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How to bypass Kobo wizard in Linux

·301 words·2 mins·
Books Troubleshooting Kobo
Table of Contents

Article on how to bypass Kobo wizard in Linux

Intro
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This article is a copy from Curtis Gedak in the following reference.

Kobo eReaders can no longer be set up using the Kobo Desktop on GNU/Linux (see warning below). Fortunately there is a work around to get your Kobo eReader working without a Kobo Account.

If you have a kobo reader stuck in the setup wizard as it happen to me (wifi got broken) there is a quick setup you can do to bypass the initial setup wizard.

Notice: This procedure was done in a old Kobo ebook reader, and is not guarantee that it will work on newer versions, use at your own risk

Issue
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Kobo ebook reader stuck on the initial setup phase. Wifi doesn’t work and plugging to a computer requires the windows software installed, which for linux users doesn’t not work.

Solution
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Create a dummy user on the device to bypass the initial setup

Pre-Requisites
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You need to install sqlitebrowser

Using the following code for Arch there should be a similar option Ubuntu or Fedora distributions

sudo pacman -S sqlitebrowser

Procedure
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  1. Plug you ebook reader via usb
    • You can check the mount points you should see a /media/your-user-name/KOBOeReader device . Assuming this path as reference
  2. Connect with SLQliteBrowser
sqlitebrowser /media/your-user-name/KOBOeReader/.kobo/KoboReader.sqlite
  1. Click on the Execute SQL tab and in the SQL string: section enter the following statement
insert into USER
  (UserID, UserKey, UserDisplayName, UserEmail, ___DeviceID)
values
  ("foo", "foo", "foo", "foo","foo");

  1. Save the changes

    • Save these changes by selecting the menu option: File -> Save Database or File -> Write Changes.

  2. Close the sqlitebrowser by selecting the menu option: File -> Exit.

  3. Safely unmount your Kobo eReader.

And voilá, your eReader should now boot up and display the QUICK TOUR screen

Reference
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