ADB not recognized found error, the ADB and Fast boot are amazing command line tools for your computer that lets you communicate with your Android device and monitor the changes you’ve made to your phone.
ADB and Fast boot have saved the day countless times, ADB not recognized found error making it possible to quickly access our phones whenever we locked them or connect a whole host of accessories through OTG cables to create exciting new experiences.
ADB not recognized found error
Having said that, sometimes it can get a little tricky when trying to use ADB or Fast boot on devices as they aren’t always easily detected by the commands without some easy fixes.
Below is a list of just a few of the ADB commands that can be used to accomplish a number of functions.
Change Android device name
Uninstall system apps without root
Turn Safe Mode On or Off
Unlock Android bootloader
Possible Reasons behind ADB Error
When you are trying to access your Android device using the Windows Command Prompt in order to install apps or run other technical operations, and you get the “ADB is not recognized” error message, you may be wondering:
What could possibly have gone wrong? Below is a screenshot that demonstrates the “ADB is not recognized” error on my Windows 10 computer.
‘ADB’ is actually a command line tool that you can use for Android Studio. To read more about the utility and its different functions, click here .
‘ADB’ is not recognized as an internal or external command. ADB not recognized found error If you are getting this error while using ‘react-native’ on a Mac computer then make sure you have the Android SDK with platform tools installed (also, updated).
Otherwise, check to see if it may be an issue with your computer’s security setting.
The command “a.exe” could not be found. It exists in the current location.
The command “ADB” does not exist in the folder, but it exists at the root of the directory.
It’s not immediately clear how the term “ADB” relates to the most common computer-related activities that we do everyday.
When you try to create a file in Windows PowerShell, you can’t and will get this message:
ADB: The term ‘ADB’ is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet, function, script file, or operable program.
‘ADB’ command not found
‘fast boot’ command not found
Fast boot is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file.
If you’re getting the “ADB is not recognized as an internal or external command” error when attempting to use the command prompt to access your device, there could be a few reasons why it isn’t working.
Many people think that ADB and Fast boot are present on their Windows PC by default. The reality is, you must download and set up the ADB and Fast boot drivers additionally.
You may also get the “ADB command not found” error if you have an outdated version of ADB and Fast boot drivers. Installing the latest Android SDK Platform-tools on your PC might fix the problem.
If you are trying to run ADB command from a location where ‘adb.exe’ and ‘fastboot.exe’ are not present.
You haven’t set up system-wide ADB and Fast boot on your Windows 10 PC. That’s to say, you haven’t set the correct path under User variables or System variables.
In case you are trying to flash an OTA update.zip, a factory image, or a custom recovery image (twrp.img, for instance), make sure you have saved the files to flash in the ‘platform-tools‘ folder along with ‘adb.exe’, ‘fastboot.exe’, etc.
If you are receiving the ‘ADB or fast boot command not found error’ on Mac, do not despair! ADB not recognized found error Do a web search for an effective fix and it will appear.
Fixing ‘ADB is not Recognized…’ Error
Now that we know what could be the reason behind the “ADB is not recognized as an internal or external command” error, let’s try to solve it.
Fix 1: Download Latest SDK Platform Tools
There is now a new tool for ADB & Fast boot called “Fast boot Mode” that works very similar to the following tools.
This makes it easy to check if your drivers are up-to-date or not, and you can use this app to update the latest one if they aren’t already.
It also lets you restore a stock image on your device in case anything ever goes wrong. Having this extremely simple yet powerful tool around can be very handy in case something goes wrong.
You must remove any existing third-party drivers for this device. To do that, go to ‘Settings’ > ‘About Phone’. There you will see your device’s build number.
After you’ve found it, ADB not recognized found error go to Google developers’ site and download the latest version of ADB and Fast boot Drivers (right click on the link in your browser and select “Save link as…” option).
This is one of the best sources because it’s provided directly by Google itself. The latest available platform tools can be found here . In case you are out of date, I’d suggest updating them.
Fix 2: Execute ADB Command from the ‘platform-tools’ Folder
Since the ADB driver doesn’t have an installer for it and it is downloaded as a .zip file, you’ve got to manually direct your command prompt to the proper location. You can do this by altering your system variables or changing registry keys.
Open the ‘platform-tools‘ or the folder that contains the ADB and Fast boot files. Click in the folder address bar, type “CMD” and press the Enter key.
Open the ‘platform-tools‘ folder. Click on the file explorer’s File tab and select Open Windows PowerShell.
While in the ‘platform-tools‘ folder, hold the Shift key and right-click at an empty or white space (highlighted with yellow) in the folder window. ADB not recognized found error Select the Open PowerShell window here option from the context menu. If you want, you can add a permanent option to launch the command prompt to the Windows context menu.
Fix 3: Use ‘platform-tools’ Folder Path in CMD
Suppose you have saved the ADB and Fast boot drivers in the C Drive (which most people will when they are setting up their environment for Android Development) for convenience and you use Windows as an OS.
And you decide to launch a Command Prompt as Administrator on your C Drive, but give it an argument of “ADB” to boot up the device… except that you won’t see it. Instead, you’ll get this error:
As simple as the ADB command may be, ADB not recognized found error some of the users have reported errors related to this particular command.
To solve this problem and make debug configurations working properly without causing any issues, you should use a reliable solution.
By using Change Directory (cd) or Chdir command, you can make all mentioned functionalities working without any issues.
This easy-to-use command will allow you to get rid of the problems with ADB . Simply open Command Prompt and type cd followed by platform-tools folder path; for example:
cd c:\technastic\platform-tools
When you want to know what the path is for a particular file or folder, these are the 7 ways that you can find out. In this example, we show how to find the path for an android device such as when using ADB.
‘ADB’ is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file.
When I tried to execute a command like “cd c:\technastic\platform-tools” and it didn’t work, which caused an error message (at least in my case) something along the lines of “ADB is not found.
But when I simply changed the location directly by typing exactly what it said and hit return, ADB started working again.
Fix 4: Add a User or System Variable Path for ADB and Fast boot
Although the CD method works well, I find it to be a bit inconvenient because you need to type the folder path every single time you use ADB or ADB Shell commands.
The easiest way to access ADB and Fast boot universally from any screen on your Windows-powered machine is to set up system-wide android debugging tools. ADB not recognized found error Claim your free Ultimate Guides Checklist.
An Android SDK Manager is a program that developers can use to update their Android SDK in case of a new release.
The Android Software Development Kit (SDK) is the package you need to install on your computer in order to develop an application for an android device.
The software comes with: user friendly interfaces, ADB not recognized found error documentation and samples, emulator images, tools and other developer aids.
Open Advanced system settings on your Windows PC. You can go to those settings in 3 ways.
Type ‘Advanced system settings‘ in the Windows search bar and launch it
Right-click on This PC found on the right pane in the File Explorer window and click on Properties> Advanced system settings.
Open Control panel and navigate to System and Security> System> Advanced system settings.
Once you get to the System Properties pop-up window, click on Environment Variables.
A new pop-up window named Environment Variables will appear. Click on any item under User variables or System variables and click on New.
When the New User/System Variable pop-up appears, type “Path” under Variable name, then press Browse Directory. Navigate to the folder labeled ‘platform-tools‘ and click on the OK button.
Finally, click on OK to add the path variable.
When the new path variable is added, don’t forget to click on OK on the Environment Variables window to save it.
Done! You have successfully set up system-wide ADB and Fast boot on your Windows PC. ADB not recognized found error Now, you are all set to execute ADB or Fast boot commands from any screen without navigating to the ‘platform-tools’ folder. The best way to utilize these benefits is by using a launcher app like Launch By Fayce .
Fix ‘adb.exe: no devices/emulators found’ Error
If you are getting an error about not being able to detect a device or emulator, then it’s likely because the ADB daemon is failing to initialize as necessary.
There are many possible causes for this – such as having a firewall switched on, or not being able to connect because your IP address isn’t visible in order to be reached.
ADB not recognized found error, the best way to get around this is by making sure the appropriate ports are forwarded and that the IP address on the system is visible so that ADB can communicate with it properly.
Your Android phone or tablet is not connected to the computer.
You haven’t turned on USB debugging from the Developer options on your device.
Take care to make sure you have the above things done, then reconnect your device and try again. This should permanently resolve the error points.
Bonus Tip
In order to help your Windows computer communicate with your Android device, ADB not recognized found error you must keep USB debugging enabled on your device.
Also don’t forget to extend the screen timeout duration. As soon as you run the first ADB command, you’ll be prompted to Allow USB debugging on your device. You must select “Allow” to authorize ADB.
If the ADB was already installed, re-install it by installing SDK Platform Tools. ADB not recognized found error You will find this in Platform-Tools folder in your Android SDK installation directory.
If after that you still have issues with Windows, try installing Google USB Driver for Windows.
ADB
ADB devices
ADB version
Fix Fast boot is not Recognized Error
The ADB or ADB command not recognized errors can be fixed using the following recommendations.
‘fast boot’ is not recognized as an internal or external command, ADB not recognized found error operable program or batch file.
Although, if you’re still getting the Fast boot is not recognized error after flashing TWRP.img file, ADB not recognized found error or installing a factory image, or rooting your android device, here’s how to fix it.
The solution should also work if fast boot isn’t detecting a connected device.
First of all, make sure you have downloaded the SDK Platform tools from above and extracted the downloaded zip file.
Open the ‘platform-tools‘ folder.
Now, copy or move the files you want to flash to your Android device to the same folder where ‘exe‘ and ‘fastboot.exe‘ files are present.
Reboot your Android device into the Fast boot Mode using the following command
adb reboot fast boot
While your device is in Fast boot Mode, use a compatible USB cable to connect it to the PC.
Then launch a command window from the ‘platform-tools‘ folder. I have already described 3 ways to do that above.
It’s time now to execute the following command.
Fast boot devices
If you get the list of attached devices in the command window, it means everything is fine. However, if encounter any of the following issues, try plugging out the USB cable and insert it again. If it still doesn’t help, try to reboot your phone and PC and try again.
Fast boot not detecting device
Fast boot devices not showing in CMD
Fast boot waiting for device
The Fast boot is not recognized error should be gone. ADB not recognized found error (with a period and no txt file)
If you are still experiencing issues related to ADB and Fast boot, ADB not recognized found error then please let us know.
