The Android operating system is not limited to just the smartphones. There are many other devices that run on Android like the smart televisions, set-top boxes, tablets, notebook computers and more. It is no surprise that there are millions of Android devices being used in the world. If you also have an Android device and you want to control it via the ADB and Fastboot tools, then you have to install these tools in your computer first. Earlier there were two ways to install them in your PC.
The official method was to download and installing a huge 1.6 GB Android Studio software from Google. And the unofficial method was to use 9 MB ADB and Fastboot installer developed by XDA developers. But now Google has also made the downloading of these tools in smaller separate packages for the people who do not wish to install Android Studio and just want to use the ADB and Fastboot for different reasons, for example, in order to root the device, install a new ROM or to perform other supported operations.
Here is how you can download and install official ADB and Fastboot tools from Google servers in Windows:
- Download https://dl.google.com/android/repository/platform-tools-latest-windows.zip and save it somewhere on your PC.
- Extract the folder platform-tools from inside the downloaded ZIP to C:\ (or somewhere else you wish).
- Press the hotkey Win+R, type systempropertiesadvanced.exe and press Enter.
- Click on the Environment Variables button in the Advanced System Properties window.
- Under the System Variables section, select PATH and then click on the Edit button.
- Append one semi-colon followed by the full path of the folder where you extracted the ADB tools (C:\platform-tools) and then click on the OK button.
- Click OK button in all the open windows to save the new settings and close them all.
You may have to install the Android USB drivers too for the ADB connection to work over a USB data cable. In that case, you can download https://dl-ssl.google.com//android/repository/latest_usb_driver_windows.zip and save it somewhere on your PC. You can find more information about installing the USB drivers from https://developer.android.com/studio/run/oem-usb.html#InstallingDriver.