[HOWTO] Install Android SDK and use adb

[jnwhiteh]

If you are going to help troubleshoot issues or work with custom roms, you are going to need the Android SDK. You can download it from the Android website: http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html. If you're on Mac or Linux, your job is easy and I can't provide any support for people using Windows (you'd need the USB driver if you're on Windows Vista or Windows 7).

Once you have it downloaded and unzipped somewhere, open a terminal and go into the tools directory. From there you can run adb to interact with your device. For example:

Check to see what devices are connected:

adb devices

Get the output of the main log for the device:

adb logcat

If we ask you for the logcat output for an issue.. now you know how to give it to us.

[shenshang]

ahh cheers, didnt know what logcat meant XD

[Neo-Dragon]

I've been having a problem.
I think it might be with Windows 7, but every time I try run ADB, it opens for a second then just closes.
I have all the files installed, and the emulator for example runs fine.
Any solutions for me?

[enki]

and it is
./adb logcat
in linux (from tools directory).
There is rights issue with adb bridge server, which have to be started under root permissions for some operations, so :

sudo ./adb kill-server
and
sudo ./adb start-server (ubuntu, debian like)
on rpm distros use su instead of sudo, like
su
./adb start-server (fedora,suse)

help in case you got message about permissions

[gelled]

every time i do this it fails
i open terminal, drag the tools folder into it, it then ses its created a directory
when i try to put in the commands you suggested however, it ses there is no such command
do i need to put my phone into recovery, or mass storage
im stumped

[jnwhiteh]

What operating system? What precisely are you doing?

[Repp]

Originally Posted by gelled

every time i do this it fails
i open terminal, drag the tools folder into it, it then ses its created a directory
when i try to put in the commands you suggested however, it ses there is no such command
do i need to put my phone into recovery, or mass storage
im stumped

I just helped another guy with the same problem over here:
(http)... forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=613604

On Mac but it's the same on linux

EDIT:
This is my post there
If you just need it once or not very frequently, jnwhiteh's sollution below might be prefered. It's just a matter of taste. I prefer being able to use the command from anywhere

You need to add the tools directory to PATH variable on your computer

Here's how you do it (the alternative way is easier):
Run this in Terminal

cd
nano .bash_profile

a text editor will open. add this:

export PATH=${PATH}:/path-to-android-sdk/tools

where you replace "path-to-android-sdk" with the real path.




Alternatively you could run this command in the terminal:

echo -e "\nexport PATH=${PATH}:/path-to-android-sdk/tools" >> .bash_profile

What you have done is to tell the shell to also look inside the tools directory when entering a command

[jnwhiteh]

You can also go into the tools directory, and prefix the executable with ./, for example:

./adb shell

That says 'use the executable in the current directory, called adb'

[samsom]

Hi,
I have an HTC Hero running 2.1 and have a laptop running Arch Linux.
I have downloaded and installed the SDK folder. I have enabled USB debugging on the phone. The problem is on executing "adb devices", the phone is not listed despite being connected by USB. I googled this and found some help on the Arch Linux forums which suggested that I add the following to the 50-android.rules file

Code:

SUBSYSTEM=="usb|usb_device", SYSFS{idVendor}=="0bb4", MODE="0660", GROUP="plugdev"
SUBSYSTEM=="usb|usb_device", ATTR{idVendor}=="0bb4", ATTR{idProduct}=="0c02", SYMLINK+="android_adb"
SUBSYSTEM=="usb|usb_device", ATTR{idVendor}=="0bb4", ATTR{idProduct}=="0c01", SYMLINK+="android_fastboot"



Despite that, the problem persists. Obviously, adb logcat does not give me an output as well as it keeps searching for a device.
Any advice, anyone?
Thanks
Samsom

[jnwhiteh]

If you have root, you can restart the adb server as root.

adb kill-server
sudo adb start-server
adb devices