Is it possible to USB tether an android device using adb through the terminal?

Question 1

Must have root to change values with setprop, and I am on a Mac OS without a rndis driver so I could not test your method of USB tethering. Another way, if you have the connectivity service (adb shell service list):

The following commands call ConnectivityManager.setUsbTethering(boolean enable) in Android 4.3:

adb shell su -c service call connectivity 34 i32 1 turns on USB tethering.

adb shell su -c service call connectivity 34 i32 0 turns off USB tethering.

For other Android versions replace 34 with the following setUsbTethering calling codes per Android version:

4.4.4: 34
5.1.0: 30
6.0.1: 30
7.0.0: 33

Question 2

Commands in accepted answer not work on Oreo because now should be additional parameter callerPkg and if put there some random text it works.

int setUsbTethering(boolean enable, String callerPkg);

So, for 8.0 / 8.1 Oreo:

service call connectivity 34 i32 1 s16 text - turn USB tethering ON

service call connectivity 34 i32 0 s16 text - turn USB tethering OFF

It works for me Android Pie with

service call connectivity 33 i32 1 s16 text - turn USB tethering ON

service call connectivity 33 i32 0 s16 text - turn USB tethering OFF

Question 3

For Android 5.0+ (Lollipop, Marshmallow) use:

adb shell su -c service call connectivity 30 i32 1 to turn USB Tethering ON

adb shell su -c service call connectivity 30 i32 0 to turn USB Tethering OFF

Keep in mind that this requires root.

Question 4

You can also script the inputs to start the Settings app and tick the checkbox, like in https://github.com/medvid/android-tether/blob/master/tether#L83.

Here's my script (pretty much the same as in the link, but slightly adapted):

adb shell am force-stop com.android.settings
adb shell input keyevent 3 # Home
sleep 2
adb shell am start -a android.intent.action.MAIN -n com.android.settings/.TetherSettings
sleep 2
adb shell input keyevent 19 # Up
adb shell input keyevent 20 # Down
adb shell input keyevent 66 # Enter
sleep 2
adb shell input keyevent 3 # Home

For Windows, just replace sleep with timeout -t.

Works fine for my OnePlus 3T running Android Pie (9) (with Google's Settings app (running the Pixel Experience ROM); can't verify if it works with other Settings apps or not)

Question 5

The service method did not work for me on my Samsung device. I figured out how to do it by configuring the network interface directly, though. Here is a script that sets up a Linux machine and a USB-connected rooted Android device for USB tethering. This does not set up DNS or NAT masquerading, but is sufficient to make the device accessible at 192.168.42.129:

#!/bin/bash
set -euo pipefail

# Set up USB tethering for an Android device.
# Usage: adb-usb-tether [USB-VENDOR USB-PRODUCT]
# If USB vendor/product is unspecified, use first USB network interface.
# On the Android side, tethering is enabled via adb shell.

if [[ $# -eq 2 ]]
then
    any=false
    vendor=$1
    product=$2
else
    any=true
fi

function find_if() {
    local path if
    for path in /sys/class/net/*
    do
        if=$(basename "$path")
        if [[ "$(readlink "$path")" == */usb* ]]
        then
            local ifproduct ifvendor
            ifproduct=$(cat "$(realpath "$path")/../../../idProduct")
            ifvendor=$(cat "$(realpath "$path")/../../../idVendor")
            if $any || [[ "$ifproduct" == "$product" && "$ifvendor" == "$vendor" ]]
            then
                echo "Found interface: $if" 1>&2
                echo "$if"
                return
            fi
        fi
    done
}

function adb_shell() {
    adb shell "$(printf " %q" "$@")"
}

function adb_su() {
    local quoted
    quoted="$(printf " %q" "$@")"
    adb shell su -c "$(printf %q "$quoted")"
}

if=$(find_if)
if [[ -z "$if" ]]
then
    echo "Requesting interface:" 1>&2
    adb_su setprop sys.usb.config rndis,adb
    echo " >> OK" 1>&2
fi

while [[ -z "$if" ]]
do
    echo "Waiting for network device..." 1>&2
    sleep 1
    if=$(find_if)
done

while ! ( ip link | grep -qF "$if" )
do
    echo "Waiting for interface..." 1>&2
    sleep 1
done

function configure_net() {
    local name="$1"
    local if="$2"
    local ip="$3"
    local table="$4"
    local cmdq="$5" # Query command
    local cmdx="$6" # Configuration command

    if ! ( "$cmdq" ip addr show dev "$if" | grep -qF 192.168.42."$ip" )
    then
        echo "Configuring $name interface address:" 1>&2
        "$cmdx" ip addr add 192.168.42."$ip"/24 dev "$if"
        echo " >> OK" 1>&2
    fi

    if ( "$cmdq" ip addr show dev "$if" | grep -qF 'state DOWN' )
    then
        echo "Bringing $name interface up:" 1>&2
        "$cmdx" ip link set dev "$if" up
        sleep 1
        echo " >> OK" 1>&2
    fi

    if ! ( "$cmdq" ip route show table "$table" | grep -qF "192.168.42.0/24 dev $if" )
    then
        echo "Configuring $name route:" 1>&2
        "$cmdx" ip route add table "$table" 192.168.42.0/24 dev "$if"
        echo " >> OK" 1>&2
    fi
}

configure_net local  "$if"   128 main  command   sudo
configure_net device rndis0  129 local adb_shell adb_su

Question 6

For Fairphone 2 with Fairphone Open OS (the "Android without Google" version, which is not installed by default) you need to:

Enable Developer mode (may be actived by default)
Search setting for "root" and enable root access for ADB
Enter bash command in quotes and use service code 31:
- Enable: adb shell su -c "service call connectivity 31 i32 1"
- Disable: adb shell su -c "service call connectivity 31 i32 0"

Question 7

Android 4.2 Jelly bean:

adb shell su -c service call connectivity 33 i32 1