Microsoft has ended support for Windows Subsystem for Android (WSA), the feature that runs Android apps on Windows 11. In this video tutorial, I test whether you can still get Android apps and the Google Play Store on Windows 11 with a free community build of WSA. Short answer: yes, it still works. Below are the download links and every step from the video.
In this article
Microsoft’s WSA end-of-support announcement
This is what Microsoft announced in March 2024:
Microsoft is ending support for the Windows Subsystem for Android™️ (WSA). As a result, the Amazon Appstore on Windows and all applications and games dependent on WSA will no longer be supported beginning March 5, 2025. Until then, technical support will remain available to customers.
Customers that have installed the Amazon Appstore or Android apps prior to March 5, 2024, will continue to have access to those apps through the deprecation date of March 5, 2025. Please reach out to our support team for further questions at support.microsoft.com. We are grateful for the support of our developer community and remain committed to listening to feedback as we evolve experiences.
Read the full notice on the official Microsoft website: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/android/wsa/
Update (October 2026): Since March 5, 2025, WSA and the Amazon Appstore are no longer available in the Microsoft Store. The community WSABuilds project keeps publishing Long Term Support (LTS) builds. Its README warns that older builds with Google apps can crash on recent Windows 11 versions and recommends updating to the latest LTS release, so check the releases page before you download.
Download WSA with Google Play Store
This is the build I used in the video. It includes the Google Play Store (MindTheGapps) and the Amazon Appstore. The download is about 600 MB.
Download WSA (used on the video)
- Download the latest WSABuilds on GitHub: https://github.com/MustardChef/WSABuilds
- All releases of Windows Subsystem for Android: https://github.com/MustardChef/WSABuilds/releases
On the releases page, MindTheGapps means the build contains the Google Play Store and Google services, RemovedAmazon means the Amazon Appstore is not included, and NoGApps builds have no Play Store at all. Choose x64 for Intel and AMD PCs.
Requirements
- Windows 11 (I tested on version 23H2 with the latest updates).
- At least 8 GB of RAM (16 GB recommended) and at least 10 GB of free space on C: (NTFS).
- Virtualization enabled in your BIOS/UEFI.
- Virtual Machine Platform turned on in Windows Features. The WSABuilds page also lists Windows Hypervisor Platform.
- 7-Zip to extract the
.7zfile.
How to install Android apps and the Google Play Store on Windows 11
- Download the WSA build with the button above (or the latest LTS build from the releases page).
- Install 7-Zip if you don’t have it, then right-click the
.7zfile and extract it. Keep the.7zarchive until WSA is installed and working. - Move the extracted folder to a place where it can stay. WSA runs from this folder, so do not delete it later.
- Open the folder, right-click Run.bat and select Run as administrator.
- If the script says that Virtual Machine Platform must be enabled, accept it and restart your PC.
- If virtualization is disabled on your PC, enter the BIOS/UEFI setup while the PC starts (usually Esc, F2, F9 or Delete, depending on the model), enable Virtualization Technology, then save and restart. You can check it in Task Manager > Performance > CPU: it must say Virtualization: Enabled.
- Right-click Run.bat again, select Run as administrator and click Continue on the windows that appear until Windows Subsystem for Android is installed.
- Open the Google Play Store, sign in with your Google account and install your apps. Google may send a security alert to your phone because you signed in from a new device.
In the video, I installed a game (War Robots) from the Play Store, and it ran without problems.
Optional: give Android apps more power
Open the Windows Subsystem for Android settings app and go to Advanced settings. There you can change the memory allocation and choose which graphics card Android apps use (for example the high-performance GPU). This helps if games or apps run slowly.
