ADB drivers for Windows: download and installation guide TOTAL (2017)

Android is an operating system with many possibilities. The only limitation for developers and advanced users is their imagination, and well ... also the security of the system itself. A key factor in expanding this margin of action is connecting the device to the PC, and for this it is essential to install the ADB drivers and Fastboot.

What are ADB and Fastboot drivers?

The drivers ofADB They are the controllers that allow us to communicate via USB between an Android terminal and a PC. The fastboot driversOn the other hand, they are the drivers that allow the PC flashing tool to recognize the fastboot mode of the Android terminal.

Before giving you the download links for these 2 drivers and explaining the installation process, we must bear in mind that we are also going to need a couple of other things:

• Have activated the USB debugging mode from the terminal.
• The specific driverschip device (manufacturer's drivers, typeMediatek, Qualcomm etc.).

Once we have all the machinery running we can launch ourselves to install ROMs and perform all kinds of advanced Android administration actions directly from the PC.

ADB drivers installation guide in Windows

There are 2 ways to install ADB drivers for Windows:

• Installing Android Studio (Android developer tool) in full: files, application, drivers etc.
• Installing only the ADB driver package.

Installing the full Android Studio package

If we decide to install the full Android Studio package, once the application is launched we will go to “Configure -> SDK Manager”. Inside the tab "SDK Tools" we mark "Google USB Drivers"And click on"Apply" to download. In the tab "SDK Platforms" we mark the operating system of our android version, and also click on "Apply”To download and install.

ADB All-in-1 Driver Package

Android Studio installation takes up significant disk space. Therefore, XDA Developers users have created a lightweight ADB + Fastboot installer called ADB Installer, a tool that installs only the necessary drivers, in a few seconds. Available for download HERE.

For install ADB Installer we simply have to launch the executable and answer with a "Y" (YES) to the 3 messages that will appear on the screen.

Installation of manufacturer's drivers

If we still cannot communicate the terminal with the PC, we may also need to install hardware manufacturer specific drivers, such as Sony, Samsung, or MTK.

You can view and download the drivers for most terminals from this list.

You can download the Mediatek USB driver from HERE.

You can download the Qualcomm USB driver from HERE.

Still in trouble? Take a look at the device manager

From now on, Windows should establish an ADB connection with our Android terminal without problems, and the corresponding flashing tool should already be able to identify the device, even when it is turned off.

If we still have problems detecting the terminal, we can try the following:

• We open the device administrator from Cortana or from the Control Panel.
• We have 2 options:
  • If our terminal appears identified in the list of device devices (with a yellow triangle, under "Other devices") we right-click with the mouse and "Update driver”. We select "Search your computer for driver software”And we look for the Google USB Drivers. If we have installed Android Studio these should be in the path:

C: \ Users \… \ AppData \ Local \ Android \ Sdk \ extras \ google \ usb_driver

• If the terminal does not appear in the device list, then we will add it by hand. From the top menu click on "Action -> Add Legacy Hardware”.

We choose "Install hardware manually selected from a list", And we choose"Android device”. When selecting the corresponding controller, we go to “Disk”And select the Google USB driver from the corresponding path indicated in the previous point. We choose "Android ADB Interface”And we repeat the same process with“Android Bootloader Interface" and "Android Composite Interface”.

• Now, if we look at the Device Manager, it should show our Android terminal correctly listed.

Please note: drivers not signed by Microsoft in Windows 8/10

As you can see, the installation of USB drivers for Android on PC can be both a bed of roses and a real torture if things get complicated.

In this case, another detail that we must take into account is that most drivers of this type are not signed by Microsoft, which means that we have to enable installation of unsigned drivers during the installation process.

Some drivers, such as those from Qualcomm, perform this enabling process automatically when installing the driver, but in other cases we will have to do it by hand. You can take a look at this tutorial to see how to carry it out. There is also a very simple video that explains how to do it:

We will know that the installation of unsigned drivers is enabled when we see a message on the Windows desktop that says “Test mode Windows 10 Pro Build…”.

So as not to compromise the safety of the equipmentOnce all the drivers have been installed, we can revoke this type of installation and return to normality by typing the following command in MS-DOS (running it as administrator):

bcdedit -set TESTSIGNING OFF

Alternative manufacturer drivers: the universal drivers from Hardcore Hacker and Koush

If we have problems with manufacturer's drivers of our Android terminal, we can also dare with other alternatives:

• Install the universal Hardcore Hacker driver (download HERE). To carry out the installation we will have to open the device manager, select our Android terminal (usually located in "Other devices") and with the right button choose "Update driver”. We mark "Search your computer for driver software”And select the path where we have downloaded the new drivers.
• Install the Koush universal driver, also known as the Clockworkmod ADB driver. It can be downloaded from HERE and the installation process is really simple (just follow the steps).

Finally, always remember that it is very important have USB debugging enabled in our Android terminal.

The ADB drivers installation process can be complicated, especially if we have a bricked phone that we want to save from burning. In any case, patience, and, above all, look for possible alternatives in specialized forums to our specific terminal model if the standard process resists us in an unsolvable way.

I hope this tutorial is helpful, and as always, any questions or ideas, do not hesitate to put it in the comments area.