Liberating your Nook books with a Mac

[rcentros]

I bought an inexpensive 2012 Mac Mini a few months back to test a some Mac writing applications. Then I found I could use OpenCore to install Monterrey (or Ventura) and that worked pretty well (Catalina had reached EOL). Then I added a second SSD that I could dedicate to Linux. With 16 GBs of RAM and two SSDs, this old Mac is a pretty good machine.

So, tonight I decided to see if Windows 10 would run in VirtualBox under the Mac OS, and it does. Not much good for streaming videos on YouTube, but I've already got the Mac's native OS (or Linux) for that.

So then I thought that maybe I could run Barne's & Noble's Windows Nook App. And it runs well. I was able to download ten of my Nook eBooks (more or less at random), send them the shared folder between Windows 10 and the native Mac OS, and liberate them in Calibre with DeACSM and DeDRM on the Mac side -- then move them to my PocketBook Basic Lux 3. (I also did the same in the Windows virtual machine and that also worked. I didn't try connecting Windows in the virtual machine to my eBook, however.)

I didn't know until I watched a couple YouTube videos, but apparently the Windows 10 download is now free -- though they may nag you or put a watermark on the home screen. VirtualBox is also free (always has been). So this cost nothing, except for time. The Windows install takes a while using about half of this Mac's resources. I imagine it would be much faster with newer machines. Apparently Oracle now supports VirtualBox on Apple ARM chips (as well as Intel ones), but it's fairly new and I think it's only available in the "Preview" version. (I guess that's kind of like a beta.)

Anyhow this is one option to free your Nook eBooks on a Mac. I felt kind of sorry for the Mac owners. It works well, even on an old Mac hardware.

[Quoth]

Win10 download is free, but unless you buy a licence the desktop goes black.
I do have licenced versions of XP (a clone of my 2002 laptop done with Disk2VHD (free MS Tool) https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sy...loads/disk2vhd though instructions aren't accurate. It will even clone installs on EFI bios machines, if Windows was installed in Legacy Bios mode. Also Win7 Ultimate (cloned off a PC) and Win10 pro. All on VMs using the Virtual Box that's part of my Linux distro.

Windows downloads were free years ago from MS when they ceased CDs / DVD for Technet and MSDN. You still need a licence.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Win10 download is free, but unless you buy a licence the desktop goes black.
I do have licenced versions of XP (a clone of my 2002 laptop done with Disk2VHD (free MS Tool) https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sy...loads/disk2vhd though instructions aren't accurate. It will even clone installs on EFI bios machines, if Windows was installed in Legacy Bios mode. Also Win7 Ultimate (cloned off a PC) and Win10 pro. All on VMs using the Virtual Box that's part of my Linux distro.

Windows downloads were free years ago from MS when they ceased CDs / DVD for Technet and MSDN. You still need a licence.

You may be right, but that's not what multiple sources say on this subject. Maybe licensing is different in the U.S. and Europe?

I read this just about everywhere...

What happens if you install Windows 10 without a product key?

No, you don't need a product key to install and use Windows 10. However, there are certain concessions you'll need to make. For instance, without activating Windows 10 with a product key, you lose the ability to change the background on your desktop through the Settings app.

Is it illegal to use Windows 10 without activation?

Installing Windows without a license is not illegal. However, activating the operating system through other means without an officially purchased product key is illegal. If you plan to use Windows 10 at home but don't want to pay, it may be better to use the system without activation.

What is the difference between Windows 10 with and without product key?

Even if you don't have a product key, you'll still be able to use an unactivated version of Windows 10, although some features may be limited. Inactivated versions of Windows 10 have a watermark in the bottom right saying, “Activate Windows”. You also can't personalize any colors, themes, backgrounds, etc.

This concept is brand new to me, but this is what I kept finding. Especially in the videos on installing Windows 10 in a virtual machines under Mac OS and Linux. I guess I'll see what happens. On my Dell Latitude laptop and Optiplex Micro desktop, the Windows 10 licensing is built into the BIOS, so they automatically activate Windows when installed.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by rcentros

This concept is brand new to me, but this is what I kept finding. Especially in the videos on installing Windows 10 in a virtual machines under Mac OS and Linux. I guess I'll see what happens. On my Dell Latitude laptop and Optiplex Micro desktop, the Windows 10 licensing is built into the BIOS, so they automatically activate Windows when installed.

Only if you are installing the right version of Windows. OEM Windows installers can use the BIOS licensing but Volume Licensing Windows installers will not. The VL versions will either need a MAK license key that works for a certain number of copies or a KMS key which will authorize from a local KMS server.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Only if you are installing the right version of Windows. OEM Windows installers can use the BIOS licensing but Volume Licensing Windows installers will not. The VL versions will either need a MAK license key that works for a certain number of copies or a KMS key which will authorize from a local KMS server.

I've just used the standard Windows 10 download on the Dells, and they activated automatically.

As for using Windows 10 unactivated indefinitely, apparently it is common knowledge. (Not for me since my only use for Windows is Barnes & Noble -- and sometimes testing applications.) Apparently you even get some (I guess the most critical) security updates.

https://computerinfobits.com/disadva...ng-windows-10/

https://windowsreport.com/windows-10...ut-activation/

https://www.howtogeek.com/244678/you...se-windows-10/

https://softwarekeep.com/blog/what-h...ate-windows-10

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...8-0c7199e90e35

It should definitely work for installing under VirtualBox on a Mac and using it to download your Nook eBooks.

[Aleron Ives]

Couldn't you just install WINE and run the Nook program that way? I gather there are some problems with running 32-bit applications under OSX, depending upon which version you have, but it would certainly be less work than setting up a full Windows VM, if it worked.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by Aleron Ives

Couldn't you just install WINE and run the Nook program that way? I gather there are some problems with running 32-bit applications under OSX, depending upon which version you have, but it would certainly be less work than setting up a full Windows VM, if it worked.

I didn't even know Wine would run in a Mac. That might be an interesting experiment. I haven't had a lot of luck with running Windows applications in Wine under Linux, however.

Not sure how easy it would be to download the Nook app, however, since it's a Windows App only available in the Windows Store. (Maybe there's a work-around for that as well?)

[Aleron Ives]

I suppose there would be other places to download Windows Store installers, assuming they're the same type of executable files you get for all other Windows programs. I use Windows 7, so the Windows Store doesn't exist. I would have liked to support B&N if it weren't so difficult to deal with their e-books, since I don't have a Nook.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by Aleron Ives

I suppose there would be other places to download Windows Store installers, assuming they're the same type of executable files you get for all other Windows programs. I use Windows 7, so the Windows Store doesn't exist. I would have liked to support B&N if it weren't so difficult to deal with their e-books, since I don't have a Nook.

I don't know enough about Windows 10 to know if there is another way to download the Nook App. I've got a feeling there's not, but I've been wrong many times in my life and I could be wrong here.

Supporting Barnes & Noble is the main reason I was excited to find a way to download my books again (a few months ago) -- unfortunately I don't know any other way to do it besides using Windows 10 (I would imagine Windows 11 also). And I felt that Mac users were left out, that's why I was excited to find that VirtualBox worked in Macs. I just figured VirtualBox was a Linux or Windows thing.