For basic tasks like rooting or using adb (Android Debug Bridge), you can download just the SDK Platform-Tools . 2. Setting Up Your SDK Root Folder
Open a terminal in your bin folder and run: sdkmanager "platform-tools" "platforms;android-33" "build-tools;33.0.2" . 3. Configuring the ANDROID_SDK_ROOT Variable Android SDK Command-Line Tools release notes android sdk root download
If using the standalone command-line tools, create a subfolder named latest inside cmdline-tools and move the bin , lib , and other files into it. This structure is required for the tools to function correctly. For basic tasks like rooting or using adb
If you don't want the full IDE, scroll to the "Command line tools only" section on the Android Developers download page. These packages are significantly smaller (~150 MB) and include the sdkmanager for manually installing other components. If you don't want the full IDE, scroll
You have two primary ways to get the SDK files needed to populate your root directory:
Create a dedicated folder (e.g., C:\Android\sdk on Windows or ~/Android/sdk on Mac/Linux).
Once downloaded, you must organize the files so your system can find them.