Here are the common reported problems and their status.
If you encounter any error, the first step is to upgrade to the latest version.
adb
issuesscrcpy
execute adb
commands to initialize the connection with the device. If
adb
fails, then scrcpy will not work.
This is typically not a bug in scrcpy, but a problem in your environment.
adb
not foundYou need adb
accessible from your PATH
.
On Windows, the current directory is in your PATH
, and adb.exe
is included
in the release, so it should work out-of-the-box.
ERROR: Could not find any ADB device
Check that you correctly enabled adb debugging.
Your device must be detected by adb
:
adb devices
If your device is not detected, you may need some drivers. There is a separate USB driver for Google devices.
ERROR: Device is unauthorized: ERROR: --> (usb) 0123456789abcdef unauthorized ERROR: A popup should open on the device to request authorization.
When connecting, a popup should open on the device. You must authorize USB debugging.
If it does not open, check stackoverflow.
If several devices are connected, you will encounter this error:
ERROR: Multiple (2) ADB devices: ERROR: --> (usb) 0123456789abcdef device Nexus_5 ERROR: --> (tcpip) 192.168.1.5:5555 device GM1913 ERROR: Select a device via -s (--serial), -d (--select-usb) or -e (--select-tcpip)
In that case, you can either provide the identifier of the device you want to mirror:
scrcpy -s 0123456789abcdef
Or request the single USB (or TCP/IP) device:
scrcpy -d # USB device
scrcpy -e # TCP/IP device
Note that if your device is connected over TCP/IP, you might get this message:
adb: error: more than one device/emulator ERROR: "adb reverse" returned with value 1 WARN: 'adb reverse' failed, fallback to 'adb forward'
This is expected (due to a bug on old Android versions, see #5), but in that case, scrcpy fallbacks to a different method, which should work.
adb server version (41) doesn't match this client (39); killing...
This error occurs when you use several adb
versions simultaneously. You must
find the program using a different adb
version, and use the same adb
version
everywhere.
You could overwrite the adb
binary in the other program, or ask scrcpy to
use a specific adb
binary, by setting the ADB
environment variable:
# in bash
export ADB=/path/to/your/adb
scrcpy
:: in cmd
set ADB=C:\path\to\your\adb.exe
scrcpy
# in PowerShell
$env:ADB = 'C:\path\to\your\adb.exe'
scrcpy
If scrcpy stops itself with the warning "Device disconnected", then the
adb
connection has been closed.
Try with another USB cable or plug it into another USB port. See #281 and #283.
On some devices, you may need to enable an option to allow simulating input. In developer options, enable:
USB debugging (Security settings)
Allow granting permissions and simulating input via USB debugging
The default text injection method is limited to ASCII characters. A trick allows to also inject some accented characters, but that's all. See #37.
Since scrcpy v1.20 on Linux, it is possible to simulate a physical keyboard (HID).
If the definition of your client window is smaller than that of your device screen, then you might get poor quality, especially visible on text (see #40).
This problem should be fixed in scrcpy v1.22: update to the latest version.
On older versions, you must configure the scaling behavior:
scrcpy.exe
> Properties > Compatibility > Change high DPI settings > Override high DPI scaling behavior > Scaling performed by: Application.
Also, to improve downscaling quality, trilinear filtering is enabled automatically if the renderer is OpenGL and if it supports mipmapping.
On Windows, you might want to force OpenGL to enable mipmapping:
scrcpy --render-driver=opengl
By default, SDL uses x11 on Linux. The video driver can be changed via the
SDL_VIDEODRIVER
environment variable:
export SDL_VIDEODRIVER=wayland
scrcpy
On some distributions (at least Fedora), the package libdecor
must be
installed manually.
On Plasma Desktop, compositor is disabled while scrcpy is running.
As a workaround, disable "Block compositing".
There may be many reasons. One common cause is that the hardware encoder of your device is not able to encode at the given definition:
> ERROR: Exception on thread Thread[main,5,main] > android.media.MediaCodec$CodecException: Error 0xfffffc0e > ... > Exit due to uncaughtException in main thread: > ERROR: Could not open video stream > INFO: Initial texture: 1080x2336 > ``` or > ``` > ERROR: Exception on thread Thread[main,5,main] > java.lang.IllegalStateException > at android.media.MediaCodec.native_dequeueOutputBuffer(Native Method) > ``` Just try with a lower definition:
scrcpy -m 1920 scrcpy -m 1024 scrcpy -m 800
Since scrcpy v1.22, scrcpy automatically tries again with a lower definition before failing. This behavior can be disabled with `--no-downsize-on-error`. You could also try another [encoder](README.md#encoder). If you encounter this exception on Android 12, then just upgrade to scrcpy >= 1.18 (see [#2129]):
ERROR: Exception on thread Thread[main,5,main] java.lang.AssertionError: java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException
at com.genymobile.scrcpy.wrappers.SurfaceControl.setDisplaySurface(SurfaceControl.java:75) ...
Caused by: java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Native Method) at com.genymobile.scrcpy.wrappers.SurfaceControl.setDisplaySurface(SurfaceControl.java:73) ... 7 more
Caused by: java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: displayToken must not be null
at android.view.SurfaceControl$Transaction.setDisplaySurface(SurfaceControl.java:3067) at android.view.SurfaceControl.setDisplaySurface(SurfaceControl.java:2147) ... 9 more
## Command line on Windows Since v1.22, a "shortcut" has been added to directly open a terminal in the scrcpy directory. Double-click on `open_a_terminal_here.bat`, then type your command. For example:
scrcpy --record file.mkv
You could also open a terminal and go to the scrcpy folder manually: 1. Press <kbd>Windows</kbd>+<kbd>r</kbd>, this opens a dialog box. 2. Type `cmd` and press <kbd>Enter</kbd>, this opens a terminal. 3. Go to your _scrcpy_ directory, by typing (adapt the path): ```bat cd C:\Users\user\Downloads\scrcpy-win64-xxx ``` and press <kbd>Enter</kbd> 4. Type your command. For example: ```bat scrcpy --record file.mkv ``` If you plan to always use the same arguments, create a file `myscrcpy.bat` (enable [show file extensions] to avoid confusion) in the `scrcpy` directory, containing your command. For example: ```bat scrcpy --prefer-text --turn-screen-off --stay-awake
Then just double-click on that file.
You could also edit (a copy of) scrcpy-console.bat
or scrcpy-noconsole.vbs
to add some arguments.
Translations of this FAQ in other languages are available in the wiki.
Only this README file is guaranteed to be up-to-date.