Can I use Google Play on my laptop?

How to get the Google Play Store on Windows 11

No need to limit yourself to the Amazon Appstore

By Anyron Copeman, Senior Staff Writer| 28 Oct 2021

Native Android app support is one of Windows 11s most exciting features, but there are some notable limitations.

The most significant is that you can only officially download apps from the Amazon Appstore, which has a tiny fraction of those youll find on the Google Play Store. It also remains in testing at the time of writing, limited to the Beta Channel of the Windows Insider Program if you have a US account.

But what if there was a way to access the full Play Store library on any Windows 11 device right now? It sounds too good to be true, but weve tested and can confirm that the method described in this article works.

It was first discovered by ADeltaX and uploaded to YouTube, although a simplified version has since been provided by A-hAAn. The latter is what were following here.

How to install the Google Play Store on Windows 11

Before proceeding, it's worth noting that this process only works with x86, 64-bit devices. Theres a separate link below for ARM-based devices, but it wont work on 32-bit hardware.

Youll also need to make sure virtualization is enabled first. Head to Control Panel > Programs > Turn Windows features on or off. Make sure the boxes next to Virtual Machine Platform and Windows Subsystem for Linux are both ticked, then click OK to confirm.

If youve already installed the Windows Subsystem for Android (WSA), youll also need to uninstall it. Open Settings > Apps > Apps & features and search for it. If nothing appears, its not installed.

1. Head to Settings > Privacy & security > For developers
   
2. Under Developer Mode, click the toggle to turn it on, then click Yes to confirm
   
3. Download a new version of the Windows Subsystem for Android via the following link. If youre using an ARM-based device such as the Surface Pro X, use this link instead
4. Once complete, head to the downloads folder in File Explorer and double-click the file known as WSA-Patched to unzip it
   
5. In the search bar at the top of the Start menu, type powershell
6. From the options on the right, click Run as Administrator. Click Yes to confirm you allow the app to make changes
   
7. In the PowerShell window that appears, paste Add-AppxPackage -Register C:\WSA-Patched\AppxManifest.xml, but replace the C:\WSA-Patched\ section with the location of the unzipped file in File Explorer (click the address bar, then copy and paste it). In the example below, its Add-AppxPackage -Register C:\Users\anyro\Downloads\WSA-Patched\WSA-Patched\AppxManifest.xml
   
8. It might not look like anything has happened, but you should now see Windows Subsystem for Android in the Recommended section of the Start menu. Click to launch it
   
9. From the window that appears, click Files to start the WSA
10. After a few seconds, you should see a pop-up saying Windows Defender Firewall has blocked some features of this app. Click Allow access to continue
    
11. You should now see the Play Store and Amazon Appstore in the Recommended section of the Start menu. However, in its current form youre unable to sign in
12. To fix this, download ADBKit from the following link. Its a very small file, so will only take a couple of seconds
13. Head into the downloads folder of File Explorer again and double-click the ADBKit file
    
14. Double-click the file named adb and choose Extract all, then Extract to confirm
    
15. Back in the Windows Subsystem Settings, click the toggle to turn on Developer mode. You should now see a message next to it saying ADB can be connected on 127.0.0.1:58526
    
16. Launch the Play Store app and keep it open
17. In File Explorer, find and open the ADBKit folder you already unzipped. Right-click anywhere and choose Open in Windows Terminal
    
18. Run the command .\adb.exe connect 127.0.0.1:58526
19. Even if you get an error message, this should still have been completed successfully. Run the command .\adb.exe devices to confirm If you see 127.0.0.1:58526 under List of devices attached, its worked
20. Run the command .\adb.exe shell
21. Run the command su. You should see a message saying You are now root
22. Run the command setenforce 0. The PowerShell window should now look similar to below
    
23. Head to the Play Store window and click Sign in. You should now be directed to log in with your Google email and password
    
24. Once signed in, you can install apps just like you would on any Android phone

Thats it! You can now install any Android app from the Google Play Store on your Windows 11 device. These can be pinned to the taskbar and work with Windows 11s multitasking features. They also adjust their appearance to the device theme.

Related articles for further reading

• Windows 11's native Android app support is now available to try
• Windows 11 release date, price and new features
• How to get Windows 11 now