How do I find out the Root password for my Kindle?
If you want to go a step further and actually login to your Kindle’s command line interface (CLI) to try to troubleshoot a problem or run diagnostics yourself then you will need the root password for your device.
Kindle’s run a version of the Android Operating System. It is possible to discover the root password by using some Python code. Python is a popular modern programming language.
You first need to download Python, this is free and if not already on your PC can be downloaded from here: https://www.python.org/downloads/
You also need to know the serial number of your kindle. If it’s still working and you log in to it then you can find the serial number., it’s listed under Settings, then Device Info. You can also find the serial number if you login to your Amazon account, then click the Account & Lists drop down menu and choose “Your Content and Devices”. This can be a bit tricky to find, you have to click on device info first and then click on the burger menu (three lines) again to see the Device Info menu item.
Alternatively, if you have been following this guide and have a serial port connected to your kindle you will see it on the command line output, listed as S/N. Be careful what you do with your serial number, never publish it on any public sites, if someone spoofs it they can get access to buy books with your account or get your Kindle banned by misbehaving with your serial number so keep it private!
Once you have installed Python and know your serial number, use the following steps to determine the root password:
Windows Method to discover kindle root password:
1. Open a command prompt by clicking on Start/Run and typing in cmd
2. At the prompt type in Python then use the following lines of code to discover your root password:
(replace the license number in red below with your kindle’s serial number)
3. >>> import hashlib
4. >>> print(“fiona%s”%hashlib.md5(“90171111111111G1\n”.encode(‘utf-8’)).hexdigest()[13:16])
fiona123
In this example the output shows the root password is fiona123. The password is specific to the serial number yours will be different but you can find it out with this method.
How to login to Kindle as root?
Now you have the root password to your Kindle and a Serial port connected you can interrupt the boot and login as root. WIth your serial port connected and your terminal software (Teraterm or Putty) connected turn the Kindle on and watch the boot sequence, as it boots up repeatedly press the Enter key. This will escape the boot sequence and you’ll be left at the uboot prompt.