diff --git a/src/se/vidstige/jadb/AdbServerLauncher.java b/src/se/vidstige/jadb/AdbServerLauncher.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..762197f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/se/vidstige/jadb/AdbServerLauncher.java
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+package se.vidstige.jadb;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+
+/**
+ * Launches the ADB server
+ */
+public class AdbServerLauncher {
+    private Runtime runtime;
+
+    public AdbServerLauncher() {
+        this(Runtime.getRuntime());
+    }
+
+    public AdbServerLauncher(Runtime runtime) {
+        this.runtime = runtime;
+    }
+
+    private String findAdbExecutable() {
+        String android_home = System.getenv("ANDROID_HOME");
+        if (android_home == null || android_home.equals("")) {
+            return "adb";
+        }
+
+        return android_home + "/platform-tools/adb";
+    }
+
+    public void launch() throws IOException, InterruptedException {
+        Process p = runtime.exec(new String[]{findAdbExecutable(), "start-server"});
+        p.waitFor();
+        int exitValue = p.exitValue();
+        if (exitValue != 0) throw new IOException("adb exited with exit code: " + exitValue);
+    }
+}
diff --git a/test/se/vidstige/jadb/test/RealDeviceTestCases.java b/test/se/vidstige/jadb/test/RealDeviceTestCases.java
index 689c404..f36c746 100644
--- a/test/se/vidstige/jadb/test/RealDeviceTestCases.java
+++ b/test/se/vidstige/jadb/test/RealDeviceTestCases.java
@@ -1,11 +1,9 @@
 package se.vidstige.jadb.test;
 
 import org.junit.Before;
+import org.junit.BeforeClass;
 import org.junit.Test;
-import se.vidstige.jadb.JadbConnection;
-import se.vidstige.jadb.JadbDevice;
-import se.vidstige.jadb.JadbException;
-import se.vidstige.jadb.RemoteFile;
+import se.vidstige.jadb.*;
 
 import java.io.File;
 import java.io.FileOutputStream;
@@ -16,6 +14,17 @@ public class RealDeviceTestCases {
 
     private JadbConnection jadb;
 
+    @BeforeClass
+    public static void tryToStartAdbServer() {
+        try {
+            new AdbServerLauncher().launch();
+        } catch (IOException e) {
+            System.out.println("Could not start adb-server");
+        } catch (InterruptedException e) {
+            System.out.println("Could not start adb-server");
+        }
+    }
+
     @Before
     public void connect() throws IOException {
         try {