USB Debugging is one of the most powerful features built into Android by Google. That is the reason why Google has not made is straightforward and easy to enable USB debugging on Android devices. If things are not handled properly, a lot of things can easily go wrong. That is why it is really important that you properly set up USB Debugging on Android to authorize ADB commands from your computer.
ADB, aka Android Debug Bridge, is a powerful tool which can benefit the user in a lot of ways if used properly. For instance, it can help you to recover the data from your Android device if the device is in an unstable state. In this guide, we will tell you how you can properly authorize ADB commands on your Android device using a Windows PC.
How to Authorize ADB Commands on Android
Before getting straight into the process of authorizing your device to accept ADB commands from your computer, it is always a good idea to know what you are getting into.
Why Authorize ADB?
Without you authorize ADB commands on your Android device, your device will not accept any of the ADB commands. But why is there such a security mechanism in place? The reason is that ADB is a powerful tool which can almost replace the root profile on an Android device. The root on Android is like an administrator account in Windows by which you can perform pretty much anything on your Android device. Similarly, with ADB, you can perform some pretty advanced/powerful thing on your Android.
That is the reason why, to prevent misuse of the ADB protocol, Google has placed a security mechanism in place. The user would first need to manually authorize a computer in order for the computer to be able to issue ADB commands to the Android device. This step has to be done only one and your device can then start accepting ADB commands from that computer thereon. You can also revoke the permissions of a computer anytime you wish to.
How to Enable ADB on Android devices
Enable Developer Options
The first step is to developer options on your Android device. For this, go to Settings > About Phone and look for an option called Build number. In some device, this may be found under a setting called Software information.
Once you find that option, keep tapping on the Build number option repeatedly until you see the text You are now a developer.
Enable USB Debugging
Next, go to the main screen of the settings and look for an option called Developer options. In some devices, this may be found under another option called System or something similar.
Inside Developer options, scroll down until you find the Enable USB Debugging option. When you find it, tap on it and enable the same.
This next step is where we actually are going to allow running ADB commands on our Android devices. Before beginning, you need to have the latest ADB and Fastboot drivers installed on your computer. To do this, follow the below guide. Please note that this step is mandatory.
Once you have installed the necessary ADB and Fastboot drivers, follow the below steps:
- Go to the folder where ADB and Fastboot drivers are installed on your computer.
- Open a command prompt from inside this folder. To do this: Hold down Shift Key and Right-click on the empty space inside the folder and then select ‘Open command window here‘ or ‘Open PowerShell window here‘.
- Connect your Android device to your computer.
- Make sure the device is unlocked and the screen is lit.
- Run the following command in the command prompt or PowerShell window:
adb devices
- Once you run the above command, you should now get a prompt on your Android device asking if you want to allow USB Debugging. Tap on ‘Always allow from this computer’ and press OK.
- Once the above step is complete, you should see your device is listed in the command prompt.
- Done!
Now you have successfully set up your Android device to Allow USB Debugging and authorized it to receive ADB Commands from your computer.
List of ADB Commands and Fastboot Commands for Android
Setup System-Wide ADB and Fastboot on Windows![[oneplus Bloatware List] Remove Bloatware On Oneplus Devices](https://c.ihax.io/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/OnePlus-Bloatware-300x154.png "OnePlus Bloatware - [OnePlus Bloatware List] Remove Bloatware on OnePlus Devices")
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I’ve been trying to use ADB to control an attached UMI Plus E (6.01 maybe) with a cracked screen. It took me hours of tilting the screen sideways and upside-down to finally get it into Developer Mode and then turn on USB Debugging on the UMI while i’m waiting for a replacement to arrive from Hong Kong since nobody here seemed to have them.
I’ve gone through all your steps with both the latest (1.4.3?) 15-second installer and the older v. 1.3 that had the largest number of downloads. It gets to the point of deciding which drivers it needs to install on my Win 10 PC and then it installs them. I give it the ADB DEVICES command in a command prompt window running with Administrator privileges. Everything goes as you say until you say aa message will pop up on the Android with an RSA fingerprint and asking for permission to access that device. Doesn’tt happen. My screen is unlocked and shows the desktop of apps. It asks me for permission to authorize Search to access my contact list and asks permit, deny, with an always-deny checkbox. The screen is cracked and hardly ever responds to my finger presses or swipes. What to do now?
MANY people will be going through a lot of trouble to get a crackeed-screen Android into Developer Mode and then turn on USB Debugging. And then connect it with a USB cable to a PC running this software but it seemss i’m at a dead end here. The reason for the ADB was to access an Android with a cracked screen and move all the photos i have in it that were stupidly stored on its massive internal storage rather than removable TF card.
How can I tell the UMI tocopy those files to TF card if it acts like everything is fine but my list of attached devices is C:/ which is the Win10 PC itself. No external devices and no way to even see that popup appear over the Android’s desktop.
Sorrry for omitting the question marks above.
Your ADB behaved differently when the devices had a USB connection. Only with the cable connection did it find and install the drivers. So it has a connection to the ANdroid and loaded the drivers. Then it says daemon not running, and then it says it started it on port 5037. and *daemon started successfully*.
The Android has no lockof any sort on the screeen but it has a screeensaver that darkens and then turns offf the screen to save power but i can prevent that by periodically pressing its power button to keep its “Home Screen” in view.
How can I tell the Android UMI to do a “XCOPY” from internal storage to its TF card?
What about another type of approach called TWRP i think it is? Would that be better for me now? Or would that fail too?
David, authorizing the computer/PC (the pop up you mentioned) is mandatory for the device to communicate properly with the said computer. If you do not get the popup, then there seems to be some issue with ADB installation. Did you restart your computer after installing ADB?
Sorrry for omitting the question marks above.
Your ADB behaved differently when the devices had a USB connection. Only with the cable connection did it find and install the drivers. So it has a connection to the ANdroid and loaded the drivers. Then it says daemon not running, and then it says it started it on port 5037. and *daemon started successfully*.
The Android has no lockof any sort on the screeen but it has a screeensaver that darkens and then turns offf the screen to save power but i can prevent that by periodically pressing its power button to keep its “Home Screen” in view.
How can I tell the Android UMI to do a “XCOPY” from internal storage to its TF card?
What about another type of approach called TWRP i think it is? Would that be better for me now? Or would that fail too?