Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Accessing the device using adb
Once the environment setup is complete and the Android device is in
USB debugging
mode, connect the Android device with the correct USB cable to the forensic workstation
and start using adb.
Detecting connected devices
The following adb command provides a list of all the devices connected to the forensic
workstation. This would also list the emulator if it is running at the time of issuing the com-
mand. Also, remember that if necessary drivers are not installed, then the following com-
mand would show a blank message. If you encounter that situation, download the neces-
sary drivers from the manufacturer and install them.
C:\android-sdk\platform-tools>adb.exe devices
List of devices attached
4df16ac8115e5f06 device
Killing the local adb server
The following command kills the local adb service:
C:\android-sdk\platform-tools>adb.exe kill-server
After killing the local adb service, issue the adb devices command and observe that the
server is started, as shown in the following command lines:
C:\android-sdk\platform-tools>adb.exe devices
* daemon not running. starting it now on port 5037 *
* daemon started successfully *
List of devices attached
4df16ac8115e5f06 device
Accessing the adb shell
This command allows forensic examiners to access the shell on an Android device and in-
teract with the device. The following is the command to access the adb shell and execute a
basic
ls
command to see the contents of the current directory:
