Gamepass PC is a ticking time bomb that results in permanently lost HDD/SSD space unless you nuke windows

[flyinj]

okay so I got two separate MSIXVC folders. One 148.8GB in size and one 32.5GB. These are completely safe to delete?

Click to shrink...

This is where it gets tricky.

Several things can happen if you delete these, and there is no telling what might happen:

- Giving yourself control of the folder to delete these may make the entire store infrastructure break. This will result in you not being able to use ANY games or apps associated with the Windows Store. This can be remedied by formatting the drive that the directory was on and formatting the drive Windows is installed on and reinstalling windows.

- Deleting the individual file without proper uninstallation of the game/app could result in the game/app never allowing you to reinstall it again. This can be remedied by formatting the drive the folder was on and fomatting the drive Windows is installed on and resinstalling Windows. In this case though, you will get the space back an other apps will still work, you just won't ever be able to use the app you deleted again

- Deleting the individual file will free the drive space and you can then reinstall the app/game again. This is the best outcome, but again, you never know if this will happen

The first thing you should do is try to uninstall the game/app. If you have done this, and the space is still being taken up by the app, you are faced with the previous potential outcomes.

An alternate way to delete these files without giving yourself control of the folder is to run 7zip in admin mode and navigate to the folder and delete the file. HOWEVER, this may result in the second outcome outlined above. Some people can reboot windows into safe mode and delete the files, but this didn't work for me.

So yeah, it is a gamble. The "safest" thing to do is to just chalk the drive space up as gone and never use the game/app again.

Otherwise you need to roll the dice.

 

[Sabin]

Has Phil or anyone else actually said anything about the state of the windows 10 store and that there maybe is something better in development?

 

[flyinj]

Has Phil or anyone else actually said anything about the state of the windows 10 store and that there maybe is something better in development?

Click to shrink...

Microsoft has never commented on this issue at all.

After many calls and hours on the phone with MS support at various levels, it always leads to them saying I need to format the drive and reinstall Windows to fix the issue.

And, as seen from all the responses in this thread, no one has figured out how to fix the issue of when games/apps get to the point where they can no longer be installed without resorting to formatting and reinstalling windows. Actually, there is one solution that was posted before, but it is incredibly complex and very dangerous to try, and after trying to do it for several days I was never able to accomplish it.

The issue seems to be that the database that AppX uses to store information about installed apps gets corrupted. This is why it is required to both format the drive that has the directory that contains the corrupted apps as well as your windows system drive. If you don't format your windows drive or the drive that has the corrupted apps, that folder will still exist and may cause the new install of windows to be corrupted by it.

 

[OrangePulp]

For anyone using WinDirStat, switch up to WizTree. WizTree reads data from the Master File Table, rather than scanning the physical files like WinDirStat does. Makes it much faster, and it'll show protected files like the windows store stuff.

As for why just deleting the files doesn't fix things, there's a database that contains info on programs installed via Windows store (rather than just registry entries, like a typical program). Makes doing a manual uninstall a lot trickier. There's a link in one of my earlier posts to a blog that has instructions on getting access to it and cleaning out records of an install, but it might be a bit daunting if you haven't done manual database entry removal before.

Maybe I'll get back to doing some research, see if the entries a new program makes are consistent enough to write a script to automate the removal (I would expect they would be). Ended up with three months via that promotion, so I can test.

 

[flyinj]

One of my theories on how these issues may happen is that if you add or remove a drive from the system.

It seems that both times this has happened to me it was after I added a new SSD to my system. The AppX infrastructure seems to rely on a massive rats nest of sim links to other drives, some that don't physically exist. Adding a new physical disk to your system may confuse the AppX infrastructure and lead to its database becoming corrupt when simlinks now point to an actual physical drive.

Just a theory... I haven't actually tested this. Nor would I even know how to test this and get a conclusive result that this is what causes it.

 

[Aurica]

This has happened to me now. I built a new computer yesterday and reused my two SSDs from my last computer. I did a fresh install of windows on SSD 1, so games can be installed there... but the issue is that SSD 1 is small, so I never installed games there and don't plan to. SSD2 and my external drive cannot have games installed on them now. I was troubleshooting for hours last night (mostly following tips online for taking control of folders and deleting them, but they're sitting in my recycle bin and won't go away), and I can't free up the space, play the games that I had installed on those drives before my new build, or install new games to those drives. This essentially means I can't play game pass, since I can't risk losing the space on SSD 1.

I guess my next step is to install one of these programs mentioned in this thread? What's my best bet at this point?

 

[g23]

Can REVO uninstaller detect remnants of game you uninstalled from the game pass store? Would it be able to just clean it up

 

[dlauv]

I was unable to uninstall PSO2 after fucking with the 3rd party installer. It seemingly kept creating files. So I navigated to the folder and batch deleted it until it stopped creating files and finally got the uninstall working. But maybe it was just a windows indexing thing. PSO2 doesn't give me that issue anymore. Never had an issue with other games.

 

[Ra]

Has Phil or anyone else actually said anything about the state of the windows 10 store and that there maybe is something better in development?

Click to shrink...

Incoming yearly "commitment to PC platform" quote.

Why they haven't just wholesale set up a completely separate Steam-like application is just beyond me. Microsoft needs to completely decouple Xbox gaming on PC from the Windows team. They have the money to invest in the development.

 

[g23]

Also is there an easy way to know if you've had this issue?. I've installed/uninstalled several gamepads game but am not sure if the space is being clogged up or not.

Thanks.

 

[disparate]

uh, you should just be able to run Disk Cleanup for clearing delivery optimization files/folders

 

[Aurica]

uh, you should just be able to run Disk Cleanup for clearing delivery optimization files/folders

Click to shrink...

Doesn't always show up. This is a far more complicated problem than it appears at first glance.

 

[Sabin]

Incoming yearly "commitment to PC platform" quote.

Why they haven't just wholesale set up a completely separate Steam-like application is just beyond me. Microsoft needs to completely decouple Xbox gaming on PC from the Windows team. They have the money to invest in the development.

Click to shrink...

Kinda feared it would be that. *sigh*

I mean Gamepass is really nice but i just can't see myself sub to it after the 1€ trial period with all these issues. It's mindblowing how the biggest software developer on the planet can't fix their god damn store in over 5 years.

Oh and i by the way i found another annoying issue. If the Game doesn't offer me a change language option ingame i have to change my local system to english when i want to play something in english instead of german.

 

[DestroyerOfWorlds]

Incoming yearly "commitment to PC platform" quote.

Why they haven't just wholesale set up a completely separate Steam-like application is just beyond me. Microsoft needs to completely decouple Xbox gaming on PC from the Windows team. They have the money to invest in the development.

Click to shrink...

The issue is that they don't want to lose the restrictions the Windows Store imposes. With Game Pass being a subscription service, they want things locked down.

They also don't want to run two separate systems, one for game pass, one for purchases, so it's all going to stay locked down.

They need to fix these bugs and issues, but I understand why it needs to be locked down and I won't complain about that given the nature of the service.

 

[TheDestructiveSquirrel]

So I should uninstall all my Gamepass games before changing my SSD?

 

[Ra]

Kinda feared it would be that. *sigh*

I mean Gamepass is really nice but i just can't see myself sub to it after the 1€ trial period with all these issues. It's mindblowing how the biggest software developer on the planet can't fix their god damn store in over 5 years.

Oh and i by the way i found another annoying issue. If the Game doesn't offer me a change language option ingame i have to change my local system to english when i want to play something in english instead of german.

Click to shrink...

Honestly I unsubbed after the price increase to $10. I'll look at coming back in 2 to 3 years when the Xbox 1st party studios start producing.

If I do resub it will be through the Live -> Ultimate conversion trick.

The issue is that they don't want to lose the restrictions the Windows Store imposes. With Game Pass being a subscription service, they want things locked down.

They also don't want to run two separate systems, one for game pass, one for purchases, so it's all going to stay locked down.

They need to fix these bugs and issues, but I understand why it needs to be locked down and I won't complain about that given the nature of the service.

Click to shrink...

Subscription services (EA Play) are being sold on Steam though, I don't understand your point there. Gamepass and the store are integrated on the Xbox consoles, it's not like we are asking for a concept which is alien to the company.

 

[Jrs3000]

Microsoft has never commented on this issue at all.

After many calls and hours on the phone with MS support at various levels, it always leads to them saying I need to format the drive and reinstall Windows to fix the issue.

And, as seen from all the responses in this thread, no one has figured out how to fix the issue of when games/apps get to the point where they can no longer be installed without resorting to formatting and reinstalling windows. Actually, there is one solution that was posted before, but it is incredibly complex and very dangerous to try, and after trying to do it for several days I was never able to accomplish it.

The issue seems to be that the database that AppX uses to store information about installed apps gets corrupted. This is why it is required to both format the drive that has the directory that contains the corrupted apps as well as your windows system drive. If you don't format your windows drive or the drive that has the corrupted apps, that folder will still exist and may cause the new install of windows to be corrupted by it.

Click to shrink...

Has there been any news coverage of this? I think if some of the bigger sites covered it then maybe we'll get a response and the problem addressed.

 

[flyinj]

This has happened to me now. I built a new computer yesterday and reused my two SSDs from my last computer. I did a fresh install of windows on SSD 1, so games can be installed there... but the issue is that SSD 1 is small, so I never installed games there and don't plan to. SSD2 and my external drive cannot have games installed on them now. I was troubleshooting for hours last night (mostly following tips online for taking control of folders and deleting them, but they're sitting in my recycle bin and won't go away), and I can't free up the space, play the games that I had installed on those drives before my new build, or install new games to those drives. This essentially means I can't play game pass, since I can't risk losing the space on SSD 1.

I guess my next step is to install one of these programs mentioned in this thread? What's my best bet at this point?

Click to shrink...

Yeah, you can't use games installed from a previous OS on a fresh install of an OS.

Further, even having the old "WindowsApps" folder on a drive connected to a new install of Windows is dangerous. I've read a lot of people who have had their entire Windows Store eventually break because it can see an old WindowsApps folder that isn't associated with the new OS install.

The safest thing to do is completely format the drive with the old WindowsApps folder from the previous OS install.

 

[flyinj]

Has there been any news coverage of this? I think if some of the bigger sites covered it then maybe we'll get a response and the problem addressed.

Click to shrink...

That has been the question since this thread was created.

This bug has been going on for years, and not a single media outlet has covered it.

It is also probably affecting a much larger base of users than even this thread is uncovering. The reason being that it is really hard to know it is happening to you unless you run a space detecting app in admin mode and see the drive space is missing.

It only really comes to the surface when either people try to install games they have uninstalled previously and find they can never install them again, or a game breaks as they are playing it and they can't play, uninstall or reinstall it again.

When a game breaks on its own (this usually happens when a patch gets deployed for it and the app's database has already been corrupted by this bug), it just disappears from the Xbox app so you have no idea it is broken or its data is still on the drive. So there are probably a lot of people who have just had the games disappear and didn't realize it happened to them.

 

[flyinj]

So I should uninstall all my Gamepass games before changing my SSD?

Click to shrink...

Yeah, if my theory is correct, this may actually be a really good thing to do.

The idea is that the AppX database is pointing to a bunch of virtual drive letters. Putting a new drive in may assign it one of the virtual drive letters that the AppX database uses and cause the corruption.

However, if you are able to actually uninstall all the AppX/Gamepass games from your system before putting in the new drive, when you then reinstall them with the new drive in AppX will know that the new drive letter is physical and it can't use that for it's symbolic links.

Again, this is just a theory I have of what might be causing the bug. I have no idea if it is right.

 

[TheDestructiveSquirrel]

Yeah, if my theory is correct, this may actually be a really good thing to do.

The idea is that the AppX database is pointing to a bunch of virtual drive letters. Putting a new drive in may assign it one of the virtual drive letters that the AppX database uses and cause the corruption.

However, if you are able to actually uninstall all the AppX/Gamepass games from your system before putting in the new drive, when you then reinstall them with the new drive in AppX will know that the new drive letter is physical and it can't use that for it's symbolic links.

Again, this is just a theory I have of what might be causing the bug. I have no idea if it is right.

Click to shrink...

Yea, I saw all the virtual drives a couple weeks ago and was wondering where they came from

I'm going to replace my C drive SSD with a larger one, gonna make an image of the drive (just has Windows and a couple other things installed on it), install new drive, restore image onto the new drive and then start installing gamepass and other games onto it, right now they are on a slow hard drive.

Hopefully it doesn't screw things up

 

[Aurica]

Yeah, you can't use games installed from a previous OS on a fresh install of an OS.

Further, even having the old "WindowsApps" folder on a drive connected to a new install of Windows is dangerous. I've read a lot of people who have had their entire Windows Store eventually break because it can see an old WindowsApps folder that isn't associated with the new OS install.

The safest thing to do is completely format the drive with the old WindowsApps folder from the previous OS install.

Click to shrink...

I ended up messing with permissions for hours. I finally got my space back and can install games again, and it feels like it'll just happen again. Such a shitty system.

 

[flyinj]

I ended up messing with permissions for hours. I finally got my space back and can install games again, and it feels like it'll just happen again. Such a shitty system.

Click to shrink...

Yeah. As I said in the OP, I finally relented and nuked my drives and reinstalled Windows. Then a month later it all started happening again.

 

[firehawk12]

The issue is that they don't want to lose the restrictions the Windows Store imposes. With Game Pass being a subscription service, they want things locked down.

They also don't want to run two separate systems, one for game pass, one for purchases, so it's all going to stay locked down.

They need to fix these bugs and issues, but I understand why it needs to be locked down and I won't complain about that given the nature of the service.

Click to shrink...

I assume part of it is because the saves work on Xbox as well, for cross platform games, so they probably want to avoid some manipulation there.

 

[Fatmanp]

I assume part of it is because the saves work on Xbox as well, for cross platform games, so they probably want to avoid some manipulation there.

Click to shrink...

Saves work across stores. At least my MCC on Steam does with XBL.

 

[firehawk12]

Saves work across stores. At least my MCC on Steam does with XBL.

Click to shrink...

Oh really? Then I have no idea then. They somehow made a more Apple system than Apple does with its own app store on OSX. lol

 

[flyinj]

Oh really? Then I have no idea then. They somehow made a more Apple system than Apple does with its own app store on OSX. lol

Click to shrink...

I imagine its because a large revenue stream for them would be people buying games they played on Gamepass once the game leaves the service.

They get the full cut for the purchase on the Windows store. If they used another store they would miss out on that revenue.

I think that's also why they use a completely bonkers system for where save game data is stored... it's embedded in these crazy folders with massive random characters for names, and the save file names themselves are also just jibberish with no indication of what they are related to.

Like for instance, the Wasteland 3 save is not only all of what I just described, but it is also for no reason at all split into two separate files that you need to do some hex editing on to merge them together if you want to use that save on another storefront's version of the game.

 

[Fatmanp]

Oh really? Then I have no idea then. They somehow made a more Apple system than Apple does with its own app store on OSX. lol

Click to shrink...

Yep. AFAIK all Xbox studios games are like this.

 

[FantasticMrSnake]

So I should uninstall all my Gamepass games before changing my SSD?

Click to shrink...

I did that, i uninstall everything from the xbox app, and reinstall them in the new ssd, the only thing i manage to save was the download folder for flight simulator.

 

[TheDestructiveSquirrel]

I did that, i uninstall everything from the xbox app, and reinstall them in the new ssd, the only thing i manage to save was the download folder for flight simulator.

Click to shrink...

Heh, that game scared me when I uninstalled it and the space on my HDD didn't change much, then I saw it was all actually saved in a different file like a normal app

 

[KillerAJD]

Yeah, had the same issue (seems like a slightly different situation though) months ago when I refreshed my Windows install. Was having crashing issues in some games, so I did a Windows Refresh. Everything else was fine, but I noticed none of my Gamepass games were actually uninstalled (well, the Gamepass App didn't see them, but I could see they were still taking up SSD/HDD space). Manually changed permissions and deleted them, and though I was fine, except changing the permissions completely fucked the store for me, and I could no longer set any drivers other than my default windows install drive as a location to install games.

Gave up on Gamepass since I literally couldn't use it because of that, but a few months ago I found some info online that let me get it working (having to do with deleting a certain Windows App folder or something; Tried looking where I posted what worked for me, but can't remember what site/forum I posted it on). The end result is that even though I got it working again, I've only used Gamepass like once or twice, and have no intention of extending my subscription when it lapses in March. The store/install/download process is just such a mess that it's not worth it.

**Edit: Ahh, found my previous posts!**

I recently refreshed my windows install. Didn't even think about it, but had a bunch of games installed from the Windows Store/Gamepass games. After the refresh, I went about rediscovering games from all my game launchers (some easier than others...), until I got to the Xbox app. Realized that it didn't actually delete any game data, and there's no way to "rediscover" installs with that app. On top of that, the only way to get that data back is to do a bunch of shitty permissions overrides. This eventually let me gain back that space (multiple hundreds of GB on multiple drives). Went to go reinstall the stuff I wanted to, and now the Xbox app refuses to let me add my non-C drives as install locations. Since my C/Windows install drive is only a 512GB drive, I now am extremely limited on what games I can install, and have pretty much given up on Gamepass (and I still have like ~6 mo of my sub left). It's one of the reasons I have no interest in the Xbox ecosystem at this point. Nothing I've tried fixed the issue, and I've looked for hours for a solution.

Click to shrink...

I do just want to update that after seeing this thread and replying, I did some additional searching, and actually managed to fix my issue. Essentially, I was unable to install anything to my other drives, which are additional SSDs and HDDs with larger storage space than my boot drive. What I ended up doing was renaming the WPSystem folder in the root of each drive (as well as any WindowsApps folders and WUDownloadCache folders), and then I was able to select those additional drives as default save locations.

Do note that I think the folder that matters here is just the WPSystem folder, as I had already tried deleting the WindowsApps folders in safe mode, and it still gave me issues. I just did it as extra backup in case it helped. If you want to rename/delete the WindowsApps folder, I think safe mode bypasses most/all permissions, but if not, then it's a pain in the ass. I'd try renaming the WPSystem folder instead if the issue above/described in my last post applies to you. (you can also just delete that folder, but I wanted to rename it in case I'm able to save any save/profile data from them).

Click to shrink...

 

[karnage10]

The issue is that they don't want to lose the restrictions the Windows Store imposes. With Game Pass being a subscription service, they want things locked down.

They also don't want to run two separate systems, one for game pass, one for purchases, so it's all going to stay locked down.

They need to fix these bugs and issues, but I understand why it needs to be locked down and I won't complain about that given the nature of the service.

Click to shrink...

i don't get the need for lock down. EA PC subscription doesn't have stuff tied down.
There is 0 need for things to be locked down.

 

[Mecha Meister]

Boy, I reinstalled Windows 10 and forgot to uninstall the Windows 10 apps, about 300GB is now being held hostage on one of my SSDs, I'm now in the process of copying everything over to another drive and wiping the drive in question because I can't be bothered anymore smh.

I need to write myself a to-do list for when its time to uninstall Windows 10, and number 1 on that list will be to uninstall Windows 10 apps, because fuck me this shit just takes over!

Edit:

Hmm, apparently its only 82.4GB, I don't know where its getting the 300GB number from...


Regardless, I'll be taking that back after this format 🤣

Click to shrink...

 

[TheDestructiveSquirrel]

Boy, I reinstalled Windows 10 and forgot to uninstall the Windows 10 apps, about 300GB is now being held hostage on one of my SSDs, I'm now in the process of copying everything over to another drive and wiping the drive in question because I can't be bothered anymore smh.

I need to write myself a to-do list for when its time to uninstall Windows 10, and number 1 on that list will be to uninstall Windows 10 apps, because fuck me this shit just takes over!

Click to shrink...

What apps exactly? Anything from the windows store?

 

[Foreign Jackass]

i don't get the need for lock down. EA PC subscription doesn't have stuff tied down.
There is 0 need for things to be locked down.

Click to shrink...

Probably a lot simpler when you develop / own pretty much every game you give access to. Microsoft doesn't with Gamepass.

 

[Mecha Meister]

What apps exactly? Anything from the windows store?

Click to shrink...

I don't even remember, I thought it was Forza Horizon 4 but for some reason I have a "Mutablebackup" folder with 300 GB of content and 12 folders of "100B7A24.oxyna_1.0.7.0_x64" filled with god knows what, a quick search shows results for Phantasy Star Online 2 but I thought I uninstalled that months ago...
Perhaps I did uninstall Forza Horizon 4, as it would only be about 90-100GB, so I don't know what all this stuff is in all honesty.

 

[Deleted member 37928]

Decided to unsubscribe to GamePass since the cloud saves get deleted for me. Seems like a lot of people have this issue and it's been like this for quite some time. I replayed a section of Gears 4 like 5 times and couldn't take it anymore. It also happened in Flight Simulator where all my practice sessions were unchecked. Replaying things due to saves not working is perhaps the worst thing that can happen to me while gaming so I won't spend anymore time with this service if it's going to be like that.

 

[Mecha Meister]

Hmm, apparently its only 82.4GB, I don't know where its getting the 300GB number from...

Regardless, I'll be taking that back after this format 🤣

 

[karnage10]

Probably a lot simpler when you develop / own pretty much every game you give access to. Microsoft doesn't with Gamepass.

Click to shrink...

origin access on PC had quite a bit of indie games. Humble trove did/do so as well.

I highly doubt that if someone is going to pirate game they are going to subscribe to gamepass first to get the game files, instead of using all the other piracy sites on the web.

Also if what you say was the main reason how come microsoft store locks games even when you own them?

The way i see it this is the result of miscrosogt store failing to surpass the usual file systems and windows not becoming a closed platform like apple does with their OSs. I think microsoft just kept their store instead of making a new one from scratch; which IMO they really need.

 

[Jokerman]

Quick question - does this issue affect games bought or redeemed through the Microsoft store as well? I'm looking to buy Flight Simulator, but I will just get it through Steam if the MS store is going to steal my hard drive.

 

[theAllseeingEYE]

Quick question - does this issue affect games bought or redeemed through the Microsoft store as well? I'm looking to buy Flight Simulator, but I will just get it through Steam if the MS store is going to steal my hard drive.

Click to shrink...

A Few things to note here from my experience working on games that supported the Windows Store, and my experience using the store for personal use:

- Only a small portion of MS Flight Simulator's file size is encrypted. The large majority is out in the open and will always be easy to delete or move around, so your risk is small (like single digit install size before the installer begins download the bulk of the open files)
- The Game Pass and windows store versions are the same, yes.
- This issue only affects a generally small amount of people. It is not likely you will see this issue, but if you do you you can still change permissions on the folders in order to delete the items, except in rare circumstances.
- If you might ever be tempted to also play the game on Xbox, the Microsoft Store version would be a great buy, as it will be Play Anywhere.

 

[Dr.Osiris]

Crazy how unstable win 10 is.

 

[Jokerman]

A Few things to note here from my experience working on games that supported the Windows Store, and my experience using the store for personal use:

- Only a small portion of MS Flight Simulator's file size is encrypted. The large majority is out in the open and will always be easy to delete or move around, so your risk is small (like single digit install size before the installer begins download the bulk of the open files)
- The Game Pass and windows store versions are the same, yes.
- This issue only affects a generally small amount of people. It is not likely you will see this issue, but if you do you you can still change permissions on the folders in order to delete the items, except in rare circumstances.
- If you might ever be tempted to also play the game on Xbox, the Microsoft Store version would be a great buy, as it will be Play Anywhere.

Click to shrink...

Thanks. I think I will just buy it through Steam as it is the same price anyway.

 

[theAllseeingEYE]

Thanks. I think I will just buy it through Steam as it is the same price anyway.

Click to shrink...

No prob, hope I helped. I'm sure the steam version is great.

 

[flyinj]

Thanks. I think I will just buy it through Steam as it is the same price anyway.

Click to shrink...

I would definitely buy it through Steam if you don't care about play anywhere.

The worst of the issues seem to manifest when a game updates. And Flight Sim gets updates every two weeks. Every time it updates I get anxiety that it is going to break.

 

[Polyh3dron]

I just uninstalled Forza 7 from the Xbox app and it instantly freed up a ton of space. Guess I'm glad I have MCC on Steam and don't have the Xbox App version installed, but this doesn't seem to be an across-the-board thing.

 

[StereoVSN]

I would definitely buy it through Steam if you don't care about play anywhere.

The worst of the issues seem to manifest when a game updates. And Flight Sim gets updates every two weeks. Every time it updates I get anxiety that it is going to break.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, I use different drives for the targets of Store apps. So far had some issues, had to manually uninstall GamePass once and had to manually kill leftover apps (taking ownership, etc...). I basically treat it as a demo station on PC. If I like the game enough, I'll buy it on Steam/Origin/GoG/etc...

 

[ProtossX]

Anyone who downloads a game through the microsoft store gets whatever they get from there. People know its bad your taking a huge risk doing that.

 

[mrchad]

Does disabling delivery optimization help this problem at all? It's a Windows 10 feature that enables peer-to-peer downloads of store apps, but I thought I read that it prevented apps from fully cleaning up after uninstalling.

 

[flyinj]

Does disabling delivery optimization help this problem at all? It's a Windows 10 feature that enables peer-to-peer downloads of store apps, but I thought I read that it prevented apps from fully cleaning up after uninstalling.

Click to shrink...

There are literally dozens of pain points where Windows Store apps break.

One of them is delivery optimization breaking the ability for Windows Store apps to function. If this happens to be the only thing that broke for you in particular, disabling it could fix your issue.