Android Device Monitor File Explorer not working with emulator running API 24+

Question

So, just as question states. Android device monitor is not showing anything in the File Explorer view. This is only occuring on Virtual Devices running Android API Level 24

Answer 1

A workaround using the adb command line tool:

root@mypc ~ $ adb kill-server
root@mypc ~ $ adb start-server
root@mypc ~ $ adb root

Now you can browse through the file system using the linux ls command:

root@mypc ~ $ adb shell ls -all /
total 3688
drwxr-xr-x  15 root   root         0 2017-04-21 11:11 .
drwxr-xr-x  15 root   root         0 2017-04-21 11:11 ..
drwxr-xr-x  29 root   root         0 2017-04-21 11:11 acct
drwxrwx---   6 system cache     4096 2017-01-06 12:11 cache
lrwxrwxrwx   1 root   root        13 1970-01-01 01:00 charger -> /sbin/healthd
...
-rw-r--r--   1 root   root      4853 1970-01-01 01:00 ueventd.rc
lrwxrwxrwx   1 root   root        14 1970-01-01 01:00 vendor -> /system/vendor

Answer 2

I had this problem with Api 27 (Oreo). I tried to create emulator with Lollipop but same as with Oreo. Device monitor was empty.

After restarting computer everything was normal. This is solution for many problems that comes with Android Studio. First check this, than everything else.

Answer 3

Till Android Lollypop emulators, we can access the file explorer folders. If the emulator is created with marshmallow or higher, we cant access the file explorer. May be this is bug from API level 24+.

Answer 4

This is bug in Android Device Monitor and has been reported to google.

According to Post this thread will be updated when the patch is released.

Answer 5

Its an alternative way.

Create a bat file configure the APP_NAME, Example (com.example.com)

DESTINATION_FOLDER (myProjectFiles)

cd "C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Local\Android\sdk\platform-tools\"
adb shell run-as APP_NAME rm -R /sdcard/DESTINATION_FOLDER
adb shell run-as APP_NAME cp -R cache/ /sdcard/DESTINATION_FOLDER
rmdir C:\Users\USERNAME\Documents\DESTINATION_FOLDER /s /q
adb pull /sdcard/DESTINATION_FOLDER C:\Users\USERNAME\Documents\
timeout 5

After Configuring your bat file run it by double clicking . it will do the rest