Windows drivers for ADB in recovery on HTC devices

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The TWRP and ClockworkMod recoveries for HTC devices hosted on this site conform closely to HTC’s USB configuration for ADB, but Windows may not always detect the device properly and configure drivers automatically. These instructions demonstrate how to install the correct driver for ADB functionality while in recovery. This guide is based on Windows 8.1, but it should be easy to infer slight changes in steps for Windows 7. These instructions and the linked driver are not applicable to Windows XP.

Note: if you’re having trouble with fastboot and Windows 8.1, see HTC msm8960 fastboot with Windows 8.1.

Remove existing HTC software (optional)

If you’ve tried unsuccessfully to install drivers for ADB in the past, you probably have a few unneeded drivers and bits of HTC software installed. While these steps are not required, they may help clean-up your system a bit:

  1. In Control Panel > Programs and Features, type HTC in the search box and remove all HTC software (e.g. HTC Driver Installer, IPTInstaller, HTC Sync, HTC Sync Manager)
    Uninstall software
  2. In Control Panel > Device Manager, select View > Show hidden devices. For each item under “Android Device” and “Android USB Devices”, right-click on the device and select Uninstall. If the option exists to delete the driver as well, check the box.
    Uninstall device Delete device driver
  3. Restart your computer (your device should be disconnected from USB).

Option 1: HTC Driver

Download HTC Drivers

This is the suggested guide for HTC devices running TWRP from this website. If “My HTC” does not appear as an available driver in step 10, then you can alternatively try the Google USB Driver guide. ClockworkMod recovery users should use the Google USB Driver guide.

Note that if you toggle between ADB-only, MTP, and UMS (USB Mass Storage) modes, you may need to repeat steps 5-13. Once the driver is setup for each available mode, it should not need to be repeated in the future.

  1. If your device is currently connected to your computer via USB, disconnect it.
  2. Install the most recent driver from this HTC drivers archive. There is no “install successful” message when installing one of these drivers. It is a mostly silent installer.
  3. Restart your computer
  4. Reboot your device to recovery and connect the USB cable
  5. In Control Panel > Device Manager, you should see your device under “Other devices” with a yellow exclamation overlay.
    Unidentified device
  6. Right click on the device and choose “Update driver software”
    Update driver software
  7. Choose “Browse my computer for driver software”
    Browse for driver
  8. Choose “Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer”
    Pick driver from list
  9. Select “Android USB devices” and then click Next
    Device type
  10. In the list of available drivers, you should see “My HTC”. Choose this driver and select Next.
    My HTC
  11. Confirm “Yes” at the warning dialog
    Confirm warning
  12. You should see a message that the driver was successfully installed.
    Success
  13. Open a command prompt and type adb devices to see your device’s serial number.
  14. If you use the Mount USB or MTP feature in recovery, you will likely need to repeat steps 5-13. Once this is done though, you should not need to fiddle with drivers again.

Option 2: Google USB Driver

This guide applies to ClockworkMod recovery on all HTC devices. It can also be used if the HTC Driver guide above does not identify your device as suitable for the “My HTC” driver.

Note that if you toggle between ADB-only, MTP, and UMS (USB Mass Storage) modes, you may need to repeat steps 4-14. Once the driver is setup for each available mode, it should not need to be repeated in the future.

  1. If your device is currently connected to your computer via USB, disconnect it.
  2. Download Google USB Driver and extract it to a directory you will remember
  3. Reboot your device to recovery and connect the USB cable
  4. In Control Panel > Device Manager, you should see your device under “Other devices” with a yellow exclamation overlay.
    Unidentified device
  5. Right click on the device and choose “Update driver software”
    Update driver software
  6. Choose “Browse my computer for driver software”
    Browse for driver
  7. Choose “Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer”
    Pick driver from list
  8. Select “Show all devices” and then click Next
    Device type
  9. Click “Have Disk” and browse to the path where you extracted Google USB driver.
    Browse for driver
  10. Select “android_winusb.inf” and click “Open”. Then click “OK” on the Install From Disk dialog.
    Select driver inf
  11. Select “Android Composite ADB Interface” as the driver you want to install and click “Next”.
    Composite ADB Interface
  12. Confirm “Yes” at the warning dialog
    Confirm warning
  13. You should see a message that the driver was successfully installed.
    Success
  14. Open a command prompt and type adb devices to see your device’s serial number.
  15. If you use the Mount USB or MTP feature in recovery, you will likely need to repeat steps 4-14. Once this is done though, you should not need to fiddle with drivers again.
  16. If you previously uninstalled HTC software, now would be an okay time to install the most recent driver from this HTC drivers archive (note: there is no “install successful” message when installing one of these drivers; it is a mostly silent installer). While this driver is not needed for ADB in recovery, it is used for ADB and MTP in Android. You can install this driver without your device connected to your computer and Windows will autoconfigure the device/driver when next connected. Note that there is no “install successful” message during installation. This is a mostly silent installer.