Introduction

Minecraft Education is a version of Minecraft that includes teaching tools and lessons so teachers can use the Minecraft as a learning platform.

Minecraft Education is available on most platforms such as Windows, Mac OSX, Android, and Apple IOS. That’s basically all mainstream operating systems except Linux.

However, since there is an Android version, we can run Android within Linux via Waydroid to install and run Minecraft Education in Linux.

This guide will use Ubuntu 24.04 LTS and Waydroid 1.5.4 as they are the latest versions at the time of writing. You will also need a Google Account to register Waydroid so you can download Minecraft Education on the Google Play Store.

This guide is based on the Waydroid Installation Instructions and a Github Gist by techguy16.

Step 1: Install Waydroid

Ensure you have curl and ca-certificates installed in your Ubuntu installation. If not, install them via the following:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install curl ca-certificates -y

Add the official Waydroid repository

curl -s https://repo.waydro.id | sudo bash

Update your repositories and install Waydroid

sudo apt update
sudo apt install waydroid

Step 2: Install Google Play Store

In order to download Minecraft Education, you’ll need to install the Google Play Store

sudo waydroid init -s GAPPS

Step 3: Start Waydroid Container and Session

The following command starts a Waydroid container.

sudo waydroid container start

In a separate terminal, use the following command to start the session. Note that starting the Waydroid session command does not need sudo

waydroid session start

Step 4: Google Play Device Registration

Google Play expects the devices to be certified. When you use a physical Android device, the manufacturer already certifies it on your behalf. You can certify Waydroid by registering it on Google via a Google account.

Get Android Device ID

Run the following command and record the string of numbers after android|.

sudo waydroid shell -- sh -c "sqlite3 /data/data/*/*/gservices.db 'select * from main where name = \"android_id\";'"

Register Device on Google

Go to https://www.google.com/android/uncertified, login, and enter the string of numbers.

Restart Waydroid Session

Stop the Waydroid Session

waydroid session stop

Wait a minute or two and then start the session again.

waydroid session start

Step 5: Open Google Play Store

One thing you’ll notice is that there is no Google Play Store icon.

To open Google Play Store, type "Google Play" in the search bar. It will then open up the Google Play Store.

Go through the registration process and then you’ll be able to search for Apps in the store.

Step 6: Install Minecraft Education Edition

In Google Play Store, search Minecraft Education and install it

Step 7: Open Minecraft Education

Once installed, you should see an icon for Minecraft Education. Click on it and Minecraft should be running. Enjoy!