How to install Kindle on Ubuntu 18.04?

Question

The title says it all.

Ubuntu 18.04.*
wine 3.04
KindleForPC-installer-1.25.52064.exe (latest)

I'm not knowledgeable about error messages. In a console, when I run ...

$ wine KindleForPC-installer-1.25.52064.exe

... I get a whole lot of error messages (see at end).

Then a Windows alert dialogue appears which seems to indicate that the files have been installed, and kindle.exe launched, but there is a Windows C++ Runtime issue, and the GUI does not appear. When you Cancel the alert, a few additional lines appear in the console window.

Console output

$ wine KindleForPC-installer-1.25.52064.exe
0019:fixme:advapi:RegisterEventSourceW ((null),L"AdobeARMservice"): stub
0019:fixme:advapi:ReportEventW (0xcafe4242,0x0004,0x0000,0x00000000,(nil),0x0001,0x00000000,0x73fc3c,(nil)): stub
0019:fixme:advapi:DeregisterEventSource (0xcafe4242) stub
hfinger@hedley-PC:~/Downloads/Amazon/Kindle$ 003c:fixme:msvcp:_Mtx_init_in_situ unknown flags ignored: 2
003c:fixme:msvcp:_Mtx_init_in_situ unknown flags ignored: 102
003c:fixme:msvcp:_Mtx_init_in_situ unknown flags ignored: 2
003c:fixme:msvcp:_Mtx_init_in_situ unknown flags ignored: 2
003c:fixme:msvcp:_Mtx_init_in_situ unknown flags ignored: 2
003c:fixme:msvcp:_Mtx_init_in_situ unknown flags ignored: 2
003c:fixme:msvcp:_Mtx_init_in_situ unknown flags ignored: 102
003c:fixme:msvcp:_Mtx_init_in_situ unknown flags ignored: 2
003c:fixme:msvcp:_Mtx_init_in_situ unknown flags ignored: 2
003c:fixme:msvcp:_Mtx_init_in_situ unknown flags ignored: 2
003c:fixme:msvcp:_Mtx_init_in_situ unknown flags ignored: 2
003c:fixme:msvcp:_Mtx_init_in_situ unknown flags ignored: 2
003c:fixme:msvcp:_Mtx_init_in_situ unknown flags ignored: 2
003c:fixme:msvcp:_Mtx_init_in_situ unknown flags ignored: 2
003c:fixme:msvcp:_Mtx_init_in_situ unknown flags ignored: 2
003c:fixme:msvcp:_Mtx_init_in_situ unknown flags ignored: 2
003c:fixme:msvcp:_Mtx_init_in_situ unknown flags ignored: 2
003c:fixme:msvcp:_Mtx_init_in_situ unknown flags ignored: 2
003c:fixme:msvcp:_Mtx_init_in_situ unknown flags ignored: 2
003c:fixme:msvcp:_Mtx_init_in_situ unknown flags ignored: 2
003c:fixme:msvcp:_Mtx_init_in_situ unknown flags ignored: 2
003c:fixme:msvcp:_Mtx_init_in_situ unknown flags ignored: 2
003c:fixme:msvcp:_Mtx_init_in_situ unknown flags ignored: 2
003c:fixme:msvcp:_Mtx_init_in_situ unknown flags ignored: 2
003c:fixme:msvcp:_Mtx_init_in_situ unknown flags ignored: 102
003c:fixme:msvcp:_Mtx_init_in_situ unknown flags ignored: 2
003c:fixme:msvcp:_Mtx_init_in_situ unknown flags ignored: 2
003c:fixme:msvcp:_Mtx_init_in_situ unknown flags ignored: 2
003c:fixme:msvcp:_Mtx_init_in_situ unknown flags ignored: 2
003c:fixme:msvcp:_Locinfo__Locinfo_ctor_cat_cstr (0x33f9d8 1 C) semi-stub
003c:fixme:msvcp:_Locinfo__Locinfo_ctor_cat_cstr (0x33f9a8 1 C) semi-stub
003c:fixme:msvcp:_Mtx_init_in_situ unknown flags ignored: 2
003c:fixme:msvcp:_Mtx_init_in_situ unknown flags ignored: 102
003c:fixme:msvcp:_Mtx_init_in_situ unknown flags ignored: 2
003c:fixme:msvcp:_Mtx_init_in_situ unknown flags ignored: 2
003c:fixme:msvcp:_Mtx_init_in_situ unknown flags ignored: 2
003c:fixme:msvcp:_Mtx_init_in_situ unknown flags ignored: 2
003c:fixme:msvcp:_Mtx_init_in_situ unknown flags ignored: 2
003c:fixme:msvcp:_Mtx_init_in_situ unknown flags ignored: 2
003c:fixme:msvcp:_Locinfo__Locinfo_ctor_cat_cstr (0x33fde8 1 C) semi-stub
003c:fixme:msvcp:_Locinfo__Locinfo_ctor_cat_cstr (0x33fdb8 1 C) semi-stub
003c:fixme:msvcp:_Mtx_init_in_situ unknown flags ignored: 2
003c:fixme:toolhelp:CreateToolhelp32Snapshot Unimplemented: heap list snapshot
003c:fixme:toolhelp:Heap32ListFirst : stub
[WARN][MazamaLog] QObject::startTimer: Timers can only be used with threads started with QThread003c:fixme:msvcp:_Locinfo__Locinfo_ctor_cat_cstr (0x33f638 1 C) semi-stub

003c:fixme:file:FindFirstFileExW flags not implemented 0x00000002
003c:fixme:msvcp:_Locinfo__Locinfo_ctor_cat_cstr (0x33fb18 1 C) semi-stub
003c:err:seh:raise_exception Unhandled exception code 80000003 flags 0 addr 0x7bc7df3c

Solution 1

I tried Eric's suggestion to open https://read.amazon.com/ (Kindle Cloud Reader) and convert it to an app with nativefier. This worked like a charm. Read the documentation on the nativefier page (https://www.npmjs.com/package/nativefier) to learn how to use it.

Solution 2

I installed Kindle on Ubuntu 18.04.2 LTS easily by first installing wine using the following commands:

$ sudo apt-add-repository 'deb https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/ubuntu/ bionic main'

$ sudo apt-get update

$ sudo apt-get install --install-recommends winehq-stable

$ wine --version

should be wine-4.0

If there are GPG error, follow steps from https://wiki.winehq.org/Ubuntu .

Then download Kindle version 1.17.44183 from the following site and save to your desktop: (It must be this version)

https://kindle-for-pc.en.uptodown.com/windows/download

Right click the Kindle downloaded on your desktop and select install with wine. The program will create two desktop links (desktop.lnk and kindle.lnk) You can use either link, however the desktop.lnk, you will be able to add to your favorites on the side panel. Save the 1.17.44183 download in case you need it again later. Thats all!

Solution 3

Tested on Ubuntu 20.04:

I couldn't get Kindle to run in wine on Linux at all, but the below solutions work perfectly on Linux Ubuntu (and should also work fine on Mac, and on other Linux distributions), and are no-cost.

For the latest version of Kindle, the solutions I am using are as follows:

Option 1: install the Kindle program inside Windows 10 inside Virtual Box inside Linux

1. Install the Virtual Box virtual machine inside Linux Ubuntu: https://www.virtualbox.org/
2. Install Windows 10 inside Virtual Box.
   1. Download Windows 10 for free from Microsoft here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10ISO --> choose your Edition, then Language, then choose 32-bit or 64-bit (if not sure, choose 64-bit).
3. Install the latest Kindle app inside Windows 10.
   1. Get it here: https://www.amazon.com/kindle-dbs/fd/kcp/ref=klp_mn --> click "Download for PC & Mac". The current/latest version as of the time of this writing is 1.32.61109: "KindleForPC-installer-1.32.61109.exe".

Option 2 (waaaay easier and faster): use the browser-based Kindle website

An alternative to doing the above steps is to just use the online Kindle version which runs in your browser, here: https://read.amazon.com/kindle-library.

Solution 4

The version of Kindle you're trying to run won't with Wine. Here are the ratings for the different versions: https://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.php?sClass=application&iId=10597

Note that you can also read from the Amazon Cloud reader. https://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.php?sClass=application&iId=10597

View more solutions

Comments

[Hedley Finger]

Eric, have you successfully installed a different version of the Kindle app on wine 3.04? If so, which version, and where did you get it? Amazon does not appear to provide downloads of old versions, but there appear to be various sites that provide (possibly Trojan) older versions. I do not want to go back to an earlier version of wine because there are too many Windows apps installed on the latest version.

[Eric Mintz]

I have not, precisely because of the concern you expressed. But you can get them here if you decide to go that route: kindle-for-pc.en.uptodown.com/windows/old. Check the first link in my answer above to see which ones will run on wine.

[Eric Mintz]

Another approach is to install nativefier: npmjs.com/package/nativefier - it's very easy to make a "native app" out of a web-based app like the amazon cloud reader. This I HAVE done with several online apps and it works great.

[Ferroao]

i needed key. forum.winehq.org/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=31621

[Ferroao]

and fonts askubuntu.com/questions/210680/installing-times-new-roman-fo‌​nt

[Calamity Jane]

If the goals is just to read kindle book on the pc this solution is fine. If you really need the kindle app for other purposes, this will not help.

[Lost Crotchet]

Not all kindle books are compatible with the cloud reader