Block Kindle Special Offers – Easy and Free


Update 12/9/2020 – the latest update to my e-ink Kindle breaks this process. Stay tuned to see whether we can find a new method. If you know of one, post it in the comments!


While you’re here… My original justification for buying a Kindle was so I could test my ebooks. Check out Idle Feet Do the Devil’s WorkOverthinking the MarathonChasing the Runner’s High, R is for Running, Simple Rhythms: Poetry for Runners, and the Boston Marathon bombing benefit anthology, The 27th Mile.

——————————————————————-

Update (7/16/2012): Recently Amazon updated the firmware on my Kindle to v4.1.  The ads came back, but the procedure below worked to remove them again.  If I leave wireless off (it’s called “Airplane Mode” now), as I usually do to conserve battery life, the ads stay away.  But when I turn wireless back on, I get ads.

The Kindle is formatted as a FAT32 partition, so setting .assets to read-only doesn’t actually protect the file (or the folder).

Time for a new idea.  Good to know Amazon is paying attention, I guess 🙂

——————————————————————

Last week I bought a new Kindle for $79.  I saved $30 by buying the Kindle “with Special Offers”.  There are no ads while I’m reading, but banner ads appear at the bottom of menu screens and full-screen ads display when the Kindle powers down.  The ads change regularly, which makes them harder to ignore.

I could go online and pay Amazon the difference in cost to turn the Special Offers off, but it turns out there’s a free and easy way block the ads.  Here’s how you do it with Windows 7:

  1. Make sure your computer is configured to “Show hidden files, folders, and drives” and that it isn’t set to “Hide Protected Operating System Files“.
  2. Connect your Kindle to your computer with your USB cable.
  3. View your Kindle in Windows Explorer.  Open the system folder and you’ll find an .assets folder.

    .asset folder

    (Click for full-size image)

  4. Delete the .assets folder.
  5. Create an empty file in the system folder named .assets.  That keeps the Kindle from re-creating the .assets folder.  The easiest way is to create an empty file is to open the system folder, right-click on the list of files and folders in system, and select New->Text Document from the context menu.  That creates a file named New Text Document.txt.
  6. Rename the file you just created to “.assets.” (don’t include the quotes, but do include the periods on either side of assets). Make sure the “.txt” is removed from the end of the filename (you may have to disable ‘Hide extensions’).
  7. That’s it!

The Kindle stores Special Offers in folders inside the .assets folder.  When it can’t write to those folders, it assumes there’s no wireless connection and displays a default screensaver (or banner) :

default screensaver

I find this much less annoying than an ever-changing ad.  If I leave my Kindle off long enough, the screensaver changes one of a set of Amazon-supplied defaults, like this one:

Alt. screensaver

Other versions of the Kindle may act differently.  If you find you can’t stop the ads, or if you find another method that works better, let us know in the comments.


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241 thoughts on “Block Kindle Special Offers – Easy and Free

  • Matthew Flint

    I replaced the “.assets” directory with a file of the same name… made it read-only too, for good measure.

    Wonder if that’ll be more of a permanent solution?

  • ADTC

    In step 5, after you select New > Text Document, instead of leaving the file name as “New Text Document.txt” you could hit any alphabet key to change the name to (for example) “b.txt”. This way, in step 7 you will have a much shorter command to type, and you don’t even need the double quotes!:… rename b.txt .assets

    Although this tip gets rid of the rotating advertisements themselves, it still leaves a message asking you to connect wirelessly to download special offers. However, (big thanks to Matthew Flint!) it prevents Kindle from actually downloading ads when you connect to the internet, which is a good thing.

    As the Kindle 4 is a very new device, the hackers still haven’t figured out a way to permanently remove the ads system. I have tried all the simple hacks such as replacing the ads with my own picture (this worked ONCE before the ad system reverted to asking me to connect). All the more complex hacks such as jailbreaking, installing USBnetwork hacks, etc are applicable to K3 and I haven’t read even one report that they would work for K4. My guess is, they don’t.

    Anyway I will try more different attempts tomorrow and post any new developments. Meanwhile, this solution provides a good workaround until the Kindle experts can figure out a true solution to get rid of ads.

    One thing I’m interested to know if anyone who bought the ad-supported Kindle and later unsubscribed from ads (paying extra $30) would be able to check their Kindle’s “system” folder and report if there are any new files or any new changes to the configuration file.

    Btw, I have updated to Kindle OS 4.0.1

      • Anon7788990

        Hey I just posted a solution below to completely remove the ads and disable the ad system (totally ad-free Kindle). However, it doesn’t give any option to have custom screensavers (maybe it’s doable in the future with some other hack, but for now, the standard Amazon screensavers will be displayed).

        Of course if you’re happy with your pwnazon serving pics of your kids there’s no need to follow my solution. But just letting you know you can disable the ad system very easily.

      • paul

        If you ever want to unlock via Amazon from the UK (or anywhere out of the US) you can trick the Amazon US site.
        First I deregistered the kindle then made an amazon.com account and put in a US billing address – I made mine up entirely and Googled a zip code to match my chosen State- then put in my UK address as a 2nd address and put my credit card details for that. I then clicked the edit link on the ads column and selected my “US address” then my UK card for payment.
        It cost $40/£26 but was still much cheaper overall than getting the kindle from the UK.
        Hope this helps someone.
        I believe this to be new information but If this is posted somewhere else sorry I couldn’t find it.
        Paul

      • HR

        altering the DNS leaves all of your personal information open to whoever has access to that server. Most non-isp third-party DNS servers are just databases of unsuspecting users’ personal information (and passwords) which are sold to every evil person in the world.

  • Anon7788990

    Amazon will probably drop a nuclear bomb on my house for this. Here’s how you can get a COMPLETELY AD-FREE Kindle 4 (non-touch) without paying a single extra cent to Amazon. Your Kindle will behave EXACTLY as though you purchased the Ad-free version.

    Tested on Kindle 4 non-touch with latest OS 4.0.1. Theoretically, should work on older OS 4.0 also. Actually, steps x to y were tested on a 4.0 device, but the steps before that were never done on the device (It was never connected to the internet before doing this hack.) Theoretically this may even work on the Touch and Touch 3G version and other ad-supported Kindles.

    START FROM STEP 1 if you have already connected to internet, registered your Kindle and thus got ad loaded on your Kindle.

    SKIP TO STEP 10 if you have never connected to internet since you got your Kindle (That is, your Kindle is currently behaving as “ad-free” without even the “Please connect wirelessly to download sponsored offers” message, and is currently unregistered.)

    It may seem lengthy but trust me it’s quick to do. Just give it a full read to mentally plan out what you have to do, then start doing it.

    1. Connect Kindle to PC and allow USB mode.
    2. Copy out the “documents” folder and any other content you may have loaded on your Kindle. [“Copy out” means copy to your computer’s hard disk so that you can copy them back later.]
    3. Disconnect the Kindle from the USB cable.
    4. Wake your Kindle if needed. From Home screen, press Menu, go to Settings.
    5. Press Menu button again, go to Reset to Factory Defaults.
    6. Press Right to select “OK” then press the center key of D-pad.
    7. After a few seconds, Kindle will restart. Be patient.
    8. When you see the Language selection screen, choose your desired language (by default “English (United States)” and select “OK”.
    9. A few more seconds later, you will see the “Set Up Your Kindle” screen. DO NOT FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS ON THIS SCREEN! Not yet.

    10. Plug in your USB cable to Kindle and connect to your PC.
    11. Open the Kindle drive in your computer. If you did steps 1-9, you will find that the drive has been reformatted by Kindle and all your documents are now gone (including the dictionaries that Kindle came with!). This is why step 2 is important. If you skipped to step 10, your documents (if any) are not affected, and you must skip next step, go to step 13.
    12. (For those who did steps 1-9) Copy back the documents folder that you had copied out in step 2. You will be asked whether to replace two Kindle_User_Guide files. You can click “Don’t Copy” or say No to this question unless you want restore your last read page on the User Guide.
    13. Make sure hidden files can be seen by enabling the “Show hidden files, folders and drives” option.
    14. Open the “system” folder in your Kindle drive.
    15. Right-click an empty area and choose New > Text Document. Enter any alphabet to shorten the name to (for example) d.txt
    16. Go back to the Kindle drive, hold SHIFT on your keyboard and right-click the “system” folder.
    17. Choose “Open Command Window Here”
    18. In the black command window, enter the command “ren d.txt .assets” (no quotes, and replace d.txt with whatever filename you chose in step 15). Press ENTER key after typing command. Close command window once done. (IMPORTANT: Make sure you get the file name right, or you will have to start from step 1 again, even if you had skipped steps 1-9.)
    19. Open the system folder again, and right-click the .assets file, choose Properties.
    20. Place a checkmark on the “Read-only” option and click OK. (This step may not be necessary, but I did it so I’m mentioning it. You’re welcome to test without it and post your results.)
    21. Eject your Kindle and disconnect the USB cable.

    22. NOW is the time to “Set Up Your Kindle”. First of all, connect to a WiFi (internet). Once connected, register to your Amazon account.
    23. Once registration is complete, press the Home button (unless you wanna shop or read user guide, but you probably don’t wanna do that now).
    24. SURPRISE! No ads! Not convinced? Go to the Experimental Web browser and do some good amount of surfing. Go back to Home screen. STILL NO ADS! Awesome, huh? Not even the “Please connect wirelessly to download sponsored offers” banner! You won’t even find the “View Special Offers” option in the menu. Your screensavers will also have the same effect.
    25. Final step: Go to Settings and set the time, and ensure that your dictionary and other settings are set correctly and to your preference.

    Enjoy your ad-free Kindle at ad-supported Kindle’s price!

  • nyder

    Thanks for the info and thanks also to Anon7788990 for the added info about resetting it.

    Mine was a 4.0 version and it worked great. Followed all the instructions.

    thanks!

  • Dupe

    I pirate movies, music, and software all the time and even I find this “technique” to be very wrong. Call me a hypocrite but I pirate software and movies that I would not otherwise buy, period. I still buy video games, software, music, and movies that I actually like and enjoy. If I pirate something and end up enjoying it, then I buy it.

    This method, it is taking something that you obviously like and enjoy (Kindle) and cheating Amazon out of their money. Amazon chose to offer the kindle at a cheaper price since they would generate that revenue back from the ads.

    There is a difference even if you choose to ignore it.

    • Addison

      The money that Amazon is losing by selling the ad-supported Kindle at a cheaper price is made up by their deals with the sponsors that the ads come from. I doubt Amazon or the sponsors really care that (probably) less than 5% of Kindle users go through the effort of removing the ads.

    • bobo23423

      hypocrite.

      i doubt that you go out and buy every movie that you download and watch or song you listen to. you are cheating the movie studios and music studios out of their money. you would have had to pay if you went to the theater or even rented it from red box or bought it from itunes. even if you ended up not liking it.

      just because you like and enjoy does not make it right or wrong. not paying for something that is meant to be paid for is all wrong.

      i also like how the author plugs his ebooks at the end of the article. maybe someone trying this hack on their kindle should get these ebooks, remove any drm if there are any, and post the files out for the world to have for free. it would be a great way to test out your new ad-free kindle with some free books.

    • dimf

      LOL. Yeah, you are a huge hypocrite and your lecture is ridiculous.

      “It’s okay when I do it because I’ve managed to form a weak but convincing rationalization for myself… but what YOU guys are doing is WRONG!”

  • james

    this works, but you get a new banner at the bottom “Please connect wirelessly to download the latest Special Offers”

    also, I noticed my Kindle froze when I tried connecting with the experimental browser. I’m not sure if the browser was at fault of if the device was trying to download the offers and it wasn’t able to save it to .assets

  • Pamela

    I doubt Amazon cares… much… the folks that disable ads, weren’t going to click through anyway… BUT… Amazon’s ad revenue is based on the number of “eyes” they are selling… so… if 5% of the owners hack out the ads, then Amazon is misrepresenting/overstating the number of “eyes” to their advertisers… think about that…

    • Addison

      Point noted. But I believe 5% (or whatever the real number of hacked Kindles is) is WELL WITHIN an accepted margin of error for any representations Amazon makes about kindle users or any other data.

  • Piero Toffanin

    I’ve had some time to work on this and put my results in this page: http://www.pierotoffanin.com/2011/12/how-to-remove-ads-from-your-ad-supported-kindle-4-for-free/

    It describes the same method wrote by several people to simply add a .assets file in the system folder but it also describes how you can replace the ads with custom images with the DNS spoof method. I wrote my own version of the server that doesn’t require a an install of Apache to work.

  • PeterGun

    I tried this with the Kindle Touch, but unfortunately I cannot find the system folder. Mine only has the following:

    .active_content
    audible
    documents
    music
    tts

    There is no system folder. I have show hidden folders active as well.

    • robertrulez

      I had the same problem too on vista. The solution is to go to file settings and disable “hide protected operating system files”. Once I did that it showed the system folder.

  • hello,world

    I can confirm that the instructions in this post works for the Kindle Touch. The ads don’t show but a message says to connect to wifi to receive the offers.

    I can also confirm that Anon7788990’s instructions works on the Kindle Touch to eliminate all ads as well as the message box asking to connect to wireless!!!

    For those on a mac, go to the terminal and type:
    defaults write com.apple.Finder AppleShowAllFiles YES
    Then, either restart your computer or option-command-esc to get the force quit window…select finder and click “relaunch” … you should then see the hidden files and folders (including files that begin with dots and the system folder) in the finder.

      • Anon7788990

        I think, on Mac OS X, you can directly create a file by the name “.assets” in step 15, thereby skipping steps 16, 17 and 18 (including the “ren d.txt .assets” command). The reason why you have to do steps 16, 17, 18 on a Windows system is because Windows doesn’t allow file names to start with a dot. I have seen Mac OS X allowing this though, but I could be wrong. If it doesn’t allow, search for Mac terminal commands for renaming files.

    • Maria

      I know this post is a few years old but just wanted to let you know THANK YOU! Worked like a charm, was all I needed to make this work. This should be included in the original instructions under “What to do for MAC” because it’s even easier than a PC since we can name folders leading with a period with no problems.

      anyways! thanks!

  • Sean

    Has anyone found any kind of negative impact from doing this yet? Someone mentioned in an earlier post that the web browser would freeze up. Whereas I won’t be using my Touch to browse the web much, if I find myself out and about and want to check scores or something, I may pull it up. Anyone else found this to be true? Thanks for the instructions on doing this!

  • Jal

    You don’t need to delete the .assets folder and make a new one. I just deleted the contents of the folder and it works just the same. I even shut it down and booted it back up, as well as surfed around for a bit in the browser – still no ads.

  • Liz

    I followed all of the steps regarding the “View hidden files and folders”, but I still can’t see the “System” folder when I view my Kindle in Windows Explorer. What could be going wrong?

  • mrmeem

    Another fine example of the moral decay of society brought about by the ability to steal something without getting caught, and then attempting to rationalize the behavior as OK or, worse, noble.

    Pathetic.

  • Dan

    Fix seems to work as indicated thanks – I think the ad-subsidized marketing and resulting user experience is terrible for consumers although it obviously had the intended effect for Kindle sales.

  • NinjaGorpalian

    I found a workaround taht makes the .assets folder creation easier just name a .zip folder that and it will give you no errors then extract tested and working on windows vista

  • akibbe02

    The instructions tell readers to replace a folder with a file. Instead of creating and renaming “New Text Document.txt”, the you need to create a new folder (New > Folder on the right click menu), and go with the default “New folder” name.

    Then open a command line per the instructions in the article, but instead of typing “rename ‘New Text Document.txt’ .assets”, type “rename ‘New folder’ .assets”.

    That got rid of the ads for me.

  • akibbe02

    DISREGARD MY LAST COMMENT. Follow Anon7788990’s instructions, using the file (d.txt > .assets) he mentioned, not a folder like I suggested. My method works, but it only yields the “Please connect to the Internet to download the latest Special Offers” banner per the instructions in the OP. Anon’s instructions give a completely banner-free experience.

  • Tiebian

    Update, for what it’s worth: Just bought an ad-free K-4 (don’t know if it’s 4.0 or 4.0x, but I assume the latter since I b ought it more recently than others on this thread). Using Windows XP, I double-checked with Control Panel>Folder Options>View>Advanced to make sure that Hidden Files/Folders are shown and Protected Operating System Files are not hidden.

    Then I plugged in my new Kindle (still a WiFi virgin). The Kindle screen told me to unplug it if I wanted to use it as a reader, and that I was “not charging.” (At that point I was already fully charged).

    I ignored this message and and opened up the Kindle drive in Control Panel. Looked in the System folder (whose icon, BTW, was for some reason fainter than the rest) and found no “.assets” folder, only two sub-folders, “com.amazon.ebook.booklet.reader” and “Search Indexes.” (Neither of these contained “.assets,” either).

    I unplugged the Kindle, plugged it in again, and this time got a screen that announced I was in USB Drive Mode. “If you want to read or shop…while continuing to charge…keep USB cable attahed, but eject Kindle from computer…”

    Went back into Control Panel and saw the same two folders plus a third, new folder labeled “.active-content-data.” This is the only filename in the directory with a leading period.

    Is this “.active-content-data” the new avatar of the “.assets” folder, Amazon’s latest attempt to block cracks? I hesitate to delete and replace it as described for the “.assets” folder, until I have a better idea of what it is and why it’s there. Anybody have an light to shed?

    The only other file in the Kindle driver was “Documents,” which contained the users’ guide and dictionaries.

    Unplugged

    • XuS

      Tiebian,

      If you scroll down to read user (Anon7788990) comment posted on Nov 29, 2011, he laid out a different method to achieving an ad-free kindle. I believe this method has been verified to work by other users judging by the comments to his post. From his instructions for a “virgin” kindle, you should not see a “.assets” folder initially. Instead, you are supposed to create a “.assets” folder by renaming a “.txt” file created in a previous step. Just read through his steps a few times before attempting. It shouldn’t be too difficult as his instructions are pretty detailed. Hope this helps.

      Xus

  • cliff

    YES!!!!!! thank you so much. my kindle was originally without ads… and it suddenly switched on me one day lol. Ive been waiting for the day that the ads would go away haha

  • cliff

    you could also just do a factory reset and not register your kindle. i get my books from in .mobi and .epub form from stuff i download so i dont really need to access the kindle store

  • Patrinio

    Kindle 5.1.0 – the Annon7788990 method does not work. .assets file gets overwritten by the folder and the ads just keep coming. bummed. If I had noticed the ads-free version… I would have made my girlfriend spend the extra bucks for my birthday. 🙂

    • Brett

      I’ve got a KT on 5.1.0 and it worked for me. Are you sure you’re using the right command line? What OS are you using on your computer?

  • Pako

    I did the process and works but if I connect my kindle to the internet the ads returns… I check the .assets file to read only but the ads still returns…

    • Pako

      For now I just didn’t register my kindle… and I can use the Internet on the device and now I have to wait to another way to disable the ads.

      • Kenzetta

        are you saying if you leave the web off, no ads show? But if you connect they do? What happens when you turn off the internet again, do the ads go away again?

          • Kenzetta

            Great to know. I thought the new firmware wouldn’t allow deletion of .assets folder – thanks..

          • Pako

            I haven’t try again to disable the ads but last month I deleted the folder and the ads came back just after my kindle connects to the internet…. and Kenzetta If I turn the Internet on the os download the ads and doesnt go away until I reset my kindle to factory settings and do the “hack” again…

  • Kenzetta

    Just so you all know, I did the update. And for some reason, the update took but, it didn’t change .asset folder. I needed no further “hack”. The ads never came back. I am so happy.
    If it matters, I downloaded the update on the computer and dragged the file it to my kindle – it rebooted twice and works flawlessly.

  • Buddy@work

    Beautiful, thank you — works like a charm!!!

    My wife’s Kindle is a no-ad one she bought a few years ago, but when I bought mine recently, the price had gone up $50 for the ad-free version, so I bought the “special offers” one. Now we both have AD-FREE Kindles!!!!

    • a.m.

      Just got the newly-released Kindle. Tried all the instructions above on a Mac three times already, and the ads still appear. I just renamed “d.txt” to “.assets” without having to go to Terminal. Seems that it worked for other people, but so far no luck for me!

      • a.m.

        Actually… I tried again without doing any resetting… Just went to Systems folder on Kindle (through my Mac), deleted .assets folder, created a new .assets file, and ejected Kindle. And it worked!

        So this still works on the newly-released Kindles (Sep 6). I bought the cheapest $69 no-touch/no-paperwhite version.

  • forshare

    Dears,

    I new owner of Kindle “black” with sotf 4.1.0 and instruction does’ work. Is there any other posiibility to avoid advertisment/

    Thank you in advance,
    Forshre

    • Yo

      Hello,
      i have tried this method on new kindle “black” just by deleting “.assets” folder and creating “.assets.txt” and i worked quite well.

      Only bad thing is that on the screen saver it’s written “please connect wirelessly to download the lastet Special Offers”, anyway it’s still much less anoying then seeing adverticements 🙂

  • Those Unfortunate Souls

    I can confirm on the new Kindle 4NT software 4.1.0 model D01100 that Anon7788990’s instructions from November 29, 2011 still work more than a year later. I wonder though, what would happen if you just deleted the ads in the original “.assets” folder and put in your own images would those work alongside the ads as well? **wishful thinking** Maybe I’ll try it.

    If anyone is having trouble with the banner that says: “Please connect wirelessly to download the lastet Special Offers” you should scroll up and view Anon7788990’s instructions from November 29, 2011, they still work, (as far as I know for every Kindle out at the moment) and makes your Kindle 100% ads free.

    Even if you go into the menu’s bar you will no longer have that: “View Special Offers” option. It completely turns it into a fully paid Kindle without the “full pay”. 😉

    • Salome

      I saw on other sites where this wasn’t working for the K4NT. I tried Anon7788990’s methods yesterday and it worked for about 20 minutes then the ads returned.

      Trying again, I immediately turned on Airplane Mode after registering and in the past 24 hours no ads have shown up. As I don’t use the WiFi to download books (I prefer sideloading) the feature is pretty much useless to me and I don’t see myself turning on Wifi at all.

      No Special Offers! So very happy!

  • Joe Don Baker

    At the last step, I get “The syntax of the command is wrong.” I cut-and-pasted:

    rename “New Text Document.txt” .assets

    What am I doing wrong?

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  • Octavia

    Admiring the time and energy you put into your blog and in depth information you
    offer. It’s good to come across a blog every once in a while that isn’t the same outdated rehashed material.
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  • adam

    adds returned until in went into the reformatted “assets” folder, and deleted the already present adds. Now a please connect wirelessly to download special software message appears.

  • www.indeed.com

    I do not even know how I ended up here, but I thought this post
    was good. I don’t know who you are but certainly you’re going
    to a famous blogger if you aren’t already 😉 Cheers!

  • freeman skin care

    Good day! I could have sworn I’ve been to this blog before but after going through some of the posts I realized it’s new
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  • Heleen Krueger

    Does this method still work? I am stuck on step 17. The option “Open Command Window Here” does not appear in the right click menu, even while holding down shift. My computer is running Windows XP and I am using a Kindle 4.

  • Pako

    Its been a while since the last time I did something on my kindle, but right now I’m running Kindle 4.1.1 (1813030025) and if I turn on the wifi on my kindle i get the ads, if I leave it on airplane mode no ads, but notice that I cant create any collection, I remember that I use Calibre to manage my e-books and used a plug in to create collections…. any way I´m happy with my kindle, I´ve been using the kindle app on my tablet but its not as good as the Kindle…

  • web page

    Yesterday, while I was at work, my cousin stole my apple ipad and tested to see if it can survive a thirty foot drop, just so she can be a youtube sensation.

    My iPad is now broken and she has 83 views.
    I know this is completely off topic but I had to share it with someone!

  • Lucian

    It works for Kindle Paperwhite. After linking the Kindle with your account, STOP.
    Close the WiFi or unplug the router. The Kindle will skip the next steps.
    After the finishing the Guide, go to Settings and activate Airplane Mode (or just close WiFi).

    That how it worked for me.

  • Jesse

    Do exactly what the instructions above say… at the end… right click the .assets file and click properties. Click the read only box and click ok. That seems to keep the file from being overwritten. Working great!

  • Lane Darnton

    I have a brand new (Dec 2014) Kindle Paperwhite, model unknown, at the cheap ads-included price. I did the remove/replace .assets procedure and it took care of the splash page ads but not the scrollable banner of book ads at the bottom of page 1 of the Home screen, or “Special Offers”. Does the 25-step procedure described above by Anon7788990 on November 29, 2011 at 3:28 pm work to remove these on the latest model? BTW, I did remove/replace the “adviewer” folder just like .assets, but it didn’t work. I saved a copy if I need to restore it.

      • Lane Darnton

        OK, absent a reply I tried the 25-step process. It did not work — at all. Then I noticed that in steps 15-20, nowhere does it say to REMOVE the existing .assets file! So creating and then renaming d.txt does not remove the original .assets file.

        So, WITHOUT repeating steps 1-14 I simply went back in and removed the existing .assets file, then repeated just steps 15-20. It has worked — so far. I downloaded my entire library from the cloud via wifi. Still good. Then for good measure I enabled Airplane mode. It’ll be interesting to see what happens next time I download a book.

  • Uttam

    I confirm that the method by Anon7788990 no longer works on Kindle reader [Kindle 5.6.1.0.6 (258893 001)]. However the method by OP is still good in removing the adverts on the lock screen mode while the home screen displays the Amazon adverts and ‘Please connect wirelessly to download the latest Special Offers’!!!

  • prairiemom

    This worked like a charm. I am so NOT techie. I don’t even know what model my Kindle is. I am a paper book, old fashioned kind of gal, and it took me over a year of owning the kindle before even using it, and now I am hooked. But the ads… oh those blasted ads… were driving me nuts. Your instructions were so simple and effective. I disabled the ads on both my kindle and my husband’s. Thanks you so much for the great instructions!

      • Mautlan

        I would also like to know this as I deleted “.assets” and replaced it w/ the word file and now my Kindle seems only to have the alphabet screensaver. It won’t change to any of the other defaults, which is a shame because I actually liked them…

  • A.A

    It worked perfect for me! I use my Kindle a lot, I take it with me everywhere I go. I turn its wireless on only when I buy books, and for now I’m good. A break from those ads will do me good. Thanks a lot!

  • Pako

    Back in 2012 I bought a Kindle 4th Generation with Special Offers, not knowing what was that, but found this method to kill the ads, even for a time used Doukan on my device, then I got a 7th Generation and gave the old one to my wife.

    When I was setting my new ereader I went to my device manager on Amazon and was wondering around to get rid of the offers and saw my devices and on the 4th Generation was no longer the option for Special Offers.

    Send an email and asked about that, and five minutes later my old kindle was Special Offers free, and free of charge.

    I dont know why, some other sites where talking about the country you are, right now I’m in Mexico, my account its in the US.

  • BrokenEye, The True False Prophet

    Does this not work on Kindle Fires? Because I’ve set my computer to show hidden files, folders, drives, and protected operating system files, but I’m not seeing a System folder anywhere.

    • daisy

      Just letting people know: almost 5 years later, Anon7788990’s instructions are still working. the only thing is – you have to cut off wifi *immediately* after finishing (activate airplane mode) because otherwise it will download ads again within like 5 mins! so this probably won’t work for people who use whispersync but since I load books by usb transfer, I am happy. even the “view special offers” option is gone in the settings menu. if the “systems” folder doesn’t show, make sure you uncheck “hide protected operating system files” (windows 7).
      otherwise, you’ll just have to follow the original post’s instructions (still works!) which will show you the “please connect to wifi” banner and seems to limit to the alphabet pattern screensaver, but gets rid of ads nonetheless.

  • Aaron

    There’s an easier way…

    Enable Developer Options
    Settings>Device Options>Tap on Serial Number several times>You are now Developer

    Enable USB Debugging
    Setttings>Device Options>Developer Options>Enable ADB>tap on toggle>Enable
    Go in to ADB on your computer and connect your Fire 2015

    adb shell
    pm clear com.amazon.kindle.kso
    pm hide com.amazon.kindle.kso
    exit
    adb reboot

    (from https://forum.xda-developers.com/amazon-fire/general/removing-lock-screen-ads-root-t3218946)

  • poul hansen

    I have a Kindle 8th gen. (with touch) and I contacted Amazon on chat and they promised me that they would remove the Amazon ads within 24 hours.

    In the mean time, I just tried to rename the file .asset to .asset.old and the ads disappeared.

  • Enyce Fairbanks

    I can’t find the systems folder on my tablet even though I uncheck the “Hide protected operating system files” box. How do I find it?

    • Bob Loblaw

      jeez Becky, just follow the instructions above. It’s even easier with a Mac:
      1) rm -rf .assets (actually, I was paranoid and just did this: “mv .assets .assets.bak”)
      2) touch .assets

      done! Still works in 2018.

      • Bob Loblaw

        OK, so I thought I’d give you a couple more details in case you got stuck…

        1) plug in your kindle into MacBook and make sure you see it in the Finder (so you know it’s connected correctly)
        2) open a terminal window
        3) type in cd /Volumes/Kindle/system
        4) rm -rf .assets (see comment above for what I actually do)
        5) touch .assets

        as mentioned, you’ll need to do this each time you attach your kindle to the network again, but you’ll get good at it since it literally takes 15 seconds to fix.

        Happy fixin!

  • Julian Marinov

    In the case of windows 10, the option to start the DOS PROMPT doesn’t appear. Instead, you can open the Windows PowerSell the same way (shift + right click, Open PowerSell windows here) and type this line:
    Copy-item “New Text Document.txt” .assets

  • Roberto Ghiotto

    Worked perfectly, thank you so much. I couldn’t bear to use my new Kindle, I’d been using my old one for a month! Obviously didn’t know about the ads when I bought it.
    Just one suggestion: dummies like me might have trouble doing the “show hidden files etc” thing. I managed, but I spent more time at this than at doing all the rest. One more line to show where you have to go in order to do this could be helpful.