Database Info

Where are located the launched process at boot ?

Hi, i just rooted my hero yesterday.
I have some small capacities on linux, and i wnated to know if there is ( and where it is ) an equivalent to the /etc/init.d and different rc.x.d config. file for the process launched at boot. I wouldl ike to edit or delete some programs launching at startup which i don't need really to launch at startup Is it possible and simple ?
Ciao
Fred
Edit : stupid question... there is no vi on the system so no way to edit the file ..

I am even new than you to android rooting (just rooted my Sprint Hero 2.1 today!).
I loaded Fresh ROM 2.1.2 on my Hero today and there's an app called "ES File Explorer". It allows me to browse the unix-like filesystem, right to the directory you mentioned above.
I can click on the files and open them as Text, Executable, etc. Opening as Text even gives me two different text editors.
Unfortuantly, the file(s) you talk about are for readonly. You have to be logged in as a Superuser to edit them (as I found out today). The easiest way I found is to do it via a command-line prompt.
When you "root" your android phone, that means you are able to login remotely as another user. Such as the "superuser" account from the Android SDK. On Windows, after you have rooted your phone, you can do:
Code:
C:\android\tools\> adb remount
C:\android\tools\> adb shell
#
When you see that "#" prompt, you are now logged into your phone running the default shell (not sure which shell it is). So, now you can copy/open that file:
Code:
# cd \
# type init.rc | more
Of course u can't do squat from here. So, you have two options:
1) Change the permissions to allow you to modify it from the Android device itself (possible security issue if u download a broken app that wants to modify your phone).
Code:
# chmod 755 init.rc
Now you are able to modify the file locally, right on your device. No PC needed any longer. But again, it's a possible seucrity issue.
2) just pull the file from your device to your desktop pc, edit it, and push it back. Exit out of the # shell by typing "exit" and pressing enter. At the C prompt, pull the file:
Code:
C:\android\tools\> adb pull /init.rc C:\init.rc
That pulls the file from your android device and places it at C:\init.rc. You can obmit the C:\ part, which would place the file in your android Tools folder u are running adb from (mine is getting messy though).
Once you edit it to your liking, push it back to your device:
Code:
C:\android\tools\> adb push C:\init.rc /init.rc
And that's it.

most custom roms contain nano, which is also a possible way to edit files.

I updated my post to reflect actual directions on how to modify a system file like that.

[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][ADB]Basic Linux/Unix Commands

Basic Linux/Unix Commands
[HIGHLIGHT] DISCLAIMER - You know the drill. I don't deem myself responsible in case you screw up your phone. Always make a backup if you don't trust yourself and if you know that you screwing up is your forte[/HIGHLIGHT]
Thanks -
mihir287 for his FAQ
sweetnsour for his extensively detailed thread
Shen - advice
Zayed from www.addictivetips.com
http://www.linuxtopia.org
This guide aims to give you a background on some of the linux commands available to you once you obtain an adb shell.
In order to obtain an ADB shell, you must have adb set up on your computer (all ADB really consists of in windows is adb + 2 dlls + adb drivers.
However it makes sense to fully set up the Android SDK if you plan on developing for Android.
You need to install adb or get Terminal Emulator. To install adb and get more info about it visit here.
NOTE = All commands in linux/unix are CASE SENSITIVE.
Shell Commands
These commands are to be typed after typing
Code:
adb shell
In the Command Prompt.
Or, you can proceed normally if you are using a Terminal Emulator.
1. cd - Change Directory
To change to any directory, simply type:
Code:
cd <dirname>
dir name is the path. For instance, to switch to system/etc, type:
Code:
cd /system/etc
'..' will allow you to go back one directory. In our example, typing:
Code:
cd ..
would take you back to /system
2. ls - List Files
To list all the files in whatever directory you're in, simply type:
Code:
ls
pressing enter after, of course. This will list all NON-HIDDEN files/directories.
Code:
ls /system/etc
will list the contents of system/etc
Code:
ls -l
will list all NON-HIDDEN files in your current directory with additional details
Code:
ls -a
will list all files/directories(including hidden) within your current directory
Code:
ls *.extension
will list all the files wit the specified extension in the directory
For example i wanna list all apps -
Code:
cd /system/app
ls *.apk
3. su - SuperUser
The standard adb shell (unless you're on an insecure kernel/ramdisk), will be a non-root shell ($)
To obtain root priviliges (if your phone is rooted), simply type:
Code:
su
on obtaining superuser priviliges, you will be presented with a # symbol, which represent a root shell.
4. chmod - Change Mode
The two most commonly used 'modes' you'll come across in Android are '777' and '755'
These numerical pemissions have different meanings, of course. This can be a little confusing, so I hope this explains it in a simple to understand way.
As you can see, there are three numbers in the following example; 'chmod 755'
So, to break that down: The first number in the sequence, '7', represents the USER (aka, you). The second number in the sequence, '5', represents the GROUP (users who are members of the file's group) and the third number, '5' represents OTHERS (aka, everyone else).
Now to explain why they are 755, and the significance of those numbers, see the following list:
7 Full
6 Read/Write
5 Read/Execute
4 Read Only
3 Write/Execute
2 Write Only
1 Execute
0 None
So in the instance of 777, you can see that USER, GROUP and OTHERS have FULL access to the file in question.
To change the permissions of one file (apns-conf.xml for example, type:
Code:
chmod 777 /system/etc/apns-conf.xml
To change the permissions of all files in a directory, use the -R (recursive)option:
Code:
chmod 777 -R /system/etc
5. pwd - Print Working Directory
Couldn't be more simple. if you want to find out which dirctory you're currently in, type:
Code:
pwd
and press enter.
6. cat - Concatenate (evolved from)
The cat command if used to list a file's contents on your screen; or pass via pipeline to use with other Linux commands.
cat /proc/mounts
will output the various mount points in your android OS.
Note that there are many other uses for the cat command.
7. mount - remount as r/w or r/o
The mount command is used to mount a directory as r/w[Read-Write which allows you to modify it] or r/o[Read-Only]
Mount info -
Code:
mount
To mount as r/w and r/o respectively use -
Code:
mount -o remount rw <dirname>
or
mount -o remount ro <dirname>
To mount /system i will use
Code:
mount -o remount rw /system
or
mount -o remount ro /system
8. cp, mv, rm - Copy, Move, Remove
Use the 'cp' and 'mv' commands to copy, move a file/directory respectively and 'rm' to remove one. They are equivalent to copy+paste and cut+paste and delete
If you are planning to copy/move/remove from your android to anywhere else or viceversa you need to mount as r/w prior to this and mount as r/o after it.
They can be used as
Code:
cp <source> <destination>
or
mv <source> <destination>
or
rm <source>
For example i wanna copy/move/delete my zip file to system/media [after mounting system]
Code:
cp /sdcard/bootanimation.zip system/media
or
mv /sdcard/bootanimation.zip system/media
or
rm /sdcard/bootanimation.zip
9. Auto - Install Applications To SDCard
Type the following -
Code:
pm setInstallLocation 2
10. logcat
A logcat is basically a command to view messages in one of the system logs.
Logcat is the command to view the internal log of the Android system.
Viewing logcat is often the best way - and sometimes the only way - to diagnose a problem.
Dev's always need proper and useful feedback. So if you are testing something, you can always obtain the errors an report back to the dev who in turn can solve your problem efficiently.
Code:
su
logcat > /sdcard/log.txt
Will obtain the logcat to your sdcard as log.txt
Googlers have a sense of humour so even 'lolcat' works identically as 'logcat'
Code:
lolcat
Some dev's require extensive logcat info. To know more about it continue reading here.

ADB Commands
The following commands are to be type in your adb folder directory.
For instance, mine is in C:\android-sdk-windows\platform-tools so i will type
Code:
cd C:\android-sdk-windows\platform-tools
and then proceed with the following code lines
Alternatively you can change your PATH variable
Setting Path on Windows
For Windows XP:
Start -> Control Panel -> System -> Advanced
Click on Environment Variables, under System Variables, find PATH, and click on it.
In the Edit windows, modify PATH by adding the location of the class to the value for PATH. If you do not have the item PATH, you may select to add a new variable and add PATH as the name and the location of the class as the value.
Close the window.
For Windows Vista/Windows 7:
Right click “My Computer” icon
Choose “Properties” from context menu
Click “Advanced” tab (“Advanced system settings” link in Vista)
In the Edit windows, modify PATH by adding the location of the class to the value for PATH. If you do not have the item PATH, you may select to add a new variable and add PATH as the name and the location of the class as the value.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. Check Connected Phone
To display list of available devices, type
Code:
adb devices
You will get the following output
Code:
* daemon not running. starting it now on port 5037 *
* daemon started successfully *
List of devices attached 21342737ft6273
where the number indicates your devices serial number usually the one one the back of your phone[needs citation]
2. Login To Android Shell
Code:
adb shell
After pressing enter you will either see '$' or '#'
If you get ‘#’ after typing adb shell, you have already get root access on the phone, no need to type su. Otherwise if you get ‘$’ , type ’su’ to get root access (only for rooted device).
3. Install Application
This command installs the app whose directory is specified by you.
Code:
adb install appname.apk
Note that the name of the application should be without any blank spaces in between. Say i have an app called pes 12.apk, I rename it to pes_12.apk - Also don't miss out the .apk extension
example
Code:
adb install C:\programfiles\pes_12.apk
4. Files From Phone To PC And Vice Versa
For Phone - PC
Code:
adb pull <source> <destination>
For PC-Phone
Code:
adb push <source> <destination>
Example
Code:
adb pull /sdcard/bootanimation.zip C:\programfiles
Code:
adb push C:\programfiles\bootanimation.zip /sdcard
^Self Explanatory
5. Reboot To (Normal/Recovery/Bootloader)
Type the following to reboot normally or to recovery/bootloader respectively
Code:
adb reboot
Code:
adb reboot recovery
Code:
adb reboot bootloader
Some Useful Codes-
I do not know many. If you have any suggestions please do tell me
Type them in line by line and don't type in the '$' and '#'
1. Rooting
Code:
adb devices
adb shell
$ echo 1 > /data/local/lge_adb.conf
Then you can proceed onto using SuperOneClick
2. Installing Custom Recovery
The recovery.img and flash_image files must be in /sdcard
Code:
adb shell
$ su
# mount -o remount rw /system
# cat /sdcard/flash_image > /system/xbin/flash_image
# chmod 755 /system/xbin/flash_image
# flash_image recovery /sdcard/recovery.img
# mount -o remount ro /system
# exit
$ exit
adb reboot recovery

Will add FAQ later if needed

Ohh ! so much detail !
As far as i can see its very well written.
Will read tomorrow

Awesome guide! Thank you!
Sent from my LG-P500 using xda premium

MaKTaiL said:
Awesome guide! Thank you!
Sent from my LG-P500 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad You Like It

Rutuj said:
Glad You Like It
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I knew Half of this but the way you put it is basically noob written and easy to follow through. Thumbs up for this guide. I wish someone posted this when I first started playing with android. This would've made life easier for me >.<
Sent from my LG-P500 using XDA App

purple1 said:
I knew Half of this but the way you put it is basically noob written and easy to follow through. Thumbs up for this guide. I wish someone posted this when I first started playing with android. This would've made life easier for me >.<
Sent from my LG-P500 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This doesnt make life easier, if one command wrong, bam! A fresh brick phone...
Sent from my Nexus One using Tapatalk

and how to uninstall app from adb ?
nice guide btw

Great guide. I would suggest you add details on how to get logcat as well, since many developers will find it useful if users post logs of bugs
Code:
su
logcat > /sdcard/log.txt

mihir287 said:
Great guide. I would suggest you add details on how to get logcat as well, since many developers will find it useful if users post logs of bugs
Code:
su
logcat > /sdcard/log.txt
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks !
Added !

Bump !

Thanks commands working perfect.
Tell me onething..how did you get time to type all of this?

royalflusher9 said:
Thanks commands working perfect.
Tell me onething..how did you get time to type all of this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Compiling info takes time.
Type time = 30 mins

Nice thread for n00bs like me !!!! Thanks very much!!!1

Bumping this thread

very helpful guide ......
thanxxxx

[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.