Device Customization Setup Guide

This guide documents the manual steps required to configure your Bose SoundTouch device for customization using the SoundCork approach.

Based on: https://github.com/deborahgu/soundcork

Overview

SoundCork allows you to customize your SoundTouch device by intercepting and modifying its firmware update process. This requires specific manual configuration steps to prepare your device.

Prerequisites

• Bose SoundTouch device
• Network access to device
• Administrative access to your router/network

Configuration Steps

Step 1: Prepare USB Drive

• Insert USB stick into computer
• Create remote services file: touch /path/to/mounted/usb/root-directory/remote_services

Step 2: Connect to Device

• Insert USB stick into SoundTouch 20 device
• Restart device (unplug power, plug it back in)

Step 3: Access Device via SSH or Telnet

After the restart, remote access is enabled.

Option A: SSH

• SSH access: ssh -oHostKeyAlgorithms=ssh-rsa root@<device-ip>
• Device will show network interfaces and system info
• No password required for root access

Example output:

gesellix@Mac Bose-SoundTouch % ssh -oHostKeyAlgorithms=ssh-rsa root@<device-ip>
Last login: Sun Feb  1 19:12:47 2026
eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr CA:FE:BA:BE:A3:25
          inet addr:<device-ip>  Bcast:0.0.0.0  Mask:255.255.255.0
lo        Link encap:Local Loopback
          inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
usb0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr CA:FE:BA:BE:1E:47
          inet addr:123.12.123.12  Bcast:0.0.0.0  Mask:255.255.255.252

Sun Feb  1 20:35:24 CET 2026

Device name: "Kitchen SoundTouch"
Country EU, Region (not set)
Module type: scm
root@spotty:~#

Option B: Telnet via Docker

If you don’t have a telnet client installed, you can use Docker:

docker run --rm -it alpine:edge ash -c 'apk add -U inetutils-telnet && telnet <device-ip> 23'

Example output:

Trying <device-ip>...
Connected to <device-ip>.
Escape character is '^]'.

... --- ..- -. -.. - --- ..- -.-. ....

        ____  ____  _____ _________
       / __ )/ __ \/ ___// _______/
      / __  / / / /\__ \/ __/
 ____/ /_/ / /_/ /___/ / /___
/_________/\____//____/_____/


spotty login: root
eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr CA:FE:BA:BE:A3:25
          inet addr:<device-ip>  Bcast:0.0.0.0  Mask:255.255.255.0
lo        Link encap:Local Loopback
          inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
usb0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr CA:FE:BA:BE:1E:47
          inet addr:123.12.123.12  Bcast:0.0.0.0  Mask:255.255.255.252

Sun Feb  1 19:12:47 CET 2026

Device name: "Kitchen SoundTouch"
Country EU, Region (not set)
Module type: scm
root@spotty:~#

Step 4: Check Current Configuration

• View current configuration: cat /opt/Bose/etc/SoundTouchSdkPrivateCfg.xml
• Note the URLs for streaming, stats, software updates, and BMX registry

Notes

• Keep your device’s original firmware backed up
• Ensure stable network connection during setup
• Document your device’s current firmware version before starting

Troubleshooting

Common issues and solutions will be added here…