A few months ago I posted a how-to post on removing DRM from Kindle ebooks, and to my surprise it is one of the most read and most shared posts on this blog.
Clearly that is a sign that lots of readers need help in this area, so today I’d like to share a similar set of instructions for removing DRM from ebooks purchased from Barnes & Noble. The process is fairly similar to the steps needed to remove Kindle DRM. Both require calibre, and both require installing a plugin which will do the work for you.
- These instructions are written in order to assist the average user in protecting their purchases. I did not write it to assist in committing piracy; I believe in buying content, when possible. But I also believe in controlling the content I buy and that is why I strip the DRM.
- Note that these instructions are Windows only, and some details will be different between the various versions of Windows. They were also written without the permission or participation of Kovid Goyal, the creator of calibre.
First Things First
You need to download and install these apps on your computer. If you have any of them then you do not need to install them again:
Calibre is of course the ebook library management tool. I’ve mentioned it once or twice, and that’s what you’re going to use to remove the DRM. And Nook4PC is the most straightforward way to download the ebooks. Note that you will need to specifically download them and not simply double click on a title; you can find the download button under the options button for each title. Look in the library menu.
Edit: A reader has pointed out that if you have a Nook then you don’t have to install Nook4PC. Calibre can pull the ebooks off your Nook automagically.
Set up your account with B&N and make sure you download the ebooks you bought. Install calibre. While they’re being installed, go download this ZIP file full of plugins:
Got everything installed? Good.
- UnZip the ZIP file you just downloaded.
- Launch calibre. When it’s open, look at the icons on the top row. There’s one on the far right called “Preferences”. Click on it. See Pic 1.
- It will bring up a new window with a bunch of icons. Look on the bottom row for the one that says “plugins”. Click it. See Pic 2.
- And now you’ll get another new window. Look at the buttons on the bottom row. Click on the one that says “load plugin from file”. See Pic 3.
- Use the file browser window to find the folder you downloaded. Open it, and then open the DeDRM_calibre_plugin folder.
- There should only be a single ZIP file in that folder, and it should be called “DeDRM_plugin”. Double click to select it.
Here’s where things get a tad difficult. Before this plugin will work you will need to configure it. You should see the plugin you just installed highlighted in the menu. Click on the button at the bottom of the menu that says “customize plugin”. See Pic 4.
Type in the credit card number and name used to purchase the ebooks. Separate the name and CC number with a comma. If you bought ebooks with multiple credit cards, you can enter them on the same line. Just separate the name-number pairs with a colon. Like (name,number: name:number). See Pic 5.
The name you need to type in might be the one associated with your shipping address. That’s how mine worked.
Note: If you cannot find the older CC info, enter a current number into your account at B&N. Delete the older copies of the ebooks bought with the older credit cards and download them again. This will let you use the current cc info to de-DRM the ebooks. (I just tried this and it worked.)
Final Step: Shut down calibre and launch it again. Some times the plugin won’t kick in until you after you do this.
At this point the plugin should be working, but we won’t know until you try it for the first time. You’ll need to copy over the ebooks you downloaded, which you should be able to find inside a folder inside the My Documents folder. Copy and paste the files into calibre.
Edit: Or, you can let calibre copy the ebooks off your Nook via the USB cable.
Try to read them with calibre. If you can do so then you succeeded in removing the DRM (or the files didn’t have DRM in the first place). If you cannot read them, try to reenter the credit card info. Then try to copy the files over to calibre again.
Addendum: There are files which Nook4PC won’t download. That app doesn’t support everything B&N sells, so for some ebooks you will need to get the files off your smartphone of tablet and then copy them into calibre. The name,number pair you entered above should work to remove the DRM.
![1[1]](http://www.the-digital-reader.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/11.jpg)
![2[1]](http://www.the-digital-reader.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/21.jpg)
![3[1]](http://www.the-digital-reader.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/31.jpg)
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or one of the retailers on
Who wrote the software (plug-in?) that I’m giving my credit card info to in order to decrypt the DRM? How do I know that my CC account won’t be compromised by using this software?
Also, isn’t this plug-in in direct violation of the DMCA? How are they getting around that?
Good point. This is definitely a reason to not use this plugin – if not for the fact that it has been used by thousands of other users without repercussion.
I would just be wary that you’re using a piece of software that is probably illegal (not illegal to use – illegal to produce and distribute according to DMCA), and you don’t know who wrote it (or possibly modified the version you’re about to use somewhere along the way), and then you’re blindly handing it your credit card info.
As a software engineer, that’s just a bit too spooky for me. If the source is available and you can audit and build it yourself, that would go a long way toward putting a mind at ease, or if the software was produced by a company that could be sued if they were caught selling valid CC accounts on the black market. That would be another indication that the software was somewhat legitimate. But apparently there are neither of these assurances with this particular plug-in, so who knows what it’s doing with your CC number or any other personal info on your machine.
Besides, let’s be honest here – you actually have no idea if those “thousands of other users” had their CC numbers stuffed away in a Russian database of stolen credit cards somewhere. What you probably meant to say was, “…except for the fact that I haven’t heard of anyone getting their CC account compromised by using what appears to be a popular plug-in.”
The source _is_ available. The plugin is a ZIP file wrapped around a php script. You can look at the php any time you want.
And I do know of the person who developed this one originally as well as indirectly know the person maintaining it.
Anyone who is concerned about using the Calibre DRM-removal software can limit their potential risk from their credit card number being illegitimately used. Simply buy ebooks using only Visa gift cards with a low starting balance. Gift cards are often available at banks and grocery stores, and can be acquired without any fee for just the cash value of the starting balance.
You do not need Nook for PC . All my B&N ebooks download straight to cabilre using both windows and linux, with the plugin installed.
Thanks, but I tried that. The website won’t let me download the ebooks.
I trust Apprentice Alf, Nate Hoffelder, and Kovid Goyal (I also think Americans will vote smart in November, so take my opinion with a hardy dose of scepticism). It doesn’t change the fact that B&N encoding your credit card information into the DRM scheme was a classically stupid thing to do. This is the single reason I will buy no ebooks from B&N. I’d choose them over Amazon else. It’s only a matter of time before credit card information is cracked from people’s B&N ebooks. That’s just the way the Great Game is played.
I download directly to Calibre too from the Barnes and Noble site. I have to put most Kobo books into Adobe before I can import them to Calibre though.
You’re assuming that the card is used in a reversible way. As I recall when I looked at ignoble some time ago, it isn’t – it’s hashed (ie, passed through a one-way algorithm) that uses the name and card number as initialization values.
Short of brute forcing for the two factors, there isn’t/shouldn’t be a way to extract the CC# from the book.
Will not work with fixed layout ebooks, which Calibre does not yet support.
Calibre eBook manager hits 0.9, adds better Android phone, tablet support, portable installer - Liliputing // Oct 1, 2012 at 12:43 pm
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THANK YOU SO MUCH !!!!!!!!
THE METHOD WORKS !!!!!
Thanks again for posting this, I followed the plugin’s instructions (enter B&N account name) and it wasn’t working, it was only after I read your post that the light bulb turned on and I used my mailing address name and everything worked like a charm.
For those paranoid souls (it’s only paranoid until it happens… so understandable) This is a pretty low risk endeavor, the source is all open code, you can poke around and see if there are any malicious links or IP’s hidden in there before you do anything.
I have tried this several time and can not get to work in my win 7.followed the instructions
And can’t get it to work.
The trick is to get your name and CC info exactly the same as given to B&N.
Yes, I used it on Win7. Followed the instructions as given but I didn’t use nook for PC, I just downloaded the file from B&N to my desktop and them added it to calibre.
WORKS GREAT. THANKS NATE.
Wife happy – books passing between my Nook and her Kobo.
I did everything I was suppose to do and nada. The message says, “this plugin no longer uses “.b64 keyfiles stored in calibre’s configuration directory. Do you have any existing key files there or anywhere that you’d like to migrate into the new plugin preferince method?” So no luck for me. Guess everything changed with the new calibre upgrade. Bummer.
I am having the same problem as Viv. Is there an updated plugin available?
I’m also having trouble getting this to work – it mentions the bit about .b64 – and I’m certain I entered my info right in the plugin key. I very much would like to know what else to try?
I’ve tried using all combination (full name,only first name, only last name, combined without space, email address) all with the same cc number I used to purchase the ebook. But none is works.
any other idea?
I am unable to download the Calibre program. I have made no less than 10 attempts in the last hour, and it continues to stall during download, at various points: 65%, 68%, 75%, 98%, etc.
Any ideas?
To be more secure, I updated my default BN credit card with one that never has a large balance. But that’s not how it works. Two things I had to pay attention to:
1) use the credit card with which the books were purchased
2) use the name I have under my shipping address (which is the name that is on the credit card, I think)
Then the key worked, using the latest version of Calibre updated today.
I did not understand this instruction: “You’ll need to copy over the ebooks you downloaded, which you should be able to find inside a folder inside the My Documents folder. Copy and paste the files into calibre.”
I just imported the epubs from the folder to which I had saved them on my pc.
Thanks a lot!
Does the plugin remove DRM from NOOK Comics? I think I have a different DRM removal plugin installed right now, and I recently tried copying the comic files from my tablet and adding them to Calibre, but I still get a DRM popup.
Plugin for new calibre v 0.9.5 works nicely – thanks!
Ref step 6 above, I didn’t get to “Ignobleepub.zip” to select. The new version of calibre allows to select “DeDRM_plugin.zip”. Then execute the “Pict 4″ instruction.
Pict 5 is not valid for the new calibre, which is now menu driven:
- select the appropriate reader format
- then select the green plus sign
I had to delete my previously added book and re-add the title for the DRM to remove.
Thanks, Gary. This fixed my problems! =D
Thanks, I need to update this post.
P.S. – Also, note that the “name” for the B&K (Nook) acct when configuring the plug in, needs to be the name on the B&K acct, not the name on the credit card used for purchase.