A couple of years ago, Microsoft released the Windows Subsystem for Android, which came preloaded with the Amazon Appstore. Typical Android users may not have been happy with that, and while the app sideloading process itself wasn't difficult, installing the Google Play Store was a pretty tall order. Nowadays, the Windows Subsystem for Android is dead, though you can install it manually until March next year. However, many of the methods to install the Google Play Store no longer work, and with the advent of Google Play Games on Windows, it no longer makes sense to try.

This guide will no longer be updated to support the Windows Subsystem for Android, as the older WSAScript no longer works on Windows. While it has been updated (and we have steps below outlining that process), we can't guarantee that it will work forever or past the cut-off date. Instead, we recommend installing Google Play Games and sideloading apps there, as they will instantly work within an environment that still supports Google Play Games. While you can't install the Google Play Store directly (or any other app stores), you can sideload APKs and they will work natively. It's not quite the same, but it's good enough for what we imagine will be a rather small amount of applications that you would like to use.

For those who are looking to try this method, the new WSAScript can be found here, with steps matching this article.

This article is provided as is and may no longer work. Some steps have changed, some scripts may have been updated, and the Windows Subsystem for Android is no longer supported on Windows. As a result, we recommend installing Google Play Games and sideloading the applications that you would like there instead.

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How to install Google Play Store on the Windows Subsystem for Android

Step 1: Install Windows Subsystem for Linux

  1. Open the Windows Features tool by executing the optionalfeatures command from the Run prompt or a Terminal window. You can also click on the Start menu and search for the term "Turn Windows features on or off" to do the same.
  2. In the new window, place checkmarks for the Virtual Machine Platform and the Windows Subsystem for Linux entries.
    Virtual Machine Platform and WSL features
  3. Click OK and wait for Windows to download the required components.
  4. Restart your PC.
  5. Install the latest Ubuntu LTS release under WSL from the Microsoft Store using this link and configure it as necessary.

You should skip this step if you have already installed Ubuntu on WSL.

Step 2: Preparing Windows Subsystem for Android for patching

  1. Download the latest WSA Script from GitHub.
  2. Extract the ZIP file to a new folder
  3. Execute run.bat
  4. If it didn't work, press the Windows key and X, then choose Windows Terminal (Admin)
  5. Navigate to the folder you extracted the zip file, and run: PowerShell.exe -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .\Install.ps1

That's it! This script will handle the execution and installation of the Google Play Store on your Windows PC so that you don't need to worry about configuring anything. If the workaround doesn't work, then your PC does not support WSA. Otherwise, you're good to go!

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