Running vi in adb under Windows

Question

Very occasionally, I will want to edit a file, say /system/build.prop or /etc/hosts on my Android device. I find that the easiest way to do it is:

c:\> adb shell
$ su
# vi /etc/hosts

This works fine if I'm using Linux. However, attempting to run vi on my phone when using Windows results in a borked vi screen with strange characters. I'm assuming this is because cmd doesn't support ANSI control characters.

Is there any way to fix this (e.g., a cmd alternative that does the job)?

Answer 1

This is a late answer to your question in 2012. I found that if I run Windows PowerShell, I can do "vi" under the adb shell.

Launch PowerShell (use your Android SDK location, not mine)

PS C:\Users\Me> cd Downloads\Android\Sdk\Platform-Tools
PS C:\Users\Me\Downloads\Android\Sdk\Platform-Tools> .\adb shell
root@vbox86p:/ # cd data/data/com.mycorporation.myproj/shared_prefs
root@vbox86p:/data/data/com.mycorporation.myproj/shared_prefs # vi log_prefs

I only used simple vi commands like 'o', 'esc', and ':wq', but it worked well using the full screen (none of the garbage you would see in the Windows Command Prompt).

Answer 2

You can do it with PuTTYTray. It's an improved version of PuTTY which features a number of additional features. One of such feature is Android adb support. To use it:

• Select Adb as Connection type
• Enter -d (for single usb device) or device serial number in the host field
• ???
• PROFIT!!!

Answer 3

I've never had your exact problem, but it seems like Cygwin would be a good bet.