Quick links: About the tool and Download.
So you decided to give it a try and make some Android screenshots. Well, be ready that it might be a bit tricky to get all prerequisites for Android Screen Capture in place, especially on Windows. But don’t worry. We are here to help. Lets get started.
1. JDK
First of all you will need to get Java Development Kit 1.6+ installed on your system.
- You may follow this direct link to get recent package.
- Click Download JDK.
- Choose Accept License Agreement.
- Click file which corresponds your platform.
- Run downloaded exe file and follow onscreen instructions. You may accept all the defaults.
- It may take several minutes for installer to do its job.
NOTE: that you may need to manually add Java directory to your PATH variable if ddms and/or Ashot won’t launch.
2. Android SDK
Then you need to get and install Android SDK.
- Follow this link to get latest Android SDK for Windows platform.
- Download installer_r12-windows.exe.
- Launch downloaded installation package and accept defaults.
- Click Finish to open SDK Manager.
- Go to the next section to install USB Driver.
Note: Please remember the full path to the SDK for further steps. In this guide we will assume that SDK path is “C:\Program Files\Android\android-sdk-windows“.
3. Windows USB driver & Platform Tools
Wow, this looks tough for getting your phone connected to Windows computer. Anyway here are the steps.
- Please make sure your phone is NOT CONNECTED to your computer.
- (Skip this step if you have SDK Manager running already after installation) Run SDK Manager.exe from SDK path. And wait until it has finished refreshing sources.
- (Only on the first run of SDK Manager) Click Cancel since you don’t need anything but Platform-tools and USB driver for screen capture application.
- Select Available packages on the left panel.
- Expand the Android Repository and set check next to Android SDK Platform-tools.
- Expand Third party Add-ons –> Google Inc. add-ons and set check next to Google USB Driver Package.
- Click Install Selected.
- Click Accept All to accept License and then click Install.
- When install finishes, the USB Driver will be in “C:\Program Files\Android\android-sdk-windows\google-usb_driver“.
- Close SDK Manager.
- Connect your phone. You will be prompted for driver, which is located in the path mentioned above.
- For more details installing driver please visit http://developer.android.com/sdk/win-usb.html.
It could be the end story, but there are some extra steps:
- Make sure that standard SDK tool ddms.bat (from C:\Program Files\Android\android-sdk-windows\tools) launches successfully. Otherwise Screen Capture Tool won’t work either.
- If ddms won’t launch, add the platform-tools to your system PATH variable like this: Right-click My computer –> Advanced –> Environment Variables –> select Path in System Variables box –> Edit –> append “;C:\Program Files\Android\android-sdk-windows\platform-tools” to the existing Path. Please note the semicolon “;” preceding the path being appended.
- If ddms won’t launch even after you have accomplished the step above, try disconnecting your phone, then launch ddms and then connect your phone back.
And also:
- Copy adb.exe from platform-tools to tools folder.
- Also copy AdbWinApi.dll and AdbWinUsbApi.dll from platform-tools to tools folder.
4. USB Debugging for Android
To capture screens from your Android phone, it needs to have USB Debugging setting activated.
- On your Android device click Menu button.
- Click Settings.
- Click Applications
- Click Development
- Make sure USB Debugging is checked.
5. Android Screen Capture.
Wheeew. Now you have all set for Android Screen Capture.
- Download latest installation package from SourceForge: https://sourceforge.net/projects/ashot/
- Run AndroidScreenCapureSetup.vX.X.exe.
- Follow onscreen instructions.
- When finished, run application and go to File -> Set Android SDK folder to set SDK path.
Trobleshooting:
- If Ashot won’t connect with your phone, try disconnecting your phone, turn computer off, then on, then launch Ashot and then connect your phone back.
- If reconnecting phone does not help, please make sure all steps in Windows USB Driver & Platform Tools section are accomplished as described.
Now everything is ready for Android Screen Capture. Continue reading at Android Screen Capture product page to get know application features.
UPDATE on “Unable to connect” issue
It turns out that latest Android SDK update moved adb.exe from tools to platform-tools folder. The most weird finding is that a standard ddms tool won’t work out-of-the-box on Windows unless platform-tools is specified on your PATH system variable. More details here.
Anyhow, until we publish an update, to make Android Screenshots and Screen Capture tool work with the updated SDK, just copy adb.exe, AdbWinApi.dll, and AdbWinUsbApi.dll, from platform-tools to tools folder.
Sorry for temporary inconvenience.
Dear developers,
the program don’t want to start anyhow on Win7.
It extracts (?) till 72%, that’s all. Later nothing happens.
Hi, could you please suggest what exactly freezes at 72% — installer or application after being installed?
If installer won’t work, you may want to try unpacking zip distribution package and running jar file manually.
Unfortunately, I can’t run Android Screen Capture program. I did all the steps. I can see screenshots when I use “ddms bat” from “dalivic” window. But this program doesn’t recognize my devices. I gave galaxy s mobile phone and galaxy tab. I tried in win 7 and win xp. What should I do??
Hi Alireza, thank you for your interest in our tool
Since you can see screenshots with ddms tool and you can successfully start Ashot, most likely, our software cannot find the path to Android SDK. Could you please double check Android SDK Folder in File menu setting? It should point to installed Android SDK. If it won’t help, please let us know i) your Android SDK path; ii) value of File –> Android SDK Folder setting.
this is the path I gave to the program:
C:\Users\alireza\Documents\Downloads\Compressed\android-sdk_r08-windows\android-sdk-windows
Alireza,
Please try unpacking contents of Android SDK zip to “C:\android” and change path in File –> Set Android SDK Folder to “C:\android\android-sdk-windows”.
If this won’t help, we will need to have a look at ashot.log which is located in Ashot’s folder.
No, I still have the same problem. Should I repeat all steps, again?
Alireza,
Starting installation over may help. Though I would recommend sending ashot.log to hi@mightypocket.com so we could see if there is anything suspicious.
I have the same problem… I can take screenshots with ddms but Android Screenshot just gives me the black background with the Android logo and the -device not connected… My Android SDK path is correct… Help please? :/ I’m on Windows 7, Samsung Galaxy Ace. Thanks!
Perhaps you need to copy adb.exe, AdbWinApi.dll, and AdbWinUsbApi.dll, from platform-tools to tools folder.
this is a screenshot from my problem:
http://www.1pezeshk.com/cip/pictures/d1ec3c94d336c86fd27be14b945cce7c.gif
Actually it works on one machine for me and on a second machine I see the same thing as alireza.
Hi Joe, thank you for letting us know you have the issue as well.
I’ve created a bug in our Sourceforge tracker so we could collect more details on the issue and eventually fix it.
https://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=detail&aid=3135497&group_id=337433&atid=1413530
I would appreciate if you could send some details of your configuration to our contact email hi@mightypocket.com:
1. OS version
2. Java version
3. Android SDK version
4. Phone models being connected
5. Phone Android OS version
6. Any additional configuration settings like Anti-viruses, permission settings, etc.
Sorry for inconvenience, hopefully with some details we can get it fixed.
I have installed all required packages and drivers. But I cannot connect the phone to Android Screen Capture. The “Connect to Handset” is disable. What can I do?
Hi John, thank you for your interest.
We had several similar reports and registered a bug on our tracker. It would be great if you could send some details of your configuration to our contact email hi@mightypocket.com:
1. OS version
2. Java version
3. Android SDK version
4. Phone models being connected
5. Phone Android OS version
6. Any additional configuration settings like Anti-viruses, permission settings, etc.
Sorry for inconvenience, hopefully with some details we can get it fixed.
Hi
I am having the same problem after I updated the SDK to 2.3
News on the “Unable to connect” issue:
It turns out that latest Android SDK update moved adb.exe from tools to platform-tools folder. The most ridiculous finding is that a standard ddms tool won’t work out-of-the-box unless platform-tools is specified on your PATH system variable. More details here.
Anyhow, until we publish an update, to make Android Screenshots and Screen Capture tool work with the updated SDK, just copy adb.exe from platform-tools to tools folder.
Hopefully, this helps.
Copying the files solved it for my devices Samsung Galaxy S2 and 10.1.
Tried to install the package. But I ran into several problemes. The JDK installed ok, well I did not get any errors. Unpacking the Android SDK went well. When starting the SDK manager it seemed the Path to the java binaries was not configured. I had to add it to the PATH variable. I managed to install the Google USB drivers. Then when I connected my phone (HTC Desire HD) I was not asked to install USB drivers. It was not until I enabled USB debugging on my phone, that windows started asking me about installing USB drivers. The USB drivers did not install correctly. Why, windows did not tell me. Installing ashot worked only when I issued the the command java -jar install.jar. After this ashot installed well. I came past the tools/platform-tools issue. But now when starting ashot I can’t connect to my phone, probably because the USB drivers are not installed correctly. What can I do? I don’t want to root my phone as other screencapture programs need.
Hi Erik,
Assuming that your phone cannot get connected due to Windows USB drivers issue, there is not much we can do to help. Perhaps you may want to read through posts like this to make USB driver finally work for you.
As you may guess, Ashot totally depends on Android SDK. As soon as you can make ddms tool to connect with your phone and take a screenshot, most likely Ashot will work for you from that point (well, for the new SDK, tools/platform-tools needs to be taken care of).
To sum up, please try if ddms works for you. If not, you will need to make USB driver to set up correctly.
I followed Erik’s description and mine started to work
I can confirm the problem with ashot not connecting to my device.
After some trouble with the usb drivers and applying system path fix, I am able to get screenshots via ddms.bat. But ashot doesn’t even try to connect to my device.
I am using:
+Motorola Defy
+Windows 7 Ultimate 32-Bit
+jdk1.6.0_22
There is no ashot.log in the programs directory. The ashot.ini file is empty (even though ashot remembers the choosen paths.
Could this be an issue with UAC and file virtualization?
Hi Crowley,
I guess you are using the latest SDK. Have you tried copying adb.exe from platform-tools to tools folder as suggested in this comment?
Hi Alex,
I did all the installation steps and installed everything and capturing is working fine with ddms. When I want to run the “AShot-1.1.jar” it seems it’s not associated with any of the Java Executables. I tried to assoicate it manually but didn’t work. Command java -jar install.jar didn’t work either. Any ideas?
Hi Emre, thanks for the question.
Just to be sure — are you on Windows? Did you try installer or you manually installed the tool? If you are using the latest SDK, did you try copying adb from platform-tools to tools?
my phone is plugged in but when i go to File it wont let me click on Connect to headset
*i am debuged
Hi Edgar, thanks for the question.
Just to be sure — are you on Windows? Did you try installer or you manually installed the tool? If you are using the latest SDK, did you try copying adb from platform-tools to tools?
Getting the same problem as everyone else – not connecting.
I copied adb.exe from platform-tools to tools and it still did not connect.
1. OS version – WindowsXP
2. Java version – installed latest
3. Android SDK version – installed latest
4. Phone models being connected – Samsung Galaxy S
5. Phone Android OS version – i500.04?
Hi Dan, thank you for details of your configuration.
Did you have any luck making ddms work for you? Unless a standard ddms tool is able to connect with your device, it’s unlikely that our tool will be able to connect.
I was able to connect to Ashot! DDMS did not work for me when moving the adb file, but this is what I did:
My computer > Properties > Advanced tab > Environmental Variables > System Variables > edit variable ‘Path’ > Included “;C:\Program Files\Android\android-sdk-windows\platform-tools” at the end of this variable.
Voila, DDMS worked and Ashot connected immediately. Hope this helps anyone else with problems with the Samsung Galaxy S series!
Great news! Thank you for sharing your solution!
I have installed everything that is need to be installed fallowed directions except the part about downloading this file android-sdk_r0X-windows.zip the link takes me to download this file. android-sdk_r08-windows.zip. Which I downloaded anyways after searching for the one above with no luck. Then I fallow the steps exactly then when I get to the section about loading up the SDKmanager.exe then get too step 6. Check the box next to USB Driver Package there is USB driver package option to intall. Is it already installed in this new version? Or do I need to hunt harder for the roX version?
OS Windows XP
Phone AU ISO3 Running androind 2.1
Very impressed with the concept of this software hoping to come up with a solution to the problem. I will try and install it on my Linux PC tomorrow to see if I have more luck and will report back if I do. Thank you for any feedback.
Sorry when I get to part 6. There is NO USB Package option to check so that I can install.
Hi JT, thank you for your interest in our tool.
Please have a look at updated Windows USB driver & Platform Tools section. Shortly:
Please let me know if you could finally make the tool work for you.
@Alex
Everything is great now. I have a Japanese phone so hunted down the USB driver for it installed it then placed the USB driver folder itself into the Android-sdk-windows Tools folder. Then a little more fun with the Paths and the adb.exe but got it all worked out now. setting the ( ; ) semicolon after setting the Path for abd.exe mixed me up for a while but once I got that going everything worked out well there. Then copied the abd.exe in Platform-tools over to Tools. Fired DDMS.bat up everything worked great then fired up Ashot. Set the SDK file for that and up and running. So thank you very much for the software. From what I understand there is no way to root my phone so thanks to this software I don’t have too. Just one question. Anyway advice on how to tweak anything to get it to run a little more smooth? Otherwise great job and Thank you. JT
Scratch the answer. I read a few more comments down after posting mine 3 fps. Better than nothing and for free. Thanks again.
JT, thank you for writing back and sharing your experience. Hopefully, the frame rate will be better in the future Android releases.
I have DDMS up and running by clicking on the file itself (doesn’t autodetect when I plug phone in) and it sees my phone, but when I goto install ‘AndroidScreenCapureSetup.v1.1′, it goes to a ‘windows can’t open this file: File: install.jar, i have ‘jdk-6u21-windows-x64′ installed, what next
Hi Michael, thank you for your question.
I guess you will need to try installing Ashot from a zip package manually. Grab a copy of AndroidScreenCapture-1.1.zip from Sourceforge, unzip it, and manually launch AShot-1.1.jar.
Hopefully this helps.
Since I am doing it manually, to open, do i point it to C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.6.0_21\bin\java.exe or to C:\Program Files\Java\jre6\bin\java.exe?
Not quite sure. Have you tried double-clicking the jar file? It should find the appropriate java.exe automatically.
Should I use java or javaw to launch ashot application on windows XP?
java version “1.6.0_24″
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0_24-b07)
Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build 19.1-b02, mixed mode, sharing)
type “java -cp libs Ashot-1.1.jar” on shell prompt, but
D:\test\AndroidScreenCapture_1.1>java -cp libs AShot-1.1.jar
Exception in thread “main” java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: AShot-1/1/jar
Caused by: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: AShot-1.1.jar
at java.net.URLClassLoader$1.run(Unknown Source)
at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
at java.net.URLClassLoader.findClass(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(Unknown Source)
at sun.misc.Launcher$AppClassLoader.loadClass(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(Unknown Source)
Could not find the main class: AShot-1.1.jar. Program will exit.
What’s wrong with my condition?
can anyone help me?
I don’t know how to launch application “Ashot”.
please explain me more detail.
Sergey, thank you for your question.
Have you tried using installation package as explained in the instructions above? It may allow running Ashot through system Start menu.
Normally, just double-clicking AShot-1.1.jar will launch it.
Is it currently possible to improve FPS for Ashot? Or are we stuck at 3 fps for now?
Unfortunately, this is all we can do without rooting a device. Ashot requests screen images every moment the device is ready to send them back. So in your case the device is capable of sending screenshots no more then 3 times per second.
I finally got it to work. I’m already rooted so I can already do screen shots. I thought this was suppose to be a screen capture as in video capture??
Hi Chad, thank you for your question.
> I thought this was suppose to be a screen capture as in video capture??
Could you please suggest what exactly made you think this way? Though captured screen refreshes on your computer without extra clicks, the frame rate is low due to current Android architecture limitations.
@Dan says: January 13, 2011 at 7:25 pm
This was the solution! Thanks Dan, great!
I have a problem with getting ddms.bat to run. When double clicking the file it just gives the command prompt briefly and closes again. When running it in the command promt to keep it open, it gives me the error “No suitable Java found”. I have tried to add the PATH varialbles, which now reads: C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.6.0_23\bin;C:\Program Files (x86)\Android\android-sdk-windows\platform-tools
I have also copied the adb file to the tools folder.
What’s really odd is that I got the same error when trying to launch the SDK Manager. Adding the PATH variable for java fixed that and made that run perfectly, but for some reason ddms.bat still can’t detect it.
Using:
Windows 7 64
Java SDK 6 Update 23 (64-bit)
HTC Desire running Android 2.2
Barne, thanks for your question.
Unfortunately, there are many reasons why you may be getting such an error. You may want to review threads like this to find a solution for your case.
Thanks for your quick reply Alex, your help is much appreciated!
In my search for a solution before posting my question I have also come across that particular post, but unfortunately it has not helped me. It seems that the PATH variable was the culprit there. This may also be the case here, however seeing that it works fine for the SDK Manager and not ddms.bat confuses me. Both components are looking for the same java.exe right?
I’ll try uninstalling/reinstalling Java again, see what that does. If you’d have any more tips on what to look for, it’d be much appreciated.
“Have you tried turning it off and on again?” (c)
Speaking seriously, starting from scratch and following instruction from this page would be the safe bet.
I tried re-installing java and later uninstall all components and go through all the steps again. The same result. I decided to try it on another Win7 x64 system and was met with better results there. I can run ddms.bat fine there, it recognizes my phone and can display its image. Ashot will not though, the option to connect the device is grayed out. I did copy over the adb file to the tools directory again.
One thing I had to do different from the instructions though, and is the USB driver. Windows would not accept the driver package for the HTC Desire, so I had to get the HTC drivers from their site. Could there be a compatibility issue there with Ashot? ddms.bat works fine though, so the driver seems to be working.
Barne, thank you for writing back.
Could you please try copying AdbWinApi.dll and AdbWinUsbApi.dll along with adb.exe from platform-tools to tools folder? It has not been necessary in my experience, but some wise person advised so.
Please let me know if that was helpful and I will update the comment above accordingly.
Alex, thank you very much for that suggestion and your time spend on my little problem. Moving over the AdbWinApi.dll and AdbWinUsbApi.dl as well has done the trick. Ashot works like a charm now!
Great program, thanks a lot!
I do hope that someday a higher framerate will be possible, but for now it’s already amazing as it is. Thanks for all the hard work spend on this app and the time on helping us al out with our issues. Looking at all the comments, it seems that costumer support is Mighty Pocket’s strong suit.
Barne, thanks for getting back and it’s my pleasure to be helpful!
I’ve updated the page above to reflect your solution. So I appreciate your sharing it with everyone.
Cheers!
Hello I’ve a curious problem with Android Screenshot. The screen of my device at the desktop monitor appears always 180º rotated related with the device… What could cause this problem? Is there any work-around?
Windows 7 64
Java SDK 6 Update 23 (64-bit)
Device: ZTE Blade
Android 2.1
Hi, thanks for your question.
This is interesting… Could you please try taking a screenshot with a standard ddms tool and let me know if it produces the same result?
Thanks!
Yes its exactly the same result. I’ve tried with Droid Explorer… I’ll will try with Eclipse but I think I’ll have the same result… Very strange…
Hi;
I have same problem too on Galaxy TAB P1000
is there any fix?
Hello guys.. Is there any fix for this issue?? I have exactly the same problem…
Hi John. Sorry, no fix yet.
Thank You Alex…GBU….
Working good on Samsung Galaxy 5.
Thanks, it’s my pleasure.
BTW this is the result video capture from my samsung galaxy 5 / I5503.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgkx5_2eyIM
Thanks.
Wow. Looks fantastic!
I have done all installs, moved files to tools as instructed in guide. I have an HTC G2 and when I open AS&SC I am unable to “connect to hand set”. USB debugging is enabled. Any help would be great. thx ~ gc
Hi Gary, thanks for your question.
Could you please try if the standard ddms tool connects with your phone and takes screenshots? It’s a quick test that Android SDK is set up properly.
Looking forward to hearing from you.
Brilliant! I’ve set this up on two computers now, both without a hitch. EXCELLENT instructions. The only thing I could wish for is a faster refresh rate so that animations showed better. Oh, and skins would be way too much to ask for… Thanks!
David, thank you so much for your feedback. Will keep in mind your suggestions if we have chance to address them.
Thanks!
It would be great if there is a link from the sourceforge project page
http://sourceforge.net/projects/ashot/
to these instructions
Hello, thank you for your suggestion.
Unfortunately, Sourceforge allows only one link to Project Home page. Therefore installation instructions link is available at AS&SC home page.
Followed instructions but two problems:
- installation file FREEZES near end of process; it reads “Finished” on 2 of 2, I click [Next] twice then it just sits there – nothing ever happens.
- also very recent post above indicates that DDMS should recognize device which it does not
Have copied appropriate files to Tools folder as mentioned previously, USB Debugging is on, yada yada. Can you help?
Install continued to freeze but I managed to get appl working. Thanks.
Thank you for reporting the issue. Will see what we can do about it.
Hi
I am by no means a computer expert, so please bear with me.
1)In part 5 of step 4 (5.Expand the Android Repository and set check next to Android SDK Platform-tools),
I don’t have this as an option. I only have Android Compatability Package, revision 1.
2)Also, I noticed that in the Android SDK folder, there is no USB-driver folder.
Sorry if the answers to these queries are obvious. Thanks.
Hi Michael, thanks for your question.
Perhaps the package you mentioned have already been installed. Could you please have a look at “Installed packages” section to see if my assumption is valid?
Hi Alex
I have made some ‘print screens’ to show you what I have. If you have the time, and would be so kind, they are available in the link below. Thanks a lot.
Michael
https://www.sugarsync.com/pf/D681727_796736_258373
Hi Michael,
Sorry, I am not quite sure what’s your question. From screen #3 it is obvious there is “Access is denied” error message. Perhaps, your Windows user does not have enough permissions to write to Android SDK folder.
Thanks for your interest.
Michael,
You must run the SDK as administrator in order to update packages. I had this same issue today while updating my tool sets within the SDK.
http://i.imgur.com/SxRFa.png
1. Press “Windows”/Start button in task bar.
2. Navigate to the Android SDK folder.
3. Right click on the SDK Manager icon and select “Run as Administrator.”
That should fix your situation.
Cheers.
Good afternoon, everyone
First of all, congratulations for your fine tool. I’ve been looking for such a piece of software for Android for months!
I’ve been able to install it on Windows 7 64-bit and use it with Samsung Galaxy S with no problems, but when I try to use it with a ZTE Blade, running Android 2.1, it inverts the smartphone image. I tried playing with the View | Landscape CCW or View | Landscape CW menu options, but no luck..
Any ideas?
I’m planning on using your tool on a presentation for a large audience in a few weeks. I’ll tell you how it runs.
Keep up with the good work.
Thanks for your help.
Regards,
Nuno Guerreiro
Hi Nuno, thank you so much for your feedback.
It looks like the common issue with ZTE Blade devices. We’ve been reported that ddms tool will produce the same result. May I ask you to send a sample screenshot to hi@mightypocket.com so we could have a look at transformations with our own eyes?
Thanks!
Ok, I’ve just sent it.
Thanks,
Nuno Guerreiro
really great -I have been looking for a tool for presentation and despite the unfortunate 3fps for unrooted devices this is really very good indeed. Thanks for the development.
one question, will you produce a version for rooted devices with higher fps?
thanks again
David
Hi David, thank you so much for your feedback.
I wish we could improve fps, but this is a platform limitation which won’t allow perfect fps even for rooted devices. Hopefully, there are going to be more devices equipped with HDMI interface soon, therefore allowing direct connection to monitors/projectors.
I am using r8 of Android SDK and your instructions do not match at step 3.5 above.
I am unable to run.
Kindly check to see if the steps have changed.
Thanks
Sorry, I am not quite sure I understand what’s wrong with the instruction. Could you please elaborate?
Your instructions in step 3 says:
5. Expand the Android Repository and set check next to Android SDK Platform-tools.
On my Android SDK Manager, when I expand the Android Repository, I get ‘Android compatibility package, revision 1′
I noticed your demo has r7 of Android SDK, I am using Revision 10 when I open the About box for the SDK.
Kindly advise.
hth
Perhaps you already have “Android SDK Platform-tools” installed. Could you please check if it is listed under “Installed packages”?
I have HTC Hero – ddms makes screen capture fine,
but ‘Android Screenshots and Screen Capture’ doesn’t work for me.
I checked next steps:
1) Android SDK – path in Ashot, path in environment variables
(both %ANDROID_HOME%\tools;%ANDROID_HOME%\platform-tools;)
2) Install Windows USB driver using SDK Manager.exe
3) Check USB debugging on device.
3) Copy .dll and adb from folder ‘\platform-tools’ to ‘\tools’
Please, help
Tanya, thanks for your questions.
Given that ddms makes screenshots just fine, it’s safe to believe that your phone and SDK are configured correctly. Now, you need to make sure that same is true for Ashot. I would recommend the following:
1) Reinstall ashot.
2) Double-check — Copy adb.exe, AdbWinApi.dll, and AdbWinUsbApi.dll, from platform-tools to tools folder.
3) Make sure SDK path is configured correctly in Ashot.
Hopefully this helps.
Good morning, Alex.
I turned on the computer, read your answer and just started Ashot – it is connected to my device correctly.
I don’t know what the actual problem was, probably restart helped.
Thanks anyway for your help.
This was a lifesaver! I spent the whole morning looking for solutions! This is it. Works great. By the way, I am using Windows XP and have a Samsung Galaxy Tab.
I run the program and connect my device successfully. But the image captured is strange. Although the image did change when I change my phone’s screen, the image has crossed like a TV with wrong frequency
.
The image:
Ah, I can capture it now. Maybe because my rom is a customized rom (CM6) so it did not work. I install drocap2 and it work now. Please remove my previous 2 comments, thank you.
Kem, thank you for sharing your solution. If you don’t mind, I will keep your previous comment so that it would help someone if they come across the same issue.
Thanks!
Hi Alex,
I have a HTC Wildfire that I already upgraded to Android 2.2.1, and I’m using Windows XP.
Will your steps work? It seems sooooo hard just to get a screenshot from Android. I have been installing the Android SDK and it has been taking HOURS just to install (installing archives).
In fact right now, it is still installing………
I’m just afraid in the end, something won’t work and all the time and effort goes to waste.
And all just to capture a few Android screenshots for my blog. FFS
Hi Zack, the steps should work. Installing SDK is inevitable step to capture screenshots from your Android phone unless you have a screen capture software shipped with your phone. You can save some time if you select only necessary components.
Be patient and I wish you good luck with your install.
Hi Alex,
I cannot get the SDK to connect with the phone. The SDK seems to have changed in two things.
1) The USB driver is probably located under Extras\Google\. I did not install it in Program Files but in D:\ and here is the full path. Is this the one?
D:\Downloads\Android downloads\android-sdk_r10-windows\android-sdk-windows\extras\google\usb_driver
2) The Android Repository Package only has Android Compatibility Package Revision 1. I checked in Installed Packages and I see many SDK Platform Android from 1.5 to 3.0. So do I have it?
Anyway, with Debugging Mode on in my phone and disconnecting/reconnecting and copying those 3 files from Platform Tools to Tools, it is still the same result – Unable to connect.
I don’t know what else to do.
Zack,
1) Indeed, the path you mentioned may be correct, but official documentation is not updated to reflect that.
2) Apparently, everything you have under “Installed packages” is installed, and everything under “Available packages” is not.
To make sure the SDK is configured correctly, try to take screenshots using a standard ddms tool.
Hi Alex,
I did install the Google USB tool, because it shows up under “Installed Packages” but the folder where it is supposed to appear does not appear as you said.
Can I ask how do I fully uninstall the Java Development Kit? Because during installation it changed a lot of files on my computer (according to my Spybot-SD and Zone Alarm), and now some Google online tools do not work anymore, even after I unsintalled the Java Development Kit (or so I thought that was the one, since I see so many Java applications in my Add Remove Programs). The Google online tool was working before I downloaded the Java Dev Kit and the Google SDK.
I would really appreciate if you can give me the whole list of files to uninstall, because looking at my Add Remove Programs in Windows, there is a lot of programs related to Java. Perhaps you can contact me by email?
I’m afraid I have no choice except to go ask someone with a rooted phone to get the screenshots for me. Nothing has worked.
Also, can System Restore revert my PC back? Because the Java Development Kit did delete or change many files in Windows System32 during installation. As per my Zone Alarm and Spybot alerts.
If you can suggest some steps for me via email, that would be most appreciated.
Thanks!
Zack, Java Development Kit is the only Java-related program which you need to get removed from Add/Remove programs. Android SDK can be removed in Start –> All Programs –> Android SDK Tools –> Uninstall.
Thanks, but what about if the Android SDK was installed in another drive? Like D drive and it does not appear in Add/Remove Programs or under Start > All Programs?
Zack, the Android SDK Uninstall should be available in Start –> All Programs … regardless of the disk drive. Most likely you have already uninstalled SDK, but SDK folder may not get deleted if any Android SDK process is running .
Sorry, not SDK. I meant I cannot get Ashot to connect with the phone.
works pretty well. will it be able to support recording ?
Hi Daniel, thanks for your question. We don’t plan supporting video recording, but you may want to use screen recording software available for your platform.
I installed Ashot w/o any problems. Screencapture seemed to work perfectly and I could see my phone’s display on my PC. However when I clicked the Start capture button it stopped refreshing the window until I have restarted the program (stopping capture did not help either) and no video was created at all.
It turned out that I have set a folder for capture which did not exist. It would be good to give an alert in this case or create the folder automatically. (Workaround: create the folder manually)
Szeki, thanks for letting us know about the issue.
I thought this program makes a video when catching on Start Capture, but it makes screenshots after each action done on your phone… It saves seperate png files, not a video file.:(
Yes, the program just saves screenshots in specified folder. You will need an external application in order to create video.
Here’s the description of program features.
I also installed the tool because on Stackoverflow anyone recommended it for video screen capture of Android device.
Thus the tool cannot be used to capture in detail whats going on on a Android device.
Would be great to capture video playback like created by app Paint Joy Pro.
Michael, thanks for your feedback. Unfortunately, low frame rate through USB connection is Android platform limitation. Hopefully, it will be resolved over time. Cheers!
After installing and reinstating diffident versions of the jdk i’m getting the flowing error every time I lunch ddms.bat:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Android\android-sdk\tools>ddms.bat
08:17:15 E/ddms: shutting down due to uncaught exception
08:17:15 E/ddms: C:\Program Files\Java\jre6\bin\nio.dll: %1 is not a valid Win32
application
java.lang.UnsatisfiedLinkError: C:\Program Files\Java\jre6\bin\nio.dll: %1 is no
t a valid Win32 application
at java.lang.ClassLoader$NativeLibrary.load(Native Method)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadLibrary0(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadLibrary(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.Runtime.loadLibrary0(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.System.loadLibrary(Unknown Source)
at sun.security.action.LoadLibraryAction.run(Unknown Source)
at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
at sun.nio.ch.Util.load(Unknown Source)
at sun.nio.ch.WindowsSelectorImpl.(Unknown Source)
at sun.nio.ch.WindowsSelectorProvider.openSelector(Unknown Source)
at java.nio.channels.Selector.open(Unknown Source)
at com.android.ddmlib.MonitorThread.run(MonitorThread.java:201)
i’m using:
Windows 7 64
Java SDK 6 Update 23 (64-bit)
What is more stange is that the fist time i run it it ran fine and after the fist reebot no more. reinstalled android SDK and java, moved fthe 3 files form platform-tools to tools and still no luck.
Does anyone have any idea that can help?
Andre, you may need to manually add Java directory to your PATH variable or maybe look through the comments to see what helped other people to resolve similar issues.
Works great with Motorola Millestone =)
-it could be better with mouse support
Hey Alex,
U’ve got a great application, it really works, thanks for your constant support.
hi Alex. the application worked for me. it’s great. thanks for this detailed article. it helped a lot.
I am capturing screen-shots now from my Galaxy Tab using your Application.
thanks again.
here are some screen-shots taken by the Mighty Android Screen Capture :
http://google-plus-network.blogspot.com/2011/07/google-on-samsung-galaxy-tab-p1000.html
on the Samsung Galaxy Tab P1000 Android 2.3.3 Gingerbread
Is working for me on Samsung Galaxy S2 & Win 7 32bit, very good work!
I need a better frame rate to record while playing games on Android, there is a good app for this , or you plan to improve your app ?
Thanks!
Hi Andrew, thanks for your feedback. Unfortunately, low frame rate is limitation of Android hardware/OS, there’s nothing we can do about it. Hopefully, this will get improved eventually.
Hi Alex,
This is indeed a great App! Thanks a bunch for making it free for everyone. I have a minor question. In the version I installed which is v1.1 I have one less tab in the GUI compared to you. In the video [1], you seem to have a tab called “screen capture” which I don’t have, and which reflects the name of the application “screenshots, capture…”. Do you have any idea why I don’t have this tab? I am able to take screenshots which I can feed to something like MovieMaker and get a video (capture) out, but it would be cooler to have a capture straight from the device.
Thanks.
[1] http://www.mightypocket.com/2010/08/android-screenshots-screen-capture-screen-cast/
Hi Amine, thanks for your feedback. Kindly note that we used earlier version of Ashot to shoot the video, therefore toolbar buttons may be slightly different. As for capturing video, it’s a great idea, but unfortunately video quality is unacceptable due to low frame rate. Hopefully this will be changed eventually.
Thanks for your prompt reply
Also, the resolution I get for the screenshots is 256×320 which is inferior to the resolution of the screenshots you show above. What am I doing wrong?
Not sure. Maybe the view is zoomed out? How about ddms? What screenshot size does it create?
That’s exactly the screen resolution I get using ddms. Zooming in does not improve the resolution. I researched my device’s (Samsung Galaxy Fit) screen resolution and it is 240×320, so I guess this resolution I am getting is the device’s resolution.
Yeah, your assumptions sounds correct.
Good day- Am trying to install everything I need to run but every time I get a message that the Java JDK is not installed. I tried two different download and installed but did not work. I am running Win XP. Can you direct me to the correct JDK file to download?
Hi Larry. Have you tried downloading the JDK using this link? Also, please note that you may need to manually add Java directory to your PATH variable.
Boy, That was no fun, until just a few minutes ago.
But then, all of a sudden the image appeared inside the ASHOT screen.
I was able to follow most of the instructions as you gave them.
I had a snag at the Android SDK on the Android Repository – told me no compatibles
I added one directory to the path – still no connection to my phone- a Verizon HTC Droid Incredible.
Finally went to HTC.com – downloaded the latest driver for my phone, rebooted as required. (the driver download required several other Installs but it performed those automatically.)
Opened AShot – screen still blank.
Then, all of a sudden, something was still happening in the background, I guess and then… Bingo! my phones screen appeared on my PC monitor.
That’s really Cool!
So, Thanks a lot!
John
First of all, a big thank you for this tools – is great. Like all of you I’ve got the same problem on adb not connecting.
Running ashot.jar on my Win XP in a DOS box, it shows the following error message:
12:05:47 E/adb: Failed to get the adb version: Cannot run program “C:\Programme\
Android\android-sdk\tools\adb”: CreateProcess error=2, Das System kann die angeg
ebene Datei nicht finden.
(Sorry for the German message, but states: can’t find the program, when checking the version of adb)
I did not chekc the code, but the problem is very likely that adb is called with an absolute path to “c:\…\tools” instead of “no path” (so that it uses the PATH variable to resolve).
I hope this helps and works out properly… Jimmy
Jimmy, please copy adb.exe, AdbWinApi.dll, and AdbWinUsbApi.dll, from platform-tools to tools folder to resolve the issue.
Thanks and sorry for the inconvenience.
If anyone has Nokia Ovi also installed and the application always runs when you load try this
Extract the EXE file using something like winrar to get the .jar file
Create a BAT file with the following info
cd C:\LOCATION OF JAR FILE\
java -Xms256m -Xmx256m -jar install.jar
Run the bat file and launcher should now run
Charles, thanks for the suggestion.
Thanks for the tip! It was driving me crazy every time I tried to run the installer and the Ovi Suite would open instead.
This really does work it took me 2 days.when u have everything done like i did n it still wudnt work go back n make sure u moved ” adb.exe from platform-tools to tools folder.
Also copy AdbWinApi.dll and AdbWinUsbApi.dll from platform-tools to tools folder” seems simple but mine wud not work untile i did that .FOLLOW THE STEPS !!!
Hey half way trough downloading this long winded download lol just wondering if the might be anouther app like this were i can veiw my computer/laptop screen with out a wire or being on the same net work from my phone htc senceational
Hi Ben, thanks for you interest in the tool. However it is quite the opposite to what you might need — it shows phone screen on your computer’s screen. Alex.
Hi! Great app! actually it’s the best out there.
Could you please try to improve the framerate?
also, please make the program installation withought installer package, only a zip file.
Thanks
Hi Jack, thanks for your feedback and suggestions.
Unfortunately, we can’t do anything with the framerate because it’s limitation of the Android platform. Hopefully this will be improved in future devices.
As for installing Ashot, a zip file is available at Source Forge:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/ashot/files/Android%20Screen%20Capture%20v1.1/
Thanks!
I’ve got this “almost” working, but not quite. Using Windows XP machine. I can use ddms to do a screen capture fine. When I bring up Ashot, a little pop-up window appears with no text/explanation (nice…. not) looking for some sort of path to a file. Not sure what it’s looking for, but I can’t seem to satisfy it. It has a text box, a “browse” button (which I used but evidently didn’t find what it was looking for.) Also has an OK and a Cancel button. I wanted to go into “File” and set the path, but I can’t get there given that this pop-up supercedes it. And if I hit Cancel on the pop-up, the whole Ashot application goes away. Frustrating. Help?
Hi Mark, thanks for pointing this out. The path required by the app is Android SDK folder created in “2. Android SDK” above. Thanks for your interest.
Great application , exactly what I need. Will be presenting a new application in two weeks and need to install this software. Will it work for a tablet with Android 3.0 or 3.1
Regards
Hi Paul, thanks for your feedback. Yeah, it should work with any Android device, including Android 3.0 and 3.1. Thanks!
Thank you for writing this programme. It worked well for me.
*Windows 7 64 bit
*HTC Desire
Comments
* The installer failed on the last step and never completed but I simply ran the executable and it worked.
Thanks for the details.
Worked for me with Windows 7 & Samsung Apollo Galaxy
Try it out today. Follow all the steps and took a couple of times to disconnect my SGS2. Finally it was work at last. Awesome, this the kind of apps I was looking for……Thank you. You guys are great!!!!!!
Hi Alex!
I also ZTE Blade equipment that has a modified CM7 ROM drives.
Great work on your program, but it’s an old problem in the image rotated 180 degrees to the blade.
Could not this an opportunity to insert in your program?
Sorry for the bad English of use – the Google translation …
hi. gidano
Hi Gidano, thanks for your feedback. Hopefully we will have a chance to add this to the program soon. Thanks!
Niche applications, I look forward to …
Thank you!
Great post Alex. Was looking for a non-root based method to give phone demos to clients – and this works like a charm. Tried it on Samsung phones and works great.
For those who have multiple phone suites installed, run AShot from command line incase other applications start up on running AShot*.jar!
hi,
my 3.2 android tablet, iconia tab A500, works but, when I try to capture a video screen there is lag and the program save only image, I need a movie. How can I capture a video????
Hi there. Unfortunately, current frame rate is Android platform limitation and it won’t allow creating a high-quality video. Perhaps you will need an external video camera to record your tablet’s screen. Cheers!
Hi there!
I followed all the steps described above except:
“11. Connect your phone. You will be prompted for driver, which is located in the path mentioned above.” because I was not prompted for the driver.
I have the exact same issue as the one described above by Alireza (unfortunately I couldn’t figure out if Alireza managed to solve the problem).
My phone is Samsung GT-S5830 (aka Samsung Ace) running Android OS 2.2.1.
I am running Windows 7 on my PC and have just installed the latest Android SDK and JDK as described in the instructions.
Any help would be great!
Thanks a lot,
andre
Hi Andre. It might be that your phone driver is already installed. Have you tried native Android ddms tool to make screenshots?
Hi Alex, thank you for your reply.
Actually I’m not quite an expert (or close to it) but when I found your app I thought that it could be the solution for me. I installed the latest Android SDK and JDK, following the instructions, but that was all. What would you advice me to do next?
Thank you very much
Andre, try making screenshots using ddms tool (Android SDK folder –> tools –> ddms, then Device –> Screenshot). If you succeed, than you just need to copy adb.exe, AdbWinApi.dll, and AdbWinUsbApi.dll, from platform-tools to tools folder and Ashot should work for you.
Cheers!
Hi Alex,
The option Screen capture is disabled. I guess it means that but something might be wrong with my driver.
Any lucky guess?
Thanks
Andre, if you had your device connected while you were trying ddms, then yes, you need to do something with your driver. Perhaps your phone related forums might be helpful. Cheers!
Thanks Alex
Works like a charm. Though a very lov FPS. It takes 4 seconds for the screen to refresh?
Thanks! Unfortunately, this is a limitation of Android hardware. Hopefully it will get better eventually.
It works fine for my Windows 7 (64bit) and HTC Incredible S (Android 2.3.5)
Thanks for the great program … Cheers
Hi. Thank you for a great program.
I have installed it and when i use a Samsung Galaxy tab SII 7″ it works just fine. But today I plugged in a Samsung Galaxy SII 10″. But on the tab everything looks fine, but on the PC-screen the tab-screen rotates. Every 5-10 seconds it rotate CW. Do you have any solutions for that?
Hi Frank, unfortunately no solution available for that yet as this is the first report of such a problem. Does it rotate CW and makes the full round eventually?
No I’m sorry, it rotate CCW, but yes, all the way around, and it rotates every 5-7 seconds
Frank, thanks for the details. Sorry for the inconvenience, hopefully this will get fixed eventually.
Hi,
I followed your instructions and everything’s fine (although nothing had to look for the driver I connected my phone about a hundred times to my computer before this to save my pictures taken with the camera).
I would just suggest that the user can change how much pictures per second or minute should be taken when clicking on “Start Capture”.
But also without this, I think you made great work.
Thanks for the program!
Thanks for your feedback!
Hi!
When I launch Ashot, I get a small window asking for file to save, what ever I put in I get this errormsg:
Selected path to Android SDK is invalid
There is no way to change anything, when cancel it ends. I´ve tryied to run the debug, my Galaxy S show´s up connected AND I can se the screen in the debug window.
I run W7 have moved all (3) to tools and changed the path although they differ from your instructions ( I have no “program files”, or “windows” or “google” directories.
My path is:
;C:\Program\Android\android-sdk\tools;C:\Program\Java\jdk1.7.0_03
Pls can you see what i s wrong?
brgds
ulf
Hi, sorry for the confusion, you are expected to enter SDK path in the box which opens after first application launch. You can also enter it under File -> Set Android SDK folder. Please remember to copy adb.exe, AdbWinApi.dll, and AdbWinUsbApi.dll, from platform-tools to tools folder. Cheers!
Hi, It works fine for my droid, xmp sk17i
Thanks, … Cheers :-bd
Hello Alex,
Wonderful App, Thanks!! I have installed it and its working fine!! I have connected to Samsung Galaxy Fit (GT-S5670).
I just wanna know Can it be possible that as I type or make changes on my device and can see on Screen on my PC.Same way is it possible vice versa that if I type through keyboard or screen touch type on Application Device which I can see on my Computer I can notice changes on My device.
Cheers!! And Thanks for the great program
Unfortunately, the app can only capture the screen of Android phone. It is unable to capture any other input. Thanks!
I succesfully installed and connected everything, but when I try and record the screen
it just exports still frames instead of a movie file…. (my phone is not rooted) so I got a whole bunch of photos in my export folder.
Please help…..
Peter, unfortunately the Ashot tool is only capable of capturing screenshots. Video capturing is unavailable due to low frame rate provided by Android platform.
Hello,
Installation instructons followed:
Downloading and installing jdk1.7.0_02
Downloading and installing Android SDK
Downlaoding AndroidScreenCapureSetup.v1.1.exe: installation failed ;; error message : Unable to lunch application ;; Exception :
CouldNotLoadArgumentException[ Could not load file/URL specified: C:\Users\97292\AppData\Local\Temp\javaws9]
at com.sun.javaws.Main.launchApp(Unknown Source)
at com.sun.javaws.Main.continueInSecureThread(Unknown Source)
at com.sun.javaws.Main$1.run(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)
Downloading and extracting AndroidScreenCapture-1.1.zip, running AShot-1.1.jar failed :: error message : Unable to lunch application ;; Exception :
MissingFieldException[ The following required field is missing from the launch file: ]
at com.sun.javaws.jnl.XMLFormat.parse(Unknown Source)
at com.sun.javaws.jnl.LaunchDescFactory.buildDescriptor(Unknown Source)
at com.sun.javaws.jnl.LaunchDescFactory.buildDescriptor(Unknown Source)
at com.sun.javaws.jnl.LaunchDescFactory.buildDescriptor(Unknown Source)
at com.sun.javaws.Main.launchApp(Unknown Source)
at com.sun.javaws.Main.continueInSecureThread(Unknown Source)
at com.sun.javaws.Main$1.run(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)
Any workaround to solve this problem
Note: ddms.bat starting flawlessly
Thanks
Ahmed, unfortunately no ideas what’s wrong with the installation. I’d recommend rebooting your system and starting the install process over again.
Hi i dont know if this can help to people with the ddms.bat problem
My issue was.. the program opens but it didnt recognized any plugged devices
i tried in the menu > Actions and then >Reset adb
it worked for me when i oppened via console to see the changes
Hope this Helps and thanks for your program
Capturing my Galaxy S2
The installation was quick and easy (having to copy the files in tool folder)
Unfortunately it does not screencam the camera so no chance to output augmented reality stuff.
Is something that will be fixed or maybe is a problem of my installation?
Thanks
Luca
Hi Luca, it might have something to do with your phone model or the way the app displays the data on the screen. I don’t think there is a problem with you installation nor we can do something to fix this in the tool. Just curious, will the tool make screenshots correctly of the standard camera app?
I followed every step but when I connected my phone to the PC, it didn’t prompt for driver installation, same problem as Andre and alireza had – the phone wasn’t connected to the PC somehow.
I managed to get it to work by installing the driver manually. http://developer.android.com/sdk/oem-usb.html#InstallingDriver
Everything worked fine afterwards. =D
Today I decided to make more screenshots and this time it shows the phone is connected but the screen on my pc only shows the Android green guy.
I tried running ddm but it wasn’t able to take a screenshot. After playing around for a while, I decided to disable the debugging option on my phone. Then enable it again. After that both ddm and the screen capture program worked. Phew~
Hi,
Thanks for this, lovely tool, but I have a problem. When I run it the image displayed constantly switches between two positions. It’s only static if I lock my phone.
Image
Simon, this sounds like a hardware issue. Please let me know your phone model so that we could have a closer look when we come across this model.
Thanks for replying. I’m using an HTC Wildfire OS 2.3.4 (rooted). I think you are correct about it being hardware as I played about some more and discovered I have the same issue captering directly through the SDK using DDMS.
Hi,
I was using this tools for past few months on my Windows 7 machine and its an awesome tool. Now I have shifted to Apple Mac OS X Lion and it turns out that the set SDK dialog that pops-up does not accept the android-sdk-mac_x86 directory as SDK folder. To make this work simply copy-paste the actual path in the dialog rather than hitting browse button to set the SDK directory, and boom you will have it working.
Thanks ASHOT team, you have developed a really nice tool.
Hi,
When I was trying to install the application, it is opening my Nokia Suite. I have done this many times. Same issue.
Could you provide the solution.
Thanks in advance.
Hi there. Hopefully this advice can help.
The installer extracts but JZIP will not run the install.jar
Steve, you might need to launch it manually then:
java -jar install.jar
The problem that I have is that AShot-1.1.jar will not launch when I try to run it. When I double click on it, absolutely nothing happens. It’s like it won’t even try to run.
The ddms.bat file works just fine. It connects to my phone and I can see a screen shot of the phone.
I have Windows 7 (32 bit). The jar file seems to be associated with Java. At least it has the Java icon next to it. But nothing happens when I double click on it.
Your help would be much appreciated.
Bob, it might be a problem with Java shortcuts configuration. What happens if you launch the tool manually?
java -jar AShot-1.1.jar
That worked. I created a bat file and it started. I wasn’t sure how else to start it manually from Windows.
The only minor problem is that AShot prompted me for a path. So I had to browse to the SDK folder and it worked.
Is there a way to make AShot run from Windows by double clicking on it? Also do I need to do something so that I don’t have to manually navigate to the SDK folder?
Thanks for your help!
Bob
Bob, I’d recommend googling for the solution of associating “jar” extension with appropriate Java executable.
As for SDK folder, Ashot should prompt for the SDK path only once at the time of the first launch.
I followed all instructions and all went well as fas as I can tell. Yet it won’t see my Droid Bionic. The SDK Path is set to: /usr/local/android-sdk-macosx and the ashot.log shows only this for each session:
2012-07-20 15:11:15,236 TRACE [pool-1-thread-1] c.m.a.AndroDemon [AndroDemon.java:124] initBridge
2012-07-20 15:11:15,425 TRACE [pool-1-thread-1] c.m.a.AndroDemon [AndroDemon.java:126] create bridge
2012-07-20 15:11:15,576 TRACE [pool-1-thread-1] c.m.a.AndroDemon [AndroDemon.java:129] bridge is created
2012-07-20 15:14:29,999 TRACE [AWT-EventQueue-0] c.m.a.Mediator [Mediator.java:375] stopDemon
Any ideas? Another question: What mode do I choose for my Droid: PC, Windows Sync, Storage, or Charge only?
David, did you copy AdbWinApi.dll and AdbWinUsbApi.dll from “platform-tools” to “tools” folder? Can ddms take screenshots?
Yes, I did copy those files to “tools”.
So how about “ddms”? Can it take screenshots?
can i get some help??
I download every three of them,
I installed jdk 7 and 6..
and i can not move to second step which ashot or something like that
Please follow instructions in installation guide on this page and you should be all set.
I finally was able to run this program. What I did was to just set the android sdk folder to the android-8 version of the sdk under platforms( mine is not located in the c folder.
F:\Java\Android-SDK\android-sdk-windows\platforms\android-8\
No other works ike copying or smething…
HTH.
Erick
I managed to make it work. Here are my experiences I hape it will be helpful to smbdy else.
This is done on a Win7 64 bit – latest Android SDK at this date(5/9/2012) too lazy to look at the number.
1. After the install it asks for the SDK directory immediately. But you can not know it asks for the SDK, since it has no title on the window (it is empty!! ). When you give it a directory it says this is not Android SDK and then you figure out that it asks for Android SDK directory:)
2. Connection problem. I had the same problem with connect to device menu is disabled. I added the platform tools directory to my path variable. And I also have the adb and ddms working fine in my command line. But it still doesnt connect. Solution is just hard-copy adb.exe from platform tools to tools then it works magically.
Thanks.
Akif,
Great tutorial, Great tool. You need to follow all the steps carefully, it will take about 30-45 minutes to set up specially if you have a Galaxy S3. If you have a Galaxy S3 be sure to download the USB driver from samsung Samsung WEbsite Be sure to click on the “software” tab. I didn’t see it at first and it sucked. It’s at the bottom of the page the user manuals tab is selected by default choose the software tab. good luck
To those that are having troubles opening the installer:
Initially, when attempting to open the installer, I would get the extraction dialog box and then nothing would open. A quick and easy solution that worked for me was to right click and run the installer as an Administrator.
Aside from that, everything went smoothly! App works great for me. Thanks for the hard work
Hope this helped!
I cannot get the ddms.bat program to recognize my device. I have a Motorola Defy XT using windows 7 64 bit.
ddms is a standard Android tool, please have a look at those. Also, there are a few comments here that might be helpful. You will need to make ddms work before Ashot will be able to do its job.
Hi there,
I successfully manged the connection with Samsung Ace with Android 2.3.6 but failed for my Sony tablet S running Android 4.0.3. I have tried all of methods described above but nothing has improved since. May i know anyone here successfully got it works on the Android 4.0.3? And is there any compatible issues existing between those two Android versions?
Hi Jonathan, will ddms utility connect with your Sony tablet and take screenshots?
Thanks Alex for your response. Unfortunately, it doesn’t show any screenshot from the tablet. The only thing I have when running the file androidscreencast.JNLP is a pop-up saying “Please select a device” and an “agent” row with ip address of 127.0.0.1.
Jonathan, this looks like an interference with another tool called androidscreencast. You may want to uninstall it before using Ashot.
Alex,
I manage to get the Android Screenshot work successfully with the Android 2.3.6 but always fail with Android 4.0.3 (which I follow with the same steps and methods as the former). No device is found at the ddms window.
Jonathan, without ddms being able to connect with a device, Ashot wont’ be able to make screenshots either. This might be handset’s hardware or software related issue.
I’m having some trouble getting this working on my MacBook Air.
I followed the instructions (for windows – is there an Mac specific set?) and managed to get everything installed *except* the Google USB Driver as it said it was not compatible with Mac. I assume this is the issue as everything else installed just fine but the program doesn’t work.
Any help?
Jeremy, you don’t need Google USB Driver on Mac. Just check that ddms tool can take screenshots and Ashot should take screenshots as well. Also make sure that path to SDK folder is set correctly.
Hello,
I have 2 questions.
1. I seem to have a connection issue… I installed the tool and it sees my Kindle Fire HD. Then it keeps switching back and forth from displaying my Kindle’s screen to the Android icon(green guy). Not sure what is going on here. At thAny ideas as to why the kindle screen.
2. When I click on anything other than the tools window, it exits full screen. Is there any setting I can select to make the full screen stay up and showing while I am clicking on other windows on my 2nd monitor?
If I can get these 2 problems resolved, your tool will be a life saver!
Thanks,
Anthony
Anthony, thanks for letting us know about the issues. Unfortunately, it may take a while before they get fixed. Thank you for understanding.
Hi Alex
Thanks for your tool,it works well on my device.
Although it only 3fps ,but it’s helpful for me,By the way, can we improve the fps?
Can you explain the principle of this tool?
BR
Seven, unfortunately low frame rate is a hardware limitation and this can only be improved on the handset’s side. For more details about the tool please see http://www.mightypocket.com/2010/08/android-screenshots-screen-capture-screen-cast/
Hi ,
SDK manager wont lunch for me , i keep getting the following error :
failed to execute android.bat:
the system could not find the file specified.
I cut and copied AdbWinApi.dll and AdbWinUsbApi.dll from “platform-tools” to “tools” folder but still getting same error.
I also tried to lunch the app as an administrator same issue.
Any advice would be appreciated
thanks
Makram, you might need to start over again, reinstall the SDK, reboot your computer, or something similar. I’d recommend following the above instructions as close as possible.
it works fine on my Mac and XT800+. However, when it was in the full screen mode there seems to no way to change back. I have to turn off the power…sigh
Michael, thanks for feedback. Did you try using Esc key in full screen mode? Do you have an external monitor?
Nice tool but complicated to install. Good description how to install, so I managed to run the tool. PROBLEM:
On the PC screen the display of the mobile phone is upside-down. I can change landscape view from left to right, but not portrait view reversed (upside-down).
What is going wrong and how can I fix it. I’m using a LTE Blade phone (gen. 2, Android 2.2.1) with provided drivers (ZTE coposite ADB interface: Google ver. 1.0.10.1 date 25.06.2009); Win XP SP3
Tom, thanks for the feedback. In the new version of Ashot it will be possible to rotate 180 degrees. In the meantime I’d recommend rotating your device upside down and if your app supports this orientation Ashot will work fine.
Thank you, Alex!
Sorry, where can I download the new version?
At Sourceforge the newest version is 1.1 (2010-11-01).
This is the version that has the upside down problem.
Tom, 1.1 is the latest version at the moment. The next version may be available soon and it will allow rotating screen 180 degrees.
Is this work for samsung galaxy note 2? how to debugging usb in note 2? Thanks
Bayu, it should work on any Android device which is possible to connect to using Android SDK. Please follow instructions above to install the tool and SDK.
Thanks for this software.
I had the same problem “ashot not connecting to device” – Installing the correct USB driver solved the problem.
Friends,
If you experience the issue of “ashot not connecting to device” – please make sure your phone is connected to computer properly by checking in Device Manager. (If you’re using Samsung Galaxy – please set USB settings as an MTP device).
This error could happen if you don’t have proper drivers installed for the phone to be treated as USB.
Follow this link (as mentioned by someone above) to check if the drivers are installed properly.
http://developer.android.com/tools/extras/oem-usb.html#InstallingDriver
it says disconnected on the bottom right corner
I followed the steps even edit the ” path ” thingy please help
Mark, has the standard ddms tool been able to connect with your device?
I don’t get it? is that the bat file ddms in tools folder? I launched it but a cmd just came out and nothing happens
here are some screenshots :
http://i49.tinypic.com/x2w8i1.jpg
http://i45.tinypic.com/i1ejut.jpg
btw thanks for the fast response
Mark, yes, it’s that ddms. You may also want to try standard tools/monitor application. Ashot won’t be able to connect with a phone if standard tools don’t do that either.
I opened it but it doesn’t recognize my device
Mark, sorry to hear that. You may need to start over from scratch. Also try to reboot your computer & handset. Just make sure that standard Android tools work, and Ashot should work too. Good luck!
Hi,
Your app works just fine when the phone is booted. But I’m trying to take screenshots of my Samsung Galaxy S3 while in recovery mode. Does your app support that? DDMS is supposed to support it to and it does but apparently it doesn’t work on every Android device.
When I try to capture the screen either with DDMS or with your app, my device does not get detected as the GT-I9300. Instead, it gets detected as some numbers and letters.
Here are two screen shots. Any idea?
http://www.downloads.galaxyunlocker.com/ddms.PNG
http://www.downloads.galaxyunlocker.com/androidscreencapture.PNG
When I’m not in recovery mode, my device gets correctly detected as GT-I9300….
I appreciate your help!
Regards,
Mark
Mark, the Ashot tool uses the same API to retrieve screenshots as DDMS, so if the standard tool is unable to take screenshots, then Ashot won’t be able too. Most likely your device just blocks screenshots in recovery mode and provides its ID instead of human-readable name.
I am able to take screen shots in the debug monitor, but in your app “connect to handset” is greyed out. My device is the GSIII. Any suggestions
Bryan, thanks for your question. If you are using Windows, you may need to copy adb.exe, AdbWinApi.dll, and AdbWinUsbApi.dll, from platform-tools to tools folder. Other suggestions would be double-checking SDK folder (under File menu) and rebooting your computer.
I started reading these posts but haven’t read all of them. It sounds like a problem I had with my samsung connecting to my computer to use third party software. I found out by accident (used my partners computer) that it was samsung Keis that was the problem. I deleted Keis from my computer and have had no problem since.
Hope this helps
Hi Alex,
I downloaded the file (http://sourceforge.net/projects/ashot/?source=dlp) but when i tried to run it, it opened as Zip file.
Any Help!!
Lovlesh, zip archive — is one of the options of distribution. Just unzip its contents and you’re all set.
One quick note, when I installed the app and ran it, a dialog came up with no title or text of any sort, just an edit box, a browse button, and OK/Cancel. After fiddling with it I discovered it was looking for the Android SDK file. Not sure if that’s in the docs or not (who reads docs these days?), but once I set my SDK folder the app runs like a charm.
Many thanks for all of your great work on this!
Does this program work with Linux? If so can you point me at a url that explains how to install and run it, preferably with command line syntax. I have the SDK and JDK already installed (and working perfectly) on my linux machine.
Thanks very much,
Laura Creighton
Laura, we don’t test the tool on Linux, but there’s no reason why it wouldn’t work. Just unzip the distribution file available at source forge, enter the path to SDK on startup and it should be all set.
I just wanted to report that everything is working great with my debian linux system. I had to make a hard link between the adb that now lives in platform-tools so that AShot can discover it in tools, but otherwise it just worked right out of the box. Thank you very, very much. I don’t see a donation button anywhere on your sourceforge page, if I have missed it, please let me know because I would gladly send you something.
Laura, thanks for your feedback. Much appreciated — http://www.mightypocket.com/donations/
Unfortunately, your paypal payment page is configured, at least for those of us coming from Sweden, to require _the creation of a paypal account _ in order to make a donation. There is a way to configure paypal donations so that paypal only acts as a credit card processor, but apparantly you haven’t done that. If this ever changes, or you have another way to accept payment, do let me know, because 147 screenshots later, I am incredibly happy.
Laura, there should be a “Don’t have a PayPal account” option under login box. If it’s not available in Sweden, there’s not much we can do. Enjoy using the tool! Thanks.
The ‘don’t have a paypal account’ option is available in Sweden, but I haven’t been able to find out why this option only happens with some of the websites I visit, while other sites do precisely as yours does, and demand that I make a paypal account before letting me do business. If I ever find out, I will let you know. I am really sorry about this.
Hi there!
Have used this for a couple years now, awesome job! I have not had any issues downloading the Screen Capture until now. Just got a new laptop so I had to re-install everything. After I accept the terms, and it confirms the installation path, it finishes the pack installation and overall installation (2/2)… then when i click next it has a blank step, so I hit next again and that is where it just sits there… doesn’t get past that step. I tried to download v1.0 and v1.1 and the same thing happens.
Win7 SP1-64bit
No clue why this is happening. Any ideas?
Thanks!
TJ, please try unarchiving the zip file available from Sourcforge manually. This should do the trick.
Hi,
Thanks for the job. I installed your application (on windows 7), and following the install guide: worked fine.
I’ve been able to see android xperia arc screen on my laptop and then to take screenshots.
I tried then to install a video screen capture tool (jing). Uninstall them, but result is the same.
Go directly in ddms, and cannot see screen neither access the directory…
Any idea ?
Thanks
Joss, you might need start over and install everything from scratch.
Installed and working! So cool to see my Nexus 7 screen on my computer. I am wondering if people are having trouble because they have the SDK installed in a different folder other than program files? Anyway, great job and thanks!
Perfect!!!!!
Just Perfect!!!!! nothing less or nothing more
Have been having trouble taking snaps for long with that back and home button combinations, this is just the best solution i have ever seen.
Very detailed and clear installation instructions helped a lot, just followed each step and everything fell into its right place.
Thanks a lot Alex
–Afroz
Afroz, thanks for your feedback!