Windows 10 apps or Store not working for some users  

Hi,

I’m responsible for multiple computers for our youth work. All windows 10 computers with multiple local users (administrators). Clean installed at the beginning of January.

Windows 10 drives me kind of crazy, cause on a very regular base Store apps stop functioning. I’ve had troubles with the calculator app, the photos app and the store itself. One fine day a user starts the pc and calculator/photo or store app does not work any longer. The app appears in the search result, but it’s icon is white. And under it the text “desktop app”. I’m not kidding: the store pretends to be a desktop app.

I read some other posts on your forum about not working apps. But “my” apps think they are desktop programs.

Then not all the users on the pc have the problem. Most of the time it’s okay for one user, and for all the other users it is corrupt.

I found a work around: make a new user. And for the new user all apps are present.

But I kind of get a fulltime job creating new users and giving the user it’s documents and it’s settings back.

Does anybody know a way to PREVENT the loss of functionality of the modern apps?
Does anybody know a way to REPAIR the broken modern apps? I found some Powershell magic on the internet, but that did not help.

I’d be very grateful for any help.
Koen

Use this tutorial:
https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/3...ws-8-10-a.html

Do it on one computer first and use Step #2...To Reinstall and Re-Register All Windows Apps for Current Account Only
If it works and no ill effects, then you can use Step #3 on all the computers.

Hi,

Thank you for the help.
I'm now at home but I'll try it tomorrow when I'm at the youth work. First thing to check tomorrow!

I'll let you know if it works.

Koen

Hello KoenD, just tread carefully using the powershell thread. Powershell fix can make things worse. Build 10586 of Windows 10 doesn't play nice with it. You might be better served targeting uninstall and reinstall of individual apps. Before attempting make sure to take a system restore point so if things get worse you can restore back to it.

here is some light reading, lol

Apps - Uninstall in Windows 10 - Page 11 - Windows 10 Forums

Thank you very much for your post.

That's bad news. The computers are build 10586.

Store can't be uninstalled in a normal way. Calculator and Photos can't be uninstalled in a normal way either.
I once ran the Powershell command to uninstall Calculator. On that pc Store was still okay. But when I reinstalled calculator from the Store it still did not work.

I had the same experience you posted about 6 days ago.

Just got round to trying it. The command to uninstall the photos app certainly worked. I then rebooted logged back into my wife's user account and went to store to re download the photos app. This worked but upon clicking it to launch nothing happened again (as before). So unfortunately it was either a case of wait for the next photos update to see if that sprung it back to life (which could be ages) or delete her user account and then recreate it (a time consuming exercise). I went for the latter and she now has usable photos app once again. Just thought I'd share the experience in case others find themselves in a similar boat.
Cheers, Wayne

And I think I made already 100 new users. This is really NO fun.

Thank you for posting. I did not see you post from 6 days ago. Was the Photo app of your wife also thinking it was a desktop application? Or didn't you notice that?

Thanks again for the post!

KoenD

Hi,

I tried the tutorial:
Apps - Reinstall and Re-register in Windows 8 and 10

It did not break anything (as far as I see). But it did not fix anything either.

Does anybody has another idea?

Thx a lot
KoenD

Hi,
They all have 10586.104.

I think the app updates are the danger for the apps.
Monday noon on almost every computer half of the users suddenly had problems with the Store.

I checked dir "c:\program files\windowsapps" admin prompt.
And indeed, there are new Store folders from that date/time
Microsoft.WindowsStore_2016.27.2.0_neutral_split.language-XX_8wekyb3d8bbwe
Microsoft.WindowsStore_2016.27.2.0_neutral_split.scale-100_8wekyb3d8bbwe
Microsoft.WindowsStore_2016.27.2.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe
Microsoft.WindowsStore_2016.272.4.0_neutral_~_8wekyb3d8bbwe

Yesterday I turned off automatic app update. To prevent worse. I hope it indeed prevents worse. But my users want up to date software. Of course they want. So turning off updates can't be considered as a solution.

Thank you for the post
KoenD

I apologize for not being able to help you solving the problem.
I am sure someone will come along to help you.

Good luck.

Thanks a lot for trying to help!
I do hope someone knows a solution and comes along to help me.

KoenD