This guide is for creating Waydroid template that can be used to create AppVMs based on it.
The Android image is installed in template and applications and their configuration will be installed in AppVMs.
This guide is for setting up minimal Waydroid template. You may want to install additional packages like GUI terminal, file manager, passwordless root etc.
Create Waydroid template qube
Install debian-12-minimal
template using “Qubes Template Manager” tool if you don’t have it already.
Update debian-12-minimal
template using “Qubes Update” tool.
Clone debian-12-minimal
and name it d12m-waydroid
.
Add Waydroid App menu shortcut to the newly created qubes by default
To add the Waydroid App menu shortcut to the newly created qubes you need to set default-menu-items
feature for Waydroid template.
Open dom0 terminal and run this command to set the default App menu items for qubes based on this template:
qvm-features d12m-waydroid default-menu-items "Waydroid-Sway.desktop debian-xterm.desktop"
Configure Waydroid template
Start d12m-waydroid
and open its root terminal using this command in dom0 terminal:
qvm-run -u root d12m-waydroid xterm &
All the commands in this guide must be run in d12m-waydroid
qube root terminal if not stated otherwise.
To configure the Waydroid template you can use the easy way if you don’t need to fine-tune your template or the advanced way if you want to fine-tune it.
Easy way to configure Waydroid template for Qubes OS 4.2 with in-VM kernel, audio support and Thunar installed.
Run this command in dom0 terminal to add support for in-VM kernel in PVH qubes:
sudo qubes-dom0-update grub2-xen-pvh
Run this command in d12m-waydroid
root terminal to install the in-VM kernel support in template:
apt install -y linux-image-amd64 linux-headers-amd64 grub2 qubes-kernel-vm-support
Shutdown d12m-waydroid
template.
Run this command in dom0 terminal to configure the Waydroid qube to use in-VM kernel:
qvm-prefs d12m-waydroid kernel pvgrub2-pvh
Start d12m-waydroid
and open its root terminal using this command in dom0 terminal:
qvm-run -u root d12m-waydroid xterm &
Run these commands in d12m-waydroid
root terminal:
apt install -y ca-certificates extrepo
https_proxy=http://127.0.0.1:8082 http_proxy=http://127.0.0.1:8082 extrepo enable waydroid
apt update
apt install -y sway qubes-core-agent-networking waydroid pipewire-qubes curl unzip build-essential libx11-dev libxtst-dev xclip wl-clipboard pip python3-venv x11-utils thunar qubes-core-agent-thunar
mkdir -p /etc/systemd/system/waydroid-container.service.d
cat << 'EOF' | tee /etc/systemd/system/waydroid-container.service.d/override.conf >/dev/null
[Unit]
ConditionPathExists=!/run/qubes/this-is-templatevm
EOF
curl --proxy http://127.0.0.1:8082/ --tlsv1.2 --proto =https --max-time 180 https://codeload.github.com/cdown/clipnotify/zip/refs/heads/master -o clipnotify-master.zip
unzip -j clipnotify-master.zip -d clipnotify
cd clipnotify
mkdir -p /opt/bin
sed -i "s|/usr/local|/opt|g" Makefile
make
make install
echo 'export PATH="/opt/bin:$PATH"' >> /etc/profile.d/opt-bin.sh
echo "exec /opt/bin/x11-wl-clip.sh" > /etc/sway/config.d/99-x11-wl-clip.conf
mkdir -p /opt/bin
cat << 'EOF' | tee /opt/bin/x11-wl-clip.sh >/dev/null
#!/bin/bash
x11_wl='while DISPLAY=":0" clipnotify -s clipboard; do xclip -d ":0" -selection clipboard -o | wl-copy; done'
wl_x11='wl-paste -nw xclip -d ":0" -selection clipboard'
eval "${x11_wl}" &>/dev/null &
eval "${wl_x11}" &>/dev/null
pstree -A -p $$ | grep -Eow "[0-9]+" | xargs kill &>/dev/null
EOF
chmod +x /opt/bin/x11-wl-clip.sh
python3 -m venv /opt/venv/pyclip
source /opt/venv/pyclip/bin/activate
pip install --proxy http://127.0.0.1:8082 pyclip
deactivate
echo 'export PATH="$PATH:/opt/venv/pyclip/bin"' >> /etc/profile.d/python-venv.sh
echo 'export PYTHONPATH="$PYTHONPATH:/opt/venv/pyclip/lib/python3.11/site-packages"' >> /etc/profile.d/python-venv.sh
cat << 'EOF' | tee /etc/systemd/system/waydroid-firewall.service >/dev/null
[Unit]
ConditionPathExists=!/run/qubes/this-is-templatevm
PartOf=waydroid-container.service
After=waydroid-container.service
BindsTo=waydroid-container.service
Requires=qubes-iptables.service
After=qubes-iptables.service
BindsTo=qubes-iptables.service
[Service]
Type=oneshot
ExecStart=/usr/bin/bash -c "if (nft create chain ip qubes waydroid-input) &>/dev/null; then nft add rule ip qubes custom-input jump waydroid-input; fi"
ExecStart=/usr/bin/bash -c "if (nft create chain ip qubes waydroid-forward) &>/dev/null; then nft add rule ip qubes custom-forward jump waydroid-forward; fi"
ExecStart=/usr/sbin/nft add rule ip qubes waydroid-input iifname "waydroid0" meta l4proto {tcp, udp} th dport { 53, 67 } accept
ExecStart=/usr/sbin/nft add rule ip qubes waydroid-forward iifname "waydroid0" oifgroup 1 accept
ExecStart=/usr/sbin/nft add rule ip qubes waydroid-forward oifname "waydroid0" iifgroup 1 accept
ExecStop=/usr/sbin/nft flush chain ip qubes waydroid-input
ExecStop=/usr/sbin/nft flush chain ip qubes waydroid-forward
RemainAfterExit=yes
[Install]
WantedBy=waydroid-container.service
EOF
systemctl daemon-reload
systemctl enable waydroid-firewall.service
echo "default_border none" > /etc/sway/config.d/94-disable-window-titlebar.conf
perl -0777 -i -pe 's/(^\h*bar\s*|\v\h*bar\s*)(\{(?:(?>[^{}]+)|(?-1))*\})//g' /etc/sway/config
cat << 'EOF' | tee /opt/bin/sway-waydroid.sh >/dev/null
#!/bin/bash
sway &>/dev/null &
WAYLAND_DISPLAY="wayland-1" XDG_SESSION_TYPE="wayland" DISPLAY=":1" waydroid first-launch &>/dev/null &
for i in $(seq 1 3);
do
if xwininfo -name "wlroots - X11-1" &>/dev/null; then
break
fi
sleep 1
done
while xwininfo -name "wlroots - X11-1" &>/dev/null; do
sleep 2
done
WAYLAND_DISPLAY="wayland-1" XDG_SESSION_TYPE="wayland" DISPLAY=":1" waydroid session stop &>/dev/null
pstree -A -p $$ | grep -Eow "[0-9]+" | xargs kill &>/dev/null
EOF
chmod +x /opt/bin/sway-waydroid.sh
cat << 'EOF' | tee /usr/share/applications/Waydroid-Sway.desktop >/dev/null
[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Name=Waydroid-Sway
Exec=/opt/bin/sway-waydroid.sh
Icon=waydroid
Categories=X-WayDroid-App;
X-Purism-FormFactor=Workstation;Mobile;
EOF
cat << 'EOF' | tee /opt/bin/waydroid-install-apk >/dev/null
#!/bin/sh
WAYLAND_DISPLAY="wayland-1" XDG_SESSION_TYPE="wayland" DISPLAY=":1" waydroid app install $1
EOF
chmod +x /opt/bin/waydroid-install-apk
cat << 'EOF' | tee /opt/bin/waydroid-upgrade >/dev/null
#!/bin/sh
https_proxy=http://127.0.0.1:8082 http_proxy=http://127.0.0.1:8082 waydroid upgrade
EOF
chmod +x /opt/bin/waydroid-upgrade
Run this command to initialize Waydroid, It’ll download VANILLA Android image:
https_proxy=http://127.0.0.1:8082 http_proxy=http://127.0.0.1:8082 waydroid init
Or this command for Waydroid image with GApps support:
https_proxy=http://127.0.0.1:8082 http_proxy=http://127.0.0.1:8082 waydroid init -s GAPPS
Run this command in dom0 terminal to sync the Waydroid template appmenu entries:
qvm-sync-appmenus d12m-waydroid
Advanced way to configure Waydroid template for fine-tuning.
Install required packages for Waydroid
Waydroid needs Wayland so we will install sway
Wayland compositor for it:
apt install -y sway
We also need the qubes-core-agent-networking
package to enable networking in minimal qube:
apt install -y qubes-core-agent-networking
Install Waydroid
Run these commands to install Waydroid:
apt install -y ca-certificates extrepo
https_proxy=http://127.0.0.1:8082 http_proxy=http://127.0.0.1:8082 extrepo enable waydroid
apt update
apt install -y waydroid
apt install -y --no-install-recommends pipewire-pulse
The pulseaudio
or pipewire-pulse
package is required for Waydroid to work.
The installation is using extrepo
package instead of downloading the shell script from waydro.id and running it.
This was suggested here:
Consider support for Android VMs · Issue #2233 · QubesOS/qubes-issues · GitHub
The link to the default installation process for reference:
Install Instructions | Waydroid
Original installation instructions if you prefer them:
apt install -y curl ca-certificates
curl --proxy http://127.0.0.1:8082/ --tlsv1.2 --proto =https --max-time 180 https://repo.waydro.id | https_proxy=http://127.0.0.1:8082 bash
apt install -y waydroid
Configure for Waydroid container not to start in TemplateVMs:
mkdir -p /etc/systemd/system/waydroid-container.service.d
cat << 'EOF' | tee /etc/systemd/system/waydroid-container.service.d/override.conf >/dev/null
[Unit]
ConditionPathExists=!/run/qubes/this-is-templatevm
EOF
Initialize Waydroid
Run this command to initialize Waydroid, It’ll download VANILLA Android image:
https_proxy=http://127.0.0.1:8082 http_proxy=http://127.0.0.1:8082 waydroid init
Or this command for Waydroid image with GApps support:
https_proxy=http://127.0.0.1:8082 http_proxy=http://127.0.0.1:8082 waydroid init -s GAPPS
Install Waydroid clipboard support
Configure automatic transfer of clipboard content between X11 and Wayland
We need to build and install clipnotify tool from sources to use it for receiving the X11 clipboard change events. You can build it in some other qube based on the same template and copy the built binaries to the d12m-waydroid
qube and install them there to keep the d12m-waydroid
template minimal or you can build it in the d12m-waydroid
qube itself but you’ll need to install additional packages for building.
This example is for the second option.
You can download the clipnotify sources in the Waydroid template directly or in some other qube and transfer them to the Waydroid template.
To download the sources directly in Waydroid template you’ll need to install the additional packages unzip/git.
Since unzip/git probably won’t be used ever again in the Waydroid qube you may want to keep the Waydroid template minimal then you can download the sources in some other qube and transfer them to the Waydroid template.
Option 1: Download the sources directly in Waydroid template
Download and extract the clipnotify sources in Waydroid template:
apt install -y curl unzip
curl --proxy http://127.0.0.1:8082/ --tlsv1.2 --proto =https --max-time 180 https://codeload.github.com/cdown/clipnotify/zip/refs/heads/master -o clipnotify-master.zip
unzip -j clipnotify-master.zip -d clipnotify
or using git:
apt install -y git
git config --global http.proxy http://127.0.0.1:8082
git clone https://github.com/cdown/clipnotify.git
git config --global http.proxy ""
Option 2: Download the sources in some other qube and transfer them to Waydroid template
Download and extract the clipnotify sources in some qube with network access:
curl https://codeload.github.com/cdown/clipnotify/zip/refs/heads/master -o clipnotify-master.zip
unzip -j clipnotify-master.zip -d clipnotify
or using git:
git clone https://github.com/cdown/clipnotify.git
Transfer the clipnotify directory to d12m-waydroid
qube:
qvm-copy clipnotify
After getting the sources in d12m-waydroid
qube, move to the clipnotify sources directory in d12m-waydroid
qube:
If you followed Option 1: Download the sources directly in Waydroid template
:
cd clipnotify
If you followed Option 2: Download the sources in some other qube and transfer them to Waydroid template
:
mv /home/user/QubesIncoming/*/clipnotify/ /home/user/
cd /home/user/clipnotify
Once you’re in the sources directory, build and install clipnotify:
apt install -y build-essential libx11-dev libxtst-dev
mkdir -p /opt/bin
sed -i "s|/usr/local|/opt|g" Makefile
make
make install
echo 'export PATH="/opt/bin:$PATH"' >> /etc/profile.d/opt-bin.sh
Install X11 and Wayland clipboard cli tools:
apt install -y xclip wl-clipboard
Configure sway to run script that will automatically transfer of clipboard content between X11 and Wayland on sway start:
echo "exec /opt/bin/x11-wl-clip.sh" > /etc/sway/config.d/99-x11-wl-clip.conf
mkdir -p /opt/bin
cat << 'EOF' | tee /opt/bin/x11-wl-clip.sh >/dev/null
#!/bin/bash
x11_wl='while DISPLAY=":0" clipnotify -s clipboard; do xclip -d ":0" -selection clipboard -o | wl-copy; done'
wl_x11='wl-paste -nw xclip -d ":0" -selection clipboard'
eval "${x11_wl}" &>/dev/null &
eval "${wl_x11}" &>/dev/null
pstree -A -p $$ | grep -Eow "[0-9]+" | xargs kill &>/dev/null
EOF
chmod +x /opt/bin/x11-wl-clip.sh
Install pyclip
required by Waydroid
apt install -y xclip wl-clipboard pip python3-venv
python3 -m venv /opt/venv/pyclip
source /opt/venv/pyclip/bin/activate
pip install --proxy http://127.0.0.1:8082 pyclip
deactivate
echo 'export PATH="$PATH:/opt/venv/pyclip/bin"' >> /etc/profile.d/python-venv.sh
echo 'export PYTHONPATH="$PYTHONPATH:/opt/venv/pyclip/lib/python3.11/site-packages"' >> /etc/profile.d/python-venv.sh
Links for reference:
General Troubleshooting | Waydroid
No python-pyclips · Issue #981 · waydroid/waydroid · GitHub
Configure firewall for Waydroid
For Qubes OS 4.2:
cat << 'EOF' | tee /etc/systemd/system/waydroid-firewall.service >/dev/null
[Unit]
ConditionPathExists=!/run/qubes/this-is-templatevm
PartOf=waydroid-container.service
After=waydroid-container.service
BindsTo=waydroid-container.service
Requires=qubes-iptables.service
After=qubes-iptables.service
BindsTo=qubes-iptables.service
[Service]
Type=oneshot
ExecStart=/usr/bin/bash -c "if (nft create chain ip qubes waydroid-input) &>/dev/null; then nft add rule ip qubes custom-input jump waydroid-input; fi"
ExecStart=/usr/bin/bash -c "if (nft create chain ip qubes waydroid-forward) &>/dev/null; then nft add rule ip qubes custom-forward jump waydroid-forward; fi"
ExecStart=/usr/sbin/nft add rule ip qubes waydroid-input iifname "waydroid0" meta l4proto {tcp, udp} th dport { 53, 67 } accept
ExecStart=/usr/sbin/nft add rule ip qubes waydroid-forward iifname "waydroid0" oifgroup 1 accept
ExecStart=/usr/sbin/nft add rule ip qubes waydroid-forward oifname "waydroid0" iifgroup 1 accept
ExecStop=/usr/sbin/nft flush chain ip qubes waydroid-input
ExecStop=/usr/sbin/nft flush chain ip qubes waydroid-forward
RemainAfterExit=yes
[Install]
WantedBy=waydroid-container.service
EOF
systemctl daemon-reload
systemctl enable waydroid-firewall.service
For Qubes OS 4.1:
cat << 'EOF' | tee /etc/systemd/system/waydroid-firewall.service >/dev/null
[Unit]
ConditionPathExists=!/run/qubes/this-is-templatevm
PartOf=waydroid-container.service
After=waydroid-container.service
BindsTo=waydroid-container.service
Requires=qubes-iptables.service
After=qubes-iptables.service
BindsTo=qubes-iptables.service
[Service]
Type=oneshot
ExecStart=/usr/sbin/iptables -I INPUT -i waydroid0 -p tcp -m multiport --dports 53,67 -j ACCEPT
ExecStart=/usr/sbin/iptables -I INPUT -i waydroid0 -p udp -m multiport --dports 53,67 -j ACCEPT
ExecStart=/usr/sbin/iptables -I FORWARD 2 -o eth0 -i waydroid0 -j ACCEPT
ExecStart=/usr/sbin/iptables -I FORWARD 2 -i eth0 -o waydroid0 -j ACCEPT
ExecStop=/usr/sbin/iptables -D INPUT -i waydroid0 -p tcp -m multiport --dports 53,67 -j ACCEPT
ExecStop=/usr/sbin/iptables -D INPUT -i waydroid0 -p udp -m multiport --dports 53,67 -j ACCEPT
ExecStop=/usr/sbin/iptables -D FORWARD -o eth0 -i waydroid0 -j ACCEPT
ExecStop=/usr/sbin/iptables -D FORWARD -i eth0 -o waydroid0 -j ACCEPT
RemainAfterExit=yes
[Install]
WantedBy=waydroid-container.service
EOF
systemctl daemon-reload
systemctl enable waydroid-firewall.service
Disable sway window title bar and status bar
This will make Waydroid run in fullscreen.
Disable sway window title bar:
echo "default_border none" > /etc/sway/config.d/94-disable-window-titlebar.conf
To disable sway status bar you need to edit the default sway config /etc/sway/config
and remove or comment out the entire bar section.
Run this command to remove the bar{}
block from the sway config:
perl -0777 -i -pe 's/(^\h*bar\s*|\v\h*bar\s*)(\{(?:(?>[^{}]+)|(?-1))*\})//g' /etc/sway/config
Or do it manually:
nano /etc/sway/config
Find and remove/comment out the entire bar{}
section e.g.:
#
# Status Bar:
#
# Read `man 5 sway-bar` for more information about this section.
bar {
position top
# When the status_command prints a new line to stdout, swaybar updates.
# The default just shows the current date and time.
status_command while date +'%Y-%m-%d %I:%M:%S %p'; do sleep 1; done
colors {
statusline #ffffff
background #323232
inactive_workspace #32323200 #32323200 #5c5c5c
}
}
Create .desktop
file to start Waydroid in sway using qube app menu
When you start sway it’ll open the X11 window with sway but when you close this window it won’t cause sway to exit.
To not leave the sway with Waydroid running in background when you close the window we need to track this window and when it’s closed we need to kill the sway and Waydroid processes.
For this we need to install xwininfo tool:
apt install -y x11-utils
Create script to start the sway and Waydroid:
cat << 'EOF' | tee /opt/bin/sway-waydroid.sh >/dev/null
#!/bin/bash
sway &>/dev/null &
WAYLAND_DISPLAY="wayland-1" XDG_SESSION_TYPE="wayland" DISPLAY=":1" waydroid first-launch &>/dev/null &
for i in $(seq 1 3);
do
if xwininfo -name "wlroots - X11-1" &>/dev/null; then
break
fi
sleep 1
done
while xwininfo -name "wlroots - X11-1" &>/dev/null; do
sleep 2
done
WAYLAND_DISPLAY="wayland-1" XDG_SESSION_TYPE="wayland" DISPLAY=":1" waydroid session stop &>/dev/null
pstree -A -p $$ | grep -Eow "[0-9]+" | xargs kill &>/dev/null
EOF
chmod +x /opt/bin/sway-waydroid.sh
Create the .desktop file to start Waydroid in sway using qube app menu:
cat << 'EOF' | tee /usr/share/applications/Waydroid-Sway.desktop >/dev/null
[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Name=Waydroid-Sway
Exec=/opt/bin/sway-waydroid.sh
Icon=waydroid
Categories=X-WayDroid-App;
X-Purism-FormFactor=Workstation;Mobile;
EOF
Run this command in dom0 terminal to sync the Waydroid template appmenu entries:
qvm-sync-appmenus d12m-waydroid
Create script to install apk from the terminal
cat << 'EOF' | tee /opt/bin/waydroid-install-apk >/dev/null
#!/bin/sh
WAYLAND_DISPLAY="wayland-1" XDG_SESSION_TYPE="wayland" DISPLAY=":1" waydroid app install $1
EOF
chmod +x /opt/bin/waydroid-install-apk
Create script to upgrade Waydroid image in template from the terminal
cat << 'EOF' | tee /opt/bin/waydroid-upgrade >/dev/null
#!/bin/sh
https_proxy=http://127.0.0.1:8082 http_proxy=http://127.0.0.1:8082 waydroid upgrade
EOF
chmod +x /opt/bin/waydroid-upgrade
File manager in Waydroid qube
If you want to use the file manager in Waydroid qube then you need to install these packages in Waydroid qube template:
apt install -y thunar qubes-core-agent-thunar
Enable sound for the Waydroid qube
To get the sound working in the Waydroid qube, for Qubes OS 4.2 you need to install pipewire-qubes
package in Waydroid qube template:
apt install -y pipewire-qubes
In case you don’t want for some Waydroid qubes to have sound (e.g. for protection against profiling threat and tracking or increasing attack surface) you can clone the d12m-waydroid
template without sound to d12m-waydroid-sound
template and install the sound package in d12m-waydroid-sound
template.
Then you can choose whatever the Waydroid qube should have the sound or not by setting the suitable template for it.
At this point the template is configured and ready to be used.
You can create a new app qube based on the d12m-waydroid
and start the Waydroid-Sway
app in this qube from Qubes OS menu to start the Waydroid inside this qube.
Additional information
Upgrade Waydroid image
To upgrade Waydroid image in the future you’ll need to manually run this command in Waydroid template d12m-waydroid
:
waydroid-upgrade
See above on how to create waydroid-upgrade
command if it doesn’t exist.
Install application in Waydroid
In a DisposableVM:
- download an application apk (for example F-Droid from https://f-droid.org/)
qvm-copy
it to your Waydroid AppVM or DisposableVM
In your Waydroid AppVM or DisposableVM:
- Run
waydroid-install-apk
(see above) with the path to the apk file e.g.:
waydroid-install-apk /home/user/QubesIncoming/disp1629/F-Droid.apk
Change keyboard layout in Waydroid
Settings → Languages & input → Physical keyboard → wayland_keyboard
Add layouts.
Change keyboard layout with Ctrl+Space.
Transfer files to/from Waydroid
The Waydroid internal storage is located in this path:
/home/user/.local/share/waydroid/data/media/0/
You can copy files to/from there.
Or you can set up shared folders like this:
Setting up a shared folder | Waydroid
Or you can try to configure it like this:
Secure way of sharing host files and directories with Waydroid · waydroid/waydroid · Discussion #1107 · GitHub
Info about your system that apps in Waydroid will know
Apps installed in Waydroid will be able to see your CPU and system kernel.
Since qubes use kernel provided by dom0 by default then apps in Waydroid can know that you’re running Waydroid in Qubes OS (e.g. 6.7.3-1.qubes.fc37.x86_64
).
NOTE that if you’ve used the easy way to configure the Waydroid template then it’s already configured to use the in-VM kernel. Use the following command if you’ve used the advanced way.
To hide this you can use in-VM kernel instead:
Managing qube kernels | Qubes OS
Run this command in dom0 terminal to add support for in-VM kernel in PVH qubes:
sudo qubes-dom0-update grub2-xen-pvh
Run this command in d12m-waydroid
root terminal to install the in-VM kernel support in template:
apt install -y linux-image-amd64 linux-headers-amd64 grub2 qubes-kernel-vm-support
Shutdown d12m-waydroid
template.
Run this command in dom0 terminal to configure the Waydroid qube to use in-VM kernel:
qvm-prefs d12m-waydroid kernel pvgrub2-pvh
You’ll need to reinitialize the Waydroid in template after switching the kernel.
Start the Waydroid template with new kernel and run this command in its root terminal for VANILLA Android image:
https_proxy=http://127.0.0.1:8082 http_proxy=http://127.0.0.1:8082 waydroid init -f
Or this command for Waydroid image with GApps support:
https_proxy=http://127.0.0.1:8082 http_proxy=http://127.0.0.1:8082 waydroid init -f -s GAPPS
Troubleshootings
1. From Application menu, choose AppVM / Waydroid-Sway, BUT nothing displayed.
Solution:
Application menu, choose AppVM / xterm, in the displayed xterm, manually launch waydroid with this command to see the debug output:
sed "s|&>/dev/null||g" /opt/bin/sway-waydroid.sh | source /dev/stdin
2. How to exit the AppVM ?
Solution:
From dom0 Qubes Domain traybar, for the AppVM, choose Shutdown.