Android Debug Bridge (adb) device - no permissions

I have a problem connecting HTC Wildfire A3333 in debugging mode with my Fedora Linux 17. Adb says:

./adb devices
List of devices attached 
????????????	no permissions

my udev rules (first rule for Samsung which works just fine and second for HTC which is not):

SUBSYSTEM=="usb",SYSFS{idVendor}=="04e8",SYMLINK+="android_adb",MODE="0666",GROUP="plugdev" 
SUBSYSTEM=="usb",SYSFS{idVendor}=="0bb4",SYMLINK+="android_adb",MODE="0666",GROUP="plugdev"

For Samsung devices everything's okay:

 ./adb devices
List of devices attached 
00198a9422618e	device

I have been trying all of the answers given in a simmilar thread wthout any luck: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/3947729/using-htc-wildfire-for-android-development

I just had this problem myself under Debian Wheezy. I restarted the adb daemon with sudo:

sudo ./adb kill-server
sudo ./adb start-server
sudo ./adb devices

Everything is working :)

The cause of that problem has to do with system permissions (thanks @ IsaacCisneros for this suggestion). Somehow HTC Wildfire (and maybe the others) need something more from the system than Samsung devices. Simple solution is to run Eclipse as a root, but this is not very comfortable with non-sudo Linux systems like Fedora.

I've found another way of achieving the same goal, which seems to be more user friendly and is lesser security hole then running entire IDE with super user privileges. Mind this is still only a workaround of the problem. System root usage should be minimalized only to administrative tasks, and “adb” was designed to work with normal user account without SUID. Despite of the fact that the proper setting of SUID is quite secure, every single permission increase is a potential system security hole.

1.Setting ownership of the adb binary (owner – root, owner group - user_group):

chown root:user_group adb

2.Setting permissions with SUID:

chmod 4550 adb

This should result something similar to this (ls -llh):

-r-sr-x---. 1 root user_name 1.2M Jan 8 11:42 adb

After that you will be able to run adb as a root, event though you'll be using your normal user account. You can run Eclipse as a normal user and your HTC should be discovered properly.

./adb devices 
List of devices attached 
HT0BPPY15230	device 

I have a similar problem:

$ adb devices
List of devices attached 
4df15d6e02a55f15	device
????????????	no permissions

Investigation

If I run lsusb, I can see which devices I have connected, and where:

$ lsusb
...
Bus 002 Device 050: ID 04e8:6860 Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd GT-I9100 Phone ...
Bus 002 Device 049: ID 18d1:4e42 Google Inc. 

This is showing my Samsung Galaxy S3 and my Nexus 7 (2012) connected.

Checking the permissions on those:

$ ls -l /dev/bus/usb/002/{049,050}
crw-rw-r--  1 root root    189, 176 Oct 10 10:09 /dev/bus/usb/002/049
crw-rw-r--+ 1 root plugdev 189, 177 Oct 10 10:12 /dev/bus/usb/002/050

Wait. What? Where did that "plugdev" group come from?

$ cd /lib/udev/rules.d/
$ grep -R "6860.*plugdev" .
./40-libgphoto2-2.rules:ATTRS{idVendor}=="0bb4", ATTRS{idProduct}=="6860", \
  ENV{ID_GPHOTO2}="1", ENV{GPHOTO2_DRIVER}="proprietary", \
  ENV{ID_MEDIA_PLAYER}="1", MODE="0664", GROUP="plugdev"
./40-libgphoto2-2.rules:ATTRS{idVendor}=="04e8", ATTRS{idProduct}=="6860", \
  ENV{ID_GPHOTO2}="1", ENV{GPHOTO2_DRIVER}="proprietary", \
  ENV{ID_MEDIA_PLAYER}="1", MODE="0664", GROUP="plugdev"

(I've wrapped those lines)

Note the GROUP="plugdev" lines. Also note that this doesn't work for the other device ID:

$ grep -Ri "4e42.*plugdev" .

(nothing is returned)

Fixing it

OK. So what's the fix?

Add a rule

Create a file /etc/udev/rules.d/99-adb.rules containing the following line:

ATTRS{idVendor}=="18d1", ATTRS{idProduct}=="4e42", ENV{ID_GPHOTO2}="1",
  ENV{GPHOTO2_DRIVER}="proprietary", ENV{ID_MEDIA_PLAYER}="1",
  MODE="0664", GROUP="plugdev"

This should be a single line, I've wrapped it here for readability

Restart udev

$ sudo udevadm control --reload-rules
$ sudo service udev restart

That's it

Unplug/replug your device.

Try it

$ adb devices
List of devices attached 
4df15d6e02a55f15	device
015d2109ce67fa0c	device

You udev rule seems wrong. I used this and it worked:

SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR{idVendor}=="0bb4", MODE="0666", GROUP="plugdev"

(ATTR instead of SYSFS)

under ubuntu 12.04, eclipse juno. I face the same issue. This what I found on Yi Yu Blog

The solution is same as same as Leon

sudo -s
adb kill-server
adb start-server
adb devices

Changing the USB Mode from phone did the trick for me. (I set it to File Transfer)

Stephan's answer works (using sudo adb kill-server), but it is temporary. It must be re-issued after every reboot.

For a permanent solution, the udev config must be modified:

Witrant's answer is the right idea (copied from the official Android documentation). But it's just a template. If that doesn't work for your device, you need to fill in the correct device ID for your device(s).

lsusb

Bus 001 Device 002: ID 05c6:9025 Qualcomm, Inc.
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 0e0f:0003 VMware, Inc. Virtual Mouse
...

Find your android device in the list.

Then use the first half of the ID (4 digits) for the idVendor (the last half is the idProduct, but it is not necessary to get adb working).

sudo vi /etc/udev/rules.d/51-android.rules and add one rule for each unique idVendor:

SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR{idVendor}=="05c6", MODE="0666", GROUP="plugdev"

It's that simple. You don't need all those other fields given in some of the answers. Save the file.

Then reboot. The change is permanent. (Roger shows a way to restart udev, if you don't want to reboot).

...the OP’s own answer is wrong in so far, that there are no “special system permissions”. – The “no permission” problem boils down to ... no permissions.

Unfortunately it is not easy to debug, because adb makes it a secret which device it tries to access! On Linux, it tries to open the “USB serial converter” device of the phone, which is e.g. /dev/bus/usb/001/115 (your bus number and device address will vary). This is sometimes linked and used from /dev/android_adb.

lsusb will help to find bus number and device address. Beware that the device address will change for sure if you re-plug, as might the bus number if the port gets confused about which speed to use (e.g. one physical port ends up on one logical bus or another).

An lsusb-line looks similar to this: Bus 001 Device 115: ID 4321:fedc bla bla bla

lsusb -v might help you to find the device if the “bla bla bla” is not hint enough (sometimes it does neither contain the manufacturer, nor the model of the phone).

Once you know the device, check with your own eyes that ls -a /dev/bus/usb/001/115 is really accessible for the user in question! Then check that it works with chmod and fix your udev setup.

PS1: /dev/android_adb can only point to one device, so make sure it does what you want.

PS2: Unrelated to this question, but less well known: adb has a fixed list of vendor ids it goes through. This list can be extended from ~/.android/adb_usb.ini, which should contain 0x4321 (if we follow my example lsusb line from above). – Not needed here, as you don’t even get a “no permissions” if the vendor id is not known.

I'll prepend this postscript here at the top so it won't get lost in my earlier explanation.

I can reliably produce and resolve the no-permissions problem by simply changing the USB connection type from Camera (PTP) to Media device (MTP). The camera mode allows debugging; the media mode causes the no-permissions response in ADB.

The reasoning seems pretty evident after reflecting on that for a moment. Unsecured content on the device would be made accessible by the debugger in media server mode.

===========

The device is unpermissioned until you accept the RSA encryption warning on the debugged device. At some point after connecting, the device will ask to accept the debugging connection. It's a minimal security protocol that ensures you can access the device beyond the initial swipe lock. Developer mode needs to be enabled, I believe.

The "no permissions" flag is actually a good first indicator that adb recognizes the device as a valid debugging target. Notice that it doesn't list your other USB devices.

Details at the following and related pages.

http://developer.android.com/tools/device.html

Same problem with Pipo S1S after upgrading to 4.2.2 stock rom Jun 4.

$ adb devices
List of devices attached  
????????????    no permissions

All of the above suggestions, while valid to get your usb device recognised, do not solve the problem for me. (Android Debug Bridge version 1.0.31 running on Mint 15.)

Updating android sdk tools etc resets ~/.android/adb_usb.ini.

To recognise Pipo VendorID 0x2207 do these steps

Add to line /etc/udev/rules.d/51-android.rules

SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR{idVendor}=="0x2207", MODE="0666", GROUP="plugdev"

Add line to ~/.android/adb_usb.ini:

0x2207

Then remove the adbkey files

rm -f ~/.android/adbkey ~/.android/adbkey.pub

and reconnect your device to rebuild the key files with a correct adb connection. Some devices will ask to re-authorize.

sudo adb kill-server
sudo adb start-server   
adb devices

Had the same issue. It was a problem with udev rules. Tried a few of the rules mentioned above but didnot fix the issue. Found a set of rules here, https://github.com/M0Rf30/android-udev-rules. Followed the guide there and, voila, fixed.

I encountered the same problem today.

I followed the official instructions, but I didn't noticed that I SHOULD run command
"chmod a+r /etc/udev/rules.d/51-android.rules"

After I set this file to world readable and re-plug my usb cable，the status became unauthorized. Then just grant the permission and everything goes fine.

I agree with Robert Siemer and Michaël Witrant. If it's not working, try to debug with strace

strace adb devices

In my case it helps to kill all instances and remove socket file /tmp/ADB_PORT (the default is /tmp/5037).

Another possible source of this issue is USB tethering. If you have used USB tethering, turn it off, then unplug the device from USB, plug it back in, then do

adb kill-server
adb devices

That did the trick in my case (Ubuntu 12.04, Nexus S, SDK in home dir, never needed root to get it running). Depending on your device, you may need to run adb devices as root, though.

Try "android update adb" command. It helps me with samsung galaxy gear.

The output of ls -al /usr/bin/adb should show that it is owned by user root and group root. You can use Linux ACL (Access Control Lists) to give your local user permissions for adb as follows:

setfacl -m "u:userName:rwx" /usr/bin/adb

This is preferable to setting the SUID bit on /usr/bin/adb and also limits the users who can use adb to userName and root.

The answer is weaved amongst the various posts here, I'll so my best, but it looks like a really simple and obvious reason.

1. is that there usually is a "user" variable in the udev rule some thing like USER="your_user" probably right after the GROUP="plugdev"

2. You need to use the correct SYSFS{idVendor}==”####″ and SYSFS{idProduct}=="####" values for your device/s. If you have devices from more than one manufacture, say like one from Samsung and one from HTC, then you need to have an entry(rule) for each vendor, not an entry for each device but for each different vendor you will use, so you need an entry for HTC and Samsung. It looks like you have your entry for Samsung now you need another. Remember the USER="your_user". Use 'lsusb' like Robert Seimer suggests to find the idVendor and idProduct, they are usually some numbers and letters in this format X#X#:#X#X I think the first one is the idVendor and the second idProduct but your going to need to do this for each brand of phone/tablet you have.

3. I havent figured out how 51-adb.rules and 99-adb.rules are different or why.

4. maybe try adding "plugdev" group to your user with "usermod -a -G plugdev your_user", Try that at your own risk, though I don't thinks it anyriskier than launching a gui as root but I believe if necessary you should at least use "gksudo eclipse" instead.

I hope that helped clearify some things, the udev rules syntax is a bit of a mystery to me aswell, but from what I hear it can be different for different systems so try some things out, one ate a time, and note what change works.

1. Close running adb, could be closing running android-studio.

2. list devices,

/usr/local/android-studio/sdk/platform-tools/adb devices

On THL W100 running the device as root (as described above) worked only together with tethering enabled (I used AirDroid for that).

I had the same situation where three devices connected to one same host but only one had 'no permissions' others were online.

Adding SUID or SGID on adb was another issue for me. Devices seen offline every time adb restarts - until you acknowledge on the devices every time.

I solved this 'no permissions' issue by adding 'o+w' permission for a device file.

> chmod o+w /dev/bus/usb/00n/xxx