Android 11 wifi adb error "Unable to start pairing client"

Question

I downloaded the latest platform-tools for windows, then I enabled developer mode on my phone and turned on adb over wifi. However after I enter the command adb pair ipaddr:port I get the error "Failed: Unable to start pairing client" (after entering the code).

adb is working fine over the cable, and wifi adb is working with my watch. Any ideas?

Phelips

Did you figure this out? I'm seeing it, too. – Saiz

Same problem here – Epps

I have the same problem too. – Ortiz

Just wanted to point out for the few users that land here for the reason I did. This is also the behaviour if you accidentally enter the wrong IP or port and it can't find the device to connect to. The wording of the error is not entirely clear. – Jounce

Just wanted to add here, that you should have connected to the same wifi and same gateway, on both the server and the client you want to connect to In my case, these two were different, and internally they use the same router, but it didn't work until I explicitly connected both the server and client to the same gateway – Tartaglia

Answer 1

I tried all possible way. Then I click on forget wifi and then again connect to wifi then entered the pair and code again then it starts working

Eglanteen

This is the only thing that worked for me, in my case I only had to turn computer wifi off and on. – Decoct

Same. Forgetting the wifi and connecting to it again worked. – Official

In my case I had to restart wifi router (unplug and plug) – Starkey

I have to login and give you a vote up :v – Almsman

turning wireless debugging off and on, was it for me. – Sikata

Answer 2

Had the same problem. Turns out the port used for adb pairing changes each time you ask for a pairing code. I didn't update mine, so it didn't work. When I realized that, and typed in the pairing code, everything worked as expected.

Cresida

perfect answer :) – Trigg

<3 fantastic and straight to the point! – Speculation

Answer 3

Try pinging the device 2-3 times and then pair. Only this solution worked for me.

Amulet

could you please add more details around how to ping the device? – Mummery

in the command prompt (windows) or terminal (linux) type ping <device_ip> device ip can be found in settings – Amulet

This helped me identify that the ping was failing, so I hit forget network on both mobile and PC and after reconnecting everything worked fine. – Pilatus

Oneliiner: ping -c 4 <ip> && adb pair <ip>:<port> – Ortiz

Yup same for me @SanalS, I realized something was wrong and so I disconnected both devices from wifi, reconnected them and then enabled wireless debugging again. – Radicand

@Mummery when you're in the 'wireless debugging' screen on your android device, you should see device IP under 'IP Address & port', the bit before ":". Ping that in your terminal – Radicand

Also check if you're pinging or pairing to the correct ip and there is no mistyping of the ip – Monge

Answer 4

In my case I was connected to a VPN on my workstation and that's why I got this message. Disconnecting from the VPN fixed it.

Protolanguage

Answer 5

One solution that worked for me is to try and establish a tcp connection first to the pairing target.

nc -vz <ip_addr>:<pairing_port>

Once this is successful in establishing a connection, proceed with adb pair. I'm not sure why, but this is the only thing that worked for me. Rest all failed.

Sullyprudhomme

For nc me it says forward host lookup failed: h_errno 11004: NO_DATA so it seems that the phone does not open the port. Any idea why the port is not opened correctly ? – Stellate

In my case I had nc: missing port number when calling nc -vz 192.168.1.110:35699. – Witha

@DmitriiDemenev replace the colon with a space – Flense

Answer 6

For me, it worked after I restarted Android Studio (or the command line).

Betthezul

Answer 7

In my device the IP address given in Wireless debugging screen is 10.1.10.1 which I know is not my local router's IP address. My router uses 192.168.0.xxx addresses. I found my device's IP address by going to advanced section of connected WiFi network and used that when connecting to adb keeping the port same.

so instead of

adb pair 10.1.10.1:<port>

I used

adb pair 192.168.0.xxx:<port>

Sampling

And then after that, adb connect 192.168.0.xxx:<port> (not :5555) – Supercharge

Answer 8

most android devices have an option to use Randomized MAC address enabled by default. switching it to use Phone MAC address fixed the issue for me.

https://source.android.com/docs/core/connect/wifi-mac-randomization-behavior

Tuinenga

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Answer 9

My issue was I had AFwall+ enabled, so some network connections where blocked which should not have been. I don't know which exactly, but disabling the firewall made it pair.

Varner

Answer 10

In my case "User Isolation" was enabled on my modem router which prohibited direct communication between connected devices, after I disable it everything worked as expected.

Chlorinate

Was connected to a VPN and had the same problem because of that xD – Micronesia

Answer 11

If you've recently enabled developer mode on your phone, try restarting it. I was receiving the error, "Failed: Unable to start pairing client", then I rebooted my phone and after that I was able to pair.

Yare

This is because it causes a re-connection to wifi. If I had to guess, there is a bug in the developer options that fails to receive commands until restarting the wifi. – Dissimilate

Answer 12

First make sure the computer isn't paired with the device already in Wireless debugging options under "Paired devices". If it is, forget the pairing. Next restart the device. Afterwards when the device boots back up again, re-enable "Wireless debugging". Sometimes (I think) the computer fingerprint expires on the device and adb pair starts failing. The device at this point may re-prompt you asking to allow the computer's fingerprint. After that adb pair should start working again. Finally once it pairs you may need to run adb connect again with the ip and port listed under "IP address & Port" in Wireless debugging options.

Shadwell

Answer 13

Make sure you are not accidentally connected to a VPN / WireGuard service in the background without noticing.

Micronesia

This was my problem, I was connected to NordVPN. Once the VPN was disabled, clicking on "Pair the device with a pairing code" gave me a 192.168.1.xxx ip instead of 10.5.0.xxx and using that in adb pair worked – Jointless

Answer 14

I was on a guest wifi network that blocked inter device communication. Switching to my main network solved it.

Quit

Good answer, but unforunally inter device communication is active in my network, so this is not the answer for me. – Stellate

Answer 15

Both devices must be on same network. In my case I was connect to two different networks.

Pyatt

Answer 16

If none of the aforementioned solutions prove effective, consider restarting the router, as this resolved the issue in my case.

Utmost