Chrome DevTools Devices does not detect device when plugged in

I cannot seem to get the DevTools Devices feature to work on my Samsung Galaxy S4 even after following the steps outlined at https://developers.google.com/chrome-developer-tools/docs/remote-debugging

My device has Chrome v32 and Chrome Beta v33, while my PC has Chrome v33 and Chrome Canary v35.

USB debugging is enabled on my device and device driver has been installed. I have never got the prompt as outline in step 3 from the above link to approve the RSA key fingerprint yet the device does connect to my PC to allow media transfer. I have even revoked all USB debugging authorizations as per the link above.

I don't have any thing extra installed on my PC for Android development which may perhaps be the issue. I wish to utilise this feature to inspect web pages from the devices point of view.

To get the functionality up and running:

• Follow steps at https://developers.google.com/chrome-developer-tools/docs/remote-debugging
• Install Windows USB driver http://developer.samsung.com/android/tools-sdks/Samsung-Android-USB-Driver-for-Windows
• Install Android SDK http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html
• Install Android SDK Platform-tools http://developer.android.com/sdk/installing/adding-packages.html (this step was blocked on corporate wifi so I installed the single ADB package it required https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2317790)
• Use command prompt to run ADB, in cmd go to the install directory of the ADB tools and type:
• adb.exe (might need to start and stop ADB using adb kill-server and adb start-server)
• Connect phone and browse to about:inspect in Chrome on desktop, ensuring a Chrome browser is open on your device

Following the above steps I got the RSA key fingerprint prompt to accept then I saw my device in Chrome.

Definitely not as easy as I thought it would have been but at least it now works.

Update 24 February 2016

So I updated to Windows 10 and now have a Samsung Galaxy S5, devices running Chrome v48.0.2564.116 m and v48.0.2564.95 respectively. Followed the steps from the Google docs and...it didn't work again, no RSA key prompt. So I began to follow my steps as above and thought there had to be a faster way as the Android SDK was over 1GB download.

This time I tried:

• Follow steps at https://developers.google.com/chrome-developer-tools/docs/remote-debugging
• Install Windows USB driver http://developer.samsung.com/android/tools-sdks/Samsung-Andorid-USB-Driver-for-Windows (the PC alerted me saying it was already installed but I still did it anyway)
• Install the single ADB package required https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2317790)
• Go to the ADB install folder which for me was C:\Program Files (x86)\Minimal ADB and Fastboot\
• Open command prompt and run adb devices (alternatively I could have run adb start-server but the prior gives a more informational response)

Now, with Chrome open on my phone and chrome://inspect/ open on my desktop I can see the inspect options.

Next problem: I need to repeat the same steps each time I reboot Windows. To solve that issue:

• Open a text editor and copy in "C:\Program Files (x86)\Minimal ADB and Fastboot\adb" devices
• Save that file as adb.bat in the Windows Startup folder located at C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\StartUp

Note that the file does NOT need to be called adb.bat as long as it is a .bat file. The command you copied into the file has the default install path which you may need to alter for your set up.

Now I have the Chrome Inspect feature working when I need it.

Bit thanks and shout out to all others who have contributed their answers to this question which helped guide me towards a useful update to my answer. Please give credit to other answers where you find they have helped you too.

On a Galaxy S7 and Windows 10 laptop, all I had to do whilst connected to the computer was change the USB connection mode to "Audio Source" (Phone Settings > Developer Options > USB Configuration).

This then immediately came up with the on-device prompt to allow the RSA key fingerprint. Then the dev tools on computer recognised my device.

Why this works I do not know, however it is by far the simplest of solutions, and without the need for installing unnecessary software.

I have also had some luck changing it to "MTP (Media Transfer Protocol)" mode too, but only on occasion.

Edit:

The MTP option no longer works for me.

In addition to Audio Source, setting the connection mode to MIDI also works. It is alot easier to change the connection mode by accessing it straight from the device's notification bar - Tap the "Transferring media files via USB" or the equivalent notification.

Using MIDI is probably the easiest of the two since it doesn't require going into several setting screens to access it.

If you are using "MTP mode" for USB computer connection. Change it to "PTP mode" or "Card reader mode".

I have same issue and it works fine to me.

(Note - this worked for me using a Samsung S6. I'd appreciate any comments on the phone version used, for anyone these instruction work for)

If your phone is connecting to your computer and being recognised on the computer, and you've enabled USB debugging on your phone, but the phone doesn't appear under 'Remote devices' in the Chrome developer tools, then you can first try restarting the automatic discovery process by selecting the following on your phone - 'Settings > Developer Options > Revoke USB Debugging Authorizations'.

If this doesn't work, then the problem is likely that the Android Debug Bridge Daemon is either missing or not running on your computer (info about ADB - https://developer.android.com/studio/command-line/adb.html)

You don't need the full Android SDK to use ADB, you can download the standalone Android SDK Platform Tools from here:

https://developer.android.com/studio/releases/platform-tools.html

First, install the tools for your platform. I'm using Windows, and the steps for me were:

-Unzip the download into c:\platform-tools (I just put it here for convenience, you can choose a different location).

-Open command prompt (run as administrator) in folder, and run the following command:

adb devices

(The adb.exe is in our folder). This will start the daemon and show you a list of attached Android devices.

If you see 'unauthorized' next to a device, it means you have to unlock your phone and choose 'allow access to device data', then 'always allow access from this computer'. You should then see your phone connected in the developer console:

You'll need to have the Daemon running every time your computer restarts. Put a .bat file in your startup folder, to run the daemon every time your computer starts (if you've been following my instructions exactly, the content of the .bat file you'll need to create will be c:\platform-tools\adb devices).

If you now have difficult accessing a URL (e.g. 'localhost') that you're sending to Chrome on your Android device (via the Chrome dev tools on your computer), that's a different issue. See this question for advice How can I access my localhost from my Android device?

(in brief, you need to make sure your computer and phone are connected on the same network, so connect both onto the same wi-fi network or tether your computer to your phone's hotspot, then run ipconfig to get your wireless IPv4 IP address, and use that IP in the URL you want to view on your phone)

Note: For the initial debugging connectivity to work, you need to be using MTP mode (Media Transfer Protocol) on your Android, for USB transfer (MTP is the default). There's a fix mentioned in one of the answers that involves switching this mode to something else, however that probably just triggers some type of re-recognition, and you're likely to be automatically switched back to MTP mode anyway if you disconnect then reconnect the phone.