[android] Android studio doesn't list my phone under "Choose Device"

Just starting out with Android development; have a Nexus 5 bought in Japan, but with English version of android (presumably shouldn't matter). I installed Android Studio on Windows 8.1 to try making an app, but now I don't see my phone under "Choose Device". I've enabled developer mode and selected 'USB debugging'. Is there something else I need to do to get Android Studio to see my connected device?

Choose Device dialog

This question is related to android android-studio

The answer is


French screenshot

I hope it will help, it did the trick for me, first, after connected my device to the computer I switch the paramater above to "camera device (PTP)"; then, I install PdaNet on my computer, finally all the usb driver were installed, and it works.
My smartphone is a samsung GS2, Android 4.4.2.



I had the same issue and couldn't get my Nexus 6P to show up as an available device until I changed the connection type from "Charging" to "Photo Transfer(PTP)" and installed the Google USB driver while in PTP mode. Installing the driver prior to that while in Charging mode yielded no results.


I face Same problem. In my case i solved this by following some steps.

  1. click attached debugger to android process (It located In android tools inside run button)

  2. if see adb not responding error dialog. then click restart of dialogue button.

  3. Now you can see which device is connected. now close this window.

  4. again press run button. Now you find your targeted device or emulator which is connected.

Hopefully it helps you.


Though the answer is accepted, but I'm going to answer it anyway.

From the points perspective, it might seem that it's a lot of work. But it's very simple. And Up un till now it has worked on all the devices I have tried with.

At first download the universal ADB driver. Then follow the process below:

  1. Install the Universal ADB driver.
  2. Then go to the control panel.
  3. Select Device and Printers.
  4. Then find your device and right click on it.
  5. Probably you will see a yellow exclamation mark. Which means the device doesn't have the correct driver installed.
  6. Next, select the properties of the device. Then-

    • Select hardware tab, and again select properties.
    • Then under general tab select Change Settings.
    • Then under the Driver tab, select update driver.
    • Then select Browse my computer for driver software.
    • Then select Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer.
    • Here you will see the list of devices. Select Android devices. Which will show you all the available drivers.
    • Under the model section, you can see a lot of drivers available.
    • You can select your preferred one.
    • Most of the cases the generic ANDROID ADB INTERFACE will do the trick.
    • When you try to install it, it might give you a warning but go ahead and install the driver.
    • And it's done.

Then re-run your app from the android studio. And it will show your device under Choose Device. Cheers!


This is an old question but here is my solution to the exact problem if you want to use the USB driver you got from the SDK manager, seeing that the documentation @MeowMeow linked is not too current:

  1. Open "Device Manager" on Windows
  2. Find your device, mine was listed under Android Device > Android ADB Interface (I have an unbranded android device, yours might be different)
  3. Right click on your device and select "Update Driver Software"
  4. Select "Browse my computer for driver software"
  5. Select "Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer"
  6. There will be a "Have Disk" button below your available Drivers, Click on it.
  7. On the "Install from disk" Dialog, browse to your path_to_sdk/extras/google/usb_driver folder. There should be a file named "android_winusb.inf", select it and click "Open" and select "Ok"
  8. You should now have a new Android ADB Interface'Model' by Google inc.
  9. Click "Next" and agree to everything till you are done..

Simple...no need for extra software, but you will need to have installed the USB driver from the SDK manager (like the guy who asked the question) before following these steps.

As a side note, I am running win 8..the steps might differ for you :)


In my case, android studio selectively doesnt recognize my device for projects with COMPILE AND TARGET SDKVERSION 29 under the app level build.gradle.

I fixed this either by downloading 'sources for android 29' which comes up after clicking the 'show package details' under the sdk manager tab or by reducing the compile and targetsdkversions to 28


That worked for my TP-Link Neffos C5:

The first step in configuring a Windows based development system to connect to an Android device using ADB is to install the appropriate USB drivers on the system. In the case of some devices, the Google USB Driver must be installed (a full listing of devices supported by the Google USB driver can be found online at http://developer.android.com/sdk/win-usb.html).

To install this driver, perform the following steps:

  1. Launch Android Studio and open the Android SDK Manager, either by selected Configure -> SDK Manager from the Welcome screen, or using the Tools -> Android -> SDK Manager menu option when working on an existing project.
  2. Scroll down to the Extras section and check the status of the Google USB Driver package to make sure that it is listed as Installed.
  3. If the driver is not installed, select it and click on the Install packages button to initiate the installation.
  4. Once installation is complete, close the Android SDK Manager.

Complete instructions on http://www.techotopia.com/index.php/Testing_Android_Studio_Apps_on_a_Physical_Android_Device (check "Windows ADB Configuration" section).

I basically updated a lot of stuff and then it worked in both Android Studio and Eclipse!


For about 3 weeks, I faced the same problem.

After googling and trying and asking without solutions, I found that there was an Unknown Device called Android Composite ADB Interface in the Device Manager.

I had a look on this and finally resolved it by downloading the ADB Driver from here. (Maybe you need to troubleshoot your PC but the installer will tell you this.)


I know this is old and answered, but after 2 weeks of smashing my head on the table I FINALLY fixed my specific issue...

SAMSUNG KNOX was my problem. Version 2.2+ of MyKnox will not allow USB debugging.

I uninstalled MyKnox and now it works.

I hope this saves someone 2 weeks of head smashing.


I solved the problem like that: go to Run and Select Clean and Rerun.


I've had this problem many times before with my Galaxy Nexus. Despite having the Android SDK's USB drivers installed, it did not seem to suffice.

I've always solved this by installing a program called PdaNet. While I don't know exactly what it is used for and where it gets its drivers - it comes with the drivers that has always fixed the problem for me. You can uninstall the program itself once it has finished.