Chrome's remote debugging (USB debugging) not working for Samsung Galaxy S3 running android 4.3

Question

Ever since I upgraded my Samsung Galaxy S3 to android 4.3 (from 4.1.2) I am unable to use Chrome's remote debugging for android (more details here).

I have the developer options and USB debugging enabled on my phone, and this worked perfectly fine on android 4.1.2. Now, when I connect my phone to my PC, it simply connects as a media storage device and is not discovered as a USB device by chrome.

I am ruling out any problems with chrome as I could USB debug with a Google Nexus4, also, looking at some other thread (here and elsewhere) it seems to be a problem with Samsung's 4.3 upgrade.

Any pointers to get this working?

Answer 1

My devices stopped working as Chrome de-activated the now depracated ADB plugin as it's built in dev-tools now.

I downloaded the SDK and followed the instructions at Chrome Developers. How ever I found the instructions served by Alphonso out not to be sufficient and I did it this way on Windows 8:

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1. Download Android SDK here ("SDK Tools Only" section) and unzip the content.
2. Run SDK Manager.exe and install Android SDK platform tools
3. Open up the Command prompt (simply by pressing the windows button and type in cmd.exe)
4. Enter the path with ex: cd c:/downloads/sdk/platform-tools
5. Open ADB by typing in adb.exe
6. Run the following command by typing it and pressing enter: adb devices
7. Check if you get the prompt on your device, if you still can't see your phone in Inspect Devices run the following commands one by one (excluding the ") "adb kill-server" "adb start-server" "adb devices"

I had major problems and managed to get it working with these steps. If you still have problems, google the guide Remote Debugging on Android with Chrome and check for the part about drivers. I had problems with my Samsung Galaxy Nexus that needed special drivers to be compatiable with ADB.

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Update

If you are using Windows 10 and couldn't find the link to download Android SDK; you may skip #1 and #2. All you need is activate "Android Debug Bridge". Go straight to #3 - #7 after download and execute "platform-tools"(https://developer.android.com/studio/releases/platform-tools.html)

Answer 2

Having attempted to follow Valros.nu's answer, i discovered that the sdk download is now bundeled with androind studio, in an 840MB exe installer.

As all you need for this particular program is the adb program, you can get this in a standalone installer from the xda guys:

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2317790

Note that you do not need to type adb.exe, simply type adb devices into the command prompt that is launched after install.

Also, i had to unplug and replug in my samsung s4 to get the remote debugging prompt to appear on the phone

Answer 3

After looking around a little longer I came across this. Apparently, there isn't a solution to this issue yet, but there is a workaround - going back to the legacy workflow.

The legacy workflow did work for me, and the only additional thing I had to do was to go to the platform-tools folder from android SDK download, open a command window here and run command "adb devices". This caused the computer RSA key fingerprint panel to pop on my mobile screen, and after granting permission, the device showed up under Chrome's Inspect page.

Turns out that it was not an issue caused by mobile OS upgrade but by Chrome (I was thrown off by the fact that it worked on my Nexus4 somehow). In the older versions of Chrome there was't a need to download the 500 odd mb Android SDK, as it supported an ADB plugin. But with latest version of Chrome, I guess, going legacy is the only way to go.

Answer 4

I have Samsung Galaxy S3 and it was not showing in the "Remote devices" tab nor in chrome://inspect. The device did show in Windows's Device Manager as GT-I9300, though. What worked for me was:

1. Plug the mobile phone to the front USB port
2. On my phone, click the notification about successful connection
3. Make sure the connection type is Camera (PTP)
4. On my Windows machine, download installer from https://github.com/koush/UniversalAdbDriver
5. Run it :)
6. Open cmd.exe
7. cd "C:\Program Files (x86)\ClockworkMod\Universal Adb Driver"
8. adb devices
9. Open Chrome in both mobile phone and Windows machine
10. On Windows's machine navigate to chrome://inspect - there, after a while you should see the target phone :)

I'm not sure if it affected the whole flow somehow, but at some point I've installed, and later uninstalled the drivers from Samsung: http://www.samsung.com/us/support/downloads/ > Mobile > Phones > Galaxy S > S III > Unlocked > http://www.samsung.com/us/support/owners/product/galaxy-s-iii-unlocked#downloads

Answer 5

For me the solution was to download the Android SDK and launch adb devices which started the adb daemon.

Answer 6

I know this is an older question, but I thought I would also post my solution:

• Update your Chrome on your phone and on your PC.
• Even if it says you have the latest driver for your device inside Device Manager, you may need an alternative. Google latest Samsung drivers and try updating your drivers.

Answer 7

For me, the menu item Inspect Devices wasn't available (not shown at all). But, simply browsing to chrome://inspect/#devices showed me my device and I was able to use the port forward etc. I have no idea why the menu item is not displayed.

Phone: Android Galaxy S4

OS: Mac OS X

Answer 8

I had success after using ade.exe as explained above, plus using the latest version of Chrome Canary. Apparently your desktop version of Chrome has to be higher than the version running on your Android device.

Answer 9

In case it helps anyone I will post what worked for me.

I had to plug my S3 into a direct USB port of my PC for it to prompt me to accept the RSA signature. I had my S3 plugged into a hub before then.

Now the S3 is detected when using both the direct USB port of the PC and via the hub.

NOTE - You may need to also run adb devices from the command line to get your S3 to re-request permission.

D:\apps\android-sdk-windows\platform-tools>adb devices
List of devices attached
* daemon not running. starting it now on port 5037 *
* daemon started successfully *
9283759342847566        unauthorized

...accept signature on phone...

D:\apps\android-sdk-windows\platform-tools>adb devices
List of devices attached
9283759342847566        device

Answer 10

Those who updated their device to Android 4.2 Jelly Bean or higher or having a 4.2 JB or higher android powered device, will not found the Developers Options in Settings menu. The Developers Options hide by default on 4.2 jelly bean and later android versions. Follow the below steps to Unhide Developers Options.

1. Go to Settings>>About (On most Android Smartphone and tablet) OR

Go to Settings>> More/General tab>> About (On Samsung Galaxy S3, Galaxy S4, Galaxy Note 8.0, Galaxy Tab 3 and other galaxy Smartphone and tablet having Android 4.2/4.3 Jelly Bean) OR

Go to Settings>> General>> About (On Samsung Galaxy Note 2, Galaxy Note 3 and some other Galaxy devices having Android 4.3 Jelly Bean or 4.4 KitKat) OR

Go to Settings> About> Software Information> More (On HTC One or other HTC devices having Android 4.2 Jelly Bean or higher) 2. Now Scroll onto Build Number and tap it 7 times repeatedly. A message will appear saying that u are now a developer.

1. Just return to the previous menu to see developer option.

Credit to www.androidofficer.com