This will guide you through the process of installing the Android Software Development Kit on your Windows computer.
What is the Android SDK?
The Android Software Development Kit (SDK or “devkit”) is a set of development tools that allows for the creation/programming of applications for the Android OS environment.
It provides an Application Programming Interface (API) in the form of some files to interface to the Operating System (OS), and provides debugging tools and other utilities. It also includes some sample code and supporting documentation beginners.
Why do I need it?
Even if you do not create applications for the Android OS, and have no intention to do so, the SDK will allow you to control your phone through the computer – thus allowing you to fix some problems that cannot be fixed from the phone itself (i.e. when phone is acting up).
How do I install it?
There is a very handy and detailed guide at Google, but I will outline and simplify the steps here:
- First, check that your system has the recommended requirements (should not even be a problem).
- Download the Android SDK ‘Starter Package’ (about 23 megabytes). This is the actual installer.
- Unzip the downloaded file into a safe location with lots of disk space (preferably 1 GB free). I suggest the root drive (C:\ or D:\) instead of the desktop, so that it is easy to find through the command line.
- Run the SDK_Setup.exe file in the extracted directory. If prompted to install the Java JDK, go to the Java Site and download and install the JDK.
- When the Android SDK and AVD Manager pops up, go to “Available Packages” and install all of them – better safe than sorry. This will be a long download. It will install all the USB drivers necessary for your computer to recognize your Android phone and talk to it.
The above steps will ensure that you installed the Android Debug Bridge (ADB). With it you can directly send commands to your phone and copy files to/from the device!
Congrats, you are now ready for some commands. Let’s test your device!