How I Successfully Decrypted ALL 3 AACS 2.1 Discs

[kptaylor67]

Hey Everybody - I'm a long time (paid even!) user of MakeMKV, which I know we all love. I know that Mike is hard at work on a version of MakeMKV that will handle AACS 2.1, and when it's done, I know it'll be the best solution out there, period. But if you want to go ahead and decrypt AACS 2.1 discs *right now,* I'm gonna tell you how to do it. Disclaimer: you'll need a helper program, and this works with Windows only (tested today with Windows 10 & latest updates installed), so take this for whatever you think it's worth, keeping in mind that, at present, there are exactly THREE AACS 2.1 Discs.

1) Download / buy DeUHD. I know, I know, but here's the deal: love it or hate it, until Mike finishes the MakeMKV update that'll do the job, DeUHD pretty much the only option for decrypting AACS 2.1 discs, and even that program doesn't work well on its own. You're still gonna need to use MakeMKV to get a good result.

2) Install DeUHD. IMPORTANT: During installation, select NOT to install the DeUHD driver. Repeat: do NOT install the DeUHD driver.

3) With DeUHD open / activated, insert an AACS 2.1 disc into your UHD-friendly drive. DeUHD will recognize and decrypt the disc.

4) Once DeUHD has decrypted the disc, select "Rip to Disc" and save the disc to your hard drive. And now, go make a sandwich or something, because this is gonna take a while. Note: do NOT use "Rip to Image" in this step. If you do, MakeMKV will not be able to open the file.

5) Once the "Rip to Disc" process is complete, follow these steps to save your movie in an MKV container:

a) Open MakeMKV
b) Select "Open File"
c) Navigate to & open the movie's BDMV folder (if you saved this to default, it'll be at Users>YourUserName>Documents>DeUHD>MOVIETITLE>BDMV)
d) Select and open the file index.bdmv

6) MakeMKV will successfully open the (now decrypted) AACS 2.1 disc, but it will also detected that you're using an external program. If MakeMKV prompts you to close DeUHD, do NOT do it. Ignore this warning & follow the directions to make your .mkv as normal.

I can 100% confirm that this method absolutely WILL allow you to decrypt all three current AACS 2.1 discs (Fury, Patriot and Stand by Me); that the resulting .mkv files are, in fact, 4K HDR resolution with relevant HD sound (I think Dolby Atmos); and that no errors are generated (at least none were for me) as the .mkv file is created. In fact, just finished watching "Stand by Me" on Kodi via my own media server, and it looked / sounded terrific.

Again, I know this is kind of a pain, and I know that soon enough, Mike will have MKV to the point that it can handle AACS 2.1 discs on its own. When that happens, for me, it's goodbye DeUHD. But for now, this works. Hope it helps. Have a great Labor Day!

[MartyMcNuts]

Nope. I refuse to buy DeUHD just to decrypt my Fury UHD. I've waited this long, so really, I'll wait a little bit longer!

[SamuriHL]

I also refuse to buy DeUHD to backup my non-existent copies of Fury, The Patriot, and Stand By Me. Because I refuse to buy them.

[st4evr]

This could help others barely coming into this to understand their current option for decrypting these AACS 2.1 titles, but it’s all known and has been discussed already quite a bit since Fury and The Patriot were released, followed by support from DeUHD (a simple search will provide these discussions as well).

As it has been since, it’s always been a topic of discussion as to whether it’s worth it or not to purchase that license just for this support. And a discussion that has taken place in multiple places/forums, not just here. With different sides and perspectives on the subject.

Some people see it as a “us vs them” for some reason. Meaning, some think AnyDVD is the greatest thing since sliced bread, while for others it’s MakeMKV. And yet for others is DeUHD. Like if these were teams battling it out. LOL.

For others it’s a matter of costs/money which is more understandable (in my opinion). Some people just can’t justify the price of purchasing multiple licenses for multiple applications that in the end are supposed to do similar or the same thing. I perfectly understand that.

In the end, at least there are options. Although few in regards to this at the moment, but it’s an option nonetheless.

[kptaylor67]

This could help others barely coming into this to understand their current option for decrypting these AACS 2.1 titles, but it’s all known and has been discussed already quite a bit since Fury and The Patriot were released, followed by support from DeUHD (a simple search will provide these discussions as well).

As it has been since, it’s always been a topic of discussion as to whether it’s worth it or not to purchase that license just for this support. And a discussion that has taken place in multiple places/forums, not just here. With different sides and perspectives on the subject.

Some people see it as a “us vs them” for some reason. Meaning, some think AnyDVD is the greatest thing since sliced bread, while for others it’s MakeMKV. And yet for others is DeUHD. Like if these were teams battling it out. LOL.

For others it’s a matter of costs/money which is more understandable (in my opinion). Some people just can’t justify the price of purchasing multiple licenses for multiple applications that in the end are supposed to do similar or the same thing. I perfectly understand that.

In the end, at least there are options. Although few in regards to this at the moment, but it’s an option nonetheless.

Thanks for your reply. I'd like to clarify that I *know* none of this is especially new information, and I certainly didn't mean to introduce any "clutter" into such a clearly streamlined forum. It's just that when I was searching for a single, concise post that would allow me to deal with these discs while Mike finishes the version of MakeMKV that'll do it, I couldn't fine one - there's *lots* of posts that contain some of this info, but no posts I could find that had all of it in a single, simple post. So I thought I'd post that for folks like me who were just looking for post of that nature. That's all.

[cconklin1]

i found this quite helpful. thank you.

[hernanez]

Hey Everybody - I'm a long time (paid even!) user of MakeMKV, which I know we all love. I know that Mike is hard at work on a version of MakeMKV that will handle AACS 2.1, and when it's done, I know it'll be the best solution out there, period. But if you want to go ahead and decrypt AACS 2.1 discs *right now,* I'm gonna tell you how to do it. Disclaimer: you'll need a helper program, and this works with Windows only (tested today with Windows 10 & latest updates installed), so take this for whatever you think it's worth, keeping in mind that, at present, there are exactly THREE AACS 2.1 Discs.

I'm a little confused by this tutorial.
If I read it correctly, you still need DeUHD to decrypt the disc, so what does MakeMKV does here other than let you resave it to an MKV container?

Surely if you rip to ISO and mount it, MakeMKV will let you open it from the main window like it does with any ISO, you can close or not close DeUHD at this stage.
And what's the reason to not install the DeUHD driver?

What am I missing here?

[st4evr]

I'm a little confused by this tutorial.
If I read it correctly, you still need DeUHD to decrypt the disc, so what does MakeMKV does here other than let you resave it to an MKV container?

Yes, that's the whole point of this post. It's very clearly detailed by the OP (and as I also mentioned above, in many other discussions in this forum), so I am unsure which part you are missing in this.

NOTE to OP:

It may be more helpful to change/edit the thread title from "Decoded" to "Decrypted". These are different. You can argue that they have similarities, but in the context of this forum and what is explicitly being done here, the action that is being taken against these discs is decryption by definition.

Let's try to keep our terminology correct to avoid misinformation or confusion.

[hernanez]

Yes, that's the whole point of this post. It's very clearly detailed by the OP (and as I also mentioned above, in many other discussions in this forum), so I am unsure which part you are missing in this.

NOTE to OP:

It may be more helpful to change/edit the thread title from "Decoded" to "Decrypted". These are different. You can argue that they have similarities, but in the context of this forum and what is explicitly being done here, the action that is being taken against these discs is decryption by definition.

Let's try to keep our terminology correct to avoid misinformation or confusion.

Yeah, I guess. At first it seemed to me like he found some method to decrypt the discs using MakeMKV but this is just saving an already decrypted disc to mkv. I'm unsure why stages like not installing DeUHD drivers or rip to folder are needed, as surely once the disc is decrypted, MakeMKV can make an mkv the same way it does with discs it decrypted itself.

[kptaylor67]

I'm a little confused by this tutorial.
If I read it correctly, you still need DeUHD to decrypt the disc, so what does MakeMKV does here other than let you resave it to an MKV container?

Yes, that's the whole point of this post. It's very clearly detailed by the OP (and as I also mentioned above, in many other discussions in this forum), so I am unsure which part you are missing in this.

NOTE to OP:

It may be more helpful to change/edit the thread title from "Decoded" to "Decrypted". These are different. You can argue that they have similarities, but in the context of this forum and what is explicitly being done here, the action that is being taken against these discs is decryption by definition.

Let's try to keep our terminology correct to avoid misinformation or confusion.

Sorry about that. Changed title.

[enginerd]

I had random luck with a Pioneer BDR-XS07UHD on a Mac (Ventura w/ M1) decrypting Stand By Me. Didn’t appear to download any specific keys from HK. Single Main Feature title on disc after opening, saved without further issue.

Going to check Zombieland soon to see if I can repeat w/ results a different 2.1 disc.

FYI, the Pioneer drive seems well-paired with a libredrive-enabled Buffalo PU3. What one drive errors on the other seems to handle without issue. Have ripped about 500 UHD titles between the two with none failing except new releases awaiting keys.

[tresnugget]

makemkv worked for me with Stand By Me and Fury... only disc that hasn't worked has been Zombieland unfortunately