[Resolved] Appium could not find devices restarting adb server and ENOENT issue ~ Digi Tech One

Setting up and configuration of Appium Automation tool can be a headache sometime, as they have published so many version in short span of time. Recently, I was facing an issue on Windows 7 (x64) operating system, where I was using Appium 0.16 version (tried other versions too including latest 1.2), with Java jdk 1.7.0_67, and Android Debug Bridge 1.0.31

and the error I got was warn code=enoent errno=enoent syscall=spawn & info could not find devices restarting adb server

To make suer that I have set up everything correctly, as per appium read me instructions, I ran Appium Doctor command, which was saying that I had configured appium correctly:

C:\Appium\node_modules.bin>appium-doctor -android
Running Android Checks
? ANDROID_HOME is set to “C:\Android_SDK”
? JAVA_HOME is set to “C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.7.0_67.”
? ADB exists at C:\Android_SDK\platform-tools\adb.exe
? Android exists at C:\Android_SDK\tools\android.bat
? Emulator exists at C:\Android_SDK\tools\emulator.exe
? Android Checks were successful.

? All Checks were successful

Problem: When I open appium.exe, it wasn’t populating AVD devices drop down (Ideally that drop down displays all the AVD devices you have created under your user account on that machine. I had few AVD devices created)

Appium doesnt show AVD devices in Dropdown

But if I go to command prompt and open Appium.exe it was populating the AVD names in drop down, but it was of no use as when I launch the appium by clicking on launch buttion (with pre-launch option and all other capabilities) appium was throwing following error related to could not find devices restarting adb and ENOENT issue:

Starting Node Server
ERROR: debug: Starting Appium in pre-launch mode
info: Pre-launching app
ERROR: debug: Using local app from command line: C:\sdk\build-tools\android-4.4W\app-debug.apk
info: Starting android appium
ERROR: debug: Creating new appium session 2b76fae6-2605-47dd-9a23-c47a402663af
ERROR: debug: Using fast reset? true
info: Retrieving device
ERROR: debug: Preparing device for session
ERROR: debug: Checking whether app is actually present
ERROR: debug: Checking whether adb is present
ERROR: debug: Using adb from C:\Android\android-sdk\platform-tools\adb.exe
ERROR: debug: Trying to find a connected android device
ERROR: debug: Getting connected devices…
ERROR: debug: executing: “C:\Android\android-sdk\platform-tools\adb.exe” devices
ERROR: debug: Could not find devices, restarting adb server…
ERROR: debug: executing: “C:\Android\android-sdk\platform-tools\adb.exe” kill-server
warn: code=ENOENT, errno=ENOENT, syscall=spawn
ERROR: error: Error killing ADB server, going to see if it’s online anyway
warn: code=ENOENT, errno=ENOENT, syscall=spawn
ERROR: debug: Getting connected devices…
ERROR: debug: executing: “C:\Android\android-sdk\platform-tools\adb.exe” devices
ERROR: debug: Could not find devices, restarting adb server…
ERROR: debug: executing: “C:\Android\android-sdk\platform-tools\adb.exe” kill-server
warn: code=ENOENT, errno=ENOENT, syscall=spawn
ERROR: error: Error killing ADB server, going to see if it’s online anyway
warn: code=ENOENT, errno=ENOENT, syscall=spawn
ERROR: debug: Getting connected devices…
ERROR: debug: executing: “C:\Android\android-sdk\platform-tools\adb.exe” devices
ERROR: debug: Sent shutdown command, waiting for UiAutomator to stop…
warn: UiAutomator did not shut down fast enough, calling it gone
ERROR:

Node Server Process Ended

Solution: After trying various JDK, Appium and ADB versions one small thing fixed the problem and it was adding system32 location “%SystemRoot%\system32” as PATH variable under System variables. Basically appium might need something system32 directory to interact with adb command during run time.

To add system32 as PATH, go to System Properties >> Environment Variables >> System Variables, and add or edit PATH variable add “%SystemRoot%\system32” (without quotes) and save it then Restart the machine once.