USB debugging is not active on Android. Why is USB debugging needed in Android and how to enable it

USB debugging mode is a special feature of Android devices, mainly needed by developers. With its help, you can check the functionality of the application and test it in different situations. But debug mode is also useful for users. Let's consider why it can be useful, how to turn it on and off on Android devices.

Why do you need USB debugging mode on Android OS?

Debug mode allows users to:

Test the application being developed.
Get root access to your smartphone or tablet.
Copy and move files from your Android device to your computer.
Install a third party downloaded onto your computer (not from Play Market) application for Android.
Install different versions firmware for the device.
Restore a broken device.
Create backup copy files and applications.

In addition, in debug mode you can access system processes and also analyze changes in behavior RAM, processor and other components.

How to enable USB debugging mode on your device

The “Enable USB Debugging” option is located in the “Developer Menu” (or “Developer Options”), which is hidden from users in Android versions above 4.2. But, again, some manufacturers decide to open access to the menu, others decide to hide it. For example, on smartphones Meizu company The developers menu is always open and is located in the " Accessibility", and on Samsung devices access to the menu is closed. It all depends not only on the company, but also on specific model devices.

So, if access to the developer menu is blocked on your device, do the following: in the device settings, open the “About device” tab and click on the “Build number” item until a notification appears that you have been assigned developer status and you can use the special menu.

Now go to this menu. Depending on the model, the menu entry may be located in different sections of the settings menu. Either in the device settings there may immediately be a section “For Developers” (“Developer Options”, “Developer Menu”), or it may be a subsection of the items “Accessibility”, “Other”, “More”, “Advanced Settings”.

When you enter the developer menu, check the box next to “Enable USB debugging” (or “USB debugging mode”). Usually this item comes first.

Where is the mode located in different versions of Android (photo gallery)

The developer menu is located in the “More” section. In Android 2.2–3.0, the “USB Debugging” item is located in the “Applications” section. In Android 4.2 and higher, the developer menu is moved to the “Settings” section

Video instruction: how to enable USB debugging mode on Android

How to enable USB debugging mode if this cannot be done from the device

There are ways to enable debugging mode even if this cannot be done on the device itself due to, for example, a broken screen, a broken touchscreen, or problems with the device as a whole.

The main condition: your device must already have a third-party Recovery installed - CWM or TWRP. This is necessary to be able to get full root access to operating system.

After the reboot, you can work with your smartphone or tablet using QtADB, MyPhoneExplorer, ADB and other similar programs. That is, using USB debugging mode.

What to do if nothing works

To work with USB debugging, special ADB drivers are used (Android Debug Bridge, literally “bridge for Android debugging”), which can be downloaded from the Google website, official page located at: https://developer.android.com/studio/index.html. Let's figure out what to do if ADB does not detect the device, why it is impossible to use USB debugging mode.

Make sure mobile device detected by computer. To do this:

Check the USB cable for damage. Pay special attention to strong bends and sections of the cable near the plugs, where connecting wires often break. Try using a different cable to connect. If the problem really is due to physical defects, replace the cable.
Try plugging the plug into a different USB port on your computer. It is advisable to use the ports on the back side system unit, since the rear ports are located directly on motherboard. The front USB ports are not always connected correctly, which is what causes the problem.
Try connecting your Android device to another computer. Sometimes it happens that a particular PC incorrectly recognizes a smartphone or tablet and does not read the necessary data from it. If the device is recognized correctly on another computer, take your PC for repair and explain the problem, since the causes of problems may be different.
Try disconnecting all USB devices from your computer. Some of them may prevent your smartphone or tablet from connecting normally to your PC.

Make sure you are using the official firmware of the device manufacturer. If you have installed third-party firmware on your smartphone or tablet (such as CyanogenMod or similar), then USB debugging may not work correctly.

Make sure you have installed the correct ADB drivers. There are different versions of drivers for different devices. All of them are distributed by smartphone and tablet model on the official website. There are also universal ADB drivers, but it is better to use them only if there is no separate driver for your device, since universal drivers There may be connection issues that can only be resolved by contacting Google Support.

For developers software It’s better to use the system rather than separate ADB drivers Android Studio, which can also be downloaded from the official website: developer.android.com. In Android Studio, driver configuration occurs automatically, in addition, there is Android emulator for a computer, so USB debugging may not be necessary.

How to turn off USB debugging

To disable USB debugging mode on Android devices, open the Developer Menu and uncheck the Use USB Debugging option.

USB debugging mode - extremely useful tool not only for software developers, but also for ordinary users operating room Android systems. With its help, you can install and reinstall firmware on your mobile devices, move files from your smartphone or tablet to your computer, download to Android third party applications. The ability to use USB debugging mode is also useful in cases where the device has stopped working correctly, as it allows you to delve into system processes, which will help you find problems and malfunctions. In addition, USB debugging will help you gain root access to the device, which will significantly expand the capabilities of the operating system.

In this article we will figure out how to connect Android to a computer/laptop via USB as a flash drive and be able to transfer information without using a classic flash drive.

This article is suitable for all brands that produce phones on Android 9/8/7/6: Samsung, HTC, Lenovo, LG, Sony, ZTE, Huawei, Meizu, Fly, Alcatel, Xiaomi, Nokia and others. We are not responsible for your actions.

Before Android 4.4 KitKat, it was possible to connect via USB as a flash drive. The PC saw the device as removable disk and provided the same rights: the user could also perform other actions.

Then in new versions of Android USB mode was replaced by MTP, in which only the data transfer function remained, and the same formatting did not work.

Setting up a USB connection

To manage the connection to a computer via USB, you need. To do this, add to the settings Android section“For developers” (if it is not there):

Open settings.
Go to the "About phone" or "About device" section.
"Build number" or "MIUI version".
Press (click) on this item until you see a message that you have become a developer (usually 7-10 clicks are enough).

Increase

After the developer section appears in the settings, you can enable USB debugging. The item is called that way, so you just need to move the slider to the “On” position and confirm the resolution.

Increase

Now you can connect the device to your computer via USB and select the operating mode. IN latest versions Android most used are:

MTP - transfer any files from computer to phone and vice versa.
PTP - transfer of photos, as well as transfer of files not supported in MTP mode.
Charging only.

Connecting in USB storage mode

If you can't get used to using the media player, go back to using USB storage mode. For this you will need:

Installed program USB MASS STORAGE Enabler.

This method may cause damage system files. In this case, you will have to reflash Android.

To connect Android to your computer as a drive:

Launch USB MASS STORAGE Enabler.
Grant superuser rights and agree to change how Selinux works.
If the device is supported, the main application menu will open.
Click "Enable USB MASS STORAGE".

Increase

Now, when connected to a PC, the phone or tablet will appear as a drive. To connect in MTP or PTP mode, just restart the device. Once you're done with mass storage mode, go back into the app and disable USB MASS STORAGE.

The enabled debugging mode is primarily needed by developers to carry out the debugging procedure, checking the functionality and behavior of applications in different situations. But also ordinary users It's worth knowing what USB debugging mode is and where to enable it to transfer files to your computer, install an APK file, flash a device, or perform other actions.

Activating Debug Mode

First you should figure out how to enable USB debugging on Android device in a standard way. Usually this information is enough to activate debug mode.

IN to a greater extent this short guide is relevant for older Android versions(2.2 – 3.0). In versions 4.0 and higher there is no developer section by default, but you can quickly add one.

After receiving extended rights (do not confuse with root, these are different things), return to the settings. A “For Developers” section should appear there, where you can enable debugging by checking the appropriate box.

If for some reason USB debugging does not turn on on your phone (for example, the device is damaged and the touchscreen does not work), then you can activate this mode on your computer. For this you will need:

Mobile device.
Manager qtADB-cwm-edition.
Third version relational base SQLite.

Without custom Recovery nothing will work, since to perform the operation you need root access to the system. The procedure is complicated, but if you understand how to turn on the mode USB debugging on an Android device via a computer, you can get information from the smartphone even if it stops responding to user actions.

Now you need to edit the settings.db file, which is now located in the folder with the SQLite database. We will do this through the command line, which can be found in the Start menu. Launch the command line and run the following commands in sequence:

cd C:\Sqlite3_Windows.
sqlite3 settings.db.
update secure set value=1 where name=’adb_enabled’;.
.quit.

After entering each command, remember to press Enter to complete the prompt.
After running all the commands, return to the manager and move the modified settings.db file back to the /data/data/com.android.providers.settings/databases folder, overwriting the data. After rebooting, debugging mode will become available on the device.

Possible problems

If debugging does not work after turning it on, then first make sure that the mobile device is detected and correctly detected by the computer. Check USB cable and ports.

Problems with ADB work may also occur when using custom firmware on Android. The shortcoming can be eliminated only by flashing the device. In addition, ADB drivers are needed for the debugger to work. They can be universal or divided by phone model.

There are many ways to root your phone, but almost all of them require USB debugging to be enabled. There are also many other operations that require this option to be enabled. You can learn about what USB debugging is, why it is needed and how to enable it in this article.

So, what is this option for?

This function is necessary to check the operation of applications and services of the Android operating system. This service is called ADB. To check and configure applications, this service supports many utility functions that are not needed and even unnecessary in regular work smartphone, which is why this option is enabled separately.

So how do you enable USB debugging?

Although we have one operating system - Android, this option can be located in many different places, That's why let's describe them all so that you don't have any difficulties enabling this feature on any device.

We go along the path: Menu – Settings – Development – USB Debugging and check this item.
The item is located at: Menu – Settings – For Developers – USB Debugging – check this item.
We follow the path: Menu – Settings – Applications – USB Debugging – check this item.
Menu – Settings – More – Developer options – USB debugging – check the box next to this item.
The most likely option. We go along the path Menu - Settings - About device - look for the “Build number” item and press it several times until the message “Developer mode is enabled” appears. After that, we return to the settings and go to the For Developers item, where we actually check the “USB Debugging” checkbox.

Next steps

After enabling this option, you will have full control over the device from your computer. When you connect for the first time, after which a confirmation dialog appears on the gadget’s screen, you will be asked whether you trust the computer from which control will be performed or not. It is worth checking the box “Always allow debugging from this computer” so that in the future you do not bother yourself every time you connect the device to the computer. Now you have full access in the operating system, and you can perform any actions and enter any commands available within the ADB protocol.

What should you do if you followed everything according to the instructions, but the device is not detected by the computer?

First of all, you need to check whether the drivers are installed on your device and, if necessary, install or update them. Also, to avoid glitches, you should unlock the device and connect it only to the USB 2.0 interface, since some problems are possible with 3.0.
If you have done everything correctly, but communication with the computer is still not established, then you should change the method of connecting to the computer. To do this, you should reconnect the device from via USB cable, pull out the curtain and click on the item USB connection, and then select PTP mode. If even in this case nothing works out or you simply don’t have the courage USB hand cable, but there is a Wi-Fi network, then you can try to use it.

Connecting your device using Wi-Fi

First you need to get an IP address and the port of your gadget that is connected to Wi-Fi networks. This can be done using ADB programs Wireless, which is available completely free at Google Play. After launching this application, click on the red button, which will turn into green, and then the connection will begin. Below you can see some service information.

After that, on the computer, press the combination Start + R, in the window that appears, write cmd and press Enter. A window will appear command line, in which you will need to enter adb connect “Device IP address and connection port.” Now you can take full advantage of the ADB protocol.

A few more words about ADB

Adb is a console application for PC through which you can debug Android gadgets or emulators. It works according to the client-server scheme. On first startup, a system service is created that listens to commands that are sent to port 5037 (can be changed). ADB will allow you to:

Work with logs;
View the list of connected devices;
Copy files;
Install applications;
Work with the data section;
Work with different scripts;
Manage various hidden OS options.

ADB you can download along with the SDK kit, but if you are not a developer (which is most likely the case, because a developer would hardly read these lines), then you are better off downloading adb separately, because complete package weighs quite a lot.

In this article I will tell you how to enable USB debugging on your Android phone or tablet. At the end of the article we will figure out why this is needed.

Enable USB debugging on an Android phone

To enable USB debugging, you need to activate Android developer mode. following instructions:

In the “Settings” of your device, the “For Developers” section should be displayed. Let's move on to next stage.

Enable USB debugging like this:

Go to “Settings”, select “For Developers” (on some Chinese models phones indicate “Settings”, then “Advanced” and “For Developers”). At the top of the page we find the switch and move it to the “On” position.
In the “Debug” menu, activate “USB Debugging”.
In the “Allow USB Debugging” window, confirm that debugging is enabled.

Now debugging is enabled, and you can use it for the desired purposes.

Enable USB debugging from your computer

This method will be relevant when it is not possible to enable USB debugging on the device itself due to a broken touchscreen, non-functioning screen, or general problems with the device. It is important that a third-party Recovery - or CWM - is installed on the gadget. This is required to have root access to the OS.

Follow the steps:

After the reboot, you will be able to work with your device using QtADB, ADB, MyPhoneExplorer and other similar programs - i.e. in USB debugging mode. To disable USB debugging mode on Android gadgets, you need to open the “Developer Menu”, then uncheck the “Use USB debugging” line.

Possible problems

To work with gadget debugging via USB, special ADB drivers are used, which are available on the Google website at https://developer.android.com/studio/index.html. Let's look at the problems if ADB does not detect the device and you cannot use USB debugging mode.

We check that the gadget is detected by the computer:

Check the USB cable for damage. Attention should be paid to areas near the plugs, strong bends. Try using a different cable to connect. If the problem is a broken cable, replace it with another one.
Try plugging the plug into a different one on your PC. USB port.
Connect your Android gadget to another computer.
Disconnect everything from your PC USB devices. Some of them may prevent the gadget from connecting normally to the computer.
Check what is being used official firmware device manufacturer.

Make sure you have the correct ones installed ADB drivers. There are different versions drivers for various gadgets, which are distributed on the official website according to tablet and smartphone models.