Not too much time passed before someone rebelled and worked around B&N's update

Dec 23, 2011 13:04 GMT  ·  By

Not happy about the newest limitations imposed upon Nook Tablet owners, a member of the XDA-Developers forum took it upon himself to find a way to revert the changes.

Firmware updates are usually something that users should look forward to.

After all, provided something didn't go horribly wrong during development, the new software will make the hardware run better, improve its support and add features, where applicable.

Unfortunately, the latest Nook Tablet firmware turned out to not be so wonderful.

As we covered previously, the new firmware for the Nook Tablet from Barnes and Noble, version 1.4.1, did something many people did not like.

Before the update, though the item did not allow for the download of apps that weren't approved by B&N, it was still possible to acquire them through other means (PCs, for one) and then getting them via USB or whatever other ways were supported.

The latest firmware makes their installation impossible, however, so a user from XDA-Developers decided to do something about it.

His method to make side-loading possible again isn't all that complicated either, even though it does mean that people will have to revert to the previous firmware.

Essentially, owners have to download a file located here, copy it onto a microSD card, place that card inside the nook and then boot the tablet from it.

What happens upon activation is the initiation of the Recovery Mode, which flashes the entire zip. acclaim_update.zip and restores the firmware to the stock version.

Alas, it also means that all user data is deleted in the process, but that is not an issue as long as things can be saved to external storage media.

The user who came up with the method says he will be working on a way to boot the whole firmware from the microSD card.

Go here to see the original post and here to see how to prevent future updates from happening.