How To Install And Setup ADB For Linux

Download for Linux
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What is ADB for Linux? What makes it worth it? If you have been using an Android phone for a while, you will notice that there are certain features and compatibility that you cannot access or run. These include downloading apps, taking screenshots in banned apps, installing custom ROMs, removing unnecessary Google apps, creating regular backups, and more.

Luckily, there is a way to work around all that and do whatever you want with your phone using the Android Debug Bridge (ADB). Here, we will show how to install the Android ADB driver and Fastboot ADB driver on Linux.

What are ADB and Fastboot?

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To understand what are ADB drivers, and ADB for Linux, let's see what happens on Android.


Android mobile phones run a customized version of the Linux kernel to run essential system services (it may come as a surprise to know that Linux has a huge market in the telephony industry). Although Android is considered open source, phone manufacturers still add some restrictions that make it impossible for the average user to tweak the software.


Android Degub Bridge (ADB) is a command line tool that you can install on your PC and run commands directly on your Android phone. This tool allows you to have more privileged access to your phone. To download universal ADB driver, you must first enable USB debugging on your Android phone.

How to install ADB Linux?

Here, we will install ADB drivers (Android Debug Bridge) on your Linux computer and make it accessible from any folder.


ADB provides a terminal interface on your Linux computer to interact with your Android device's file system. It can be useful for many things like installing and uninstalling apps, disabling and enabling apps, logcat, and many more.


  1. Download the ADB setup 1.4.3 or the latest ADB setup 1.5.6 ZIP file for Linux.
  2. Extract the ZIP to a location that is easily accessible (such as a desktop).
  3. Open a Terminal window.
  4. Enter the command: cd /path/to/extracted/folder/
  5. This changes the directory to which ADB files have been extracted.
  6. For instance: cd /Users/Doug/Desktop/platform-tools/
  7. Connect the device with your USB cable to your Linux machine. Modify the "MTP" mode of the connection. This is not always needed for every device, but it is recommended to avoid problems.
  8. Once the terminal is located in the same folder as your ADB tools, you can start the ADB daemon with the following command:
  9. You see the prompt that requires you to allow USB debugging back on your smartphone or tablet device. Go on and give it.
  10. Finally, re-enter the step # 8 command. If everything succeeds, you should now see the serial number for your device in the output of the terminal window. Congratulations to the Commission! You can now execute any ADB on your device! Start now by modifying your phone with our extensive list of tutorials!
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Some Linux users should know that ADB setup installation on your computer can be easier. The guide above certainly will work for you, but you can skip steps 1 and 2 of the above guide with one of the following commands from Debian or Fedora / SUSE distro.
Can type in the following command for Debian-based Linux users to install ADB: Sudo apt-get install ADB
The following command can be used to set up Fedora / SUSE-based Linux users: Sudo yum install android-tools

Download for Linux

Test ADB with Android

Now that you have ADB installed on your Linux computer, you need to test it with your Android to make sure the Google ADB driver recognizes your Android device.

  1. Make sure that (USB debugging) is enabled on your Android device in settings (developer options).
  2. Connect your Android device to your computer with a USB cable.
  3. Now, open a terminal on your computer and run the following command: adb device
  4. On your Android device, you'll get a prompt asking you to allow USB debugging. Go ahead and allow it. After giving permission, you may have to run the above command again.

Using ADB on Linux

Why ADB for Linux? If you've been using a Linux system for a while, you know that most utilities will change the terminal prompt at runtime. This is not the case with universal ADB driver download. The endpoint will be preserved (probably pointing to the direct job). And this is where you run your ADB command. However, there is still an ADB shell option.

Transfer files using ADB

Before diving any deeper, there are a few things you need to understand. The files you see on your phone are all in the /storage/sdcard0 folder. If you insert an external SD card, it will be stored in /storage/sdcard1.

To copy a file from your computer to your phone's Downloads folder, use the syntax below. adb push [path_to_file] /storage/sdcard0/Downloads

If the transfer is successful, you will see an output like the “file pushed”.

To copy files from phone to PC, we will use the pull command. For example, in the test_dir folder that we copied to our phone, there is a file called image.jpg. Let's copy this file from your phone to our PC. We will use the syntax below. adb pull [path_to_file_on_the_phone]

Using ADB Shell

In the previous section, we looked at different real-world scenarios where you can use ADB. However, you will notice that we run all of these commands in our working directory. This may not give you full access to the phone you would like. And that's where the ADB shell command comes in. As the name suggests, these commands open a shell directly on your phone. Here you can run any Linux command just like on the terminal. What you can do with this simple shell is unimaginable.

ADB for Linux Review

So far, we hope you have a good understanding of the Android Debug Bridge (ADB) and how to install ADB for Linux system. ADB setup download gives you more privileges on your phone, giving you access to more resources and features. Did you get any errors while installing or using ADB?