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[HOW-TO]Set up Android SDK/ADB/Fastboot on Ubuntu Linux

When I first attempted to install the SDK, I found tutorials that only had bits and pieces about the whole procedure. A lot of Google searches and hours of eye strain. I wanted to write a solid tutorial, but instead of publishing it in a personal blog, I chose to publish it here on xda-developers. This is the definite forum to come to if you are interested in Android/G1/HTC Dream development or costumization. I wrote this to make the enlarge the knowledge of this community.
!! THIS TUTORIAL IS FOR THE LATEST UBUNTU RELEASE: JAUNTY JACKALOPE 9.04 !!
!!START -------------------------------------- Optional Preparation --------------------------------------
This applies if you -
Are interested in installing Ubuntu for the first time.
Are/will be reinstalling Ubuntu from scratch.
Want to keep your SDK installation easy to reach.
Want to keep things nice and clean.
And your machine -
Has a second hard drive.
Has free space for another small partition.
This procedure will make things easier during installation of the SDK and in the long run. Hopefully you've read about partitions. If you are dualbooting, please read this first to get an idea of what you're doing.
While installing Ubuntu and on the Prepare Disk Space screen (partition editor), select "Specify partitions manually (Advanced)"
On the Create Partition dialog, select the following options:
Type for the new partition: Primaryor Logical if you're dualbooting and know what you are doing.​
New partition size in megabytes: 5120MB (5GB) might work. BUT:
ccyrowski said:
It should be noted that if you ever plan on compiling kernels and/or cupcake ROM's you will NEED ubuntu8.04. You'll also need at least 10GB.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Location for the new partition: Beginning
Use as: Ext4 or Ext3Filesystem doesn't matter. (?)​
Mount point: /AndroidSDKEnter this manually​
Complete Ubuntu installation as usual.
-------------------------------------- Optional Preparation -------------------------------------- END!!​
You will now install the SDK.​
!!START -------------------------------------- Installing Android SDK --------------------------------------
Installing the SDK is the easiest of all.
Download the SDK.169.9 MB [http://developer.android.com/sdk/download.html?v=android-sdk-linux_x86-1.5_r3.zip]​
Right-click and select Extract Here.
Move the contents of the android-sdk-linux_x86-1.5_r3 directory to your desired location.If you followed Optional Installation, move the contents to your /AndroidSDK directory in the root of your filesystem.​
Close directory window.
-------------------------------------- Installing Android SDK -------------------------------------- END!!​
You will now set up your bashrc file and UDEV to recognize your HTC Device.​
!!START -------------------------------------- ADB + FASTBOOT --------------------------------------
The Android Debug Bridge (adb) is one of the tools that will help you the most when you run into flashing problems or running shell commands directly from your machine. UDEV will not recognize your G1 out of the box, but we will configure it with some rules so it can connect.
We will work with /AndroidSDK as the location of your sdk. If this is not your setup, I think you're smart enough to figure it out.
Editing .bashrc file to use tools from /AndroidSDK/tools/ directory -
Go to your home folder.Example: /home/wddglr/​
Press Control + H to view hidden files.
Look for your .bashrc file and double click to open it with gedit.
Add the following lines to the top of the file:
Code:
#AndroidDev PATH
export PATH=${PATH}:/AndroidSDK/tools
IMPORTANT NOTE
savethechicken said:
This is the way that I have my .bashrc file setup. For those having problems with it not recognizing the adb as a command try this...
Code:
export PATH=$PATH:/AndroidSDK/tools
I removed the {} around ${PATH} and it is working if I had them on it would say that it didn't recognize the command. Removed them and all works well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Setting up UDEV to recognize HTC Device -
Type the following into a terminal (Applications > Accessories > Terminal):
Code:
gksudo gedit /etc/udev/rules.d/51-android.rules
Now add the following line to the blank file:
Code:
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", SYSFS{idVendor}=="0bb4", MODE="0666"
Click save and close.
To restart udev, open up a terminal and enter:
Code:
sudo /etc/init.d/udev restart
Setting up fastboot -
Download this fastboot binary from http://android-dls.com.130.4 KB [http://android-dls.com/files/linux/fastboot]​
Once downloaded to your desktop, right click and select Properties.
Navigate to the Permissions tab and configure the following option:Execute: [√] Allow executing file as program​
Click Close.
Move the fastboot bianary to your /AndroidSDK/tools/ directory.
Reboot.
-------------------------------------- ADB + FASTBOOT -------------------------------------- END!!​Now you can use adb and fastboot directly from any terminal. If you chose to do the Optional Preparation, you can now save your Eclipse Workspace and your downloaded/custom ROMs/Themes in this new /AndroidSDK directory keeping things easier to reach and safe from evil disk errors or other mishaps!!! :O​If you are having problems, send me a PM. I will be happy to help.

*applaudes* awesome. Should be added to helpful threads.

very nice! perhaps add a "(How-To)" prefix to thread??

Everything was going great in setting this up until I got to this part "gedit /etc/udev/rules.d/51-android.rules"
I cannot find "51-android.rules" inside of "rules.d"
Any thoughts>?

nicholasbithell said:
Everything was going great in setting this up until I got to this part "gedit /etc/udev/rules.d/51-android.rules"
I cannot find "51-android.rules" inside of "rules.d"
Any thoughts>?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it does not exist, you will make it.
do the command as stated above.
Code:
gksu gedit /etc/udev/rules.d/51-android.rules

Damn you beat me to it!
I was just thinking earlier about doing this same "How-To" guide, I was surprise to see it posted just now.
Anyways, great job!

Can someone sticky this thread. Now I have ADB & fastboot on my Win7, Ubuntu, and OS X Partition. Thank you wddglr.

bravo...linux rocks even better now!...

Awesome tutorial for setting this up. Have been using adb/sdk on ubuntu since oct. but this would have saved me some headaches back in the first couple of weeks.
The onlything that is not clear and/or confuses me is
Setting up the udev to recognize the device.
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", SYSFS{idVendor}=="0bb4", MODE="0666"
Have never used this (will now to see if it will do anything) and the only problem i have is that sometimes i have to kill-server to get it to connect correctly but i have seen this happen to almost everyone on many forums since the 9.04 came out. And even after putting this file on the computer i have had the problem.

savethechicken said:
Awesome tutorial for setting this up. Have been using adb/sdk on ubuntu since oct. but this would have saved me some headaches back in the first couple of weeks.
The onlything that is not clear and/or confuses me is
Setting up the udev to recognize the device.
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", SYSFS{idVendor}=="0bb4", MODE="0666"
Have never used this (will now to see if it will do anything) and the only problem i have is that sometimes i have to kill-server to get it to connect correctly but i have seen this happen to almost everyone on many forums since the 9.04 came out. And even after putting this file on the computer i have had the problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It happens to me also from time to time. especially when i reboot and want to go into adb while the device is rebooting. although that file, 51-adndroid.rules, is what helped me get adb to recognize the device. the guide on developer.android.com talked about 50-android.rules but after a few deep searches i found this: http://groups.google.com/group/android-developers/browse_thread/thread/1d3488c601243686

Okay A few questions for you....
First I fixed the whole "couldnt find the (51-android.rules) file now I am having issues with executing ADB!
When in terminal this is what I get...
"[email protected]:/home/nick# /AndroidSDK/tools/adb
bash: /AndroidSDK/tools/adb: cannot execute binary file
[email protected]:/home/nick#"
and I also noticed something different from when I start terminal the first lines now state
"bash: : command not found
[email protected]:~$"
I dont remember the first line ever being there, but I could be mistaken!
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Edit: You state creating "Mount point: /AndroidSDK" During Installation, and what I did was Just place my AndroidSDK at root so it is at "/AndroidSDK". I dont know if this makes a difference.
I am actually running ubuntu 8.10 ha! I just tried to update But I keep getting errors! is there anything I can change to get this to work on ubuntu 8.10?

nicholasbithell said:
First I fixed the whole "couldnt find the (51-android.rules) file now I am having issues with executing ADB!
When in terminal this is what I get...
"[email protected]:/home/nick# /AndroidSDK/tools/adb
bash: /AndroidSDK/tools/adb: cannot execute binary file
[email protected]:/home/nick#"
and I also noticed something different from when I start terminal the first lines now state
"bash: : command not found
[email protected]:~$"
Edit: You state creating "Mount point: /AndroidSDK" During Installation, and what I did was Just place my AndroidSDK at root so it is at "/AndroidSDK". I dont know if this makes a difference.
I am actually running ubuntu 8.10 ha! I just tried to update But I keep getting errors! is there anything I can change to get this to work on ubuntu 8.10?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
okay, a few things -
seems like your .bashrc file isn't setup right (?)
make sure that the two lines you inserted into it are on separate line
Code:
#AndroidDev PATH
export PATH=${PATH}:/AndroidSDK/tools
because maybe export PATH=${PATH}:/AndroidSDK/tools got commented on accident if you copy pasted.
When copying your SDK to the root of your filesystem, did you copy it as your own user or as root? you can use:
Code:
gksu nautilus
to copy system files with complete root privileges.
What exactly are you trying to update, Ubuntu or ... ? There shouldn't be a difference to get this working on 8.10, the only thing that seemed to change was the 51-android.rules file. Maybe this can help -
renaming it to 50-android.rules with
Code:
gksu nautilus
and deleting any backups (use CTRL+H to view hidden files).
restarting udev using:
Code:
sudo /etc/init.d/udev restart
Remember this is for 9.04, not 8.10. I hope this helps.

wddglr said:
okay, a few things -
seems like your .bashrc file isn't setup right (?)
make sure that the two lines you inserted into it are on separate line
Code:
#AndroidDev PATH
export PATH=${PATH}:/AndroidSDK/tools
because maybe export PATH=${PATH}:/AndroidSDK/tools got commented on accident if you copy pasted.
When copying your SDK to the root of your filesystem, did you copy it as your own user or as root? you can use:
Code:
gksu nautilus
to copy system files with complete root privileges.
What exactly are you trying to update, Ubuntu or ... ? There shouldn't be a difference to get this working on 8.10, the only thing that seemed to change was the 51-android.rules file. Maybe this can help -
renaming it to 50-android.rules with
Code:
gksu nautilus
and deleting any backups (use CTRL+H to view hidden files).
restarting udev using:
Code:
sudo /etc/init.d/udev restart
Remember this is for 8.10, not 9.04. I hope this helps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay this is how I moved my "AndroidSDK" Folder to root....
[email protected]:~$ su
Password:
[email protected]:/home/nick# mv /home/nick/Desktop/AndroidSDK /
[email protected]:/home/nick#"
And I went to the bashrc file and it is entered in there correctly.
This is still what I get even after restarting Udev...
" bash: : command not found
[email protected]:~$ adb
bash: /AndroidSDK/tools/adb: cannot execute binary file
[email protected]:~$ su
Password:
[email protected]:/home/nick# adb
bash: adb: command not found"
Edit: This is what my .bashrc file looks like, well the top part of it anyways....
#AndroidDev PATH
export PATH=${PATH}:/AndroidSDK/tools
# ~/.bashrc: executed by bash(1) for non-login shells.
# see /usr/share/doc/bash/examples/startup-files (in the package bash-doc)
# for examples

Okay your .bashrc is setup right and it's recognizing adb and its directory.
I would say it's something to do with permissions. since you moved it under su, you are not the owner so i would say that you'd have to change the permissions of /AndroidSDK
you can do that with -
Code:
gksu nautilus
Navigate to /
Right click on /AndroidSDK and select Properties
Click on Permissions tab
Select your user account as the owner
hopefully now it will function correctly

wddglr said:
Okay your .bashrc is setup right and it's recognizing adb and its directory.
I would say it's something to do with permissions. since you moved it under su, you are not the owner so i would say that you'd have to change the permissions of /AndroidSDK
you can do that with -
Code:
gksu nautilus
Navigate to /
Right click on /AndroidSDK and select Properties
Click on Permissions tab
Select your user account as the owner
hopefully now it will function correctly
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I dont understand what this line does...
"gksu nautilus"
when i type it in it asks me for my administrative password and then after i put it in it hangs for a sec and then back to...
bash: : command not found
[email protected]:~$ gksu nautilus
[email protected]:~$

nautilus is the file browser, while using gksu nautilus you can use the file browser under root privileges

wddglr said:
nautilus is the file browser, while using gksu nautilus you can use the file browser under root privileges
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I dont have Nautilus as a file browser I have Thunar I believe.

Then gksu thunar

wddglr said:
nautilus is the file browser, while using gksu nautilus you can use the file browser under root privileges
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For permissions it says that I am the owner and the group (I=Nick) for Others it says Read and Write, Access says Read and write. So it seems it has all the right permissions. Any other Ideas?

Partitioning HD
First off, thank you for this thread, it's most excellent. I have a question that is slightly off topic, but not so much. I have Ubuntu 9.04 installed on my recovery partition. This partition is only 10 GB, while I have Vista on my main. I have almost 100 GB free on my main drive, and what I want to know is, if I resized my partitions to give more space to Ubuntu, how would it affect my comp? (if at all). And which OS should I be on while resizing, Ubuntu or Vista?

[Q] ADB doesn't work on Mac

When I CD to the platform-tools folder and type
Code:
adb devices
it says "adb: command not found" If anyone could help me that would be wonderful. I am on the Inspire/DesireHD running AOSP Gingerbread. Thanks!

You have two choices. You can either run the command prefixed with ./ (dot slash), which allows for executing an executable in the current directory:
Code:
./adb devices
Or, the other choice (which will be better if you intend to use adb a lot) is to add the platform-tools folder to your path by editing or creating the file .bashrc in your home folder (~/.bashrc).
Let's suppose your platform tools folder is: ~/.android-sdk/platform-tools
Then, you would want to add something along the lines of the following to your bashrc:
Code:
export PATH="$PATH:$HOME/.android-sdk/platform-tools"
Save the file, the run this or log out/in:
Code:
source ~/.bashrc
Et voila, you should now be able to run adb from any folder without issue.
Explanation: adding the new path (folder) to your PATH environment variable tells BASH to include that folder in its search for an executable. The reason $PATH is added at the beginning of the new string is so that your default path does not get overwritten. $HOME will simply expand to /home/your_user_name when BASH interprets it.

GENIUS! IT WORKED! Thank you! Now, one more question- how do I get superuser privileges using ADB? (device is rooted, of course)

No problem.
On my G1 you were root as soon as you adb'd in. Just tested on my Defy and '$' - shocking. So once you have run adb shell, just run 'su' (without quotes of course) and accept the permission on your phone screen as usual for root programs and you should be good to go.

Sorry to keep asking questions, but when I typed
Code:
su
into adb, it asked for a password. No popup on device screen. I do have superuser installed on the device.

That is odd. I'm not sure why that would be. I'll see if I can think of something though. Hopefully someone else can make a suggestion.

Thanks! You have been very helpful.
Don't think I can hit the thanks button from the app, sorry
Sent from my Inspire 4G using XDA App

[GUIDE]( Easiest) All about ADB, logcat, shell

ADB:-
Android Debug Bridge
Very useful program made itself by Google for Programmers and developers. Its based on command line and basically communicates with your Android to respond to certain commands. There is vast amount of knowledge about adb but its most useful commands limit to getting:-
Logcat:-
A real time log of what is happening in background of our devices. It is really useful for developers to see which component has malfunctioned and helps to narrow down their search for what failed and what needs to be fixed. Several times users are asked to give logcats of their devices which are giving errors. We will go in detail that how to get logcats in every and easiest way possible.
App Installation and Management:-
adb proves really handy if you want to install apks directly from your PC or want to batch install or delete them.
Shell Execution:-
You must have heard of Terminal Emulator. It is an app for android to execute shell commands(linux commands) which are basically present as applets in /system/bin, /system/sbin or /system/xbin(in our case) folders. A very imporant applet called busybox is installed there mainly used for execution of basic commands during root browsing or ROM installation. Many times updater script of ROMs use busybox commands to install it. Well, these commands can be initiated from your device too but they can be initiated from adb also making it easy for programmers.
Pushing and Pulling:-
Most used commands of adb. adb makes it a piece of cake for new device developers to get an ideo of structure and basic knowledge of devices by pulling command. We can pull out i.e copy any files or folders from our devices to our PC, even the root directories without rooting the devices. It help rooters and ROM chefs of new devices to get an idea and implement their mods on them. Pushing is also very useful command. It copies your files and folders from PC to your device. Very useful in pushing some /system apps and other things
Remounting and setting permissions
Basic commands:-
Of-course basic commands such as reooting and rebooting in recovery ode and download mode are supported.
Others:-
There are several other features of adb such as fastboot, aapt, etc
Setting up ADB
Pre Requirements:-
A little amount of brain
PC(This is a windows guide, if asked I will add linux and mac guide later)
Java Runtime environment or Java Developing kit
Your Device Drivers
An Android Device
Assuming you all these ready and working properly, we continue
If you are having trouble completing Pre-Requisites, there are several guides featuring them too
Start
1. First Download Android SDK. Roughly about 70 MB
2. There may be any compressed zip file or exe file
If zip file, then extract it to C:\android-sdk
If exe file then double click on it and install it in C:\ Drive(or any other drive you want)
3. Now to get adb and other tools, you need to download 'Platform Tools'
To download them, go to the android-sdk folder and double click on SDK Manager
It will ask you which package to download? However, it is your choice which package to Download, but here, we will only talk about platform
Tools. So, simply tick on Platform Tools and click on install. Once you have done it. Go to the platform-tools folder in the directory where you installed android-sdk. You will find several files there like adb, fastboot, aapt, etc
4. Now, you can backup the whole folder of android-sdk to any external storage that will make you not download package
again if you want to. You can have it placed in any computer and run it as it does not require registry to work
5. Now, you are just one step away from using adb. Next step is SKIPPING SETTING ENVIRONMENT VARIABLE
Many guides on internet say that it is to be done for making it easy for users and if you have some basic knowledge of Command Prompt,
you will know that to execute any application with command prompt, you first need to change the directory to the one where application is
placed. And to skip changing the directories every time you open CMD, you need to put that application is environment variable. Howeve, we will not do so.
6. Type cmd in the search bar. Copy cmd.exe from there. Go to the directory where you have installed android-sdk. Go to platform-tools folder. Paste cmd there, right click on it and in the settings, select Run as Administrator.
7. You are done. Now what to do in it?
ADB Commands
Type adb in command prompt. And several commands will show up on your screen. It is very difficult to analyse these all commands, so we will only talk about most used and important commands
Connect your device via USB cable
And open the CMD in platform-tools folder(Make a shortcut of it on desktop). And type the suitable commands
Code:
adb devices
Will show the list of devices attached to the PC andtheir serial numbers. If this shows up correctly on your PC, then it means that everything is fine for continuing.
Logcat
Code:
adb logcat
It will display the real time log of your device
Best time to do it is when your device boots up
Now, many users ask me how to copy the logcat and upload it from CMD
There are several methods:-
1. Right click on the Title Bar of Command Prompt. Hover the cursor over edit and select mark. Select all the things you want to copy and then click enter. All the things will be copied to clipboard.
2. This is the correct way of getting logcat saved.
Code:
adb logcat > logcat.txt
This command will create a logcat.txt document in platform-tools folder with the complete logcat of the device. Ofcourse you can type any name instead of logcat.txt
3. I prefer taking logcat this way as it neatly compiles logs of different time
Code:
adb logcat -v long > logcat.txt
This is a very nice way to get logcat.
Installing Apps
Code:
adb install %PATH OF APK%
This will install an app on your Android
For example, if my app AreeB.apk is in G:\ drive (G:\AreeB.apk)
Then I will type
Code:
adb install G:\AreeB.apk
Be sure your apk is not in a folder that has space in its name, else the command will break at space bar.
For eg:-
G:\Program Files\AreeB.apk
Mounting
However, I never found any problem in tweaking with system files with adb, but some users said that they couldn't do it, so the problem was that their system partition was mounted as Read Only(R/O)
So, it is necessary now to tell how to mount system partition as Read Write(R/W)
Code:
adb remount
It is easiest way to do so, if it does not work then
There is another method that we will discuss in ADB Shell commands section
Pushing and Pulling
For pushing,
Type
Code:
adb push %PATH TO BE PUSHED% %PATH WHERE TO BE PUSHED%
Suppose I have an app named SystemUI.apk(PATH = G:\SystemUI.apk) which I want to push in /system/app/ on my android(or in other words, install an app as a system app). Then I would type
Code:
adb push G:\SystemUI.apk /system/app/
More examples
G:\Dance.txt file to be pushed in Dance folder in sdcard
Code:
adb push G:\Dance.txt /sdcard/Dance/
OR
Code:
adb push G:\Dance.txt /mnt/sdcard/Dance/
G:\Movies folder to be transferred in SDCARD in Videos Folder
Code:
adb push G:\Movies /sdcard/Videos/
G:\system\framework\framework-res.apk to be pushed in /system/framework/
Code:
adb push G:\system\framework\framework-res.apk /system/framework/
For pulling,
push command replaces with pull and paths are swapped
Code:
adb pull %PATH TO BE PULLED FROM% %PATH TO PLACE PULLED FILE%
Example,
All system apps are to be pulled to G:\ROM\system\app
Code:
adb pull /system/app G:\ROM\system\app\
build.prop to be extracted to desktop
Code:
adb pull /system/build.prop C:\Users\Areeb\Desktop\
However, if a folder is in platform-tools folder, you don't need to type full path
Suppose if I type
Code:
adb pull /system/ system
Then a folder named system will be created inside platform-tools with all the files in system in it
If a file is in platform-tools folder, then also no need to type full path
For example,
There is an app name DeskClock.apk in this folder then, to push it to /system/app, type
Code:
adb push DeskClock.apk /system/app/
ADB Shell Commands
This mode of adb allows you to execute linux shell commands from your PC
These commands can aldo be executed through the mobile using Terminal Emulator
To initiate shell mode
Type
Code:
adb shell
You will get an prompt like this
sh-3.2#
Now you are in shell mode
adb commands won't work here and a new set of commands will work here. But we will only go in a little detail here.
Assuming you are in adb shell mode, I will only type commands that will work on shell. Note:- These commands won't work if you type them alone on cmd. But, these command will directly work on your mobile's Terminal Emulator
As these commands can also work on mobile, I am going to tell you a way of taking logcat on mobile
Type
Code:
logcat
You will see log of your device
To save this
Type
Code:
logcat > /sdcard/log.txt
A file named log.txt will be generated in sdcard
Uninstalling Applications
Code:
cd /data/app
This will change the directory to /data/app
Code:
ls
This will show the list of files in there
Suppose, there is an app named com.opera.browser (Opera Mobile) you want to uninstall it
Type
Code:
rm -r com.opera.browser
This will uninstall the app
Mounting Command:-
Code:
mount -o rw,remount /dev/block/mtdblock3 /system
Miscellanous commands:-
su: Initiates root request
du: Shows file foldrs and size
date: Shows todays date
Forgot next ones, will write later
Credits
Google: For Android and several searchings
Samsung: For Galaxy Ace s5830I
Broadcom: For their Open Sourceness
XDA Forums : For the precious knowledge
My Uncle: For gifting me this Phone
My Teachers: For teaching me English(I would not be here without them)
You: For future Thanks
Till now, thats it, will add some more things later
If any problem, I will add it too
Suggestion? They are welcome

[GUIDE][ADB] How to take a logcat

iamareebjamal said:
ADB:-
Android Debug Bridge
Very useful program made itself by Google for Programmers and developers. Its based on command line and basically communicates with your Android to respond to certain commands. There is vast amount of knowledge about adb but its most useful commands limit to getting:-
Logcat:-
A real time log of what is happening in background of our devices. It is really useful for developers to see which component has malfunctioned and helps to narrow down their search for what failed and what needs to be fixed. Several times users are asked to give logcats of their devices which are giving errors. We will go in detail that how to get logcats in every and easiest way possible.
App Installation and Management:-
adb proves really handy if you want to install apks directly from your PC or want to batch install or delete them.
Shell Execution:-
You must have heard of Terminal Emulator. It is an app for android to execute shell commands(linux commands) which are basically present as applets in /system/bin, /system/sbin or /system/xbin(in our case) folders. A very imporant applet called busybox is installed there mainly used for execution of basic commands during root browsing or ROM installation. Many times updater script of ROMs use busybox commands to install it. Well, these commands can be initiated from your device too but they can be initiated from adb also making it easy for programmers.
Pushing and Pulling:-
Most used commands of adb. adb makes it a piece of cake for new device developers to get an ideo of structure and basic knowledge of devices by pulling command. We can pull out i.e copy any files or folders from our devices to our PC, even the root directories without rooting the devices. It help rooters and ROM chefs of new devices to get an idea and implement their mods on them. Pushing is also very useful command. It copies your files and folders from PC to your device. Very useful in pushing some /system apps and other things
Remounting and setting permissions
Basic commands:-
Of-course basic commands such as rebooting and rebooting in recovery mode and download mode are supported.
Others:-
There are several other features of adb such as fastboot, aapt, etc
Setting up ADB
Pre Requirements:-
A little amount of brain
PC(This is a windows guide, if asked I will add linux and mac guide later)
Java Runtime environment or Java Developing kit
Your Device Drivers
An Android Device
USB Debugging MUST be turned ON in the device for ADB to see it & Developer options is hidden in Android 4.2 and
above, Hitting Build number 10 times in
About Phone/Tablet reveals the menu (Thanks lilHermit for reminding me to add it)
Assuming you all these ready and working properly, we continue
If you are having trouble completing Pre-Requisites, there are several guides featuring them too
Start
1. First Download Android SDK. Roughly about 70 MB
2. There may be any compressed zip file or exe file
If zip file, then extract it to C:\android-sdk
If exe file then double click on it and install it in C:\ Drive(or any other drive you want)
3. Now to get adb and other tools, you need to download 'Platform Tools'
To download them, go to the android-sdk folder and double click on SDK Manager
It will ask you which package to download? However, it is your choice which package to Download, but here, we will only talk about platform
Tools. So, simply tick on Platform Tools and click on install. Once you have done it. Go to the platform-tools folder in the directory where you installed android-sdk. You will find several files there like adb, fastboot, aapt, etc
4. Now, you can backup the whole folder of android-sdk to any external storage that will make you not download package
again if you want to. You can have it placed in any computer and run it as it does not require registry to work
5. Now, you are just one step away from using adb. Next step is SKIPPING SETTING ENVIRONMENT VARIABLE (If you however want to set environment variables. Click on Show Content)
We can easily append the sdk platform-tools and tools folder to your systems environmental path variable directly from command line(cmd) by simply issuing one command and performing a system reboot:
Code:
SETX PATH "%PATH%;[COLOR="Indigo"]SDK_Install_Path[/COLOR]\platform-tools;[COLOR="Indigo"]SDK_Install_Path[/COLOR]\android-sdk-windows\tools" -m
Just replace the "SDK_Install_Path" in the above with the proper path of your SDK installation. Example: C:\android-sdk-windows
(Thanks to WugFresh for telling me :victory
Many guides on internet say that it is to be done for making it easy for users and if you have some basic knowledge of Command Prompt,
you will know that to execute any application with command prompt, you first need to change the directory to the one where application is
placed. And to skip changing the directories every time you open CMD, you need to put that application is environment variable. Howeve, we will not do so.
6. Type cmd in the search bar. Copy cmd.exe from there. Go to the directory where you have installed android-sdk. Go to platform-tools folder. Paste cmd there, right click on it and in the settings, select Run as Administrator.
7. You are done. Now what to do in it?
ADB Commands
Type adb in command prompt. And several commands will show up on your screen. It is very difficult to analyse these all commands, so we will only talk about most used and important commands
Connect your device via USB cable
And open the CMD in platform-tools folder(Make a shortcut of it on desktop). And type the suitable commands
Code:
adb devices
Will show the list of devices attached to the PC andtheir serial numbers. If this shows up correctly on your PC, then it means that everything is fine for continuing.
Logcat
Code:
adb logcat
It will display the real time log of your device
Best time to do it is when your device boots up
Now, many users ask me how to copy the logcat and upload it from CMD
There are several methods:-
1. Right click on the Title Bar of Command Prompt. Hover the cursor over edit and select mark. Select all the things you want to copy and then click enter. All the things will be copied to clipboard.
2. This is the correct way of getting logcat saved.
Code:
adb logcat > logcat.txt
This command will create a logcat.txt document in platform-tools folder with the complete logcat of the device. Ofcourse you can type any name instead of logcat.txt
3. I prefer taking logcat this way as it neatly compiles logs of different time
Code:
adb logcat -v long > logcat.txt
This is a very nice way to get logcat.
Installing Apps
Code:
adb install %PATH OF APK%
This will install an app on your Android
For example, if my app AreeB.apk is in G:\ drive (G:\AreeB.apk)
Then I will type
Code:
adb install G:\AreeB.apk
Be sure your apk is not in a folder that has space in its name, else the command will break at space bar.
For eg:-
G:\Program Files\AreeB.apk
Note:
If you have spaces in path of apk, you can execute the command without breakage if you include the path inside quotes. (Thanks to etcman)
Eg:-
Code:
adb install "G:\Program Files\AreeB.apk"
Mounting
However, I never found any problem in tweaking with system files with adb, but some users said that they couldn't do it, so the problem was that their system partition was mounted as Read Only(R/O)
So, it is necessary now to tell how to mount system partition as Read Write(R/W)
Code:
adb remount
It is easiest way to do so, if it does not work then
There is another method that we will discuss in ADB Shell commands section
Pushing and Pulling
For pushing,
Type
Code:
adb push %PATH TO BE PUSHED% %PATH WHERE TO BE PUSHED%
Suppose I have an app named SystemUI.apk(PATH = G:\SystemUI.apk) which I want to push in /system/app/ on my android(or in other words, install an app as a system app). Then I would type
Code:
adb push G:\SystemUI.apk /system/app/
More examples
G:\Dance.txt file to be pushed in Dance folder in sdcard
Code:
adb push G:\Dance.txt /sdcard/Dance/
OR
Code:
adb push G:\Dance.txt /mnt/sdcard/Dance/
G:\Movies folder to be transferred in SDCARD in Videos Folder
Code:
adb push G:\Movies /sdcard/Videos/
G:\system\framework\framework-res.apk to be pushed in /system/framework/
Code:
adb push G:\system\framework\framework-res.apk /system/framework/
For pulling,
push command replaces with pull and paths are swapped
Code:
adb pull %PATH TO BE PULLED FROM% %PATH TO PLACE PULLED FILE%
Example,
All system apps are to be pulled to G:\ROM\system\app
Code:
adb pull /system/app G:\ROM\system\app\
build.prop to be extracted to desktop
Code:
adb pull /system/build.prop C:\Users\Areeb\Desktop\
However, if a folder is in platform-tools folder, you don't need to type full path
Suppose if I type
Code:
adb pull /system/ system
Then a folder named system will be created inside platform-tools with all the files in system in it
If a file is in platform-tools folder, then also no need to type full path
For example,
There is an app name DeskClock.apk in this folder then, to push it to /system/app, type
Code:
adb push DeskClock.apk /system/app/
ADB Shell Commands
This mode of adb allows you to execute linux shell commands from your PC
These commands can aldo be executed through the mobile using Terminal Emulator
To initiate shell mode
Type
Code:
adb shell
You will get an prompt like this
sh-3.2#
Now you are in shell mode
adb commands won't work here and a new set of commands will work here. But we will only go in a little detail here.
Assuming you are in adb shell mode, I will only type commands that will work on shell. Note:- These commands won't work if you type them alone on cmd. But, these command will directly work on your mobile's Terminal Emulator
As these commands can also work on mobile, I am going to tell you a way of taking logcat on mobile
Type
Code:
logcat
You will see log of your device
To save this
Type
Code:
logcat > /sdcard/log.txt
A file named log.txt will be generated in sdcard
Uninstalling Applications
Code:
cd /data/app
This will change the directory to /data/app
Code:
ls
This will show the list of files in there
Suppose, there is an app named com.opera.browser (Opera Mobile) you want to uninstall it
Type
Code:
rm -r com.opera.browser
This will uninstall the app
Mounting Command:-
Code:
mount -o rw,remount /dev/block/mtdblock3 /system
Miscellanous commands:-
su: Initiates root request
du: Shows file foldrs and size
date: Shows todays date
ls: Shows list of directory
cd: Changes working directory
rm: Removes the file
logcat: Displays logcat
mount: Mounts the partition
busybox: Busybox Applets
Forgot next ones, will write later
Credits
Google: For Android and several searchings
Samsung: For Galaxy Ace s5830I
paxChristos for amazing logcat guide
Broadcom: For their Open Sourceness
XDA Forums : For the precious knowledge
My Uncle: For gifting me this Phone
My Teachers: For teaching me English(I would not be here without them)
You: For future Thanks
Till now, thats it, will add some more things later
If any problem, I will add it too
Suggestion? They are welcome
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This should help the new members in appealing their problems in a deeper and better way.
Originally posted by iamareebjamal
Original thread here.

Simple "Send/Install to Phone" Context menu [For ADB wireless]

Attn Moderator. This is a reply to:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=712433
I was able to use Tasker with the "Secure Settings" plugin [to turn on ADB Over Network and Wireless ABD Enabled/Wifi+]
[But you could also do this on your phone if you don't want to install anything additional http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1685736]
To send APKs to my phone via wifi I did the following:
First I put adb.exe in C:\adb\
Then I ran the follow reg file:
Code:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.apk\shell\Install to Phone]
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.apk\shell\Install to Phone\command]
@="C:\\adb\\connect-to-phone.bat & C:\\adb\\adb.exe install %1"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell\Send to Phone]
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell\Send to Phone\command]
@="C:\\adb\\connect-to-phone.bat & C:\\adb\\adb.exe push %1 /sdcard/"
If copying this setup exactly, you will also need to create the following file: C:\abd\connect-to-phone.bat
Code:
C:\adb\adb.exe disconnect&&C:\adb\adb.exe connect 192.168.1.101
[This is the static IP address of my phone, yours will probably be different] ^^
Does anyone know if there is a way to get this into the right click Send To > menu?
\\EDIT This script does not like file names with spaces, please make sure there are no special characters or spaces in the names of the files you are sending to the phone
Additionally, sometimes I've had to run it twice to get it to connect

Can someone please move this to the correct forum?

I was looking for this and I have modified above script to work properly for directories with spaces in its name. Simply change %1 in above script to \"%1\"
Thanks for the original version.
Make sure that whatever directory you point to one your phone already exists. It wont create a new folder for you.
In my case the above code became like this.
Code:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell\ADB Push to Phone]
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell\ADB Push to Phone\command]
@="C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Minimal ADB and Fastboot\\adb.exe push \"%1\" /sdcard/ADBPush/"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell\ADB Push to Phone]
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell\ADB Push to Phone\command]
@="C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Minimal ADB and Fastboot\\adb.exe push \"%1\" /sdcard/ADBPush/"
Install minimal adb and fastboot from xda if you dont have it. Change directories as suited to your system to point to adb.exe file. Location on phone must already exist. Edit in notepad, save as .reg file and install it.