So most people won’t have to use ADB (Android Debug Bridge) ever, but if you want to learn how or want to get a little more technical with your Android phone, here’s how to get it set up.
I. Setting Up The SDK
1. Download the Latest Android SDK from Google
2. Extract the Android SDK .Zip file to C:\AndroidSDK (this should name the new folder created AndroidSDK in the C directory.
3. On your phone, click Settings > Applications > Development and make sure USB Debugging is on.
4. Plug your phone into your computer via USB cable (it needs to be on). It should say installing drivers if using Windows.
!UPDATE 12.01.09 – If using Windows 7 skip steps 4 and 5 and use this procedure instead.
5. After it installs the drivers, goto the Start menu and type cmd into the search bar (Vista or higher) or click Run then type in cmd (XP) to open the command prompt.
6. Type the following into the command prompt window (hitting enter at the end of every line):
cd\
cd AndroidSDK\tools\
adb devices
You should see a serial number pop up, it’s the serial number of your phone. This means you are all set.
If you do NOT see a serial number, then we need to reinstall the drivers.
II. Reinstall Drivers (If they did not install properly in Section I)
1. Download USBDeview
2. While the phone is still plugged in, open USBDeview and sort by manufacturer. Find all the HTC drivers and delete them all.
3. Once all have been deleted, unplug the phone from the USB cable and plug it back in.
4. The correct drivers should reinstall automatically (check the drivers as they are installing, one should say ADB Device driver).
5. To check, goto Devices (or Device Manager for older versions of Windows) in your Start menu then click on the “Android Phone”. Click on the Hardware tab, and check the list of drivers for ADB Interface under Type.
*Otherwise, if you don’t see an ADB driver for your phone then install the drivers for your specific phone manually.
Download your phone’s driver’s below then click Update Driver > Browse > Let me pick > Computer > Have Disk > Browse > Then select the driver you downloaded below:
Motorola Droid Drivers (unzip the file once you download it).
Motorola CLIQ Drivers (follow the instructions on the page).
!!!!You can also goto Device Manager > Right Click Android Phone > Properties > Update Driver > Browse My Computer > Goto the Android SDK Folder > And click USB Driver folder then click ok and it should install the ADB driver.!!!!
5. Done! Now you can use ADB to alter your phone from your computer.
III. Some Common ADB/Fastboot Commands
ADB Commands
adb devices – lists which devices are currently attached to your computer
adb install <packagename.apk> – lets you install an Android application on your phone
adb remount – Remounts your system in write mode – this lets you alter system files on your phone using ADB
adb push <localfile> <location on your phone> – lets you upload files to your phones filesystem
adb pull <location on your phone> <localfile> – lets you download files off your phones filesystem
adb logcat – starts dumping debugging information from your handset to the console – useful for debugging your apps
adb shell <command> – drops you into a basic linux command shell on your phone with no parameters, or lets you run commands directly
Fastboot Commands
fastboot devices – lists which devices in fastboot mode are currently attached to your computer
fastboot boot <filename> – boots a rom stored on your pc specified by the filename
fastboot flash <partition> <filename> – flashes a rom stored on your pc, partition can be one of {boot, recovery, system, userdata}
NEED SOME HELP?
I. Type Your Issue into the Custom Search Below!
We have designed it to only search sites that may contain solutions to issues that might come up!
II. Look for the Solution or Ask for Help in the Forums!
Find your phone's Technical Support Forum in the Forums.III. Comment(s) Section below
In an effort to minimize cluttering up the Comment(s) section below with back and forth technical support, I ask that you please refrain from posting technical support questions in the Comment(s) below. Instead, please find your phone's Technical Support Forum in the Forums.
October 6th, 2009 at 12:17 pm
Thanks for the latest SDK version
October 6th, 2009 at 1:18 pm
Hi unlockr
just a stupid question from a newbiee is this adb driver help solve the problem from some hero roms that consistantly when youre using a application the phone reboots to the htc screen.
thanks for your help
October 6th, 2009 at 3:14 pm
Hello Giovanny55,
ADB is for sending and controlling stuff on the phone. It can’t make your phone run better.
You just need to download the Maxisma ROM from the Downloads section, install it and also make sure to do the How To Speed Up Your Hero ROM and you should get rid of that.
October 6th, 2009 at 8:00 pm
first of all THANKS, and what about eclipse ddms and etc? i need help with avd, i dont know why, but i put all the ffiles in the right place (system32 etc) but it just wont work!!!!!!!
October 7th, 2009 at 9:56 am
hello unlockr,
first of thanks.i been trying to get this working for sometime and thanks to you i finally have.this site is my favorite site for all android help.thanks
October 7th, 2009 at 10:08 am
hey i did this and install the drive but doe not work still i type in the adb device and nothing shows up it just says list of device..no serial or nothing please help thanks
October 7th, 2009 at 12:58 pm
Hello James,
Do the rest of the procedure, use USBDeview uninstall the drivers and replug in.
October 8th, 2009 at 12:34 am
i tried that but when i select it to be uninstalled or even disscnet with that program it does nothing…
October 8th, 2009 at 11:37 am
Hello James
You need to run the program as administrator, right click it before opening it (I do it in the video)
October 17th, 2009 at 12:49 am
Tried the same as James and it didn’t work and I ran as administrator too. No driver. I tried several times and uninstalled all the HTC and Android devices. Any help would be awesome.
October 18th, 2009 at 9:56 pm
Wow! Ok so I figured out how to do this after trying just about everything I can think of for 2 days.
This is to help anyone who is ready to end their existence.
1. I’m running Vista Ultimate 64 bit on both my computers (Yes I tried it all on both!)
2. I have a 32B Sapphire/MyTouch rooted and I’m running Cyanogen’s latest ROM. (If you don’t know what this is you shouldn’t be using this tutorial anyhow.)
3. I used this tutorial exactly as shown in the video. Tried using USBDeview to uninstall the drivers and still wouldn’t recognize the drivers for my phone. Windows asks for the driver. So I went to the file in the C;/AndroidSDK for usb drivers. Windows tells you that it’s not there and can’t install it.
4. Found a forum online telling me to edit the registry delete some files. (Think this process is for XP 64 bit operating systems. Either way it didn’t work.)
This worked.
1. Make sure first that you turn on USB Debugging on your phone by going to Settings > Applications > Development > USB debugging. (Leave phone unplugged from computer)
2. Use USBDeview right-click to run as administrator. Delete anything labeled Android or HTC.
3. Next you want to go to this link: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=446274
Download the driver and extract to a location you’ll remember.
4. The instructions in the link above are kind of vague so this should help for anyone as NOOB as me.
You want to type “cmd” into your start search bar to bring up the command prompt right-click the cmd program and run as admin.
5. You need to run Vista in Test Mode (Don’t ask… Pis*es me off too!) right where the the cursor is at the Command Prompt. No need to use cd.. or c:/ type this : “bcdedit /set testsigning on” (without parenthesis of course)
6. Reboot your computer should have test mode in each corner when it restarts.
7. Plug in your phone and when prompted let windows search for the driver. When it can’t find it install the driver manually from the file you downloaded and extracted the driver to.
8. It will give you a brand new red window that tells you how windows doesn’t recognize it. Install it anyhow.
9. Cha-Ching! Installed! Now do the reverse from the cmd prompt to get your computer out of test mode. And then reboot
Thanks Unlockr this site has the best tutorials for Android on the Web! Keep up the good work.
October 19th, 2009 at 2:02 am
Hello hvrobel,
Ha thanks, I appreciate it. I will definitely try
And thanks for this, I’ll add it to the reported issues so others can find it easily. Great addition!
October 19th, 2009 at 9:21 pm
Hey Unlockr, im using Windows XP, and when i “run” cmd. I get command prompt. Good so far, but then when i press enter it does not double space and i cannot type in cd/ and stuff to get my abd. so yeah plz message me back T_T. i needs abd
October 19th, 2009 at 9:21 pm
i mean adb
October 19th, 2009 at 9:35 pm
Hello Andrew,
The / need to be \ sorry. Try it now.
November 5th, 2009 at 4:25 pm
“I get a message state windows system 32 is either not designed to run on windows or it contains an error. Try installing the program again using the original installation media or contact your ststem administrator or the software vendor for support” I got all to show ready but the most important one the dream composite abd interface. Any help would be great!
November 7th, 2009 at 9:00 pm
I am running XP and when i go to USBDeview and try to run as administrator i dont have that option. I tried selecting the first option but I have 1 HTC driver.dont know how to run as admin, please help. Thanks in advance!
November 7th, 2009 at 9:40 pm
^^^nevermind i figured it out
November 8th, 2009 at 12:24 am
@the,
If you have XP you don’t need to run as admin if you dont have the option just continue from there.
November 8th, 2009 at 10:08 am
I keep getting the same error for my USB : Code 10: Device Cannot Start. I’ve updated the driver using the location of the usbdriver in the SDK directory. My assumption is that there is something conflicting with the device that’s not letting it start, but I cant figure out what. (I have Project64 & GBA Emulators installed on my laptop as well, maybe that’s it?) In the device manager, there is the yellow exclamation mark. I’ve uninstalled using USBDeview, and my phone is on USB Debugging as well.
Viewing in USBDeview mode, the serial number of my HTC device & all its informations shows when I click properties. My only problem is that it will not start. This is pretty funny to me, because the only reason I have downloaded Android SDK is so that I can take screenshots of my phone & possibly develop themes for it. Someone please help me!
I’m using Windows Vista 32bit and I have a Tmobile G1, rooted, running CM4.2.3
November 8th, 2009 at 10:53 am
You should make sure that you add in the instructions that people need to go into Settings > Applications > Development and select USB Debugging, other wise, this will not work, and no matter how many times you uninstall and reinstall the drivers, it wont take.
November 8th, 2009 at 11:25 pm
I tried the instructions above and I keep getting this error:
adb server is out of date. Killing…
ADB server didn’t ACK
* failed to start daemon *
error:
November 12th, 2009 at 10:20 pm
hello unlockr i was wondering if this step was necissary to root the sprint htc hero and get custom ROM?
November 13th, 2009 at 4:20 am
I was wondering if you could help me out i have tried to get adb to work but as the drivers are installing the one that says adb does not install what should i do?
November 13th, 2009 at 4:25 am
when i search for it i get newdev.exe-bad image also a window pops up saying htc dream composite adb interface driver not intended for this platform
November 13th, 2009 at 1:39 pm
Nik,
Yes.
November 13th, 2009 at 8:33 pm
Cant get this working AT ALL
I tried the first time; no serial numbers appeared
installed USBDeview ran it
deleted the HTC files
plugged it in again
and the installation wizard says it cant find the necessary software to install the drivers every time. UGH
what do I do?
November 15th, 2009 at 3:43 am
hey unlockr…
i tried everything but in cmd it is not showing my device number ….after usbdeview when i connect my device it says adb drivers not found….but in devices & printers when i see hardware for android phone it shows me adb….so wat should i do ……i am desparate to have market in my hero
November 15th, 2009 at 4:07 am
I cannot get the drivers to install on my HTC Sprint Hero. I am running Windows XP and am stuck at this part. What am I doing wrong?
November 15th, 2009 at 4:26 am
i hav same prob as jon stanley pls…..help
November 16th, 2009 at 1:47 am
hey GT Download this driver for your phone
extract it to C: drive.
http://www.4shared.com/file/97447244/1851aecc/android_adb_usb_driver.html
then when u plug in your phone install the driver from that folder by clicking advanced, browse (find the driver folder) then install it.
then command prompt will show u your serial number :]
my problem was: when trying to install driver it was searching automatically on the phone but couldnt find it. so I used that driver I found
adb works great now
November 16th, 2009 at 1:49 am
forgot to mention. Use this to unzip driver if u dont have any other 3rd party unzippers
http://sourceforge.net/projects/sevenzip/files/7-Zip/4.65/7z465.exe/download
November 16th, 2009 at 10:39 am
Ditto Jon Stanley and Chad. I have XP. I’ve uninstalled and reinstalled HTC and ADB drivers several times and never get the hardware connected. If I use the installation wizard, I get the can’t find necessary software error. If I try to do the advanced installation HTC device is not available by itself nor will it work if you choose portable device, or USB connection. So have yet to get the serial number in CMD window.
November 16th, 2009 at 8:22 pm
Hey Jon…I hope you check back here. I did the two downloads above you suggest. Then when I go to advanced set up and go to my C drive to choose a folder, I can only choose either amd64 or x86. I can’t choose a folder with sub-folders, i.e. Android_adb_usb_driver or usb_driver. Any suggestions??
November 18th, 2009 at 8:24 am
@W W
I think I just figured it out (yes it’s 2:20am).
I installed everything as far as it would go, where it successfully installs 3 out of the 4 (the failed install being the “adb”).
AFTER I do that I go into the device manager, and there is a device with a “!” next to it called “adb”.
I right click on that, and “update driver”.
I choose browser for driver and direct it to the correct directory – it installed successfully.
Now I’m going to try and test it.
November 20th, 2009 at 12:40 am
Is it working for Galaxy?
November 30th, 2009 at 6:29 pm
Thank you very much theunlockr!! I needed a guide like this, I have a Mytouch 3G and I couldn’t “see” it on ADB until now… In my case, Windows XP didn’t detect the drivers for my phone, but I’d previously downloaded from SDK official page and I had just to pointed to that location…
Thanks again!
December 6th, 2009 at 5:02 pm
So i’m trying to root my Behold 2, been following the instructions on THE UNLOCKER, and want to connect it to ADB. I have the Android SDK on my C drive, and where I get stuck is when I put in the code to find the serial it gives me “LIST OF DEVICES:” and the serial is never there.
I have downloaded the Behold 2 drivers, and it installs every one except the Samsung ADB Interface which it fails on. I use the USBDEVIEW software to uninstall and try again but everytime it’s the same failure, and yes the phone is set to USB debugged, and Samsung Studio.
I’m running Windows Premium 64bit, I don’t know if running a 64 bit system has anything to do with this. Any help would be great! I thought I was a tech junkie until I ran into this.
December 10th, 2009 at 3:27 am
not working for me
can anyone help..!
i try help search but is like looking for a
needle in a u know,.,.,
December 11th, 2009 at 11:39 pm
how do you do this on a mac? please and thanks
December 20th, 2009 at 2:19 pm
Omg can sumone help me when i try to install the phone the adb won’t install can someone please help me
December 24th, 2009 at 9:21 am
Does not work for me: on Windows bootcamp or in Windows 7 64.
How come this is so hard??
December 30th, 2009 at 12:25 am
mannnnn i am so mad it dont work for me……on w7 i did the htc drivers and still nothing
December 30th, 2009 at 4:54 am
Didnt work at all for me.
December 30th, 2009 at 12:09 pm
Will,
Read the reported issues and check/post in the technical support forums for help.
December 31st, 2009 at 4:28 am
Hey, thanks for the guide. I have one problem though, when I plug in my G1 for it to install it’s own drivers, only its mass storage drivers are installed. Also when in device manager it lists my phone under disk drives.. Any idea whats up?
December 31st, 2009 at 2:07 pm
Solo,
Read the reported issues, should help.
January 9th, 2010 at 10:51 pm
Just FYI for those of you using wanting to Ubuntu.
Since I started doing development in Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala) I didn’t wanna do it in Windows, so I did my research and finally I got ADB working on it. Here is what I did
1. Login as root and create this file: /etc/udev/rules.d/70-android.rules
For Gusty/Hardy, edit the file to read:
SUBSYSTEM==”usb”, SYSFS{idVendor}==”0bb4″, MODE=”0666″
For Dapper, edit the file to read:
SUBSYSTEM==”usb_device”, SYSFS{idVendor}==”0bb4″, MODE=”0666″
For Karmic Koala, edit the file to read:
SUBSYSTEM==”usb”, SYSFS{idVendor}==”0bb4″, MODE=”0666″
2. Now execute:
chmod a+rx /etc/udev/rules.d/70-android.rules
3. reboot
Reference: http://developer.android.com/guide/developing/device.html#setting-up
NOTE: For Gusty/Hardy, Dapper use 51-android.rules instead of 70-android.rules.
NOTE: “0bb4″ is the USB vendor ID for HTC, for more vendor IDs refer to http://developer.android.com/guide/developing/device.html#VendorIds
January 10th, 2010 at 12:17 am
So im a newbie at the whole android thing, and i need help. When i input cmd in the search and try step 6, it always says cdAndroidSDK\tools\ is not recognized as internal or external command
January 10th, 2010 at 6:16 am
im having a problem copying to memory card i’ve been watching this video
http://theunlockr.com/2009/10/15/how-to-flash-a-new-recovery-image-if-you-are-already-rooted/
and around 2:05 in the video it says copy to memory card but cant figure out how, ive done everything leading up to it right. any tips would help
thanks ben c
January 10th, 2010 at 2:24 pm
JGeZau,
Thanks, nice addition!
January 10th, 2010 at 2:25 pm
PJ0906,
You need a space between cd and AndroidSDK\tools\
Then also make sure you renamed the sdk folder to AndroidSDK and it is on your C drive (not in any subfolders).
Also try doing it step by step like this:
cd c:\androidsdk
cd tools
January 10th, 2010 at 2:40 pm
Ben,
Plug in your phone via USB cable to your computer.
Pull down the notification bar on the phone and click Mount.
When you can see the “Removable Disk” on your computer, drag the .img file and drop it onto the Removable Disk. (Same way you would save any music, etc.).
January 15th, 2010 at 12:47 am
when i open the usbdeview folder only the read me and the one with a ? is there. no app
January 15th, 2010 at 1:12 am
nvm i found it. my anti virus blocked it
January 16th, 2010 at 12:32 am
hey i got and old ibook g4 how can i do this
or do i need to upgrade to an intel mac .?
January 16th, 2010 at 3:36 pm
hi unlocker, when im in CMD i put in everything like you said but when i put in:
abd devices
it says ‘abd’ is not recognized as and internal or external command, operable program, or a batch file. what did i do wrong?
January 16th, 2010 at 3:38 pm
^^^ also im using the moto cliq and vista 32-bit
January 16th, 2010 at 3:43 pm
^^^*facepalm* im such a dumb ass (and a little dyslectic)
i put in abd, when i should have put in adb. hahahahha.
sorry for posting 3 comments.
January 17th, 2010 at 1:20 am
ive tried everything it says bt my adb drive wont install i have a g1 and i cant do the settings thing ur talking about because im trying to activate my fone without a data plan plzz help
January 18th, 2010 at 11:26 pm
TheUnlockr
Hey Everytime I Put
cd\
cd AndroidSDK\tools\
It Says “The System Cannot Find The Path Specified”
Im running XP and I have a Sprint HTC Hero not rooted but trying
Please Help
January 19th, 2010 at 2:01 pm
Lan579,
You need to do this process to a T. You need to put the SDK folder in the C drive and rename it to AndroidSDK.
January 20th, 2010 at 9:45 pm
Thanks I did that but it had an extra subfolder so i moved files to just AndroidSDK
Got it rooted
January 21st, 2010 at 5:33 pm
Lan579,
Glad it worked
January 23rd, 2010 at 6:41 pm
adb clip and drctns very useful. thanx a million.Its like majic for us nubys. 39yr old that is.ha
January 24th, 2010 at 2:18 pm
Billy D,
Ha, you are very welcome!
January 26th, 2010 at 12:06 am
I’m having problems, I follow all the steps
But when I open command pront it says file path
Not found.now di I open the file androidsdk and hit setup. ?cuz when I do it says can’t installed HTML not found, pls I need help I’ve been trying for 3days now
January 26th, 2010 at 2:57 pm
Jae,
If it cant find the system path it is because you did not rename the folder AndroidSDK and you did not put it on the C drive (not in any folders).
Also check to make sure there isnt any extra folder inside the SDK folder (i.e. AndroidSDK/androidsdk/tools).
Good luck!
January 26th, 2010 at 8:57 pm
I do I have tools,androisdk,and two others should I delete it
January 26th, 2010 at 11:05 pm
Unlockr,
I keep getting to the driver installation and come up with this message ” The file ‘androidusb.sys’ on ADB interface Installation Disk is needed” Please help man ?
February 3rd, 2010 at 1:51 am
ok so i got all the way through adb and the device isn’t up….the problem is to begin with im doing all of this because i dont have the data plan so i cant activate it, and it is required to do this to activate…so my question is how to a activate debugging on my phone if i cant get into it??
February 4th, 2010 at 11:03 am
i have a few questions that i would like to ask! a lil birdy told me that i could use adb to remove unused widgets from my current hero rom? i was told that this would free up internal memory and speed up the rom? if this is so, what commands would i need to input? and if i did this and later decided that i want to switch back to cyanogen, would i ever get them back? any info would help! thanks!
-unused widgets-
andriod analog clock
andriod music
only need one or two of the htc clocks…
htc photo album
htc photo frame
stocks
February 4th, 2010 at 8:18 pm
The window’s 7 ways is super complicated. i dont understand the lingo on that site. could you give me a tutorial? it would help alot.
February 6th, 2010 at 2:14 pm
Hello Unlockr,
Thanks for everything. I followed your instructions and can find my device when I use ADB devices.
However, when I use command fastboot devices, it does nothing but goes back to the c:\androidSDK\tools.
Does that mean fastboot is not recognizing my device?
February 6th, 2010 at 5:27 pm
Never mind. I think I got it. I have to get the phone on fastboot mode (volume down/power) and then connect to the computer via USB and then cmd on Windows, right?
February 9th, 2010 at 3:46 pm
I’m trying to register my phone without sim or data plan…..I downloaded the SDK but why is windows only installing it as a USB mass storage how do I get the “HTC dream adb interface” driver to install on my comp when my phone is unregistered or has no sim card? People are saying turn on USB Debugging option but I can’t even go into my phone without being registered first.
February 26th, 2010 at 3:00 pm
hello Unlockr,
I cannot seem to get the drivers installed correctly. This is my second phone which I am rooting and didn’t have any issues with the first one. I tryed everything I could think of. Running Windows XP and get the popup window asking if I would like to search for the drivers. It searches, then sais it could not install device……. Any Ideas?
March 7th, 2010 at 3:01 pm
Hi.
I just get this error message:
adb server is out of date. killing…
ADB server didn’t ACK
* failed to start daemon *
error:
Can you provide any help on this?
March 7th, 2010 at 5:50 pm
Towoha,
Try deleting the SDK you have and redownload the latest one from Google.
March 12th, 2010 at 10:56 pm