Using ADB and fastboot

What is adb?

The Android Debug Bridge (adb) is a development tool that facilitates communication between an Android device and a personal computer. This communication is most often done over a USB cable, but Wi-Fi connections are also supported.

adb is like a “Swiss-army knife” of Android development. It provides numerous functions that are described in detail by the command adb --help. Some of the more commonly used commands are listed in the “popular adb commands” section below.

Installing adb and fastboot

Google hosts zips including only adb and fastboot. You can set these up for use with the instructions below.

On Windows

1. Download the Windows zip from Google.
2. Extract it somewhere - for example, %USERPROFILE%\adb-fastboot
3. On Windows 7/8:
   • From the desktop, right-click My Computer and select Properties
   • In the System Properties window, click on the Advanced tab
   • In the Advanced section, click the Environment Variables button
   • In the Environment Variables window, highlight the Path variable in the Systems Variable section and click the Edit button
   • Append ;%USERPROFILE%\adb-fastboot\platform-tools to the end of the existing Path definition (the semi-colon separates each path entry)
4. On Windows 10:
   • Open the Start menu, and type “advanced system settings”
   • Select “View advanced system settings”
   • Click on the Advanced tab
   • Open the “Environment Variables” window
   • Select the Path variable under “System Variables” and click the “Edit” button
   • Click the “Edit Text” button
   • Append ;%USERPROFILE%\adb-fastboot\platform-tools to the end of the existing Path definition (the semi-colon separates each path entry)
5. Install the universal adb driver, and reboot.