ADB device list doesn't show phone

Question

I've recently installed adb and fastboot:

apt-get install android-tools-adb android-tools-fastboot

After the installation finished, I connected my device and ran the following command:

$ adb devices
List of devices attached

I've enabled debugging in the phone settings.

I think am doing it wrong-- I don't know. Please explain me the correct process.

Using Ubuntu 16.01. Device: Yu Yuphoria

Update edit:

After all the frustrating attempts It's still not detected in adb. However in fastboot mode, adding the vendor id command for my device, fastboot -i 0x2a96 devices as found mentioned here works

fastboot -i 0x2a96 devices

returned

7dd91912        fastboot

Other commands in fastboot mode, as instructed in the same page mentioned above, works too when vendor id command option was added.

1565986223 · Accepted Answer · 2019-03-31T03:57:37.330

31

Finally got the device detected in adb under adb devices command by restarting adb server with root privilege as mentioned here in the Troubleshooting adb section.

sudo adb kill-server
sudo adb start-server

After this adb devices returned

7dd91912      unauthorized

with a prompt on device for RSA authorize. After authorizing

adb devices now returns

72291912      device

edited Mar 31 '19 at 03:57

answered Dec 23 '16 at 10:45

1565986223

911

L. D. James · Answer 2 · 2016-12-22T18:29:16.527

You installed the adb program correctly. The Android Debugging isn't activated by default. The activation option is hidden. You'll have to reveal it with these steps:

Goto Settings -> About phone -> (scroll to) Build number ->
 (Tap on it about 7 times) -> (You should get a notice
 You have enabled the development settings)

Now you will have a new menu item in settings called Developer options.

Go into this option and turn on the USB debugging option.

Now when you plug in the USB cable to the computer, you'll get the prompt to Authorize the connected computer.

After the debugging is turned on you may have to restart the server. You can do that with these commands:

$ adb kill-server
$ adb start-server

score 10 · Answer 3 · edited Jan 23 '23 at 01:03

To set up device detection on Ubuntu Linux:

Using sudo, create this file: /etc/udev/rules.d/51-android.rules.

Use this format to add each vendor to the file:

SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR{idVendor}=="0bb4", MODE="0666", GROUP="plugdev"

In this example, the vendor ID is for HTC. The MODE assignment specifies read/write permissions, and GROUP defines which Unix group owns the device node.

If you do not know your vendor ID, you can get this from lsusb, it is the string after ID. If lsusb doesn't report your device, try checking grep USB /var/log/kern.log | less for vendor ID (for example, a line New USB device found, idVendor=1bbb, idProduct=0167).

Once you have created/updated the 51-android.rules file, execute:

sudo chmod a+r /etc/udev/rules.d/51-android.rules

Then restart udev with sudo service udev restart or sudo /etc/init.d/udev restart

score 9 · Answer 4 · answered Jul 26 '19 at 21:05

9

Gilberto Albino gave me a clue.
Nobody tells you that some usb cables are only good for charging devices, not for transferring data. You have to figure out which you have for yourself.
I think the charge-only cables are thinner.

answered Jul 26 '19 at 21:05

Greyhair

91

score 7 · Answer 5 · answered Dec 22 '16 at 18:29

7

Make sure you have a good USB cable and are plugged into a good port. This was always the problem I experience when using ADB and fastboot. Also make sure you update and have the latest ADB drivers.

answered Dec 22 '16 at 18:29

Mwebbs

71

score 3 · Answer 6 · answered May 02 '19 at 16:20

3

I had the same problem, and after trying all voodoos available on the internet, I found out by myself that the device is only recognizable by the vendor USB cable that accompanies the device.

answered May 02 '19 at 16:20

Gilberto Albino

148

score 0 · Answer 7 · answered Apr 20 '20 at 23:35

0

I'm not yet sure why this happens, but with my test device, it's only recognized if I accept temporarily the debugging request. If I check the "always allow from this computer" it will vanish from adb devices.

answered Apr 20 '20 at 23:35

igorsantos07

627

score 0 · Answer 8 · answered Feb 19 '23 at 03:21

In my case, I solved the problem changing the USB cable.

It is a surprise, but I noted device not showing windows after USB connection and just a message "connected for charge". The device connect only for energy charge. The device not was showing the device folder in computer too. I changed the cable and the problem dissappear instantaneously. I use Debian (Linux).

score 0 · Answer 9 · answered Jun 13 '24 at 20:29

That's very weird. I saw the device listed...the it disappeared... The only way to get it back was to detach the USB-C cable from my Computer and restarting adb.

Suddenly I got a new key notification on the phone and the device was available via adb device -l

Detaching the cable on the phone side didn't work

score -1 · Answer 10 · answered Nov 21 '21 at 12:44

Enable USB debugging on the device

This is done in Settings › Development. If you don't have that entry in your settings menu, go to Settings › About, scroll to the "Build number", and hammer it like a monkey until your device congratulates you having become a developer. Go back to the main page of the Settings menu, and close to the bottom you should see the "Development" (or "Developers") settings now. Enter it, and enable USB Debugging here.

Identify the device

First we need to know how the device identifies on the USB bus. For that, with the Android device NOT connected, grab a shell and run the command lsusb. Then connect the device and run the command again. Spot the new line. For the Wileyfox Swift this is a "nameless device":

Bus 004 Device 003: ID 2970:2282

Setting up the rules for ADB

We now need the numbers at the end of the above line: 2970:2282. These specify the vendor (2970) and the device itself (2282). Having those details, we need a root shell on our Linux machine to edit (or create, if it doesn't yet exist) the /etc/udev/rules.d/51-android.rules file. In there, add a line for your device. Following example line shows how it looks for the Wileyfox Swift:¹

SUBSYSTEMS=="usb", ATTRS{idVendor}=="2970", ATTRS{idProduct}=="2282", MODE="0666" GROUP="androiddev", SYMLINK+="android%n"

If you have a different device, replace the vendor and product IDs with what you've found above when running lsusb. A short explanation of the line:

SUBSYSTEMS=="usb": obviously this rule is for USB only ;)
ATTRS{idVendor}=="2970": the vendor ID of the device this rule is for
ATTRS{idProduct}=="2282": the device ID
MODE="0666": permissions the device node shall get. 0666 is quite lax, giving every user on your system read and write permission – so if you're concerned, you might try replacing that with a 0660 (giving only owner and group read-write, and deny everything to others).
GROUP="androiddev": which group the device node should belong to. This should be a group the users intended to work with the device belong to.
SYMLINK+="android%n": just to give the node a nice name, so you can find it easier in /dev (in my case, it later showed up there as /dev/android5)

That rule entered in /etc/udev/rules.d/51-android.rules, we must tell udev to make use of it. Safest way (next to a reboot ;) is restarting the udev service. Depending on your Linux distro, this can be done either via service udev restart or /etc/init.d/udev restart.

Done that, leave the root shell. Disconnect and reconnect your Android device, try adb devices again. Most devices showed up now, but not the Wileyfox Swift – which obviously wants some extra cuddles. If you're in that situation, open (or create if it doesn't exist) the file ~/.android/adb_usb.ini and add a single line to it, naming the vendor you've found out with lsusb above; for the Swift that would be 0x2970 (yupp, here you need to prefix it by 0x to point out it's a hexadecimal number). Then restart the ADB server: adb kill-server && adb start-server. Disconnect and reconnect the device again. Now adb devices should see it.

Connecting the device

You might have noticed adb devices told you something like 0123456789ABCDEF unauthorized. That's OK and for your (devices) safety: your computer must be authorized first to be able to access the device. So simply issue adb shell now – which will be quit with an error: device unauthorized. Please check the confirmation dialog on your device. Follow that advice (optionally mark the check-box to permanently authorize your computer), and you're done: Now you can use adb to access your device.

Updates:

¹ Note that in later Linux versions, syntax for the UDEV rules has slightly changed, as e.g. jcomeau_ictx pointed out in his comment. For the values we found above that would be:

SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR{idVendor}=="2970", ATTR{idProduct}=="2282", MODE="0666", GROUP="plugdev", SYMLINK+="android%n"

Two differences: it's now SUBSYSTEM (no plural), and the group has changed from androiddev to plugdev (the former does not exist on recent systems, the latter does and usually is assigned at least to the first user).

Additionally, you might need to add the vendorID to your ~/.android/adb_usb.ini (one ID per line, in hex notation):

# ANDROID 3RD PARTY USB VENDOR ID LIST
# 1 USB VENDOR ID PER LINE.
0x2970

Source