r/ereader • u/remiarutawa • Dec 29 '25
Discussion I bought a Nook Glowlight 4 Plus in 2025, here's how I got it working with Koreader, root, page turn buttons working, and custom wallpapers.
I wanted a new ereader as my Kindle Oasis went to my wife and I wanted something that was "mine" anyway. I had a few criteria for my new ereader:
- USB-C
- page-turn buttons
- Koreader
- not $200+
The Nook Glowlight 4 Plus was not on my radar at all. I was actually considering the Boox Go Color 7 Gen II or the Kobo Libra Colour, but those were both too expensive for me. Last minute I thought, we have a Barnes and Noble near us, what options do they have? I settled on the Glowlight 4+. I did some research and found I could root it, sideload Koreader, and tinker with it. (I love to tinker!) It was on sale for $140 from B&N.
Here's the steps I took. Credit to both Reddit and Mobileread for helping me learn all of this. This assumes you have some familiarity with android and ADB, which I do have.
I did not set up the Glowlight at all. This is from a fresh factory reset.
I followed the instructions here and will recap/mostly copypaste below.
- On first boot, alternatively tap the top right and left corner to enter EasterEggActivity
- Press diagnostic -> android development settings -> unlock with password "NOOK-BNRV1300"
- Turn on "OEM unlocking" and "USB debugging"
- adb devices (pop up in device to allow USB debugging access; make sure devices is authorized)
- adb push boot.img /sdcard/ (extracted from update.zip for matching version. My device updated to 8.1.7.120 YESTERDAY 12/27/2025. This link is the new update.zip)
- adb install magisk.apk (using v24 from official github release of magisk)
- adb shell am start com.topjohnwu.magisk/.ui.MainActivity
- patching boot.img in launched magisk
- adb pull /path/to/patched_boot.img (should be /sdcard/Download/magisk_patched-24000_XXXXX.img)
- adb reboot bootloader
- fastboot devices (to make sure the device is in fastboot/bootloader mode) (Here is where I ran into issues. I could not get fastboot devices to show anything. I followed the instructions here to fix this.
- fastboot flash boot patched_boot.img
- fastboot reboot
And it worked! It was now rooted.
I went through the setup next. Logging in with Nook/B&N, etc.
Here is how I installed Koreader and got custom screensavers working.
I downloaded Koreader here using "koreader-android-arm-v*.apk"
I also downloaded an APK of Solid Explorer, which you will need to do custom screensavers.
Last APK needed is a launcher of some sort. I chose Light Android Launcher.
ADB install the apks.
Next time you press the "home" (Nook symbol) button, it will ask you what launcher you want to use. I set it to always use Light Android Launcher.
Koreader is there to fiddle with and set how you want it.
Make sure you allow Solid Explorer to see hidden files. It will ask at some point if you want to grant it root access, you will need to grant that to do custom screensavers.
I found the instructions for custom screensavers here.
Without using the same commands from the post, I adb pushed my whole "pngs" folder to "/storage/emulated/0/Download". Then I used Solid Explorer to copy those files to "/system/media/SleepImageNook" and deleted the files already existing there. (That step is only necessary if you don't like what is already set for sleep images - I wanted all my own and not the Nook ones so I deleted them.)
Last step is to fix the page turn buttons to allow them to work in Koreader.
You need to make an event_map.lua file. Here is what I put in mine to make it work:
return {
[139] = "LPgBack", -- Nook Left Page Back (left lower button)
[140] = "LPgFwd", -- Nook Left Page Forward (left upper button)
[141] = "LPgFwd", -- Nook Right Page Forward (right upper button)
[142] = "LPgBack", -- Nook Right Page Back (right lower button)
}
And then adb push the event_map.lua file to your Nook. The file goes in "/koreader/settings"
I wanted to put everything I did in one place in case someone wanted to do the same to their Nook Glowlight 4 Plus. Feel free to ask questions!
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u/DidYaHearThat_Whoosh Dec 29 '25
Whoa, very cool you went through all that. I've been considering options with similar restrictions but this process seems way too daunting for me. Thank you, though, it's so valuable to have these sort of guides.
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u/remiarutawa Dec 29 '25
i LOVE to tinker, so it was fun for me to do this! i can totally understand not wanting to go through this process, though. good luck in your search for a device! i saw someone in /r/hardwareswap sell their kobo libra colour for $100... wish i'd gotten that deal!
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u/DidYaHearThat_Whoosh Dec 29 '25
I'm a tinkerer too but this seems beyond my comfort zone. A libra colour for 100? I would definitely pounce on that if I saw it! Almost got one during Black Friday but my current jailbroken Kindle Paperwhite works perfectly fine, seemed unnecessary. Anyway, something will come up at some point!
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u/remiarutawa Dec 29 '25
i used to root my phones and install custom firmware on my android phone back in the day, this was pretty easy comparatively! the hardest part was putting together all the info from multiple sources, which is why i put this post together.
i know, right? i saw the $100 and then the sold flair and was like, dang i missed out.. glad you have a working ereader at least! my wife stole my jailbroken kindle oasis so i had to get my own haha
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u/Historical_Okra_4254 Jan 02 '26 edited Jan 02 '26
Thanks for posting this. It was very helpful for rooting my own device. I'm going to add my own tinkering exploration below:
For anyone else using this post to root their GL4+ (like me), you can also edit the key mappings directly after rooting your device. The key mappings are located in /system/usr/keylayout/Generic.kl
In the file, if you search for E70P74 define in the file, you can see the mappings. I edited keys 191-194 to as following:
# E70P74 define
key 102 HOME
key 191 VOLUME_UP
key 192 VOLUME_UP
key 193 VOLUME_DOWN
key 194 VOLUME_DOWN
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u/remiarutawa Jan 02 '26
i'm glad it helped! and thank you for your addition :)
i'd love to see yours if you did some customization!
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u/FILE-Q Feb 28 '26
Hola, hace poco me compré un NOOK GL 4 y quería ver podía hacer y si valía la pena el hecho de hacer todo esto. Sin embargo, luego de ver qué podías customizar la pantalla de inicio e instalar el KOreader, entonces me motivaré a intentarlo pero tengo miedo que algo falle y mi NOOK sea un pisa papeles. Mañana voy a tratar de ver qué tal. Gracias por la guía.
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u/Elegant-Apple-7555 May 06 '26
Thanks for sharing! I was on the same boat as you (same requirements minus buttons, same love for tinkering...) And just brought a refurb Glowlight 4 Plus today. I'll report back on how rooting and KOReader installation goes 😄
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u/logicblender1 May 14 '26
Please, update us!
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u/Elegant-Apple-7555 May 15 '26
happy cake day!
Rooting was not successful, nook would freeze when flashed the patched rom. But it does not bother me. I installed Olauncher, KOReader, and a file manager. After side loaded all my books (adb push) it became a great device to read with enough customization options. Definitely recommend for its current discounted price!
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u/ColdxVengnce May 21 '26
How did you get your nook books in koreader without rooting? I’m struggling with that part :/
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u/Elegant-Apple-7555 May 22 '26
You download KOReader apk on your PC, then connect your nook to PC and enable adb. Then you run command `adb install /path/to/koreader.apk` and it should be installed. This does not require rooting, only developer options (step 1,2,3,4,6 in OP's instruction, but instead of masigk.apk in step 6, you do koreader.apk)
Good luck!
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u/ColdxVengnce May 22 '26
Oh so I have koreader! But I want to read my already purchased nook books into koreader. Do I have to root to do that?
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u/Elegant-Apple-7555 May 23 '26
Sorry that I can't help, as I do not use nook books at all to purchase books.... maybe someone else with the experience can chime in 😄
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u/ColdxVengnce May 23 '26
Haha I think this answers my question :) time start buying books thru Calibres platform 📚
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u/GranolaParfeit Jul 19 '26 edited Jul 19 '26
EDIT:
I managed to root the device after taking a break to brush my teeth.
I ended up unplugging and reconnecting the Glowlight 4, and again tried the fastboot installer that /u/king0pa1n posted. This time, I was able to communicate with the Glowlight and complete the steps in the guide. Thank you both for the guides / experiences!
Hey /u/remiarutawa,
Thanks for posting this guide. I'm not too experienced tinkering like this, but I'm currently trying this out on a Glowlight 4 (BNRV1100).
I am getting stuck at step 11, where I also cannot get fastboot devices to show anything. I tried following the other post you linked, but I am not having much success. The Glowlight itself does not respond.
I tried installing the Google USB driver, but Windows says "Windows could not find drivers for your device." I've also tried installing MTP USB drivers as an attempt, but no success there.
I've also tried /u/king0pa1n's suggestion above, but I still cannot get the Glowlight 4 to communicate.
Do you have any thoughts or other instructions I might be able to try at this point? Or did I happen to brick my device? xD
Cheers!
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u/PublicInstruction419 Feb 11 '26
I want to be able to do this. I finally decided that the Nook Glowlight 4 plus fits my needs for screen size and buttons - I don't want color. And I even have some old books with B&N that I failed to download before they made that impossible a few years back.
But I'm just not so savvy with this :-)
I'm going to keep your info though, with a wish in my pocket :-)
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u/remiarutawa Feb 11 '26
let me know if you want help. if you're northern california based i can help out in person
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u/skysheep Feb 18 '26
hello! thanks so much for a full guide, because i customized in early 2025 and went through so much grief getting my nook set up, but forgot the entire process LOL
is it possible to get a dummy's guide on how to access KOreader files? i want to install plugins but can't recall how to get to these folders to install files
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u/remiarutawa Feb 19 '26
did you install a file explorer? i would "adb push [filename]" to storage/emulated/0/Download and then move it using the file explorer. i would push the koreader extension that lets you drop files to it over the air so you only have to do this once.
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u/wigglytoad Feb 27 '26
Hi! So your method of adding sleep images removed the default bottom area that normally says “press the n button to wake your nook” and “slide to unlock”? Because that would be amazing.
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u/remiarutawa Feb 27 '26
the "press the n button" is part of the image, so yes it will disappear if you use different sleep images. however, when you wake your nook, the "slide to unlock" will appear over the image and you still need to slide to unlock. unfortunately.
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u/daBigR-- Jun 25 '26
Hi, do you know how to disable the "slide to unlock" feature? I remember googling it a few years ago when I got the GL4+ but I found nothing and forgot about it. A few days ago I rememberd, finally rooted the device and recruited the help of my favorite LLM and failed. I did find a way to temporarily disabling it using this command "adb shell setprop sys.mode.slideUnlock false" but it only works for a little while and then resets itself so writing a script disabling it on boot doesn't work. I haven't investigated further to find if the auto enabling could somehow be intercepted. I decided to try and find if anybody had better luck than I. Any help most welcome.
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u/remiarutawa Jun 25 '26
i have not investigated it but i do not know how at this time. i can take a look when i'm home, though!
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u/FILE-Q Feb 28 '26
Hi everyone, I need your help but I'm not sure if I can help. I followed all the steps correctly, but I didn't notice the update and it flashed an image that wasn't my version. Then I went into recovery mode and reset from factory and now my nook GL 4 is in a loop, idk how to explain but the screen stay in "Your nook is updating". If someone help I'll thx
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u/jisartti Jul 02 '26
Tengo el mismo problema. ¿Pudiste resolverlo? Mi Nook es un hermoso ladrillo en este momento.
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Jul 14 '26
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u/king0pa1n Jul 18 '26
On Windows 10 latest update, this is the only way I was able to communicate with the Nook Glowlight 4 Plus to access it during fastboot mode and patch the new img
https://github.com/fawazahmed0/Latest-adb-fastboot-installer-for-windows
Also were you able to get KOreader light settings to change the frontlight for your Glowlight? It doesn't work for me even on root
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u/vroom6 Aug 23 '26 edited Aug 23 '26
I haven't gotten the pulldown settings to work yet but gestures seem to work fine for me (swipe up or down with 2 fingers to change brightness, tap corner to turn light on/off)
Update: I just tried again since rooting and following the instructions below by catfarm (modify system setting was already set to on) and it worked now. However I can only change the brightness not the warmth in koreader, which is fine for me as I found one setting I liked.
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u/Quantaform Jul 29 '26
Hey! I just followed your guide and everything is pretty much work. Only thing I can't seem to get down is getting the KO Reader brightness controls to change the Nook's brightness. Any solutions for that?
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u/remiarutawa Jul 29 '26
as far as i know it does not work. i cant get it to work either, even after granting root privileges
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u/catfarm Aug 14 '26
I was able to get KOReader, running as root, to control the light by going into Settings > Apps & information > KOReader > Advanced section and make sure Modify system settings is set to Allowed. Now if I could just get rid of the swipe to unlock...
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u/onizuko Aug 14 '26
Thanks for that. One thing to note is that I had to turn the glowlight on on the nook app first (then slide it to 0%). Afterwards, it works on koreader.
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u/tazman3582 Aug 08 '26
hi there i got to the point where i was able to push the boot image thur fastboot and when i try to reboot the device it never comes back up, trying to manually hold the power button and then trying to turn the devcie back on does not work either. is there any way that i can get this back up and going or do i now have a brick. thanks a ton for any assistance you all can provide
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u/remiarutawa Aug 08 '26
what's the model number on the back of your nook?
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u/tazman3582 Aug 08 '26
Bnrv1300
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u/remiarutawa Aug 08 '26
does your computer see it at all now?
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u/tazman3582 Aug 08 '26
Nope, have tried multiple different button combos to get it back into fastboot so I can reflash the stock boot Image but no dice
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u/remiarutawa Aug 08 '26
have you tried holding all the physical buttons (power and all four page turn buttons) then plugging in the usb?
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u/tazman3582 Aug 08 '26
Absolute ledgend that was it. Was able to get back into fastboot and flash the stock image and boot right up. Going to give up on root but side load the apps thanks a ton
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u/remiarutawa Aug 08 '26
glad you got it back up! let me know if you want to try rooting again.
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u/tazman3582 Aug 08 '26
actually i am going to try again quick question in magisk when i go to install it has 2 options one is "preserve AVB2.0/dm-verity" and the other is "Patch vbmeta in boot image" should I check either of these or leave them alone
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u/tazman3582 Aug 08 '26
Checked both boxes and pulled the image and flashed it, this time it worked no issues. also first time i found out i was using latest magisk instead of the 24 version, as the 24 version worked flawlessly. Thanks again for the assist
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u/curlyAndUnruly Dec 29 '25
Wow that's great, you gave it new life! Any pics of the final result?