Basic commands for newcomers to ADB

[fish1552]

Basic commands for newcomers to ADB

**If a line of code includes <xxx> in the first line, then a second line in RED, the second line is an example to help you better understand the format.

ADB stands for "Android Debug Bridge". It comes with the android 2.0 sdk and can be run from the windows command prompt or a mac/linux terminal. For instructions on setting up ADB, please see this thread: Set up ADB. In order to run ADB from your machine, you will need ensure the following in your Android "Settings" is set:
Settings -> Application Settings -> Development -> Then check the "USB Debugging" box.

To open a command window/terminal, in Windows go to Start > Run and type "cmd" (no quotes). Prior to using any of these commands, you will need to change the directory to the ADB folder on your machine. If using the default install location for the
Windows install, this would be C:\Android-SDK-windows and either the /platform-tools or /tools sub-directory, depending which one you copied all the files in. In this example I used the tools sub-directory.

cd C:\android-sdk-windows\tools

** - The "cd" part of the command tells the system to "change directory" to path that follows.

Command/Terminal Window Tips:
1) Pressing the "Tab" key will get the previous command entered.
2) You can also use the right arrow key to repeat the previous command, character by character, which can be a time saver if the following lines all start off the same.

To see /check devices connected to your system (hit return/enter to run command):

adb devices

In response, adb prints this status information for each instance:

Serial number — A string created by adb to uniquely identify an emulator/device instance by its console port number. The format of the serial number is

<type>-<consolePort>.

State — The connection state of the instance. Two states are supported:
offline — the instance is not connected to adb or is not responding.
device — the instance is now connected to the adb server. Note that this state does not imply that the Android system is fully booted and operational, since the instance connects to adb while the system is still booting. However, after boot-up, this is the normal operational state of an emulator/device instance

If there is no emulator/device running, adb returns "no device".

REMEMBER!!! You must hit return/enter after each command (or line) to run!
**If a line of code includes <xxx> in the first line, then a second line in RED, the second line is an example to help you better understand the format.

Pull/Push/Install Apps & Files:
To install an app:

adb install <path_to_apk>
adb install myapp.apk

To re-install an app, keeping it's data:

adb install -r <path to apk>
adb install -r myapp.apk

To push apps from computer to phone

adb push <path to file on phone> <path to location on device>
adb push test.txt /sdcard/test.txt

To pull apps from phone to computer

adb pull <path to file on device> <file name for computer>
adb pull /sdcard/test.txt test.txt

To clarify the path: In the examples above, the files were placed into the android-sdk/tools folder where ADB defaults to push them, or pull them. So test.txt just means the default path is: C:/android-sdk/tools/test.txt

Reboot Commands:
Reboot your device:

adb reboot

Reboot device into Recovery mode:

adb reboot recovery

Reboots the device into bootloader mode:

adb reboot bootloader

Reboots the device into Fastboot mode:

adb reboot fastboot

View Information:
Print a list of supported adb commands:

adb help

Print the ADB version number:

adb version

Commands helpful in troubleshooting:
Compile a bug report:

adb bugreport

Logcat - starts dumping debugging information from your device to the console – useful for debugging (may have to press control+c to exit):

adb logcat

To output the logcat file to the folder you are running ADB from:

adb logcat > logcat.txt

Miscellaneous Commands:
Remount remounts the /system partition as writable (or readonly if it is already writeable):

adb remount

Shell Commands:
Shell lets you run an interactive shell (command prompt) on the Android device:

adb shell

Look at the tasks running on your device:

adb shell top

Check Memory Usage:

adb shell free

To fix permissions on your device:

adb shell fix_permissions

Fastboot Commands:
List devices currently attached to computers:

fastboot devices

Unlocks a locked bootloader (must be rebooted into bootloader):

fastboot oem unlock

To flash a Recovery image file:

fastboot flash recovery recovery.img

Reboot device while in fastboot:

fastboot reboot

**Boots a ROM stored on your computer specified by the filename**

fastboot boot <filename>

**Flashes a ROM stored on your computer, partition can be one of {boot, recovery, system, userdata}**

fastboot flash <partition> <filename>

** - WARNING: I have not confirmed these last 2 commands work on the Xoom, but included them in case someone ends up here looking for them. Only use them if you know exactly what you are doing as I cannot confirm what it will do.

More to be added as the thread expands.

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[fish1552]

If anyone spots an error, please send me a PM pointing it out so I can fix it.

Also, please post any commands you feel are missing in a reply in the thread and I will include them in the OP.

Thanks!

[jblalock77]

Thanks for this.

[Steady Hawkin]

Stickied, well done!!!

[fish1552]

Stickied, well done!!!

I just noticed I didn't have 3 of the fastboot commands from your rooting guides on the list. So they are now included too.

[Sardo Numspa]

good thread, subscribed!

[Rory]

great resource! thanks!

[ggrant3876]

Great job, been using adb for 2 1/2 years but a refresher is nice.

[fish1552]

Funny thing is, I never really used ADB prior to buying my Xoom because I could always use RSDLite with my Droid - which I still use for boot logo changes. I think I used it 3-4 times to take screenshots on my Droid, so when I wrote this up last week, I really a n00b when compared to many people here. But I learned a lot while gathering all the commands from around the internet to put them all into 1 place.

When I was working with a Network/Domain Admin for a few years while in the Army, he taught me to make myself a Book of Knowledge. Something that I can refer to when trying to troubleshoot without having to pull it from memory or spend x number of minutes/hours looking for it online. So this is just one of the things in my Android Book of Knowledge text file folder - along with the other 2 guides I've posted.

Besides, what better way to learn more than to post it where people can help add to and improve it?

[ggrant3876]

Funny thing is, I never really used ADB prior to buying my Xoom because I could always use RSDLite with my Droid - which I still use for boot logo changes. I think I used it 3-4 times to take screenshots on my Droid, so when I wrote this up last week, I really a n00b when compared to many people here. But I learned a lot while gathering all the commands from around the internet to put them all into 1 place.

When I was working with a Network/Domain Admin for a few years while in the Army, he taught me to make myself a Book of Knowledge. Something that I can refer to when trying to troubleshoot without having to pull it from memory or spend x number of minutes/hours looking for it online. So this is just one of the things in my Android Book of Knowledge text file folder - along with the other 2 guides I've posted.

Besides, what better way to learn more than to post it where people can help add to and improve it?

My phones have all been HTC, the G1, Nexus One and currently the Sensation. I was always glad to use adb instead of RSDLite and Kies - now that I have a Motorola I'm probably going to need to learn something about RSD. I don't have a Book of Knowledge but I do have a word document that I have all the offbeat and normal adb commands in.