adb server version doesn't match this client

Question

Whenever I try to run adb devices:

            $ adb devices
            * daemon not running. starting it now *
            * daemon started successfully *
            List of devices attached
            HT0ANRV05740    device

It says daemon is not running and restarts the daemon.

Then, if I run adb devices again, it does the same thing -

            $ adb devices
            adb server is out of date.  killing...
            * daemon started successfully *
            List of devices attached
            HT0ANRV05740    device

Then, if I run it again, it again does the exact same thing -

            $ adb devices
            adb server is out of date.  killing...
            * daemon started successfully *
            List of devices attached
            HT0ANRV05740    device

Please help!!

Also, my DDMS keeps giving me the following message -

[2011-02-23 16:17:05 - DeviceMonitor]Adb connection Error:An existing connection was forcibly closed by the remote host

Here are the logs from just before adb restarts -

              1291        locapi_rpc_glue  V  loc_ioctl
              1291                    RPC  D  written RPC packet size: [480]
              1291                    RPC  D  read RPC packet
              1291                    RPC  D  read RPC packet size: [28]
              1291             lib_locapi  V  qct_loc_eng_inject_xtra_data, inject part = 100, len = 167, len = 167
              1291             lib_locapi  V  qct_loc_eng_inject_xtra_data, total part = 100, len = 167
              1291        locapi_rpc_glue  V  loc_ioctl
              1291                    RPC  D  written RPC packet size: [248]
              1291                    RPC  D  read RPC packet
              1291                    RPC  D  read RPC packet size: [28]
              1291             lib_locapi  D  qct_loc_eng_inject_xtra_data: injected 39767, SUCCESS
              1291             lib_locapi  V  inject_xtra_waiting = flase
              1291    GpsLocationProvider  D  Releasing wakelock
              1291            WifiService  D  releaseWifiLockLocked: WifiLock{NetworkLocationProvider type=2 binder=android.os.Binder@47aead50}
              1291            WifiService  D  enable and start wifi due to updateWifiState
              1218            rmt_storage  I  rmt_storage open event
              1218            rmt_storage  I  rmt_storage client thread started
              1218            rmt_storage  I  rmt_storage events processing done
              1218            rmt_storage  I  rmt_storage register cb event
              1218            rmt_storage  I  rmt_storage status id = 2
              1218            rmt_storage  I  rmt_storage events processing done
              1218            rmt_storage  I  rmt_storage open event
              1218            rmt_storage  I  rmt_storage client thread started
              1218            rmt_storage  I  rmt_storage events processing done
              1218            rmt_storage  I  rmt_storage register cb event
              1218            rmt_storage  I  rmt_storage status id = 2
              1218            rmt_storage  I  rmt_storage events processing done
              1218            rmt_storage  I  rmt_storage write event
              1218            rmt_storage  I  unblock rmt_storage client thread
              1218            rmt_storage  I  rmt_storage events processing done
              1218            rmt_storage  I  rmt_storage write: bytes written = 3145216
              1218            rmt_storage  I  rmt_storage write: bytes written = 512
              1218            rmt_storage  I  rmt_storage status handle = 1
              1291       BatteryStatsImpl  I  notePhoneSignalStrengthLocked: 4->3
              1218            rmt_storage  I  rmt_storage write event
              1218            rmt_storage  I  rmt_storage events processing done
              1218            rmt_storage  I  unblock rmt_storage client thread
              1291    PowerManagerService  D  New lightsensor value:40, lcdValue:143
              1291    PowerManagerService  D  lightSensorChangedLocked, buttonValue >= 0, mPowerState = 3
              1218            rmt_storage  I  rmt_storage write: bytes written = 3145216
              1218            rmt_storage  I  rmt_storage write: bytes written = 512
              1218            rmt_storage  I  rmt_storage status handle = 2
              1291                    RPC  D  read RPC packet
              1291                    RPC  D  read RPC packet size: [80]
              1291        locapi_rpc_glue  V  Callback received: 80 (cb_id=0x50B0000 handle=1)
              1291                    RPC  D  written RPC packet size: [28]
              1470   usicWidgetController  D  unbindMusicPlaybackService()
              1707   MediaPlaybackService  E  BadQueue mPlayListLen : 0 mAlbumListLen : 0 mShrinkAlbumListLen : 0
              1291    NotificationService  V  Battery Full, Charging
              1291                 lights  E  write ok string=0,len=1
              1291                 lights  E  write ok string=0,len=1
              1291                 lights  E  write ok string=0 0,len=3
              1291                 lights  E  write ok string=1,len=1
              1707       MediaPlayer.java  D  setOnCompletionListener being cleaned to null
              1291                 lights  E  write ok string=0,len=1
              1291                 lights  E  write ok string=0 0,len=3
              1291    NotificationService  V  Turn off Jogball/OJ LED
              1291    NotificationService  D  cancelNotification, ACTION_NOTIFICATION_REMOVE,pkg=com.htc.music,id=1
              1291           AudioService  I   AudioFocus  abandonAudioFocus() from [e-mail]$5@476dd838

Answer 1

To actually explain what happens:

The ADB executable has two components

• the server, which communicates with the device
• and the client, the command line, which communicates with the server.

When you start ADB for the first time you may notice a message like "starting ADB server". If you updated ADB after that, the newer executable needs to kill the obsolete server and start a new one with matching version.

This can also happen when you have multiple versions of ADB present on your development machine (Genymotion, Android SDK, phone OEM companion apps, various standalone scripts).

This does not concern the ADB installed on your phone/emulator.

The obvious (not necessarily easy) solution is to make sure you use the same version of ADB everywhere.

Answer 2

This was caused in my case by running Visual Studio with an Android Xamarin project on the same machine as Android Studio - each IDE had a different adb server version running. I closed Visual Studio and the error went away.

Answer 3

installing sdk updates (including platform tools) fixed for me!

Answer 4

Since adb server is out of date. killing is now a dupe of this, copy-paste of a solution for Debian-based systems:

It might be that you installed the adb package in addition to the SDK's. In that case, a

sudo apt purge adb

might solve the problem.

Answer 5

I uninstalled Dell PC Suite and HTC Sync from my computer and this problem went away.

EDIT: To elaborate a bit on the cause of this problem: HTC sync comes with an ADB server of its own. And it updates your PATH environment variable to point to its version of the server. Edit the PATH variable and remove the reference to the HTC Sync directories. Now you're using Google's ADB again.

Answer 6

As mentioned above, the problem comes due to a conflicting version of adb.exe shipped with HTC Sync. Removing it from PATH won't help, as htcUPCTLoader.exe that constantly runs in the background will still re-launch the wrong ADB version.

One solution would be to completely remove adb.exe from the HTC Sync folder, however this would break HTC Sync.

I've just coded a simple tool that replaces the old adb.exe with a stub that invokes the latest adb.exe from the SDK directory eliminating the conflicts (e.g. version 1.0.25 coming with HTC Sync and 1.0.29 with Android SDK).

The tool can be downloaded from http://visualgdb.com/adbfix