What is ADB Sideload For Android? How to Use ADB Sideload to Install ROMs, Updates, Restore

The majority of smartphone users have Android as their operating system. But once your mobile gets old, the manufacturer stops providing the latest Android updates. And sometimes, there are situations when you don’t want to change your smartphone but it runs slow even after factory resetting the device.

So, is there any way to solve this issue? Well, with technology, you can find one for almost every problem. For this also, you can give a shot to manual Android update or install custom ROMs. Now, you must be thinking, this is something like rocket science and you have to read a lot of guides to do it.

Well, the reality is the process is quite simple, you will just need a USB cable to connect your Android device to your PC. So, before jumping into “How to use ADB sideload to install ROMS, Updates, Restore”, first of all, let me tell you more about the ADB sideload.

What is ADB Sideload?

Android Debug Bridge enables the user to establish communication between the computer system and the Android device. For the installation of the Android system file directly from the computer into the device, there is a command ADB Sideload which will accomplish this.

But you have to make sure of certain things before proceeding the installation:

• Your device must have at least 60% battery.
• The developer options must be enabled to make sure of USB debugging feature (there is an option to turn it off or on in the developer options)
• The computer system must have your device-specific drivers. If you have Windows 10 then there is no need to do it while if you have another version of Windows then you can easily do it by downloading and installing the complete Android Debug Bridge tools package on your machine.
• Android SDK Platform-tools package must be installed on your PC which is available for all three platforms; Linux, Mac, and Windows.
• The downloaded version of the Android system file easily available on the official sites of your device’s manufacturer like Samsung. Alternatively, you can find custom ROMs for the device on sites like XDA Developers.

How to Use ADB Sideload?

The ADB Sideload command can be used for installing Google Apps packages, update the current version, and custom ROMs.

Specifically for installing custom ROMs, the unlocked bootloader is a must which might seem difficult to you but with a proper guide, it’s just a piece of cake. The TWRP recovery console installation is needed for flashing any custom ROM. You can make use of the ADB command for installing the TWRP console on your smartphone.

But there is an easy alternative with which you don’t need to unlock the bootloader for update and restoration of Android manually with ADB Sideload. Once you have done all the pre-requisites required, you can start with connecting your Android device with PC.

Also, save the ZIP file in the folder where you have stored the adb.exe. Open the folder where you have stored adb.exe then right-click on the blank area along with Shift key and click open command prompt or Windows PowerShell, it will open the command prompt. Now, follow the steps below:

• In the command prompt window, type ADB start-server and press enter then type ADB devices (it will make sure whether your Android device is connected or not.)

For installing custom ROM:

• As already mentioned, if you want to install a custom ROM then the TWRP recovery console installation is a must. For doing this, just go to the official website of TWRP where you will find the link to download it.
• After downloading, restart your device to bootloader mode and use adb reboot bootloader then fastboot flash recovery twrp-2.8.x.x-xxx.img using the Fastboot command.
• Now use the ADB reboot recovery command, it will reboot your smartphone into recovery mode.
• Then go to TWRP then find Advanced -> ADB Sideload then choose the options; wipe Dalvik cache and Wipe Cache. Use the slider at the bottom to activate it.
• This will get you into the Sideload mode. Now, on your PC run adb sideload file.zip, this action will automatically move and write the file on your device.

For installing official Android update or Restore:

• After checking whether your device is connected or not using the ADB devices command, run ADB reboot recovery which will restart your phone to recovery mode.
• With these steps, your device has not unlocked the bootloader and you will find the default stock recovery, simple and easy.
• Now choose Apply Update from ADB and in the command prompt run, adb sideload file.zip. You will have to replace the file name of the ZIP with the one you have downloaded from the official website of the device’s manufacturer.
• At last, follow the instruction coming on the screen for file transfer and installation. After the competition restart the Android device.

These are simple steps that can be done by anyone. If you still have some issue in the proper understanding of the steps, then we have a video tutorial for you to follow:

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