Navigation in device via ADB

Question

Novice question really- is there a way to navigate and view all of the directories/files on a android device via the ADB? I can successfully run the ADB but I'm struggling with navigating in the device. I'm looking for commands similar to dir or cd in the normal cmd, because they don't seem to work. Thanks in advance for any assistance.

Answer 1

If you type adb you will see all available commands.

For example, to open a shell of the only device connected via USB you can type:

adb -d shell

In that shell you can navigate on your device, BUT not with Windows commands of course, you will have to use Unix commands (dir would be ls for example). For a list of all available shell-commands type ls /system/bin from within your shell, or adb shell ls /system/bin in your windows terminal.

In order to download files from your device you can use adb pull in your normal cmd terminal, for uploading adb push.

If you get "permission denied" errors look here. Keep in mind though that some folders are not accessible for security reasons. You would have to root your phone to access those.