Minimal ADB and Fastboot are among the main tools used when working with Android apparatus. It is a command line tool that lets you communicate with a device it functions as a middle man, that lets you drive, modify, debug, and tweak system files quite easily. Additionally, it lets you unlock your device’s bootloader with only few controls. So if you’re into flashing, rooting or deleting your own Android smartphone, ADB and Fastboot are a must have tool for you, as an Android device owner.
The Android Studio provides different tools to create apps for Android platform when testing it from the tool itself. While the whole bundle of Android Studio is of approximately around 800MB, Minimal ADB provides a incredibly diminished version of that command line tool that can be used for debugging your device only.
Typically if you want to install ADB and Fastboot you have to download and setup the Android SDK and You can find the source of ADB here.
For Windows: platform-tools-latest-windows.zip
Linux: platform-tools-latest-linux.zip
Mac: platform-tools-latest-darwin.zip
How to Install Minimal ADB and Fastboot Tool
Installing the Minimal ADB and Fastboot tool is really very easy similar to any other software installation procedure, you just follow the onscreen instructions and accept the agreement to finish the installation.
Step 1. Download the latest Minimal ADB & Fastboot file from above link.
Step 2. Launch the adb.exe file to begin the installation process.
Step 3. Click on Next until you see the “Installation path” screen which asks to specify the folder you want to install the ADB files, by default, it is “C:\Program Files (x86)\Minimal ADB and Fastboot”. (Remember the path if you changed it)
Step 4. Click on Next, Select the box which asks “Create a desktop icon” and install the software. It would take 1-2 mins depending on your PC to finish the installation.
Once you have installed the tool, launch the tool from the desktop icon named as “Minimal ADB and Fastboot”. You should now see a command window open, with the command window open you can now issue ADB and Fastboot commands to your device
Step 5. To connect your device with ADB, you need to perform few more steps. In your device, Go to Settings > About Phone > Tap 7-8 times on the Build Number, until it says “You’re now a developer”.
Step 6. Go back to Settings > Developer Options > Enable USB Debugging as shown in the image.
Step 7. Connect your phone to your PC using the original USB cable. To check if everything is working well, enter “adb devices” in the ADB command window. You’ll see a notification your device with some text asking “Allow USB Debugging”, click on “OK”.
The Minimal ADB command window will return your device code which means everything is set to go!
Note:
- Minimal ADB only works with Windows OS both 64-bit & 32-bit.
- Make sure to use the most latest version of tool to flash files in latest Android version devices as well as with old devices.
- Install ADB USB Drivers for Android device by connecting your device in USB Debugging mode.
Learning ADB commands will help you come out of non-working devices or tweak your device. Most of all, it will help you increase your knowledge regarding Android system & its files.
