Developer creates hack to run Google Play Store on Windows 11

Back in June, Microsoft promised to bring Android Apps on Windows 11, and a few days ago, it finally released the feature to Windows 11 Beta channel insiders. It also published a developer guidance for the underlying Windows Subsystem for Android (WSA). However, Android apps on Windows 11, at least for now, will only be delivered through the Amazon Appstore (available via the Microsoft Store), meaning that users would be missing out on a ton of more applications that are available on Google's Play store. Even on the Amazon App Store, there is only a curated selection of apps available right now.

To tackle this, a developer with the username ADeltaX has designed a script that will now allow users to take advantage of Google Play services on WSA. It is available on GitHub with the name WSAGAScript.

To install the script, you need to follow the instructions provided by the developer:

• Download MSIXBUNDLE (use store rg-adguard to download the msixbundle, Package id: 9P3395VX91NR, Ring: SLOW, size is around 1.2GB)

• INSTALL WSL2 (ubuntu/debian, any other distro could work)

• INSTALL unzip lzip

• DOWNLOAD GAPPS PICO FROM OPENGAPPS (x86_64, 11, PICO)

• EXTRACT MSIXBUNDLE, EXTRACT MSIX (YOUR ARCH) TO A FOLDER, DELETE (APPXMETADATA, APPXBLOCKMAP, APPXSIGNATURE, [CONTENT_TYPES])

• COPY IMAGES (SYSTEM.IMG, SYSTEM_EXT.IMG, PRODUCT.IMG, VENDOR.IMG) TO #IMAGES

• COPY (GAPPS PICO ZIP) TO #GAPPS

• EDIT (VARIABLES.sh) AND SET ROOT FOLDER

• EXECUTE:

  • extract_gapps_pico.sh

  • extend_and_mount_images.sh

  • apply.sh

  • unmount_images.sh

• COPY IMAGES FROM (#IMAGES FOLDER) TO YOUR EXTRACTED MSIX FOLDER

• OPEN POWERSHELL (NOT CORE) AS ADMIN, EXECUTE (Add-AppxPackage -Register PATH_TO_EXTRACTED_MSIX\AppxManifest.xml)

• RUN WSA WITH GAPPS, ENJOY

Lastly, the developer has noted that this is still a work in progress, so bugs and issues should be expected. The readme section will also be updated with simpler instructions and more details.

For those interested, WSAGAScript is available on GitHub. Bear in mind that this is a third-party tool that is still under active testing so you need to proceed at your own risk.