In this complete guide, you will learn about ADB and fastboot tools on Windows, Mac, and Linux, the installation guide, their instructions, and related importance. The Android ecosystem lets you create lots of tweaks to your device. This includes the ability to unlock the bootloader, flash custom ROMs, and availability like TWRP. Add to it the ability to gain administrative rights to your device by removing it with Magisk, and whatever else someone may ask for.
This is just the tip of the iceberg, and there are tons of other tweaks like that. However, in order to successfully manage most of these changes, you may need to connect your device to a PC. But a simple connection with a USB cable will also do nothing. A few binary files allow for effective communication between your device and make the above adjustment possible. USB drivers are just one part of this software toolkit. However, he is not alone.
What is ADB and fastboot tool?

The Android Debug Bridge (ADB and fastboot tool
) 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 tool
Google hosts zips including only ADB and fastboot tool. You can set these up for use with the instructions below.
On Windows
- Download the ADB and fastboot tool Windows zip from Google.
- Extract it somewhere – for example,
%USERPROFILE%\adb-fastboot
- 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)
- 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 “New” button
- Insert
%USERPROFILE%\adb-fastboot\platform-tools
in the text field
- Install the universal ADB driver, and reboot.
On macOS
- Download the macOS zip from Google.
- Extract it somewhere – for example,
~/adb-fastboot
. - Add the following to
~/.bash_profile
if you are using Bash or~/.zshenv
if you are using Z shell:if [ -d "$HOME/adb-fastboot/platform-tools" ] ; then export PATH="$HOME/adb-fastboot/platform-tools:$PATH" fi
- Log out and back in.
On Linux
- Download the Linux zip from Google.
- Extract it somewhere – for example,
~/adb-fastboot
. - Add the following to
~/.profile
:if [ -d "$HOME/adb-fastboot/platform-tools" ] ; then export PATH="$HOME/adb-fastboot/platform-tools:$PATH" fi
- Log out and back in.
- You may also need to set up Udev rules: see this repository for more info.
Setting up adb
To use adb
with your device, you’ll need to enable developer options and USB debugging:
- Open Settings, and select “About”.
- Tap on “Build number” seven times.
- Go back, and select “Developer options”.
- Scroll down, and check the “Android debugging” or “USB debugging” entry under “Debugging”.
- Plug your device into your computer.
- On the computer, open up a terminal/command prompt and type
adb devices
. - A dialog should show on your device, asking you to allow USB debugging. Check “always allow”, and choose “OK”.
Congratulations! adb
is now ready to use with your device.
Setting up fastboot

Using fastboot
(if your device supports it) should simply involve rebooting to fastboot mode. While in fastboot mode, you can type fastboot devices
to verify that your device is being detected.
Popular ADB commands
adb shell
– launches a shell on the deviceadb push <local> <remote>
– pushes the file<local>
to<remote>
adb pull <remote> [<local>]
– pulls the file<remote>
to<local>
. If<local>
isn’t specified, it will pull to the current folder.adb logcat
– allows you to view the device log in real-time. You can useadb logcat -b radio
to view radio logs, andadb logcat -C
to view logs in coloradb install <file>
– installs the given .apk file to your device
This is an All-in-One installer of the 3 most needed PC ADB and fastboot tools for Android. No need to download a large SDK for 3 small items.