After being released to the public, the Windows Subsystem for Android has already been reworked to allow users to download the Google Play Store and accompanying Google Play Services, which means we can now download most Google apps on Windows 11.
This article is a streamlined version of the tutorial originally posted by ADeltaX Internal on YouTube. If you are looking to follow this tutorial and need a visual guide, be sure to watch the video.
What you need
Before we get into the tutorial there are a few things we need on our PC. You will also need to uninstall the Windows Subsystem for Android (WSA) if you already have it installed.
- Run CMD as an Admin and enter the following “wsl –install” and wait for it to complete and then restart your PC.
- Go to the Microsoft Store and install Ubuntu. Follow the instructions to download it, restart your PC, and open the Ubuntu terminal if it doesn’t automatically open. You should be prompted to create a user account, follow the steps.
- In the Ubuntu terminal (Administrator) enter the following “sudo apt-get update“. This will ensure all the packages are up to date.
- Next, you want to enter “sudo apt install lzip unzip“, wait for the install to complete and then enter “sudo apt install dos2unix“.
- Go into Windows Settings -> Privacy & security -> For developers and turn on Developer Mode.
Install Google Play Store
Time needed: 30 minutes.
Now that the above is done we can get onto the actual tutorial. This is working at the time of writing this post. If you plan to do this, you do so at your own risk.
- Download the WSA app
Go to store.rg-adguard.net and opengapps.org in two separate tabs. On the store.rg-adguard.net page select ProductID from the dropdown and enter “9P3395VX91NR” into the search bar. Change the dropdown on the right to Slow. Hit the tick button. Once generated, scroll to the bottom of the list, and download the file that’s around 1.2GB in size. This didn’t work for me in Chrome, but it did in the latest version of Edge.
- Extract the WSA app
Once downloaded, open the file using WinRAR or something similar. You will see a list of packages, double click on the one for your device. The one that includes ARM64 for ARM devices and x64 for 64x devices.
- Create a WSA folder and copy it
In the root of your C: drive create a folder called “WindowsSubsystemAndroid“. Go back to the file that’s open and copy everything in to the WindowsSubsystemAndroid folder we just created. Do not copy AppxMetadata, AppxBlockMap, AppxSignature, and [Content_Types].
- Create a Google Apps folder
In the root of your C: drive create a folder called “GAppsWSA“. Go to the WSAGAScript Github Repo and download the ZIP. Unzip the folder and copy the contents into the GAppsWSA folder. Ensure you copy everything over.
- Download Open GApps
Go to Open GApps, select x86_64, 11.0, and apico. Hit the download button. If you are using an ARM device change x86_64 to ARM64 and hit the download button. Once downloaded, navigate to GAppsWSA\#GAPPS and copy and paste the Open GApps ZIP folder into it. Do not UNZIP it.
- Creating cracked files
Go into WindowsSubsystemAndroid and copy vendor.img, system_ext.img, system.img, and product.img files into GAppsWSA\#IMAGES.
- Open Ubuntu terminal
Once open enter “sudo su” to get root privileges. Enter your password and change the directory to “cd /mnt/c/” then enter “cd GAppsWSA/“.
- Run dos2unix
Now, enter “dos2unix ./apply.sh“, then “dos2unix ./extend_and_mount_images.sh“, then “dos2unix ./extract_gapps_pico.sh.”, “dos2unix ./unmount_images.sh“, and “dos2unix ./VARIABLES.sh“. Clear the console with “clear“.
- Execute the images
In the terminal enter “./extract_gapps_pico.sh.” Once complete enter “./extend_and_mount_images.sh“. Once complete enter “./apply.sh“. Once complete enter “./unmount_images.sh“.
- Copying the images
In the GAppsWSA\#IMAGES folder copy the product, system, system_ext, and vendor image files and paste them back into the WindowsSubsystemAndroid folder.
- Replace the kernal
Go back into GAppsWSA\misc copy the kernel file go in to the WindowsSubsystemAndroid\Tools folder and rename the existing kernel file to “kernel_bak“. Now paste the one from GAppsWSA\misc.
- Adding the WSA app
Run Windows PowerShell as Admin and enter the following “Add-AppxPackage -Register C:\WindowsSubsystemAndroid\AppxManifest.xml“. The WSA app should be installed now.
- Setting up WSA
Locate the Windows Subsystem for Android app and open it. Once loaded in, turn on developer mode, and open Files at the top of WSA (opt out of sending diagnostic data as it’s a modified install). This will ensure WSA starts, and Google Play should begin to install. You might get a notification and it will show up in your apps after a minute or two. You can now close the files Window but leave WSA open.
- Download ADB Toolkit
Go into the root of your C: drive and create a folder called ADBKit, go to this link and download and UNZIP the file. Copy the three files and move them into the ADBKit folder.
- Get around the Play Store Sign in page
Run Windows PowerShell as Admin and enter “cd C:\ADBKit” then “.\adb.exe connect 127.0.0.1:58526“. If it says failed to connect ignore it, it has worked. Now enter “.\ adb.exe shell“, then “su“, then “setenforce 0“.
- Sign into the Google Play Store
Open the Google Play Store and follow the sign in steps. Before you try download any apps you will need to close the Google Play Store and go into the WSA app and click Turn Off. Wait for the loading icon to disappear and close it.
- Replace the kernel file
Before you can use WSA, the kernel file we edited earlier must now be replaced with the original. Go to WindowsSubsystemAndroid\Tools and rename the kernel file to “kernel_root” and then rename kernel_bak to “kernel“. You are now done!
You should now be able to open the Google Play Store and install Google’s apps. Most apps should work but some will not. For an app to work on Windows 11 it must support the x86_64 architecture or have a universal APK that support all platforms. This is something that developers will have to address now that Microsoft is serious about Android apps on Windows 11.
