Activate USB tethering from the command line

Question

I would like to activate USB tethering from within a bash script.

I've found TetherSettings action name from

aapt dump xmltree com.android.settings.apk AndroidManifest.xml | less +/ether

The following command open the needed settings, but don't change anything alone

am start -n com.android.settings/.TetherSettings

Is there any possibility to run a command line with adb shell to change it?

---

Related, but the opposite: Is it possible to disable USB tethering from command line?

Answer 1

Running the following command as root should enable USB tethering:

• service call connectivity 32 i32 1 on Ice Cream Sandwich (4.0)
• service call connectivity 33 i32 1 on Jelly Bean (4.1 to 4.3)
• service call connectivity 34 i32 1 on KitKat (4.4)
• service call connectivity 30 i32 1 on Lollipop (5.0)
• service call connectivity 31 i32 1 on Lollipop (5.1) according to an answer by Firelord
• service call connectivity 30 i32 1 on Marshmallow (6.0), untested
• service call connectivity 41 i32 1 on Samsung Marshmallow (6.0)
• service call connectivity 33 i32 1 on Nougat (7.0)
• service call connectivity 39 i32 1 on Samsung Nougat (7.0)

The first number you see in the commands is the setUsbTethering() method's number in IConnectivityManager.aidl (this depends on the Android version and doesn't exist on Gingerbread).

(Tip: to check this file for a particular Android version, select the appropriate branch.)

So what this command does is call setUsbTethering() and pass either 1 (enable USB tethering) or 0 (to disable it).

For more information, see this related question on Stack Overflow.

---

If you're enabling USB tethering as part of a USB reverse tethering setup, setprop sys.usb.config rndis,adb should be more than enough to get the rndis0 interface set up.

Answer 2

If your Android version has svc inbuilt utility, run this command:

adb shell svc usb setFunctions rndis

This would enable USB tethering. To see what other USB functions are available, run:

adb shell svc usb

Answer 3

There is a pretty bad method using adb shell input tap, Get the coordinates for enable tethering and substitute

adb shell input tap <x> <y>

Or navigate to enable radio using adb shell input keyevent. Just have a look at,

adb shell input 

Again this confines to a particular device.

Answer 4

Try the setprop command below:

setprop sys.usb.config rndis,adb

Answer 5

this is device independent (toggles USB tethering)

adb shell am start -n com.android.settings/.TetherSettings &&
adb shell input keyevent 20 &&
adb shell input keyevent 20 &&
adb shell input keyevent KEYCODE_ENTER &&
sleep 2 &&
adb shell input keyevent 4

Answer 6

Modified to use windows timeout command instead of sleep, wake screen first, and only press down once. Twice down enabled wifi tethering on my phone.

adb shell input keyevent KEYCODE_WAKEUP && adb shell am start -n com.android.settings/.TetherSettings && adb shell input keyevent KEYCODE_DPAD_DOWN && adb shell input keyevent KEYCODE_ENTER && timeout 2 && adb shell input keyevent KEYCODE_BACK

Answer 7

The service method did not work for me on my Samsung device. I figured out how to do it by configuring the network interface directly, though. Here is a script that sets up a Linux machine and a USB-connected rooted Android device for USB tethering. This does not set up DNS or NAT masquerading, but is sufficient to make the device accessible at 192.168.42.129:

#!/bin/bash
set -euo pipefail

# Set up USB tethering for an Android device.
# Usage: adb-usb-tether [USB-VENDOR USB-PRODUCT]
# If USB vendor/product is unspecified, use first USB network interface.
# On the Android side, tethering is enabled via adb shell.

if [[ $# -eq 2 ]]
then
    any=false
    vendor=$1
    product=$2
else
    any=true
fi

function find_if() {
    local path if
    for path in /sys/class/net/*
    do
        if=$(basename "$path")
        if [[ "$(readlink "$path")" == */usb* ]]
        then
            local ifproduct ifvendor
            ifproduct=$(cat "$(realpath "$path")/../../../idProduct")
            ifvendor=$(cat "$(realpath "$path")/../../../idVendor")
            if $any || [[ "$ifproduct" == "$product" && "$ifvendor" == "$vendor" ]]
            then
                echo "Found interface: $if" 1>&2
                echo "$if"
                return
            fi
        fi
    done
}

function adb_shell() {
    adb shell "$(printf " %q" "$@")"
}

function adb_su() {
    local quoted
    quoted="$(printf " %q" "$@")"
    adb shell su -c "$(printf %q "$quoted")"
}

if=$(find_if)
if [[ -z "$if" ]]
then
    echo "Requesting interface:" 1>&2
    adb_su setprop sys.usb.config rndis,adb
    echo " >> OK" 1>&2
fi

while [[ -z "$if" ]]
do
    echo "Waiting for network device..." 1>&2
    sleep 1
    if=$(find_if)
done

while ! ( ip link | grep -qF "$if" )
do
    echo "Waiting for interface..." 1>&2
    sleep 1
done

function configure_net() {
    local name="$1"
    local if="$2"
    local ip="$3"
    local table="$4"
    local cmdq="$5" # Query command
    local cmdx="$6" # Configuration command

    if ! ( "$cmdq" ip addr show dev "$if" | grep -qF 192.168.42."$ip" )
    then
        echo "Configuring $name interface address:" 1>&2
        "$cmdx" ip addr add 192.168.42."$ip"/24 dev "$if"
        echo " >> OK" 1>&2
    fi

    if ( "$cmdq" ip addr show dev "$if" | grep -qF 'state DOWN' )
    then
        echo "Bringing $name interface up:" 1>&2
        "$cmdx" ip link set dev "$if" up
        sleep 1
        echo " >> OK" 1>&2
    fi

    if ! ( "$cmdq" ip route show table "$table" | grep -qF "192.168.42.0/24 dev $if" )
    then
        echo "Configuring $name route:" 1>&2
        "$cmdx" ip route add table "$table" 192.168.42.0/24 dev "$if"
        echo " >> OK" 1>&2
    fi
}

configure_net local  "$if"   128 main  command   sudo
configure_net device rndis0  129 local adb_shell adb_su

To enable forwarding (i.e. connect to the Internet from the PC via the Android device), see my question and answer here.