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: "A Sound Machine"
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: "A Sound Machine"
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...

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