Running APKs in QubesOS via WAYDROID or other emulator

User Support General
1

Hi all,
I have tried so many things now to run Android APKs on QubesOS - and it is really complicated. Did anyone succeed in running APKs in WAYDROID or any other emulator without too much tweaking? And if so would you mind sharing how?

2

As per the usual case, it will all depend on hardware. You need 16-32GB RAM for it to be usable.

  • Download Android-x86 - 64bit ISO to a Qube

  • Create StandaloneVM or TemplateVM

  • Set qvm-prefs properties via the terminal:
    virt_mode hvm
    qrexec_timeout 7200
    memory < maxmem > (I use 8192)
    kernel “”

then in the gui, uncheck ‘include in memory balancing’

  • Open the qubes settings > advanced > Boot qube from CD-ROM

  • from file in qube and select the ISO in that qube

  • It should now boot

  • create a new partition to sda1 using ext4. See their website for instructions.

  • after that it should then run Android.

Tip:
To run it within a larger window, you have to do this.

  1. Boot into Android
  2. ALT + SUPER (windows key) + F1
  3. mkdir -p /mnt/sda
  4. mount /dev/block/sda1 /mnt/sda
  5. vi /mnt/sda/grub/menu.lst
  6. Type ‘i’ to edit and add line ‘nomodeset xforcevesa’ then end of line ‘UVESA_MODE=MODE’ I do 1920x1080 or 1600x1200 on downscaled 4K screen.
  7. type reboot

Note. As there is no hardware acceleration, you cannot watch videos or play games at a smooth framerate, but general using of apps works normally.

3

Thanks for your reply. Running (R4.1) Android-x86 in a qube is pretty simple - even BlissOS 11.3 works out of the box - but neither BlissOS 14 nor 15 does out of the box.
I was actually looking for a way to run an apk in a “regular” qube based on debian or fedora template. Unfortunately all that was not working for me - WAYDROID does not because wayland is not supported in the templates.
A few days back I installed a regular debian 11 in a standalone qube - gnome comes with wayland support out of the box. There I was able to run WAYDROID - and it is working really really good. But since it is regular debian 11 in an HVM qube there is no “regular qube passthrough” to that qube which is still a little inconvenient.

4

Saben si se puede utilizar apks tipo movie plus, que quiero ver unas peliculas con QubesOS pero no se si sea algo complicado de hacer.