For a USB-connected device to be detected by the USB Controller on a Windows computer, it must be detected by the Android Debug Bridge (adb). You can download and install adb as part of the Android SDK download on the computer running the test workbench. The current download page of the Android SDK is at Get the Android SDK but the location could change in the future.
If necessary, download and install the specific USB driver for your device. For details, see http://developer.android.com/tools/extras/oem-usb.html or the web site of the device vendor.
To start the Android USB Controller, open the test workbench and click . Browse to the location of the Android SDK, click Apply, and click Start Now.
When the controller starts, it gets the list of currently connected devices and running emulators, and prompts you to install the mobile test client, as shown below:
Next, you will be prompted to start the mobile test client.
The icon at the bottom the mobile test client home page shows that the mobile test client is connected to the test workbench with the USB Controller.
The Android USB Controller starts in the Windows System Tray.
On Windows, right-click the System Tray icon for the test workbench to see the available devices and emulators, to install and start the mobile test client, and to change settings. (On a Macintosh computer, you can use left-click.)
When a device is unplugged or when an emulator is stopped, the corresponding menu entry is removed.
This menu shows the operations that are available with each device or emulator. When selecting the menu of a specific device, for example the asus Nexus 7, there are four available operations:
This menu allows you to perform the same operations on all connected devices and emulators.
The Settings menu includes the following operations:
The Android Debug Bridge can become less reliable after a a period of intense usage. The Reset Android Debug Bridge server menu item in the Troubleshooting menu allows you to kill the adb server. You can kill the server when other commands have no effect or no longer have the expected effect.
In addition, if an Android emulator no longer responds to any commands or user input, or the emulator experiences connection errors or hangs, close the emulator window and launch it again from the AVD Manager (Android Virtual Device).
The Quit menu closes the USB Controller. All USB connections and silent install ability are lost. You must restart the controller from the workbench Preference page.
Use UsbController.jar from the command line to install the mobile test client from a remote test workbench host and set up the connections between the mobile test client and the test workbench. See Installing and configuring the Android client when the workbench is remote for a list of command line arguments.