[Kindle Fire Android Development] ChodaBoyUSA:
OK everybody, like many of you, I have run into some problems trying to do the following:

root my Kindle

Install a recovery image

Get Google Play working

I am pleased to say I have finally succeeded. (Hooray!) In an effort to "give back" to the community, I thought I would pass along my findings.

Problem #1

I could not get the KFU to recognize (find) my Kindle. I installed the Kindle drivers via install_drivers.bat several times. I installed the Android SDK (which I had planned to do for app development anyway). I uninstalled the Samsung driver for my SGS2. I uninstalled the Samsung KIES app. I still could not get this laptop to work with KFU. My Kindle also would not mount as a USB drive. I was successful using an old Win7 PC, but it is in an inconvenient place in my house.

SOLUTION

I found some posts in this thread that suggested to connect the Kindle, then go to Device Manager and uninstall the device it has connected as (e.g. "Android ADB") with the "Delete the driver software for this device." option selected. Now disconnect your Kindle. Install the Kindle drivers (install_drivers.bat). Connect your Kindle and let Windows install the proper drivers.

Problem #2

After installing "Permanent Root with Superuser" and "Install Google Apps / Go Launcher EX", when the FireFireFire bootloader would load, if I hit the power button to go into recovery, the Kindle would sit there with the same screen and never launch recovery. I could hold the power button for 20 seconds and the Kindle would shutdown. Turning it back on and not touching it, it would eventually boot into normal mode.

SOLUTION

OK, this one is not as straightforward. I did several things and I am unsure which was the magic cure. I changed boot modes, re-ran the root install, possibly ran the TRWP install. Looking at the KFU run.bat, I see differences between the "install_twrp" subroutine and the inline TRWP install in the "rootkindle" subroutine. I have no idea if the differences are intentional, but I would suggest you use the "Install Latest TWRP Recovery" after "Install Permanent Root with Superuser".

Problem #3

I had attempted to install the Google Play app before I found the KFU. Because of this, I thought I should reset the Kindle back to the default factory state. On the Kindle, I selected "Reset to Factory Defaults" under the Device settings. Things did not seem to reset. When I started my Kindle I still had the apps I had installed. It did not have my name in the upper left corner, so I'm not sure what had happened, but the device was not reset.

SOLUTION

After messing with it for a bit, I decided the try the "Reset to Factory Defaults" option and it worked. *shrug*

Problem #4

I wanted to push the factory image onto the Kindle to get back to out of the box freshness. Using the KFU option "Obtain Latest Stock update.zip", I was unable to get the update.zip file. Using three different PCs, I got "Oops... something went wrong with the download."

UNRESOLVED

Looking at run.bat, I see that files.log is scanned for the correct URL and MD5 for the update file. Checking what I have, I see "update-kindle-6.3_D01E_4019920.bin" for the filename and "FCF807C71EAB888106DD9C407C2E2DAB" for the MD5. When I download this file, I get an MD5 of "E87836AF028338B5BABB468D443A586D". Using the Amazon website to download the image, I get exactly the same file and MD5 as I did using the URL from files.log, but the MD5 does not match the one in files.log *shrug*

Problem #5

When I selected "Install Google Apps / Go Launcher EX", I received a "permission denied" error for the three files pushed to /system/app.

SOLUTION

Thanks to friendly advice in this thread, I realized these three files are in the "apps\system" subdirectory where the KFU was installed. The suggestion was made to connect the Kindle, using USB drive mode copy the three files to the Kindle, use the Amazon market app to install a file manager (e.g. ES File Explorer, File Expert, File Manager, etc.) and use root mode to copy the three files to "/system/app" on the Kindle, then change the permissions to match the other files in the directory (e.g. "-rw-r-r--"). If you have Superuser working correctly, this should work. However, I did not have Superuser working which leads us to the next problem.

Problem #6

After using the KFU option "Install Permanent Root with Superuser", I still could not copy files to "/system/app". I could, however, browse that directory just fine.

SOLUTION

As suggested in this thread, the Superuser.apk is not installed by the KFU. Because I could not download it from Amazon, I had to use my Android phone to "sideload" it to my Kindle. Thinking I would save some time, I used the old method of e-mailing it to myself and opening the message with the Kindle e-mail app and saving the file to the Kindle. Trying to open the file from the e-mail app produced a "Parse error", so I went to the Download directory using a file manager and opened the file which launched the installer. Once installed, I started the Superuser app to ensure it was working. (Note: The Superuser app does offer much of an interface for the user. It does allow you to manage which apps you have Allowed or Denied superuser access. With a fresh install, you won't have any apps in the log yet, so it will look bare.) Using a file manager I was able to copy the three files that I had put on my Kindle from the "apps\system" subdirectory under the KFU, and change their permissions to match the other files. (Note: The first time an app asks for superuser access, the Superuser app will prompt you to Allow or Deny the app and whether or not to remember your choice.)

Problem #7

Where is the Google Play app? I don't even see the old Google Market app.

SOLUTION

Apparently, the "Vending.apk" app must be openend/run which installs Google Play.

Finally, I was able to launch Google Play and install one of the apps I had purchased previously for my phone. Even using the search feature, over one hundred pages can be difficult to manage. I hope my summary will help others if they can find it.

A big thank you to Vashypooh for the KFU and everyone else for their POSITIVE contributions to the thread.