You know you can control your mobile and computer to do certain operations without even touching it? That's possible thanks to the ADB and FastBoot tools. Basically there are two programs that allow sending commands to the mobile device from the PC through textual commands are written from the latter. With these tools you can do things like get root on mobile, flash or install applications that would otherwise not be possible, and many other things that are not possible with phone in hand (of course, there are many commands that allow the also ordinary things, through these programs). If you want to go direct, fast and easy installation of both (without installing the full SDK) you can skip to the third paragraph.
What is ADB or Android Debug Bridge
The ADB is basically a software or computer program through which you can give special mobile orders using text commands. These commands include basic commands used in Linux system (copy, paste, move, are examples) as well as a variety of specific commands for developers. These commands can be sent to your phone when it is on / started, and when in recovery mode. The ADB tool can be used to send commands to devices without root.
What is FastBoot
This is another program which, in turn, serves to modify Android device software (firmware). The FastBoot to send commands to the bootloader of the device (the bootloader is an independent operating system software, to prepare everything that Android needs to start). In other words, this means that, thanks to FastBoot can be installed (flash) on mobile a custom recovery or bootloader unlock a mobile (useful in case of a Nexus device, for example). NO you can install or flash ROMs complete with this tool.
FastBoot is disabled for all devices so you should check if your phone supports Fastboot.
Both utilities are available in the Android SDK installation package (the complete package of tools for developers) but this package can weigh more than 400MB. The installer offered here (Minimal ADB & FastBoot Installer) containing the ADB and FastBoot only weighs 2 MB. With these two utilities will suffice if you want to root your phone, flash or install any package or recovery on your phone. No need to install any SDK for these tasks.
Install ADB and FastBoot in Windows
Download the executable file (.exe) by clicking here.
Usually installed according to instructions.
After the window through which you can send commands to your phone open.
Alternatively there is this option (the installation of this option is based on typing Y to install or not to install N).
Install ADB and Mac OS X FastBoot
Download ZIP file.
Extract the ZIP file and put it in a folder on the desktop named Android.
Open a new terminal window.
Enter the following: cd / Desktop / Android
Enter this too: ./ADB-Install-Mac.sh
Install ADB and FastBoot in Linux
If you do NOT have Ubuntu, run the following command in a terminal window to install the necessary repositories.
sudo add-apt-repository ppa: phablet-team / tools && sudo apt-get update
Then run this command
sudo apt-get install android-tools-android-tools adb-fastboot
If you have Ubuntu installed, you should only run the second command as indicated, this distribution already comes with the necessary repositories.
Send commands with Minimal ADB & Fastboot
Before sending commands with this tool you need to do the following:
If you are a Windows PC, have installed the ADB mobile drivers.
Having option enabled USB debugging on your Android. This is done in Settings> Developer options.
Having the phone connected to the PC with the USB cable.
There it is. If you just need the ADB and FastBoot on your PC, no need to install the full SDK: this minimum Installer you can have it quickly on your computer.