diff --git a/libs/vm_launcher_lib/Android.bp b/libs/vm_launcher_lib/Android.bp
index 5267508..f47f6b6 100644
--- a/libs/vm_launcher_lib/Android.bp
+++ b/libs/vm_launcher_lib/Android.bp
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@
     static_libs: [
         "gson",
         "debian-service-grpclib-lite",
+        "apache-commons-compress",
     ],
     libs: [
         "framework-virtualization.impl",
diff --git a/libs/vm_launcher_lib/java/com/android/virtualization/vmlauncher/InstallUtils.java b/libs/vm_launcher_lib/java/com/android/virtualization/vmlauncher/InstallUtils.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..eb6dd77
--- /dev/null
+++ b/libs/vm_launcher_lib/java/com/android/virtualization/vmlauncher/InstallUtils.java
@@ -0,0 +1,141 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2024 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package com.android.virtualization.vmlauncher;
+
+import android.content.Context;
+import android.os.Environment;
+import android.util.Log;
+
+import org.apache.commons.compress.archivers.ArchiveEntry;
+import org.apache.commons.compress.archivers.tar.TarArchiveInputStream;
+import org.apache.commons.compress.compressors.gzip.GzipCompressorInputStream;
+
+import java.io.BufferedInputStream;
+import java.io.File;
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.nio.file.Files;
+import java.nio.file.Path;
+import java.nio.file.StandardCopyOption;
+import java.util.HashMap;
+import java.util.Map;
+import java.util.function.Function;
+
+public class InstallUtils {
+    private static final String TAG = InstallUtils.class.getSimpleName();
+
+    private static final String VM_CONFIG_FILENAME = "vm_config.json";
+    private static final String COMPRESSED_PAYLOAD_FILENAME = "images.tar.gz";
+    private static final String PAYLOAD_DIR = "linux";
+
+    public static String getVmConfigPath(Context context) {
+        return new File(context.getFilesDir(), PAYLOAD_DIR)
+                .toPath()
+                .resolve(VM_CONFIG_FILENAME)
+                .toString();
+    }
+
+    public static boolean isImageInstalled(Context context) {
+        return Files.exists(Path.of(getVmConfigPath(context)));
+    }
+
+    private static Path getPayloadPath() {
+        File payloadDir = Environment.getExternalStoragePublicDirectory(PAYLOAD_DIR);
+        if (payloadDir == null) {
+            Log.d(TAG, "no payload dir: " + payloadDir);
+            return null;
+        }
+        Path payloadPath = payloadDir.toPath().resolve(COMPRESSED_PAYLOAD_FILENAME);
+        return payloadPath;
+    }
+
+    public static boolean payloadFromExternalStorageExists() {
+        return Files.exists(getPayloadPath());
+    }
+
+    public static boolean installImageFromExternalStorage(Context context) {
+        if (!payloadFromExternalStorageExists()) {
+            Log.d(TAG, "no artifact file from external storage");
+        }
+        Path payloadPath = getPayloadPath();
+        try (BufferedInputStream inputStream =
+                        new BufferedInputStream(Files.newInputStream(payloadPath));
+                TarArchiveInputStream tar =
+                        new TarArchiveInputStream(new GzipCompressorInputStream(inputStream))) {
+            ArchiveEntry entry;
+            Path baseDir = new File(context.getFilesDir(), PAYLOAD_DIR).toPath();
+            Files.createDirectories(baseDir);
+            while ((entry = tar.getNextEntry()) != null) {
+                Path extractTo = baseDir.resolve(entry.getName());
+                if (entry.isDirectory()) {
+                    Files.createDirectories(extractTo);
+                } else {
+                    Files.copy(tar, extractTo, StandardCopyOption.REPLACE_EXISTING);
+                }
+            }
+        } catch (IOException e) {
+            Log.e(TAG, "installation failed", e);
+            return false;
+        }
+        if (!isImageInstalled(context)) {
+            return false;
+        }
+
+        if (!resolvePathInVmConfig(context)) {
+            Log.d(TAG, "resolving path failed");
+            try {
+                Files.deleteIfExists(Path.of(getVmConfigPath(context)));
+            } catch (IOException e) {
+                return false;
+            }
+            return false;
+        }
+
+        // remove payload if installation is done.
+        try {
+            Files.deleteIfExists(payloadPath);
+        } catch (IOException e) {
+            Log.d(TAG, "failed to remove installed payload", e);
+        }
+
+        return true;
+    }
+
+    private static Function<String, String> getReplacer(Context context) {
+        Map<String, String> rules = new HashMap<>();
+        rules.put("\\$PAYLOAD_DIR", new File(context.getFilesDir(), PAYLOAD_DIR).toString());
+        return (s) -> {
+            for (Map.Entry<String, String> rule : rules.entrySet()) {
+                s = s.replaceAll(rule.getKey(), rule.getValue());
+            }
+            return s;
+        };
+    }
+
+    private static boolean resolvePathInVmConfig(Context context) {
+        try {
+            String replacedVmConfig =
+                    String.join(
+                            "\n",
+                            Files.readAllLines(Path.of(getVmConfigPath(context))).stream()
+                                    .map(getReplacer(context))
+                                    .toList());
+            Files.write(Path.of(getVmConfigPath(context)), replacedVmConfig.getBytes());
+            return true;
+        } catch (IOException e) {
+            return false;
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/libs/vm_launcher_lib/java/com/android/virtualization/vmlauncher/VmLauncherService.java b/libs/vm_launcher_lib/java/com/android/virtualization/vmlauncher/VmLauncherService.java
index 3d5c345..a59cc3d 100644
--- a/libs/vm_launcher_lib/java/com/android/virtualization/vmlauncher/VmLauncherService.java
+++ b/libs/vm_launcher_lib/java/com/android/virtualization/vmlauncher/VmLauncherService.java
@@ -40,8 +40,6 @@
 
 public class VmLauncherService extends Service implements DebianServiceImpl.DebianServiceCallback {
     private static final String TAG = "VmLauncherService";
-    // TODO: this path should be from outside of this service
-    private static final String VM_CONFIG_PATH = "/data/local/tmp/vm_config.json";
 
     private static final int RESULT_START = 0;
     private static final int RESULT_STOP = 1;
@@ -81,7 +79,7 @@
         }
         mExecutorService = Executors.newCachedThreadPool();
 
-        ConfigJson json = ConfigJson.from(VM_CONFIG_PATH);
+        ConfigJson json = ConfigJson.from(InstallUtils.getVmConfigPath(this));
         VirtualMachineConfig config = json.toConfig(this);
 
         Runner runner;