How to use ADB Shell when Multiple Devices are connected? Fails with "error: more than one device and emulator"

adb -d shell (or adb -e shell).

This command will help you in most of the cases, if you are too lazy to type the full ID.

From http://developer.android.com/tools/help/adb.html#commandsummary:

-d - Direct an adb command to the only attached USB device. Returns an error when more than one USB device is attached.

-e - Direct an adb command to the only running emulator. Returns an error when more than one emulator is running.

Another alternative would be to set environment variable ANDROID_SERIAL to the relevant serial, here assuming you are using Windows:

set ANDROID_SERIAL=7f1c864e
echo %ANDROID_SERIAL%
"7f1c864e"

Then you can use adb.exe shell without any issues.

To install an apk on one of your emulators:

First get the list of devices:

-> adb devices
List of devices attached
25sdfsfb3801745eg        device
emulator-0954   device

Then install the apk on your emulator with the -s flag:

-> adb -s "25sdfsfb3801745eg" install "C:\Users\joel.joel\Downloads\release.apk"
Performing Streamed Install
Success

Ps.: the order here matters, so -s <id> has to come before install command, otherwise it won't work.

Hope this helps someone!

I found this question after seeing the 'more than one device' error, with 2 offline phones showing:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Android\android-sdk\android-tools>adb devices
List of devices attached
SH436WM01785    offline
SH436WM01785    offline
SH436WM01785    sideload

If you only have one device connected, run the following commands to get rid of the offline connections:

adb kill-server
adb devices

The best way to run shell on any particular device is to use:

adb -s << emulator UDID >> shell

For Example:
adb -s emulator-5554 shell

As per https://developer.android.com/studio/command-line/adb#directingcommands

What worked for my testing:

UBUNTU BASH TERMINAL:

$ adb devices
List of devices attached 
646269f0    device
8a928c2 device
$ export ANDROID_SERIAL=646269f0
$ echo $ANDROID_SERIAL
646269f0
$ adb reboot bootloader

WINDOWS COMMAND PROMPT:

$ adb devices
List of devices attached 
646269f0    device
8a928c2 device
$ set ANDROID_SERIAL=646269f0
$ echo $ANDROID_SERIAL$
646269f0
$ adb reboot bootloader

This enables you to use normal commands and scripts as if there was only the ANDROID_SERIAL device attached.

Alternatively, you can mention the device serial every time.

$ adb -s 646269f0 shell

This gist will do most of the work for you showing a menu when there are multiple devices connected:

$ adb $(android-select-device) shell
1) 02783201431feeee device 3) emulator-5554
2) 3832380FA5F30000 device 4) emulator-5556
Select the device to use, <Q> to quit:

To avoid typing you can just create an alias that included the device selection as explained here.

User @janot has already mentioned this above, but this took me some time to filter the best solution.

There are two Broad use cases:

1) 2 hardware are connected, first is emulator and other is a Device.
Solution : adb -e shell....whatever-command for emulator and adb -d shell....whatever-command for device.

2) n number of devices are connected (all emulators or Phones/Tablets) via USB/ADB-WiFi:

Solution: Step1) run adb devices THis will give you list of devices currently connected (via USB or ADBoverWiFI)
Step2) now run adb -s <device-id/IP-address> shell....whatever-command no matter how many devices you have.

Example
to clear app data on a device connected on wifi ADB I would execute:
adb -s 172.16.34.89:5555 shell pm clear com.package-id

to clear app data connected on my usb connected device I would execute:
adb -s 5210d21be2a5643d shell pm clear com.package-id

For Windows, here's a quick 1 liner example of how to install a file..on multiple devices

FOR /F "skip=1"  %x IN ('adb devices') DO start adb -s %x install -r myandroidapp.apk

If you plan on including this in a batch file, replace %x with %%x, as below

FOR /F "skip=1"  %%x IN ('adb devices') DO start adb -s %%x install -r myandroidapp.apk

Use the device name before the shell command adb -s 7f1c864e shell

Create a Bash (tools.sh) to select a serial from devices (or emulator):

clear;
echo "====================================================================================================";
echo " ADB DEVICES";
echo "====================================================================================================";
echo "";

adb_devices=( $(adb devices | grep -v devices | grep device | cut -f 1)#$(adb devices | grep -v devices | grep device | cut -f 2) );

if [ $((${#adb_devices[@]})) -eq "1" ] && [ "${adb_devices[0]}" == "#" ]
then
    echo "No device found";
    echo ""; 
    echo "====================================================================================================";
    device=""
    // Call Main Menu function fxMenu;
else
    read -p "$(
        f=0
        for dev in "${adb_devices[@]}"; do
            nm="$(echo ${dev} | cut -f1 -d#)";
            tp="$(echo ${dev} | cut -f2 -d#)";
            echo " $((++f)). ${nm} [${tp}]";
        done

        echo "";
        echo " 0. Quit"
        echo "";

        echo "====================================================================================================";
        echo "";
        echo ' Please select a device: '
    )" selection

    error="You think it's over just because I am dead. It's not over. The games have just begun.";
    // Call Validation Numbers fxValidationNumberMenu ${#adb_devices[@]} ${selection} "${error}" 
    case "${selection}" in
        0)
            // Call Main Menu function fxMenu;
        *)  
            device="$(echo ${adb_devices[$((selection-1))]} | cut -f1 -d#)";
            // Call Main Menu function fxMenu;
    esac
fi

Then in another option can use adb -s (global option -s use device with given serial number that overrides $ANDROID_SERIAL):

adb -s ${device} <command>

I tested this code on MacOS terminal, but I think it can be used on windows across Git Bash Terminal.

Also remember configure environmental variables and Android SDK paths on .bash_profile file:

export ANDROID_HOME="/usr/local/opt/android-sdk/"
export PATH="$ANDROID_HOME/platform-tools:$PATH"
export PATH="$ANDROID_HOME/tools:$PATH"

you can use this to connect your specific device :

   * adb devices
  --------------
    List of devices attached
    9f91cc67    offline
    emulator-5558   device

example i want to connect to the first device "9f91cc67"

* adb -s 9f91cc67 tcpip 8080
---------------------------
restarting in TCP mode port: 8080

then

* adb -s 9f91cc67 connect 192.168.1.44:8080
----------------------------------------
connected to 192.168.1.44:8080

maybe this help someone

Here's a shell script I made for myself:

#! /bin/sh

for device in `adb devices | awk '{print $1}'`; do
  if [ ! "$device" = "" ] && [ ! "$device" = "List" ]
  then
    echo " "
    echo "adb -s $device $@"
    echo "------------------------------------------------------"
    adb -s $device $@
  fi
done

For the sake of convenience, one can create run configurations, which set the ANDROID_SERIAL:

Where the adb_wifi.bat may look alike (only positional argument %1% and "$1" may differ):

adb tcpip 5555
adb connect %1%:5555

The advance is, that adb will pick up the current ANDROID_SERIAL.
In shell script also ANDROID_SERIAL=xyz adb shell should work.

This statement is not necessarily wrong:

-s SERIAL  use device with given serial (overrides $ANDROID_SERIAL)

But one can as well just change the ANDROID_SERIAL right before running the adb command.

One can even set eg. ANDROID_SERIAL=192.168.2.60:5555 to define the destination IP for adb.
This also permits to run adb shell, with the command being passed as "script parameters".

On shells such as bash or zsh you might get automatic completion for device names after typing adb -s + tabtab.

Also see the project page at https://github.com/mbrubeck/android-completion which says:

On many Linux distributions it is installed and enabled by default. If you don't have it already, you can probably find it in your package repository (e.g. "aptitude install bash-completion").

Device name completion also appears to work on macos, not clear if that was done as part of Android Studio, Android SDK installation or some homebrew package.