Anyone that has ever tried to mod their Android phone has come across users telling other users to run various different ADB and/or Fastboot commands. The only problem is the average Joe has no idea what ADB and Fastboot are because, well, they aren't your run-of-the-mill applications. I was completely lost myself when I first ventured into the world of Android. While yes, developer hubs like XDA-Developers do provide instructions on how to get ADB/Fastboot installed, there are so many convoluted guides out there, it is easy to throw one's hands up in defeat. Hopefully this guide makes it simple and straightforward to get ADB and Fastboot installed on your computer.
What are ADB and Fastboot and why do I need them
ADB stands for Android Debug Bridge, while Fastboot stands for, well, Fastboot. Without going into too many technical details (trust me you don't want technical details), let's just say they are two command-line tools used when modding/hacking Android phones.
You need ADB and Fastboot if you are one of those people that like to mod/hack your Android phone. While many mods/hacks are now becoming more main-stream-user friendly with GUIs (i.e. they no longer require users to use ADB or Fastboot), there are still times when users need to use ADB and/or Fastboot. (Anyone with a Google Nexus One or Nexus S knows what I mean.) While you may not necessarily ever use ADB or Fastboot (depends on what phone you have, and the type of developer support it gets), it is always nice to have them installed when the time comes that you do need them.
Installing ADB and Fastboot
Installing ADB and Fastboot is actually very easy:
The following guide is for Windows PCs only, but ADB/Fastboot can be installed on Linux and Mac OS X also. (You just do it differently for Linux/Mac OS X.) Also note that this guide was written on a Windows 7 computer. However, the guide will work on Windows XP/Vista the same way; I don't know about earlier versions of Windows.
- Download(34 MB) ADB, Fastboot, and other tools.
- Note: The tools found in the download are provided by Google, found in Android SDK. I have simply extracted the tools and uploaded them for easy access, instead of telling everyone to download the whole SDK. You can get the same tools if you download the Android SDK directly from Google.
- Extract the contents directly into your C:\ partition. You should now have a folder C:\Android that looks something like this:
- Press Win + R on your keyboard to bring up the Run dialog.
- Once the Run box is open, type in sysdm.cpl and hit OK:
- Once you hit OK, the System Properties panel should open; click on the Advanced tab:
- From the Advanced tab click on Environment Variables:
- At the Environment Variables window find where it says Path under System variables, click on it, and click the Edit button:
- When the Edit System Variable window pops up, type in ;C:\Android at the very end and hit OK:
Make sure you type in exactly ;C:\Android (be sure to include the semi-colon at the beginning).
- After clicking OK, close out all windows. You are done!
Using ADB and Fastboot
Once you have them installed, using ADB or Fastboot is as easy as opening command prompt, typing in adb xxx or fastboot xxx (with xxx being the command you want to run)...
...and hitting Enter on your keyboard to execute the command.
Take note, however, installing ADB and Fastboot is not enough to start using it with your phones. You need to install the relevant drivers on your computer - so your PC recognizes your phone - before ADB or Fastboot will be able to work with it. If you don't have any drivers installed, you will get an error similar to the following:
Drivers can typically be found directly from your phone manufacturer's website, unless you have a "Google Experience" phone in which case you may have to do a little bit of digging to find the relevant drivers. In the future I may write an article listing out where to find the relevant drivers for all Android phones, so look for that.
Uninstalling ADB and Fastboot
Uninstalling ADB, Fastboot, and the other tools is as easy and undoing what you did when you installed. In other words, delete C:\Android and all the files in it and remove the environmental variable you added earlier.
Conclusion
You have installed ADB and Fastboot - now what? Now go look for guides on modding/hacking your phone. (One of the best places on the web for Android hacking and slashing is XDA-Developers.) If you are lucky, the guides you find won't require you to use ADB or Fastboot; but if they do, you are now prepared because you just installed them.
15 Comments
Ashraf,
I take it this is still not rooting your phone?
John
@John: Yeah this doesnt. This article is a setup for an article on rooting because some root procedures require use of ADB and/or Fastboot. Hopefully an article on rooting will be posted within the week.
@Ashraf: Thanks mate,
And yes I agree there are an awful lot of instructions out there which become very confusing the more you read them. I have a HTC Desire if you are looking and come across a decent set of instructions.
John
@Ashraf: Awesome!! Can’t wait.
Hey Ash, was wondering your thoughts (that is if you know).. like in the post,, told you i got the Galaxy S Captivate.. right now, the only thing i can see somewhat “wrong” with it is that it is still using 2.1 , Froyo 2.2 came out last year and AT&T was “supposed” to upgrade/update to 2.2 in Sept of last year yet they have yet to do so… with 2.2, it gives me more options and is supposed to be faster and help eliminate some of the lag going between apps that 2.1 has..
well i made an acct on the XDA site and am reading up on it.. my question that maybe you know would be, what would be my best bet you think?? Do i need to Root it?? should i look into a Custom ROM? still learing, and I am guessing that I need to at least root it with that One CLick program and then get the Kies program and update it to 2.2… does this sound about right?? or is my best bet maybe looking into a custom rom?…
all still new to me.. though i saw some posts about peeps with a captivate (though its over on the european side on Rogers (no posts for att so far that i saw just yet)) and they are sayin gthey seem to get more lag/slower OS after the upgrade and many have went back to standard install…
anyway.. figured ask your thoughts :) Other than upgrading to the 2.2, you know any other things i may want to do that would requiring rooting or even a custom rom?
Zug
super guide exactly what I was looking for … many thanks. lars. Denmark
For any users of Samsung Galax S, I installed Darky’s v9.2 Extreme Edition on mine last night, was a trial and error situation. First package I downloaded did not include his version of Odin, hence was waste of quite sometime locating and finding correct one. Not his fault, but mine, it has many of the Gingerbread features pre-installed, includes Voodoo, various root fixes, and so it goes.
It is a real hoot, now the phone is working in a manner far better than the stock Froyo.
I am aware this is slightly off topic, but in conjunction with Ashraf’s guide, it works a treat.
Anyone who is interested simply Google.
Great Post !!! and While I managed to use fastboot to flash my Android ( from the SDK ) , I never got the ADB part , So thanks
Hi!
I have a HTC G2. When i put it on, HTC screen freezes. I tried to recover thru factory reset but the image recovery is missing. Please help me if you have a remedy on this scenario.
Thanks!
Thank you very much. Appreciate your effort.
The bundle with the fastboot file plus the idea to insert it into the C drive made it so I finally got this done. I ended up just navigating to the file just using cmd commands. For whatever reason, the instructions I was following before didn’t specify on how to get the fastboot file into the directory. Thanks!
Brilliant article. Thank you very much. I could have saved myself 2 hours of googling and surfing XDA if I had just come here first.
I have Lg gw620 and I need to update the firmware so can any one help me? becuase there is something wrong I cant understand.
Thank you, you saved me !
Look I do not know what I truly am doing , does this work for koby kyros 1125? And if it does I have Ginger bread 2.3.3 will this allow me to update to any plateform even ice cream ? Will I be able to update
my market anytime ? And is it alot that I need to look for to get everything needed to run my tablet well? I am brand new to this and I really want to play with my tablet with no limits. Can you help me or send me to a very helpful recommended site. Thank You and have a blessed 1.