Add or Remove Mixed Reality page from Settings in Windows 10

Lmbrt · 02 Mar 2018

Hello Shawn, :)

It may be of some interest that applying the registry change effectively adds Mixed reality to Settings, but the "Uninstall" button does not appear, at least under 1709, leaving room for a thin grey bar without any instructions and when trying to click on it, nothing happens.

Add or Remove Mixed Reality page from Settings in Windows 10-02_mixed-reality-portal_post-regedit_02.03.18.png

Even more interestingly, after having successfully uninstalled the HolographicFirstRun package with the Get-appx... commands in PowerShell, Mixed Reality Portal disappeared in the Start menu and, after a while, the "Uninstall" button reappeared in Settings allowing to uninstall Windows Mixed Reality.

Add or Remove Mixed Reality page from Settings in Windows 10-09_mixed-reality-portal_post-sqlite-after-while_02.03.18.png

It may well be a coincidence, of course...

Brink · 02 Mar 2018

Hello Lamberto, :)

It may have been a coincidence. The Uninstall button shows for me right after adding. Odd.

Lmbrt · 02 Mar 2018

Actually, the small anonymous button seems to be reported by quite a few users on the net which brings me to think that it is not an isolated case, but not a generalized one either.

What leaves me puzzled is that the real button reappeared after a while and I don't know whether it was just a matter of waiting or the fact that the HolographicFirstRun package had been uninstalled.

Odd anyway, because clicking on it allowed me to Uninstall Mixed reality and prompt for a reboot after which even the registry key disappeared. In fact, I (wrongly) thought that this would not be possible after having removed the corresponding package...

Brink · 02 Mar 2018

Odd indeed.

Lmbrt · 03 Mar 2018

Hello again, :)

After having looked into a couple of different PC's, I would say that... you are right as usual.

1. The small grey button does NOT appear on all of them and I think we can infer that it is a random phenomenon possibly due to a bug that may well be fixed in future releases.
2. As a consequence, I would infer as well that there is NO apparent strong relation between the Settings | Mixed reality stuff and the Mixed Reality Portal app / Start menu entry.

That having been said, IMHO I would rather uninstall first the Settings part, after having trimmed the registry key as you suggest, and then, if one wishes to get rid of the Start menu entry (that should be grayed out by this time), uninstall (not delete, as you advised) the HolographicFirstRun package (which, in turn, is not exactly a smooth procedure...).

Would you concur with such a sequence or would you do it the other way round?

Thanks a lot

Brink · 03 Mar 2018

That sounds fine.

Personally, I wouldn't worry about it unless you just wanted to uninstall the app.

Lmbrt · 03 Mar 2018

Brink said:

That sounds fine.

Personally, I wouldn't worry about it unless you just wanted to uninstall the app.

Sorry, not sure I got it straight.

You mean that in such case, even assuming that I got rid of the app and the corresponding package and menu entry, I would be left with the Settings entry, don't you?

Brink · 03 Mar 2018

Sorry, I meant I wouldn't worry uninstalling the app shown in "All Apps" Start menu unless just wanted.

The "Mixed Reality" page in Settings can always be turned on and off on demand.

Lmbrt · 03 Mar 2018

Brink said:

Sorry, I meant I wouldn't worry uninstalling the app shown in "All Apps" Start menu unless just wanted.

Now I think I got it, thanks a lot ! :)

I apologize, In fact I should have re-read better the whole thread before posting. I had not completely realized that apparently there are three different and almost unrelated (?) things: Mixed reality in Settings (registry key), the user settings (Uninstall button) and the Start menu entry (app package).

Brink said:

The "Mixed Reality" page in Settings can always be turned on and off on demand.

Very true ! At this point I even tried and re-create the registry key which had disappeared after pressing the Uninstall button and rebooting, set it to "1" and... Mixed reality is back again in Settings.

Thank you very much, Shawn !