How to fix: Error registering a Kindle Device

Are you stuck trying to complete the registration process of an Amazon Kindle Paperwhite e-reader? Have you tried every other common troubleshooting step but are still seeing the same error regarding no Amazon account found, even when you input your correct email address or phone number, and the correct password? Even when, in your Amazon account, under the Devices section, you can see your new Kindle device already appearing there?

If that's your case, check that there's a name specified in the settings of your Amazon account. In your PC or phone (not your Kindle):

• Log in to your Amazon account.
• Navigate to Your Account > Login & Security
• Check your Name field there.
• If there's no name specified, click Edit and input your full name.
• Try to log in now to your Kindle with your regular email or phone and password.

And that's it! I can confirm that the Kindle Paperwhite 12th generation trips with a cryptic error message and gets stuck in the registration screen (after what is an otherwise full, successful registration), if your Amazon account doesn't have a name associated with it (or whether the name is blank).

When the registration process completes successfully, you'll see that the Kindle Paperwhite displays your Name next to the "registered to" section. Without this, registration fails.

Other troubleshooting steps to register a new Kindle won't work here:

• Trying to set it up syncing it with a Kindle app in your own phone or tablet with Bluetooth enabled (this will result in the setup process "taking longer than expected" but ending up with an error and the note to contact customer support if the registration problem persists).
• Ensuring that you're using your right account credentials (in this specific case, you can verify that your correct account credentials are being used because the new Kindle device will actually appear in your Devices section of your Amazon account when checking this on your PC or phone).
• Restarting the Kindle or performing a full factory reset doesn't accomplish anything on this front.
• You know that your Wi-Fi credentials and connection are working, or otherwise you'd get a different error message (or your device would not have appeared registered in your account in the first place).
• You can easily verify that date, time and region are matching the expected ones, since you're initially prompted for a region in your Kindle setup, while you can see the date and time in your Kindle screen - there are mechanisms to set these up manually in the settings section of your Kindle, but this wouldn't make any difference if the "name" of your Amazon account weren't populated.

I'm unsure what causes this situation - possibly because names in Amazon accounts weren't required in the past - but the optional field in the Amazon Account becomes required during the Kindle e-book reader registration setup process.

In short: ensure that your Amazon account has your Name specified in its account settings before trying to register a new Kindle device, so you can successfully complete the registration of your new e-reader!

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Posted by ESV