Fastboot Commands and How to Use them

ADB an official tool by Google – you must have heard of it if you have ever  come across Android development or flashing processes. Stands for Android Debug Bridge basically and helps you to establish a connection and communicate between your phone and your computer. ADB has a command line interface, which helps the developers / programmers / users to enter commands and do the stuff they want. ADB also plays an important role when you don’t have access to certain things on your phone, you can simply handle the problem through the command window.
Earlier we posted a guide on “How to Install and Use Android ADB & Fastboot” but missed the important ADB commands that may become handy in some cases, and found necessary to cover them now. In case you’re wondering about Fastboot, it’s a component of ADB that helps you to flash files or make tweaks by accessing Fastboot mode on your device. Well, let’s get back to the topic. In the following post I’ve listed the useful ADB commands, and also explained their use.

You may want to install Android ADB and Fastboot, and also learn how to use the program actually please go through this guide:

How to Install Android Adb & Fastboot Drivers on Your Windows PC [Guide]

Let’s move forward to the useful commands:

Commands	Use
Basic ADB Commands
adb devices	Shows a list of devices attached to the computer.
adb reboot	Reboots a device connected to the PC.
adb reboot recovery	Reboots a device into recovery mode.
adb reboot download	Reboots the connected device into download mode. E.G Download mode on Samsung Galaxy devices.
adb reboot bootloader	Reboots a device into Bootloader. Once in Bootloader, you can make further selections here.
adb reboot fastboot	Reboots a connected device into Fastboot mode.
Installing / Uninstalling / Updating Apps with ADB.
adb install <ApplicationpathPackagename>.apk	ADB install let’s you install APK files directly to your phone. To use this command type adb install application path, as shown in the commands part and hit enter key and it will start installing the app on your phone. e.g adb install C:/Users/UsamaM/Desktop/CandyCrushSaga.apk. If process succeeds it will show you “Success” in the command window.
adb install -r <AplicationpathPackagename>.apk	If you have already installed an app, and you just want to update it then this command will let you do so. e.g adb install -r C:/Users/UsamaM/Desktop/CandyCrushSaga.apk
adb unistall package_namee.g adb uninstall com.android.chrome	Uninstalls and application from your device. The easiest way to find a package name is, install Package Name Viewer from the play store and find the name of the package under the App Name. If process succeeds it will show you “Success” in the command window.
adb uninstall -K package_namee.g adb uninstall -K com.android.chrome	Uninstall an app but keeps it’s data and cache directories. If process succeeds it will show you “Success” in the command window.
Push and Pull files
adb rootadb push >e.gadb push c:\users\UsamaM\desktop\Song.mp3 \system\media adb push filepathonPC/filename.extension path.on.phone.toplace.the.file	the adb push commands let’s you transfer any files to your phone from your PC. You simply need to provide the path of file on your PC and path where to place this file on your phone.
adb rootadb pull>e.gadb  pull \system\media\Song.mp C:\users\UsamaM\desktop adb pull [Path of file on phone]  [Path on PC where to place the file]	Similar to the adb push command. Using adb pull, you can simply pull any files from your phone.
Backing up system and installed apps.  Before doing this, in your adb folder create a folder Backup and under the backup folder create two folders named SystemApps and InstalledApps. These folders are necessary as you’ll be pushing the backed up apps to these folders.
adb pull /system/app backup/systemapps	backs up all the system apps of your phone to the Systemapps folder that you created in the ADB folder.
adb pull /system/app backup/installedapps	backs up all the installed apps of your phone to the installedapps folder that you created in the ADB folder.
Background Terminal
adb shell	starts the background terminal.
exit	exits the background terminal.
adb shell <command you want>e.g adb shell su	switches to the root of your phone. Please make sure that you’re rooted in case you wish to use adb  shell su.
Fastboot commands To flash files using fastboot, place the desired files in Fastboot folder or Platform-tools folder that you obtained after installation of Android SDK tools.
Fastboot Flash File.zip	Flashes a .zip file to your phone, when your phone is connected in Fastboot mode.
Fastboot Flash recovery recoveryname.img	Flashes a recovery to your phone when it’s connected in Fastboot mode.
Fastboot flash boot bootname.img	Flashes a boot or kernel image when your phone is connected in Fastboot mode.
Fastboot getvar cid	shows you the CID of your phone.
Fastboot oem writeCID xxxxx	writes the super CID.
fastboot erase system fastboot erase data fastboot erase cache	In case you want to restore a nandroid backup, you’ll have to delete the current system/data/cache of your phone first. Before doing this, it is always recommended to have backed up your system using a custom recovery>backup option and copy the backed up .img files to Fastboot or Platform-tools folder in Android SDK folder. Then performing these commands will erase everything.
fastboot flash system system.img fastboot flash data data.img fastboot flash cache cache.img	These commands will restore the backup that you made using a custom recovery on your phone and placed in the Fastboot folder under Android SDK tools.
fastboot oem get_identifier_token fastboot oem flash Unlock_code.bin fastboot oem lock	These commands help you to get the identifier token of your phone that can be used for unlocking the bootloader. The second command helps your to flash the bootloader unlock code, and the 3rd commands helps you to lock your phone’s bootloader once again if locking it is actually allowed.
Logcat
adb logcat	Shows you the real time logs of your phone, these logs represent the ongoing process on your device.It is recommended that you run this command while your device boots up to check what’s going on.
adb logcat > logcat.txt	Creates a .txt file containing the logs in the Platform-tools folder or Fastboot folder in Android SDK tools directory.

That’s all for now. We may be missing a lot of commands, those may be added later. In case you got any suggestions, queries or face any difficulties, please feel free to stop by the comment box below and drop your words. We will get back to you as quick as we can. Thanks All!