Required Warnings • YouTube Tutorial • Installation procedure • Uninstallation procedure • Gaining Root Access • Telegram Group
This project is being updated without schedule (though frequently). This README might not be completely clear right now, it will be fixed ASAP.
As for potential questions - please open Discussions instead of Issues.
Issues are needed in cases if you have an actual issue that prevents you from using this project.
By using the tools (scripts, but not limited to) provided by this project, you agree with the terms of Unlicense License, which states that "THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS"".
To end user this serves as a warning, though we currently don't have any explicit confirmations - such way of installing Google Services and Google Play Store may potentially be in a legal gray area.
Any product or trademark referenced in this document (or project as whole) belongs to their respective owners. No copyright infringement is intended.
As a temporary measure and additional information (especially if README remains unclear, @ADeltaX provides a video-tutorial hosted on YouTube
Click on the image to see the video
If you have never used WSL, please do check the following:
- You must be running Windows 10 version 2004 and higher (Build 19041 and higher) or Windows 11
Fastest way to check your build version is to run winver command in Windows Search or via "Run..." (Right-click the Start button to access "Run...")
- Why do I need that "WSL"?
Because of the way Android as an operating system is built - specific tools to do the modifications that we are doing are only available on Linux-based OSes. The fastest way to get access to these tools is via WSL.
- Open Windows PowerShell as an Administrator
- Run
wsl --install: this will install Ubuntu 20.04 LTS in WSL (Version 2) and all necessary components required to run as it is default (this is recommended)
Your PC may restart several times when downloading and installing required components. After that - follow installation wizard instructions to proceed. If you have any questions, official documentation from Microsoft for WSL will help you.
- Check with
wsl --list --verboseto be sure that you have a Linux Distro installed with WSL2 version. If for some reason you have receieved WSL1 kernel (or you have trouble running this command in general) - follow instructions in the section below to perform conversion.
Microsoft Docs: Installing WSL
Microsoft Docs: Set up and best practices
If you have trouble installing WSL2 with wsl --install in general - follow this instruction from Microsoft.
Microsoft Docs: Manual installation steps for older versions of WSL
If you have already used WSL, have trouble installing with wsl --install or for some reason have received a WSL1 version installation, this section is for you.
Follow these steps:
- Download WSL2 kernel for manual installation. Use the Microsoft Docs link above (Manual Installation) and check Step 4 to receive the kernel package.
- Open Windows PowerShell as Administrator and run:
wsl --shutdownto stop all WSL related processes (if any are running).
- Install the kernel package from the step above.
- Return to Windows PowerShell and run:
wsl --list --verboseto get your installed distribution name. In case of Ubuntu, it most likely will look likeUbuntu-20.04.wsl --set-version <distribution name> 2, replace with the one that you have.- Optional: if you would like to automatically install only WSL2 version builds in future.
wsl --set-default-version 2. To be sure about the difference, check Microsoft Docs: WSL - Compare versions
For now, we are assuming that you have went with default installation (Ubuntu), terminal commands will be provided for Ubuntu. Commands provided for the most part will work for other Linux Distributions but there may be some that use other package managers. Check how to correctly install applications for your chosen distribution on the internet.
Run following in the WSL Terminal (If you are unsure what is WSL Terminal, refer to the video, Microsoft Docs, or search Ubuntu in your start menu to be sure):
Attention! For new users who have never used Linux Terminals - when you are being asked for your password (which you've set up when installed WSL) - it will NOT be displayed in the terminal as part of security measures. You should enter it blindly and then press enter. If the password was entered incorrectly system will give you two more attempts, after which you will need to run the command again and try entering the password again.
sudo apt update
sudo apt install unzip lzip
We have checked the availability of updates and requested installation of two packages which are required for execution of scripts provided by this project. They may be already present at your installation, but it is better to check anyway.
For the sake of simplicity, create a folder in the root of C Drive, so you will have C:\WSA\. You may use another location if you would like, be sure to adjust commands below for new location.
Attention! The folder where you will place the files which we will be downloading is going to become an installation folder. DO NOT delete that folder!
Attention! At the time of last update for this README, any attempt to run scripts if they are located in path that contains spaces (like "Zulu Storage" in D:\Zulu Storage\WSA) will result in an error. Be sure to use paths with no spaces as long as fix have not been implemented.
Hint: You can also open any folder (even those that are located within Linux WSL Filesystem, by typing explorer.exe . (Yes, with the dot) in the WSL Terminal, to move files around.
As we need to modify installation files, we cannot download WSA from the Microsoft Store. To download it directly we will use this service
Use settings:
- ProductID: 9P3395VX91NR
- Ring: Fast
Click the checkmark, and locate the file which has a size of approx. ~1.3GB (usually at the bottom of the page) and has .msixbundle extension.
Click the filename to begin downloading (or copy the download link). You may be warned by your web-browser that "The file cannot be downloaded securely". Disregard the warning and force the download (use buttons like "Keep anyway" or similar, depending on your web-browser)
Save the file at our prepared directory C:\WSA\
- Download 7zip or a similar archival program and use it to extract downloaded file. Do not mind that this file does not bear any archival extensions (like .zip).
- After extraction open
C:\WSA\MicrosoftCorporationII.WindowsSubsystemForAndroid_versionnumber_neutral___identifier\. This folder will contain a lot of.msixfiles, use "Sort by size" to locate two biggest files. - Extract the one that is valid for your architecture, like this one
WsaPackage_1.8.32822.0_x64_Release-Nightly.msix - Open the extracted folder
- Locate and delete files
AppxBlockMap.xml,AppxSignature.p7xand[Content_Types].xml - Locate and delete
AppxMetadatafolder
Do not close this folder - we will return here to collect *.img files.
To install Play Store, we need to get it from somewhere. Use OpenGApps.
Use settings:
- Platform: x86_64 if you are running Windows on a traditional laptop/PC, otherwise choose ARM64
- Android: 11.0
- Variant: Pico (at the time of writing this README, only minimal functionality with Pico variant have been confirmed working).
For the time being save the .zip file at C:\WSA\gapps-zip-file-name.zip. Do not extract it.
As we have used C:\WSA, you will be able to use Windows Explorer to move files around.
Reminder: commands provided are for Ubuntu
Attention! To be sure that you can access your Windows filesystem from inside of WSL, you can run cd FolderName to change to another directory and ls to list what files and folders you have there. Typically, Windows Filesystem is available by "/mnt/$DriveLetter/", so /mnt/c/Users will be your Windows C:\Users
cd /mnt/c/WSA
git clone https://github.com/WSA-Community/WSAGAScriptWait for the command to finish running.
At the Extract step (in Download Windows Subsystem for Android™️ Installation Package) of this Guide we have got a folder that contains four *.img files which are product, system, system_ext and vendor. Move those files into C:\WSA\WSAGAScript\#IMAGES
Then issuing ls /mnt/c/WSA/WSAGAScript/\#IMAGES via WSL terminal should give the list of the following files:
product.img system_ext.img system.img vendor.img
We also have C:\WSA\gapps-zip-file-name.zip. Copy this .zip file into C:\WSA\WSAGAScript\#GAPPS. Do not extract it, just move the file.
Issuing ls /mnt/c/WSA/WSAGAScript/\#GAPPS via WSL terminal, you should get something similar to the following:
open_gapps-x86_64-11.0-pico-20220503.zip output product_output
If you are using this project on a device with ARM architecture (e.g., Qualcomm Snapdragon), please edit VARIABLES.sh and set the correct architecture. Hint is in the file.
You should still be in the same directory within the WSL Terminal, if not use cd /mnt/c/WSA/WSAGAScript to get back.
Set executable permissions for the scripts:
chmod +x *.shVerify that your scripts are executable by running ls -l and checking that you have -rwxrwxrwx at the start of lines that contain files: VARIABLES.sh, apply.sh, extend_and_mount_images.sh, extract_gapps_pico.sh, unmount_images.sh.
Make sure you're in the same directory as in the step before, then run:
./extract_gapps_pico.sh
sudo ./extend_and_mount_images.sh
sudo ./apply.sh
sudo ./unmount_images.shAfter successful execution, you can now copy edited images from C:\WSA\WSAGAScript\#IMAGES back to C:\WSA\MicrosoftCorporationII.WindowsSubsystemForAndroid_1.8.32822.0_neutral___8wekyb3d8bbwe\WsaPackage_1.8.32822.0_x64_Release-Nightly (example, the folder from where you have taken the images).
- Use Windows Search to find "Developer Settings", when PC Settings app opens, enable "Developer Mode" on that page.
- Uninstall any other installed versions of WSA (if you had any, uninstall exactly the main WSA app, all Android apps that have been added to the Start Menu will be removed automatically)
- Open Windows PowerShell as Administrator and run
Add-AppxPackage -Register path-to-extracted-msix\AppxManifest.xml
Where path-to-extracted-msix, use path from "Copy the edited images" section (right above) as example.
WSA will install with GApps, make sure to sign in to Play Store and install "Android System WebView" or most apps will crash without that component.
- Locate Windows Subsystem for Android™️ in your Start Menu, right-click, uninstall. This will uninstall Android and all Android Apps will vanish from Start as they are just shortcuts wired in from the WSA. You don't need to uninstall all Android Apps one-by-one beforehand.
- Locate the directory where you have placed the files (in the example of this README it would be
C:\WSA) - remove it.
Done.
You can get root access by replacing the kernel. (This step is no longer required to sign in GApps.)
Copy the kernel file from this repo (in misc folder) and replace the kernel file inside the Tools folder of your extracted msix (make sure WSA is not running, use Stop button inside WSA Settings, and close settings).
Kernel files inside misc are named for their respective architectures, do not forget to rename the file you took to kernel before placing it back into Tools.
This will allow you to use su inside the adb shell.
Enter into the adb shell and run the following commands:
suYou are now root.
It is possible to add files to WSA (Windows Subsystem for Android) through WSL. As an example, we will install busybox and bash.
First, turn off WSA:
- Open Windows Subsystem for Android Settings
- Turn off Windows Subsystem for Android (press Turn off)
Then open a WSL terminal:
cd /mnt/d/WSA/...MicrosoftCorporationII.WindowsSubsystemForAndroid_versionnumber_neutral___identifier...
# Temporarily extend the "system" filesystem to allow adding things
e2fsck -f system.img
sudo resize2fs system.img 1280M
# Mount "system" in read-write
sudo mount system.img /mnt/systemCheck the most recent binaries for x86_64-linux; at the time of writing: https://busybox.net/downloads/binaries/1.35.0-x86_64-linux-musl/
cd /mnt/system/system
sudo mkdir xbin
cd xbin
sudo wget https://busybox.net/downloads/binaries/1.35.0-x86_64-linux-musl/busybox
sudo chmod 755 busybox
for i in `./busybox --list`; do sudo ln busybox "$i"; done
# We will use the debian bash executable
sudo mkdir temp
cd temp
sudo wget http://http.us.debian.org/debian/pool/main/b/bash/bash-static_5.1-2+b3_i386.deb
sudo dpkg-deb -R bash-static_5.1-2+b3_i386.deb tmp
sudo chmod 755 tmp/bin/bash-static
sudo cp tmp/bin/bash-static ..
cd ..
sudo rm -r temp
# Yet another bash executable...
sudo wget https://github.com/robxu9/bash-static/releases/download/5.1.016-1.2.3/bash-linux-x86_64
sudo chmod 755 bash-linux-x86_64
# Unmount system filesystem
cd
sudo umount /mnt/system
# Shrink the system filesystem to minimize its size as much as possible
e2fsck -f system.img
sudo resize2fs -M system.imgStart Windows Subsystem for Android (e.g., open Windows Subsystem for Android Settings and press the button close to Files).
Open a CMD with path to adb.
adb connect 127.0.0.1:58526
adb shell
su
export PATH=$PATH:/system/xbin
type vi