Windows 11 + PowerShell 7: Find adb.exe and Add It to User PATH

Goal: confirm where Android Studio installed the SDK, then add its platform-tools to your User PATH so adb works anywhere (no admin needed).

Prerequisites

• Android Studio installed
• Android SDK Platform-Tools enabled (Android Studio → Tools → SDK Manager → SDK Tools → check Android SDK Platform-Tools)

1. Confirm SDK location in Android Studio

Android Studio → Tools → SDK Manager.
At the top, copy Android SDK Location (e.g. C:\Users\<your-username>\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk).

2. Derive your adb.exe path

Append \platform-tools\adb.exe to that SDK path, e.g.
C:\Users\<your-username>\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk\platform-tools\adb.exe

3. Sanity check (no PATH changes yet)

& "C:\Users\<your-username>\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk\platform-tools\adb.exe" --version
& "C:\Users\<your-username>\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk\platform-tools\adb.exe" devices

& "C:\Users\<your-username>\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk\platform-tools\adb.exe" --version
& "C:\Users\<your-username>\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk\platform-tools\adb.exe" devices

4. Add platform-tools to User PATH (recommended)

Affects only your account; no admin required.

# PowerShell 7 (non-admin)
$SDK = "C:\Users\<your-username>\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk"   # paste from Studio
$PT  = Join-Path $SDK 'platform-tools'
$OLD = [Environment]::GetEnvironmentVariable('Path','User')
[Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable('Path', (($OLD, $PT) -join ';').Trim(';'), 'User')

# PowerShell 7 (non-admin)
$SDK = "C:\Users\<your-username>\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk"   # paste from Studio
$PT  = Join-Path $SDK 'platform-tools'
$OLD = [Environment]::GetEnvironmentVariable('Path','User')
[Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable('Path', (($OLD, $PT) -join ';').Trim(';'), 'User')

Close and reopen PowerShell so the new PATH is loaded.

5. Verify

Get-Command adb | Format-List Source
adb --version
where.exe adb

Get-Command adb | Format-List Source
adb --version
where.exe adb