and your are done