How to use adb command to push a file on device without sd card

Question

How to push a file from computer to an Android device having no SD Card in it. I tried:

C:\anand>adb push anand.jpg /data/local
3399 KB/s (111387 bytes in 0.032s)

C:\anand>adb push anand.jpg /data/opt
3199 KB/s (111387 bytes in 0.034s)

C:\anand>adb push anand.jpg /data/tmp
3884 KB/s (111387 bytes in 0.028s)

Above commands to move a file anand.jpg to a device but I didn't get this jpg file in the device. I didn't get any success result on cmd prompt, I only got:

3399 KB/s (111387 bytes in 0.032s).

Try `adb shell "cd /data/local && mkdir tmp"` then `adb push anand.jpg /data/local/tmp`. How do you check for the file on the device, with `adb shell`? — , Dec 30 '13 at 06:15
@RC i am using ls command to check the files. i got it atleast on the DDMS view on emulator.but still i didnt get it on the device. when i am trying "adb push" command it shows device not found for real device. but adb devices is showing the device. — Nikhil Kumar, Dec 30 '13 at 11:41
I would stop the emulator, unplug the device, then after ensuring device is in debug mode, plug the device and retry — , Dec 30 '13 at 12:10
This question appears to be off-topic because it is not about programming. See [What topics can I ask about here](http://stackoverflow.com/help/on-topic) in the Help Center. Perhaps [Android Enthusiasts Stack Exchange](http://android.stackexchange.com/) would be a better place to ask. — jww, Oct 14 '14 at 21:11
RC's suggestion worked in this variation for me: `adb shell "cd /sdcard && mkdir temp"` then `abd push x.apk /sdcard/temp"` I ended up with my file in the temp folder on my sdcard, and was able to flash from there. — Kajetan Abt, Feb 26 '15 at 13:18
I was having trouble and it turned out I was using wildcards in my local path. Apparently those aren't supported! — Matt Chambers, Nov 09 '17 at 00:36

score 195 · Accepted Answer · edited Mar 02 '23 at 17:21

195

From Ubuntu/Mac Terminal, the below command should work.

./adb push '/home/hardik.trivedi/Downloads/one.jpg' '/data/local/'

For adb v33 and above if you are getting a permission denied error, try what I tried. The following command and it works fine. The only caveat is you might need to use tmp directory on such an emulator.

adb shell #Entering into shell
su #Super user mode
chmod 777 /data/local/tmp/ #Grantint RWX access
exit
chmod 777 /data/local/tmp/ #Grantint RWX access
exit

And then try

./adb push '/home/hardik.trivedi/Downloads/one.jpg' '/data/local/tmp/'

edited Mar 02 '23 at 17:21

Benjamin Loison

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answered Dec 30 '13 at 06:42

Hardik Trivedi

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I am working on windows cmd prompt can u plz tell me in windows how to do it. – Nikhil Kumar Dec 30 '13 at 07:56
just remove './' and use simple adb or adb.exe. Make sure you are in platform-tools folder if you haven't set path for android. – Hardik Trivedi Dec 30 '13 at 08:51
i have set platform-tools in the path variable. one more thing the above push command we can run in cmd from any root/folder or from the location of JPG file. – Nikhil Kumar Dec 30 '13 at 10:01
To avoid all confusion, go to platform-tools folder and the execute this command. Also provide absolute path of your image which is stored in any of your drive. Avoid spaces between file names and folder other wise insert escape character before space. Moreover why are you not using DDMS of eclipse to push the file. – Hardik Trivedi Dec 30 '13 at 10:03
thanks HARDIK. i got it atleast on the DDMS view on emulator.. but still i didnt get it on the device. when i am trying "adb push" command it shows device not found for real device. – Nikhil Kumar Dec 30 '13 at 11:21
3

Can we do this without rooting the phone? – Jacob Jan 10 '15 at 20:54
2

@HardikTrivedi: Are you saying that rooting is needed to use adb push in general, or for this particular file destination? I'm using adb push to write a file on the Android device's SD card on a non-rooted device. – RenniePet Feb 24 '15 at 23:56
3

To push command works for non rooted phone also, only /data folder is requires rooted user. – Hardik Trivedi Feb 25 '15 at 04:44
In Windows, be in the folder that contains adb.exe (unless you've included that in your PATH) and try: `adb "C:\path\to\file.jpg" /data/local/` That's how I pushed a zip to recovery recently. – armadadrive Jul 22 '18 at 22:51
For me, my data started in `/storage/emulated/0/`, that's where all my `Movies/` and `Pictures/` folders were. – Boris Verkhovskiy Apr 16 '21 at 00:21
1

For adb v33 and a Google store image this no longer works. – Simon Featherstone Dec 13 '22 at 14:18
@SimonFeatherstone Hey bud!, I have updated my answer. I hope it works for you. Thanks for reporting :) – Hardik Trivedi Dec 13 '22 at 17:26
@HardikTrivedi ended up with a more complicated answer here https://stackoverflow.com/a/74788524/113012 – Simon Featherstone Dec 13 '22 at 19:39

score 55 · Answer 2 · edited Mar 02 '23 at 17:23

I did it using the push command, which has syntax:

adb push filename.extension /sdcard/0/

Example of copying directory, and sub-directory content:

adb push C:\my-location\data\. /storage/emulated/0/Android/data

Note that push did just hang in latest platform-tools (33.0.1, at time of writing) for a certain amount of files, beside the adb.exe suddenly taking 5MB+ instead of 1.5MB, hence I just did replace the adb.exe with one I had from 28.0.0 version of platform-tools (I did not downgrade the entire platform-tools, because adb.exe is kind of stand-alone).

I don't say there is any conspiracy around data folder,

But my Samsung device puts limits on my USB file transfer, beside Android v11+ not allowing access to data folder anymore, hence I needed above command to work with 100% speed (without hanging one hour for little more files).

just moved an mp3 file from mac osX to an android 5.0 device and I had to write the name of the file to be on the device, i.e. "adb push /file.mp3 /sdcard/fileOrOtherFileName.mp3 " — DoruChidean, Nov 18 '15 at 13:25

SML · Answer 3 · 2018-04-02T09:23:08.863

Follow these steps :

go to Android Sdk then 'platform-tools' path on your Terminal or Console

(on mac, default path is : /Users/USERNAME/Library/Android/sdk/platform-tools)

To check the SDCards(External and Internal) installed on your device fire these commands :

1) ./adb shell (hit return/enter)
2) cd -(hit return/enter)

now you will see the list of Directories and files from your android device there you may find /sdcard as well as /storage

3) cd /storage (hit return/enter)
4) ls (hit return/enter)

you may see sdcard0 (generally sdcard0 is internal storage) and sdcard1 (if External SDCard is present)

5) exit (hit return/enter)

to come out of adb shell

6) ./adb push '/Users/SML/Documents/filename.zip' /storage/sdcard0/path_to_store/ (hit return/enter)

to copy file

score 12 · Answer 4 · edited Mar 02 '23 at 17:23

12

run below command firstly

adb root
adb remount

Then execute what you input previously

C:\anand>adb push anand.jpg /data/local
C:\anand>adb push anand.jpg /data/opt
C:\anand>adb push anand.jpg /data/tmp

edited Mar 02 '23 at 17:23

Benjamin Loison

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answered Mar 18 '15 at 05:49

Rocky Chen

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score 11 · Answer 5 · answered Apr 10 '15 at 08:15

11

Sometimes you need the extension,

adb push file.zip /sdcard/file.zip

answered Apr 10 '15 at 08:15

Jonas Borggren

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I have LG Nexus 5 and you can't put external sdcard in it but a part of the internal memory behaves like it was an sdcard In this case sdcard is just a directory at the root level You can check it with calling 'adb shell' When you are in the shell call 'ls' for directory listing – cstuncsik Jul 08 '16 at 19:05

score 10 · Answer 6 · answered Apr 12 '19 at 06:03

10

Try this to push in Internal storage.

adb push my-file.apk ./storage/emulated/0/

Works in One plus device, without SD card.

answered Apr 12 '19 at 06:03

Naitik Soni

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works on samsung – Edmore M Gonese Digolodollarz Nov 17 '21 at 08:30

score 10 · Answer 7 · answered Mar 10 '21 at 06:54

After Trying all the answers this worked for me

Where I am Pushing a file on Desktop to Android Device (Redmi K20 pro) connected Over the air using adb.

This command pushes the file to the downloads folder on my phone

adb push ~/Desktop/notifications.drawio ./storage/emulated/0/Download

after running this if you get a permission denied error

try running these commands in order (which basically changes the directory permission)

adb shell

chmod 777 /data/local/tmp

exit

and then run try the adb push command

I have documented this here feel free to share your views and help improve it.

score 5 · Answer 8 · edited Nov 27 '16 at 10:59

My solution (example with a random mp4 video file):

Set a file to device:

adb push /home/myuser/myVideoFile.mp4 /storage/emulated/legacy/

Get a file from device:

adb pull /storage/emulated/legacy/myVideoFile.mp4

For retrieve the path in the code:

String myFilePath = Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory().getAbsolutePath() + "/myVideoFile.mp4";

This is all. This solution doesn't give permission problems and it works fine.

Last point: I wanted to change the video metadata information. If you want to write into your device you should change the permission in the AndroidManifest.xml. Add this line:

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" />

score 4 · Answer 9 · answered Jan 03 '14 at 20:12

4

I've got a Nexus 4, that is without external storage. However Android thinks to have one because it mount a separated partition called "storage", mounted in "/storage/emulated/legacy", so try pushing there: adb push anand.jpg /storage/emulated/legacy

answered Jan 03 '14 at 20:12

Maik93

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For my nexus 4 **/sdcard.file.zip** worked like a charm. – sud007 Dec 15 '15 at 06:42

score 4 · Answer 10 · answered Mar 30 '18 at 12:00

As there are different paths for different versions. Here is a generic solution:

Find the path...

Enter adb shell in command line.
Then ls and Enter.

Now you'll see the files and directories of Android device. Now with combination of ls and cd dirName find the path to the Internal or External storage.

In the root directory, the directories names will be like mnt, sdcard, emulator0, etc

Example: adb push file.txt mnt/sdcard/myDir/Projects/

score 1 · Answer 11 · answered Jul 20 '20 at 14:33

1

This might be the best answer you'll may read. Setup Android Studio Then just go to view & Open Device Explorer. Right-click on the folder & just upload a file.

answered Jul 20 '20 at 14:33

Rushabh Gedam

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score 1 · Answer 12 · edited Feb 04 '21 at 07:54

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In Mac: To push files via adb

adb push /Users/Downloads⁩/amazon.sdktester.json '/mnt/sdcard/amazon.sdktester.json'

edited Feb 04 '21 at 07:54

Zsolt Meszaros

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answered Feb 04 '21 at 07:31

Abhishek Dongle

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score 0 · Answer 13 · answered Apr 21 '14 at 00:02

You are trying to write to system folders. With ADB you have root (admin) access so you see the system folders of which sdcard is one of them so to send a picture you could use

D:\Program Files\Android\sdk\platform-tools\adb push am files\android sdk\adb.exe push C:\Downloads\anand.jpg /sdcard/pictures/

NB: C:\Downloads\anand.jpg replace with path and name to picture..

score 0 · Answer 14 · answered Jul 22 '16 at 20:33

0

Certain versions of android do not fire proper tasks for updating the state of file system. You could trigger an explicit intent for updating the status of the file system. (I just tested after being in the same OP's situation)

adb shell am broadcast -a android.intent.action.MEDIA_MOUNTED -d file:///

(You could pass a specific filepath instead of file:/// like file:///sdcard )

answered Jul 22 '16 at 20:33

solver

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I'd like to add specify something. I've been using this command for a while now but in a bit different format. `adb -s $device shell am broadcast -W android.intent.action.MEDIA_SEARCH`. The `-s $device` is needed if you have more than one attached device. – Dmytro Bondarenko Aug 22 '21 at 08:59

score 0 · Answer 15 · answered Oct 29 '17 at 20:20

0

In my case, I had an already removed SDCard still registered in Android. So I longpressed the entry for my old SDCard under:

Settings | Storage & USB

and selected "Forget".

Afterwards a normal

adb push myfile.zip /sdcard/

worked fine.

answered Oct 29 '17 at 20:20

Dirk

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score 0 · Answer 16 · answered Jan 10 '23 at 13:58

0

To push all the files at your directory to the Android device use:

PS D:\myFiles> adb push . '/data/local/tmp/'

answered Jan 10 '23 at 13:58

Hasan A Yousef

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score 0 · Answer 17 · answered May 01 '23 at 21:27

Accoding to Android Developers, the following command is suggested.

adb push myfile.txt /sdcard/myfile.txt

Using /sdcard as the remote path also worked in Redmi Note 10 Pro.

If the adb push fails, try switching remote to one of the following paths.

/data/local
/data/local/tmp
/data/opt
/data/tmp
/mnt/sdcard
/sdcard
/sdcard/0
/storage/emulated/0
/storage/sdcard0

How to use adb command to push a file on device without sd card

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