ADB Commands

Android ADB Cheat Sheet

ADB, Android Debug Bridge, is a command-line utility included with Google's Android SDK. ADB can control your device over USB from a computer, copy files back and forth, install and uninstall apps, run shell commands, and more. ADB is a powerful tool that can be used to control your Android device from a computer. Below are some of the most common commands you can use with ADB and their usage. You can find more information about ADB and its usage by visiting the official website.

Common ADB Commands¶

Push a file to Download folder of the Android Device¶

adb push example.apk /mnt/sdcard/Download/ Lists all the installed packages and get the full paths¶

adb shell pm list packages -f Pulls a file from android device¶

adb pull /mnt/sdcard/Download/example.apk Install apk from host to Android device¶

adb shell install example.apk Install apk from Android device storage¶

adb shell install /mnt/sdcard/Download/example.apk Set network proxy¶

adb shell settings put global http_proxy <address>:<port> Disable network proxy

adb shell settings put global http_proxy :0 ADB Basics Commands¶ Command Description adb devices Lists connected devices adb connect 192.168.2.1 Connects to adb device over network adb root Restarts adbd with root permissions adb start-server Starts the adb server adb kill-server Kills the adb server adb reboot Reboots the device adb devices -l List of devices by product/model adb -s <deviceName> <command> Redirect command to specific device adb –d <command> Directs command to only attached USB device adb –e <command> Directs command to only attached emulator Logs¶ Command Description adb logcat [options] [filter] [filter] View device log adb bugreport Print bug reports Permissions¶ Command Description adb shell permissions groups List permission groups definitions adb shell list permissions -g -r List permissions details Package Installation¶ Command Description adb shell install <apk> Install app adb shell install <path> Install app from phone path adb shell install -r <path> Install app from phone path adb shell uninstall <name> Remove the app Paths¶ Command Description /data/data/<package name>/databases App databases /data/data/<package name>/shared_prefs/ Shared preferences /mnt/sdcard/Download/ Download folder /data/app Apk installed by user /system/app Pre-installed APK files /mmt/asec Encrypted apps (App2SD) /mmt/emmc Internal SD Card /mmt/adcard External/Internal SD Card /mmt/adcard/external_sd External SD Card

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adb shell ls List directory contents adb shell ls -s Print size of each file adb shell ls -R List subdirectories recursively adb shell pm path <package name> Get full path of a package adb shell pm list packages -f Lists all the packages and full paths

File Operations¶

Command Description adb push <local> <remote> Copy file/dir to device adb pull <remote> <local> Copy file/dir from device run-as <package> cat <file> Access the private package files Phone Info¶ Command Description adb get-statе Print device state adb get-serialno Get the serial number adb shell dumpsys iphonesybinfo Get the IMEI adb shell netstat List TCP connectivity adb shell pwd Print current working directory adb shell dumpsys battery Battery status adb shell pm list features List phone features adb shell service list List all services adb shell dumpsys activity <package>/<activity> Activity info adb shell ps Print process status adb shell wm size Displays the current screen resolution

Package Info¶

Command Description adb shell list packages Lists package names adb shell list packages -r Lists package name + path to apks adb shell list packages -3 Lists third party package names adb shell list packages -s Lists only system packages adb shell list packages -u Lists package names + uninstalled adb shell dumpsys package packages Lists info on all apps adb shell dump <name> Lists info on one package adb shell path <package> Path to the apk file

Device Related Commands¶

Command Description adb reboot-recovery Reboot device into recovery mode adb reboot fastboot Reboot device into recovery mode adb shell screencap -p "/path/to/screenshot.png" Capture screenshot adb shell screenrecord "/path/to/record.mp4" Record device screen adb backup -apk -all -f backup.ab Backup settings and apps adb backup -apk -shared -all -f backup.ab Backup settings, apps and shared storage adb backup -apk -nosystem -all -f backup.ab Backup only non-system apps adb restore backup.ab Restore a previous backup

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adb shell am start -a android.intent.action.VIEW -d URL Opens URL adb shell am start -t image/* -a android.intent.action.VIEW Opens gallery Comments

WSL Support

Environment Automatically for WSL

Setup TCP port forwarding

We can use socat to do port forwarding if the local and remote machine are in the same network and can connect directly. We can also use ssh to do port forwarding if we can access remote machine with ssh. Don’t forget to configure firewall if exists.

For WSL, we chose socat to do port forwarding. Run in WSL:

1. get host Windows IP

HOST_IP=`cat /etc/resolv.conf | tail -n1 | cut -d " " -f 2`

1. start socat port forward

socat TCP-LISTEN:5037,reuseaddr,fork TCP:${HOST_IP}:5037

For remote Linux machine, we chose ssh to do port forwarding. Run in local Linux machine:

1. change this to your remote Linux machine user and address, make sure you have already configured ssh key, or you can input password manaully

USER='root' HOST='192.168.1.100'

ssh -R 5037:localhost:5037 -f -N $USER@$HOST -o ServerAliveInterval=240

---

Install adb on Windows and change $WSL_HOST_ADB to the adb location following the example format. Install adb and socat on WSL. Make sure you are using the same adb in terminal and Android Studio. And make sure you installed the same version of adb in Windows and WSL. Add the following content to your WSL ~/.bashrc and run source ~/.bashrc to refresh. Run wsl-start-adb-daemon / wsl-stop-adb-daemon to start/stop adb environment.

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WSL_HOST_ADB='/mnt/d/AndroidSdk/platform-tools/adb.exe'

wsl-start-adb-daemon() {

 if ! [ -x "$(command -v socat)" ]; then
   echo 'Please install socat first:' >&2
   echo 'sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y socat'
   return 1
 fi

 # stop service
 wsl-stop-adb-daemon
 echo

 echo "Get adb devices on host..."
 $WSL_HOST_ADB devices
 sleep 1
 $WSL_HOST_ADB kill-server
 sleep 1

 local HOST_IP=`cat /etc/resolv.conf | tail -n1 | cut -d " " -f 2`

 echo "Start services..."
 nohup $WSL_HOST_ADB -a nodaemon server start > /dev/null 2>&1 &
 nohup socat TCP-LISTEN:5037,reuseaddr,fork TCP:${HOST_IP}:5037 > /dev/null 2>&1 &
 sleep 1
 echo "Forward adb to ${HOST_IP}:5037."
 echo

 echo "Get adb devices..."
 adb devices

}

wsl-stop-adb-daemon() {

 echo "Kill running processes..."
 pkill -9 socat

 # $WSL_HOST_ADB kill-server > /dev/null 2>&1
 # adb kill-server > /dev/null 2>&1

 pkill -9 adb.exe
 pkill -9 adb
 sleep 1
 echo "Complete"

}

Start the Environment Automatically for Remote Linux Machine

Usage

Setup ssh key for remote machine. Install adb on local machine. Install adb on remote machine and change REMOTE_ADB_PATH value to the adb location. Make sure you are using the same adb in terminal and Android Studio. And make sure you installed the same version of adb in local and remote machine. Add the following content to your local ~/.bashrc and run source ~/.bashrc to refresh. Run startRemoteAdb USER HOST / stopRemoteAdb USER HOST to start/stop adb environment.

---

REMOTE_ADB_PATH='$HOME/Android/Sdk/platform-tools/adb'

_remoteCmd() {

 local USER=$1
 local HOST=$2
 ssh $USER@$HOST $3

}

_remoteAdb() {

 local USER=$1
 local HOST=$2
 _remoteCmd $USER $HOST "$REMOTE_ADB_PATH $3"

}

startRemoteAdb() {

 if [ $# -ne 2 ]; then
   echo 'Usage: startRemoteAdb USER HOST'
   echo 'Example: startRemoteAdb jzj 192.168.5.200'
   return 1
 fi

 local USER=$1
 local HOST=$2

 stopRemoteAdb $USER $HOST
 echo

 echo 'Get adb devices on local...'
 adb devices
 sleep 1
 adb kill-server
 sleep 1

 echo 'Start services...'
 nohup adb -a nodaemon server start > /dev/null 2>&1 &
 ssh -R 5037:localhost:5037 -f -N $USER@$HOST -o ServerAliveInterval=240

 sleep 1
 echo "Forward localhost:5037 to $HOST:5037."
 echo

 echo 'Remote get adb devices...'
 _remoteAdb $USER $HOST devices

}

stopRemoteAdb() {

 local USER=$1
 local HOST=$2

 echo 'Kill running processes...'
 _remoteAdb $USER $HOST kill-server
 adb kill-server
 # kill ssh command which contains 5037
 ps -lef | grep ssh | grep 5037 | awk "{print \$2}" | xargs kill

 sleep 1
 echo 'Complete'

}

For WSL ADB kill:

Run in windows:

adb kill-server

Run in WSL:

adb kill-server

1. kill adb process

pkill -9 adb

1. kill Windows adb.exe process in WSL

pkill -9 adb.exe

1. kill socat process

pkill -9 socat

For remote linux machine adb kill:

Run in local:

adb kill-server

1. kill adb process

pkill -9 adb

1. kill ssh command which contains 5037 (used for port forward)

ps -lef | grep ssh | grep 5037 | awk "{print \$2}" | xargs kill

Run in remote:

adb kill-server pkill -9 adb