1. Install the Android SDK

The first step has nothing directly to do with your Kindle Fire. You will want to install the Android SDK. The download links can be found here.

2. Preliminary requirements

Once installing the SDK on your PC, navigate to the [your user name]/.android folder.

Edit the adb_usb.ini file, adding the following line of code at the end:


01949

Close and save that file.

Now find the folder where the SDK was installed, and open the google-usb_driver folder. In that folder, find the file android_winusb.inf and add the following code to both the [Google.NTx86] and [Google.NTamd64] sections:


;Kindle Fire

%SingleAdbInterface% = USB_Install, USB\VID_1949&PID_0006

%CompositeAdbInterface% = USB_Install, USB\VID_1949&PID_0006&MI_01

Now you can close and save this file as well.

Make sure you have enabled 3rd party apps on the Kindle Fire: on your Fire, tap the settings icon in the status bar. Then choose More option, then Device, and finally check the box that enables unknown sources.

Next connect your Kindle Fire to your PCs USB port. Navigate to Device Manager (Windows) and under Other Devices find your Kindle Fire. Choose the android_winusb.inf file.

3. Root

First you will want to download the following two files onto a PC:


Burrito Root

SuperUser

On your PC, move those two files to your adb directory. In your Android SDK folder, that will be platform-tools (if you have an old version of adb it will be tools).

Connect your Kindle Fire to your PC via USB. Open a command prompt in the adb folder. Type the following commands (one by one):


adb push BurritoRoot2.bin /data/local/
adb shell chmod 777 /data/local/BurritoRoot2.bin
adb shell /data/local/BurritoRoot2.bin
adb root
adb shell id
(if result is 0 continue, if not start over)
adb remount
adb push su /system/xbin/su
adb shell chown 0.0 /system/xbin/su
adb shell chmod 06755 /system/xbin/su
adb remount
adb install Superuser.apk (skip this step if its already installed)

After finishing, your Fire will reboot and it will be rooted.

If you got device not found errors when entering the above commands, refer back to steps one and two and make sure adb and the Kindle Fire drivers are set.

4. (optional) Install the Android Market and Google Apps

Download these zipped Google Apps files. Unzip them (using WinRAR) and transfer them to your Kindle Fire via USB.

Next, youll want to buy Root Explorer from the Amazon AppStore. Its $3.99, but if youre into hacking your Kindle Fire, it will be worth every penny (there are other free alternatives, but they dont allow you to change permissions on your device).

Open Root Explorer, and navigate to the location on your File that you stored the extracted Google Apps files.

Select GoogleServicesFramework.apk and install it. After doing this, restart your Kindle Fire.

Now open Root Explorer again, and find the file for the Market (Vending.apk).

Before doing anything with it, change the Root Explorer option from RO (Read Only) to RW (Read Write).

Long-press on Vending.apk, choose Move, and navigate to the system/app folder on your Fire. This moves the Market file to the system apps folder.

Long-press on Vending.apk again (in its new location), and choose Permissions. Change the permissions to match the other apps in this folder (check permissions in any other .apk file in that folder to see how it should look.

Finally, touch Vending.apk and install it. You can now reboot your Fire again.

5. Enjoy

You can now open the Market, sign in, and install apps as usual.