DeDRM Application for Windows XP and above

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Post updated on 22nd March, 2013

System Requirements: Windows XP and above.

The simplest way to remove the DRM from your ebooks is to use calibre and the DeDRM calibre plugin, as described in my post DeDRM plugin for calibre: the simplest option for removing DRM from most ebooks. If you don’t want to use calibre, for whatever reason, here is an alternative.

The DeDRM application identifies an ebook’s format, and then removes the DRM from that ebook by running the appropriate DRM removal python script.

Installing the DeDRM Application

  1. Install Python

    • Download ActivePython 2.7.2 (or later 2.7.x version) for Windows (x86) from http://www.activestate.com/activepython/downloads.
      (Do not download the ActivePython for Windows (64-bit, x64) version, even if you are running 64-bit Windows, nor any version 3.0 later. Do not use the version from python.org instead, as it is missing some needed libraries)
    • Double-click the installer “ActivePython-2.7.2.5-win32-x86.msi” to run it. Accept the default options.

  2. Install PyCrypto

    • Download “PyCrypto 2.1 for 32bit Windows and Python 2.7” from http://www.voidspace.org.uk/python/modules.shtml#pycrypto.
    • Unzip it (by right-clicking and selecting “Extract All…”). This will produce a file “pycrypto-2.1.0.win32-py2.7.exe”.
    • Double-click the installer “pycrypto-2.1.0.win32-py2.7.exe” to run it. Accept the default options.

  3. Install the DeDRM application

    • Download the latest tools zip archive (link in this post).
    • Unzip the tools archive (by right-clicking and selecting “Extract All…”).
    • Open the folder “DeDRM_Application_Windows” that’s in the unzipped tools folder.
    • Read the “DeDRM_App_ReadMe.txt” file that’s in the “DeDRM_Application_Windows” folder!
    • Drag the “DeDRM_App” folder from the “DeDRM_Application_Windows” to your “My Documents” folder or wherever is convenient for you.
    • Open the “DeDRM_App” folder you’ve just moved, and make a short-cut of the “DeDRM_Drop_Target.bat” file (right-click/Create Shortcut). Drag the shortcut file onto your Desktop.

Using the DeDRM Application

To remove DRM from a Kindle for PC or an Adobe Digital Edition ebook, just drag & drop the ebook file onto the “DeDRM_Drop_Target.bat” shortcut when the application is not running.

For other ebooks, you will need to enter some extra information. Run the DeDRM application by double-clicking “DeDRM_Drop_Target.bat” shortcut to access the configuration dialogs.

To remove DRM from several ebooks or folders of ebooks at once, just drag & drop the files and folders onto the “DeDRM_Drop_Target.bat” shortcut when it is not running.

Notes

eReader ebooks: The output from an encrypted eReader file is a .pmlz zip file of the unencypted PML and images. Calibre can import the PMLZ file and convert to other formats.

Amazon Topaz ebooks: Some Amazon Kindle ebooks are in a format known as Topaz. This AppleScript will remove the DRM from the Topaz files, but to allow the file to be converted into other formats, the Topaz format must be converted during the de-drming process. The end result is that you end up with two files from one Topaz format ebook. One is the text (& pictures) of the book in HTML format created from the OCR text that’s stored in the Topaz file. Another is a set of SVG page images which very closely resemble the pages of the book the Topaz file was created from. For most purposes, you’ll only need the HTML file, but if the OCR is poor, you might want to unzip the folder of SVG images to check the pages or convert them to an image based PDF file.

Anti-Piracy Notice

Please only use this application for gaining full access to your own ebooks for archiving/converson/convenience. De-drmed ebooks should not be uploaded to open servers, torrents, or other methods of mass distribution. No help will be given to people doing such things. Authors, retailers and publishers all need to make a living, so that they can continue to produce books for us to read. Don’t be a parasite.

About the Windows DeDRM Application

This application is written in Python, and can be opened and edited using any good text editor.

— Alf.