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Need help with ADB

I am pulling my hair out. I have SDK installed and whatever I was instructed to install on SDK, for the life of me I can't get the command shell to work. When I open a command shell and type adb. I get a message 'adb' is not a recognized as an internal or external command, operable batch or program file.
My phone is plugged in debugging checked, I have it set to mass storage, not kies. What am I doing wrong.
Sorry for the noob question. I have been reading every forum I can find, every document I can find. I am trying to learn and I like to mess with my phone and should know how to use adb command shells.
Can someone tell me what I am doing wrong?
Thanks.

Rhiannon224 said:
I am pulling my hair out. I have SDK installed and whatever I was instructed to install on SDK, for the life of me I can't get the command shell to work. When I open a command shell and type adb. I get a message 'adb' is not a recognized as an internal or external command, operable batch or program file.
My phone is plugged in debugging checked, I have it set to mass storage, not kies. What am I doing wrong.
Sorry for the noob question. I have been reading every forum I can find, every document I can find. I am trying to learn and I like to mess with my phone and should know how to use adb command shells.
Can someone tell me what I am doing wrong?
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
PC or mac?
On a PC cd /Android/Tools then use adb commands
on a Mac: cd /Android/Tools then use ./adb then the command

PC. Thanks I will try that.
update
system cannot find the path specified
I am ready to delete everything and start over, maybe the path is wrong and I borked something in the download. There should be an Android for dummy's book or something, for us noobs.

where did you install the files? You had to download the SDK and unzip it.
Then you use a command window to change directories to where ever you installed it. Then run the commands.
If you don't know how to move around directories using DOS commands, you better find a tutorial on that first.
Your problems sound like you are not in the tools directory - CMD issues not Adroid - CMD is the windows shell btw.

alphadog00 said:
where did you install the files? You had to download the SDK and unzip it.
Then you use a command window to change directories to where ever you installed it. Then run the commands.
If you don't know how to move around directories using DOS commands, you better find a tutorial on that first.
Your problems sound like you are not in the tools directory - CMD issues not Adroid - CMD is the windows shell btw.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
downloaded and upzipped. It's in a folder named Android, in my c;/drive. I watched a tutorial and put it where I thought I was supposed to, then I made sure to edit the path. I can undo that. I know it's a CMD issue. Great DOS commands, this is a little over my head.
I's probably easier for me to delete everything and start over.
Is there an ADB for dummies or anything. I find them for other devices not Captivate?

if you change directories to the tools directory, do you see adb.exe listed? I am not sure which tutorial you used, but there is no reason to edit the path if you change directly into the android sdk/tools directory.
In a CMD window, change to the tools directory and do a DIR and see if the first file is adb.exe
Deleting and starting over is not going to change things at this point. Also ADB is a command that works the same regardless of which phone you have. The only things that are different is if you can mount the system partition - depends on your kernel - is it custom. Not phone dependent though.

alphadog00 said:
if you change directories to the tools directory, do you see adb.exe listed? I am not sure which tutorial you used, but there is no reason to edit the path if you change directly into the android sdk/tools directory.
In a CMD window, change to the tools directory and do a DIR and see if the first file is adb.exe
Deleting and starting over is not going to change things at this point. Also ADB is a command that works the same regardless of which phone you have. The only things that are different is if you can mount the system partition - depends on your kernel - is it custom. Not phone dependent though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks I did this and no it isn't listed. the Android folder is, that is where I extracted all the files. Should I move from the folder. After extracting the files did I need to install anything from it?

Rhiannon224 said:
Thanks I did this and no it isn't listed. the Android folder is, that is where I extracted all the files. Should I move from the folder. After extracting the files did I need to install anything from it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You should have extracted everything. You should have a folder that extracted:
android-sdk-windows and in that a tools folder. In the tools folder is ADB.exe
It is one big zip file - nothing to install - just unzip where you want it.

hold shift and then right click on that tools folder(wherever you put it), select open command window here from the menu, then type adb to make sure it worked

Kagoshema said:
hold shift and then right click on that tools folder(wherever you put it), select open command window here from the menu, then type adb to make sure it worked
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you. That did the trick. It is there and it worked. So I am guessing that when I want to open a command shell and use ADB this is how I will be able to do it. Thank you so much for all of your help everyone.
I am very new to Android and smart phones, 7 weeks now and I am trying to learn as much as I can and I try to find the information without asking too many questions.
Last night with SRE and it's sleeping death made me realize that I need to know how to use ADB and a command shell should things go wrong.
Again, thanks to everyone for the help.

adb help for noob

I posted this in another thread but got no response, this thread (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=502010&page=35)
maybe a new thread will help.
So this is my first venture into the whole ABD thing. I am trying to install the framework mod from Tazz for the HTC music player (as listed here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/show...5594&page=1277 post 12768).
Tazz mentions to “push this http://www.multiupload.com/1WWHXAUN6W
to system/ect/permissions then download and install htc music”
So, running my trusty Win7 machine I downloaded the SDK from the android development site, inserted the correct line in the path and viola, I can enter the CMD prompt and run the adb command successfully. Adb and adb shell both seem to work.
I followed the instructions from here: http://androidforums.com/developer-1...-commands.html and here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=502010 for the install.
My problem comes in when I try to push the file to the phone.
Fisrt dumb question is: what phone mode should I be in when running the adb? Standard running mode or booted to recovery? (I thought I read something about being in recovery but at that point it was all a blur).
I have the USB Debugging turned on so I think I am ok there.
I installed the SDK to my C:\Android directory.
I saved Tazz’s file to my C:\Android\Tools directory.
Here is my cmd text (maybe this is where I went wrong):
In the cmd window I CD’d to the C:\Android\Tools directory
adb push com.framework.htc.xml system/ect/permissions
After making sure that I was in the correct dir and all files were also located in the correct dir I am still getting an error, file or directory not found, or something like that.
Sorry for the long post. I figured this would be a good first step (my first adb experience) as it seems pretty benign in terms of me bricking anything but offering a good learning opportunity.
I am running a rooted Eris (KaosFroyo v36).
In looking things thru maybe I need a USB driver for the Eris?
any help is appreciated,
oh, my cmd prompt looks like sh-2# (or something like that)
Thanks

While it may be that you still need to download the appropriate drivers, it seems you are able to get root access so, this is likely not the case.
There are two things which stand out as potential issues in the steps you described. Fortunately, both are super easy.
First and foremost, make sure you have mounted the phone as "read-write."After you have cd'd to the tools folder type "adb remount" (without the quotes) and press enter. If successful, it should respond with "remount succeeded." Congrats, you have now mounted the phone as read-write.
Next, I see errors with your command. There should be a "/" before "system" and it should be "etc" not "ect." Specifically, your command should be:
adb push com.framework.htc.xml /system/etc/permissions/
[The above command of course, assumes that the name of the file you are pushing is indeed named "com.framework.htc.xml" and is in your tools folder.] You'll know it worked if the response in your command prompt indicates the speed and time it took for the push to take. For example, "1234kbps in 3.4 seconds". If you see something resembling that you should be all set. At this point you can reboot your phone and your changes should be in effect. Either unplug and reboot manually or just type "adb reboot" (without the quotes) and press enter.
In regard to your question about whether the phone can be in standard running mode or recovery... It depends on the level of root of the phone but, fully rooted and nand unlocked phones can be adb'd while in standard running mode. My EVO can and it is very likely your Eris can too.

I see
thanks OK.
typo's aside in the thread, my command was missing the / as you have described it. I also did not know about the remount thing. In my reading I thought that was just for the sd card. I will try and put all the pieces together when I get home tonight.
You are correct in that is the name of the file and I do have it in the /tools directory.
Thanks for the help, baby steps (I am learning)

No problem. We are/were all noobs at one point in our lives.
The term "mounting" has slightly different contextual meanings which can be confusing. First off, the /system/ folder is already "mounted" while using adb, however, it is mounted as read-only. So, if you are ever trying to push something to the phone and get an error back that says "mounted as read-only" you'll now know what went wrong. Simply type "adb remount"
and it puts the /system/ folder into read-write mode.
Bear in mind that upon phone reboot the /system/ folder automatically remounts into read-only mode so if you reboot and try to push another file you'll need to remember to "adb remount" again.
With regard to the sdcard "mounting" refers to whether the phone (sdcard) is mounted as a disk drive on your computer. You'll find that if this is the case many adb commands won't work because the sdcard can't be accessed by the phone while mounted on the computer. Therefore, always remember to connect your phone as "Charge Only" when adb'ing.

got it
That did the trick, worked like a charm. Thanks for the help and pointers. I have now pushed my first file...yeah for me!!
Thanks for your help and time.

glad your push worked
I am still trying to get SDK/ADB to connect to my Milestone XT720 phone. Have no idea of why they won't. Have tried all the usual suspects but nothing as of yet. NEED HELP!

[Q] adb shell command prompt

I am new to all this and completely lost. I am trying to be able to access adb shell through command prompt. I have done everything here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=500196
And it still doesn't work. I'm lost. I'm not sure where it was downloaded to. I can find it in my program files under Android. But when I try to put C:\android... it doesn't actually come up. But if I go to explore and go find it, it is... so I think maybe the path isn't set up the same or something. i dunno. I dont get it lol.
Any help would be awesome!
Thanks,
Kimberly.

Hi,
So after you downloaded the zip file did you unzip / install it? as you will need to unzip the file. So for example you may have downloaded it to your download folder so double click the zip and unzip. The you should see a Android folder like "android-sdk-windows".
Once you know where it is you can then either add this to the envrioment varables or could can navigate to the adb program via the command prompt and run it there.
I.e. cd C:\Users\yourname\Downloads\android-sdk-windows\
then type adb shell
There is a guide here: - http://developer.android.com/sdk/installing.html
So have a look in your C drive (Go to My computer, C drive) then look for a folder called "android-sdk-windows"
C:\android-sdk-windows

Broken screen, need to retrieve files off phone! help please

My screen first cracked and then the LCD completely went now... I have files I need to retrieve off the phone. It is rooted and running some ICS build... I believe the phone is in USB debugging mode, the screen still 'works' I can unlock the phone but nothing is displayed on the screen. Possibly someone could help me out with the adb process for pulling the contents off the /sd
Any help will be GREATLY appreciated, thank you for your time.

ur usb mass storage should still work. can u just plug ur phone to a usb port and get things off the phone ?

As previously stated. I believe the phone was in USB debugging mode. And now the screen is completely black... impossible to navigate to where i need to be.

You'll need adb setup on your computer, and you'll need to cd your way into the folder with adb.exe. Forgive me for hotlinking, but this will make it easier: Download this file, courtesy of NexusSHacks.com (I believe it is Zedomax around here). I would advise to unzip the contents in this file to your C:\Nexus directory, so that adb.exe is at C:\Nexus\adb.exe.
Now, plug in your phone. Open your start menu and search for "cmd" and open up Command Prompt. This is the basic Windows CLI (Command Line Interface).
First, you'll need to open the directory of the Nexus folder you created earlier. To do this, type in the command prompt:
Code:
cd C:\Nexus
Now, you want to make sure adb sees your phone:
Code:
adb devices
The adb service should start and if it sees your phone it will pop up a serial number. If there is no serial number, you can't use adb while inside android and you'll need to tick the option or find an alternative way. Assuming it finds your device, you are good to go.
In order to copy the /sdcard folder of your Nexus S, you will use the pull command. We will throw all of the files into C:\Nexus\sdcard, for reference. So in the command prompt, type:
Code:
adb pull /sdcard .\sdcard
It looks a little confusing but don't stress. Just make sure you type it in exactly (dot, correct slash, etc). This will take a little while since it might transfer up to ~15GB worth. You'll see a new line with "C:\Nexus>" with a flashing cursor when it is done. Then you can view all the contents of your sdcard at C:\Nexus\sdcard and do with them as you please.
Also note, for this you'll need up to ~15GB of free space on your C:\ partition, make sure you have this before you start. Good luck

old post I know, but I just dropped my Samsung Captivate (rooted with debugging on) and internal screen cracked (gorilla glass is perfectly fine!), so I am in the same boat. After DAYS... actually DAYS of trying everything from every forum I FOUND A FIX!!!
Now admittedly, I am unsure which of these two (or both) fixed the issue, but here is what I did:
via Google Play's online "shop", I installed "Auto Mount Your SD Card" by JRTStudio (admittingly, unsure if this did anything as I cannot verify if it installed or anything via the phone)
https://play.google.com/store/apps/...wsMSwxLDEsImNvbS5qcnRzdHVkaW8uYXV0b21vdW50Il0.
then I DL'ed MoboRobo and after a few frustrated phone reboots, usb cable connections and much cursing IT CONNECTED!
http://www.moborobo.com/
I am currently DLing all my files from my broken phone!
I had to pass this along as I said... NOBODY seems to know about this as it has taken me DAYS to do this! Not even ATT (Current carrier) nor Spring (whom I am switching to in a month or so) could help me!

You save my life with that "moborobo". Thank you very much.

Glad I could help!!!

Thanks went to both of u, quit important piece of knowledge.
One question; r u downloading "moborobo" on ur Android, on your pc or on both of them?

just on PC, not needed on the phone unless you want to go via WiFi

Harbb said:
If there is no serial number, you can't use adb while inside android and you'll need to tick the option or find an alternative way.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What do you mean by this?
My adb service doesn't detect my phone, I used Droidzone's tutorial. I believe usb debugging needs to be on for adb to work, which in my case is useless cause my screen is broken so can't turn on usb debugging.
This is what happens:
---------------------------
C:\>adb devices
List of devices attached
C:\>
---------------------------
---------- Post added at 11:31 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:23 PM ----------
^when I say broken, I mean the whole screen is distorted, I cannot see anything

droidoidoid said:
What do you mean by this?
My adb service doesn't detect my phone, I used Droidzone's tutorial. I believe usb debugging needs to be on for adb to work, which in my case is useless cause my screen is broken so can't turn on usb debugging.
This is what happens:
---------------------------
C:\>adb devices
List of devices attached
C:\>
---------------------------
---------- Post added at 11:31 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:23 PM ----------
^when I say broken, I mean the whole screen is distorted, I cannot see anything
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Reboot to recovery. Bam, working ADB. You can navigate there pretty easily. Pull battery, then re-insert. VOL + & PWR, two click on VOL -, PWR button once. You're in recovery now.

QtADB also can be used is this case
http://qtadb.wordpress.com/download/

paskalion said:
QtADB also can be used is this case
http://qtadb.wordpress.com/download/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No go on this either.
Downloaded QtADB, ran the .exe
Pointed to the folder with the aapt and adb binaries, program opened up
Phone's connected and on (I can hear texts coming through), hit refresh a few times, still not detecting

polobunny said:
Reboot to recovery. Bam, working ADB. You can navigate there pretty easily. Pull battery, then re-insert. VOL + & PWR, two click on VOL -, PWR button once. You're in recovery now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's a little tough. I'm using a Galaxy S so I'm following instructions for that, but it's hard to know if I'm in recovery mode or not. Since adb doesn't detect the device, it's hard to know whether the phone went into recovery mode, or whether adb is setup correctly. It would be handy for a voice sample to play "recovery mode" once the phone boots into it.

droidoidoid said:
That's a little tough. I'm using a Galaxy S so I'm following instructions for that, but it's hard to know if I'm in recovery mode or not. Since adb doesn't detect the device, it's hard to know whether the phone went into recovery mode, or whether adb is setup correctly. It would be handy for a voice sample to play "recovery mode" once the phone boots into it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're in the wrong forum, then.
And whether or not adb is installed properly, you would know in your device manager under Windows. Appears as a device.

polobunny said:
You're in the wrong forum, then.
And whether or not adb is installed properly, you would know in your device manager under Windows. Appears as a device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok... Galaxy S i9000 stuff goes in the Galaxy S i9000 forum.... that's probably why my other post got deleted! :laugh:
As for adb... it appears as a process in task manager, so it's running - I know that much. It's not appearing as a device in device manager (why would it if it's a process? or are you referring to my phone appearing as a device?)
Only areas I can think of that aren't correct are the environment variable and the way I'm doing recovery mode. Since I can't see the screen, I don't know which one is causing the issue! :crying:

Samsung broken??
Contact this guy in Paris , he's very good and friendly!! he repairs my blue Galaxy S3 in front of me
Tel: 0950 850 500 Direct Technique
repare-galaxy com
don't hesitate to call them because i know their skills and it's very good!!
tell them that u call from Mike ciao guys!!

Problem!
Harbb said:
Code:
adb pull /sdcard .\sdcard
It looks a little confusing but don't stress. Just make sure you type it in exactly (dot, correct slash, etc). This will take a little while since it might transfer up to ~15GB worth. You'll see a new line with "C:\Nexus>" with a flashing cursor when it is done. Then you can view all the contents of your sdcard at C:\Nexus\sdcard and do with them as you please.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey, I got to this problem and I got stuck. I also have a Nexus S with a cracked screen. When I put in the final phrase into the command window it just told me that 0 filles were pulled! Why didnt it pull my files?
What I am trying to do is get all of my pictures and others off the phone.
Please help!

SkullMblem said:
Hey, I got to this problem and I got stuck. I also have a Nexus S with a cracked screen. When I put in the final phrase into the command window it just told me that 0 filles were pulled! Why didnt it pull my files?
What I am trying to do is get all of my pictures and others off the phone.
Please help!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This happened to me as well. You have to make sure that your phone has its sdcard folder mounted. Type "adb shell" to get access to the phones command terminal. Then type in "mount /sdcard" I think, or maybe it was "mount sdcard". Either way will probably work so long as you are in the root directory of the phone. You can navigate around in the phone just like a normal linux terminal. "ls" shows list of files and folders in the current directory, "cd foldername" moves into a folder, "cd ../" moves back, "cd /" goes to root directory, etc. Anyhow, once you have mounted the sdcard, you can type exit to leave the shell terminal, and then issue the command "adb pull /sdcard .\sdcard" to get the files. I had a custom rom image in the root of my sdcard so the move took quite a while ~15 minutes. On success of the pull command you should see a bunch of statuses like:
pull: sdcard/data/somefile -> .\sdcard/data/somefile
pull: sdcard/DCIM/somefile -> .\sdcard/DCIM/somefile
.
.
.
XXXX files pulled. 0 files skipped
(Some more transmission stats)
Hope it works out for who ever reads this.
Side note:
On my phone the screen was smashed. I replaced it and it still would not turn on, but it was still running. I had a rooted phone with CM10 rom on it. ADB debugging was one (if its off your pretty much screwed). I started up the phone, and plugged in the usb cable. I tried to use both adb and fastboot from windows terminal. "fastboot devices" would echo back nothing, and "adb devices" would echo back my phone's device number but state it was offline. So to get it online I did the following:
1.) pull batttery.
2.) boot into bootloader (hold power and volume up) the phone shouldn't vibrate if it does you have just normally powered it on. It took me quite a few times to get this to go into the bootloader. To make sure you get in the bootloader type "fastboot devices". If nothing comes up you not there.
3.) once verified you are in the bootloader you need to go into recover mode. Press volume down twice and then hit power (this would normally move the cursor on your phone down to recovery and select it if you could see whats happening on the screen).
4.) wait a bit for it to load into recovery, try typing "adb devices". You should eventually see you device show up as online. At this point you may enter the shell as above, mount the sdcard, exit the shell and pull your files.
Windows instuctions:
Prerequisites are installing adb.exe and fastboot.exe via installing the Android SDK on your computer. They will show up in the platform-tools folder of the install location. Add that folder to your environmental path variable so you can run the ADB and fastboot commands from any folder. Install the ADB driver for your phone (allows you to issue adb commands to your phone when USB is plugged in) by plugging in your phone and going to device manager, find your phone which should show up as a exclamation point, right click update driver, click "browse...", then "let me pick...", click top entry something like "show all", and then let the list populate. On the left look for "samsung" and then select the first one that is something like "samsung adb driver interface". And you should be good to go.
Sorry for the long winded post, I just like to try and explain as much as possible.

Successfully Recoverd data
Well My Samsung S2's Screen broke down few days ago.. Now i have retrieved the data by following the 2nd method in the following article..! I Hope this works for you aswell...
I can not Post the link here.. PM me if you want the link...!

How to fix a soft bricked device from a flash that failed due to missing files

This guide is meant to less techie people, and written in detail. Please don't mind me if I overexplain. If you have any questions, feel free to comment them.
Also, I am not responsible for anything you do to your phone; you assume your responsibility for anything you do because of this guide.
Scenario:
So, lets say that you tried to flash an zip file on your android using sideload, but the zip required another file to be in the same directory as it, in order to work.
After flashing the zip and getting an error, your phone may not get pass the logo of the brand and be soft bricked.
Also, you formatted your external sd as internal, and cant access your usual location with files in the recovery.
In this case, don't worry, as I'm here to help you unbrick your phone without reinstalling the rom.
Things you will need:
your phone
a computer connected to your phone with an usb cable
the proper drivers for your phone
a custom recovery like cwm or twrp installed on your phone
probably root, although I'm not sure
and finally the adb (android development bridge) utility
Where to get a custom recovery?
- https://www.xda-developers.com/how-to-install-clockworkmod/
or search on xda under at your device's forum
Where to download adb from?
- https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2588979 (this one comes with the drivers)
- https://dl.google.com/android/repository/platform-tools-latest-windows.zip (just the adb files)
So lets get started:
First, get your phone into Recovery mode (on samsung hold power button volume up and home button), and connect it to your pc with a usb cable.
Open ADB by shift + right clicking the folder platform-tools in witch it is located. Click on "Open Command Prompt window here" or "Open Powershell window here" (depends on your windows settings).
You need to find a location on your phone that is accessible through the flash zip menu from your recovery. (from sdcard / from sdcard1 or whatever your external sd is called)
In my case, i could get to see folder 0 and obb from "flash zip from sdcard".
To find a suitable folder:
In the window, type
Code:
adb.exe shell
if you opened cmd, or
Code:
./adb.exe shell
if you opened powershell.
This will open a terminal that will run commands on your phone.
(Now you can type commands in the cmd window that will be run on your phone.)
Type in
Code:
cd /sdcard/0
to go to the main sd card location that is accessible in recovery when you go to flash a zip from there. (if you can get to another folder where you could a flash a zip from, change the location to that place)
You can use here the command
Code:
ls
to view objects in the folder you are in.
After you are done, type
Code:
exit
to exit.
To solve the soft-brick, you need to reflash the zip, but with the files it needed in the same directory.
Type in the ADB window
Code:
./adb.exe push "location of the file you are sending" "location of the folder you are sending to (eg. /sdcard/0)"
if you are in powershell, or without the ./ if you are in cmd.
Use this until you have sent all the files needed for a successful flash.
Then just use the "flash zip" utility from your recovery with the location you have sent the files to, on your phone, to complete the flash, and solve the half-brick.
Restart your phone and you should be good to go.
Thanks to the following threads, that helped me put this together, and solve this problem on my phone:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1927198
https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2588979​