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

[Deleted member 1698]

Windows store, in general, is a giant bag of garbage.

Want to install on something other than c? Well good luck with that, but if it works or not is a secret.
Want to update a game? Well if you want to update it once, isn't five times even better?
This game will share details of your pets with the company who made the game...do you agree? What is the matter? You don't agree? Or are you not clicking yes because the game has captured input focus and you can't actually click on the fucking button? Well we'll fix that by not even popping up the screen the first 6 times you start the game.
Enjoy the game that just got released! Oh but it isn't actually released, it is releasing in three months. The release date we have for today is just a reminder of the current date.

Small indie company indeed. All shit you put up with for $1, but paying an actual proper price? No fix that shit.

 

[hwarang]

This seriously needs to get attention

 

[TheDestructiveSquirrel]

Well this is interesting

I hope I don't run into any of these issues

 

[megalowho]

I could not get Wasteland 3 to install at all. Error messages, didn't like my HD. So I said fuck it, and now I'm not a Game Pass Ultimate subscriber anymore.

 

[FaffEra]

There used to be a Windows setting that describes what it does as caching apps so you can reinstall them faster in the future. Sounds completely unrelated but that governs UWP installs. If it's still there and you turn it off it should give you back any missing space.

The Microsoft side of Windows 10 gaming is just fucked though. The wireless controller receivers don't fucking work at all and the workarounds of manually installing the drivers also don't work in the current builds of Windows. I got a series X controller and I couldn't get the wireless adapter so I had to send it back :(

 

[Soundtrack2chaos]

Yea if u check my history I created a thread on the gamepass nonsense like almost a year ago. I'll never use it again,I get why it's popular on consoles,but I'll never put that thing on my PC ever again.

 

[DestroyerOfWorlds]

There used to be a Windows setting that describes what it does as caching apps so you can reinstall them faster in the future. Sounds completely unrelated but that governs UWP installs. If it's still there and you turn it off it should give you back any missing space.

The Microsoft side of Windows 10 gaming is just fucked though. The wireless controller receivers don't fucking work at all and the workarounds of manually installing the drivers also don't work in the current builds of Windows. I got a series X controller and I couldn't get the wireless adapter so I had to send it back :(

Click to shrink...

What do you mean the wireless controller receivers don't work? I use mine all the time, including today.

 

[HybridEidolon]

hahahaha cries in PSO2 Windows Store launch

 

[mordecaii83]

It being tied to the store is part of why it's terrible. The store is the real problem

Click to shrink...

Yep, that's what I was saying. They need to fix their atrocious store before anything will improve.

 

[Deleted member 27751]

Windows store, in general, is a giant bag of garbage.

Want to install on something other than c? Well good luck with that, but if it works or not is a secret.
Want to update a game? Well if you want to update it once, isn't five times even better?
This game will share details of your pets with the company who made the game...do you agree? What is the matter? You don't agree? Or are you not clicking yes because the game has captured input focus and you can't actually click on the fucking button? Well we'll fix that by not even popping up the screen the first 6 times you start the game.
Enjoy the game that just got released! Oh but it isn't actually released, it is releasing in three months. The release date we have for today is just a reminder of the current date.

Small indie company indeed. All shit you put up with for $1, but paying an actual proper price? No fix that shit.

Click to shrink...

The bolded works, you just select your avatar and go settings > general > game install options. There you can select a desired drive.

 

[flyinj]

The bolded works, you just select your avatar and go settings > general > game install options. There you can select a desired drive.

Click to shrink...

I have an issue with this as well. Sometimes a game will ignore the drive you set to install apps to and will only install to C.

 

[ThereAreFourNaan]

ROFL

So I come home to reinstall Gears 5 in anticipation of the upcoming DLC.

Now GP PC won't let me download anything, because according to the settings page "your subscriptions failed to load". I can find some people with this error earlier this year, and apparently its some kind of microsoft outage that I will just have to wait till it sorts itself out.

AWESOME

 

[Deleted member 27751]

I have an issue with this as well. Sometimes a game will ignore the drive you set to install apps to and will only install to C.

Click to shrink...

Just double check you haven't unchecked the option "Ask me for install options on every install" as that will install automatically to the last used drive.

 

[alphacat]

Holy shit this seems rampant. Issues generally, I mean

I've had no issues so far but I've only been using Game Pass PC for just over a week so now I'm worried.

Click to shrink...

ditto

 

[i like big butts]

ROFL

So I come home to reinstall Gears 5 in anticipation of the upcoming DLC.

Now GP PC won't let me download anything, because according to the settings page "your subscriptions failed to load". I can find some people with this error earlier this year, and apparently its some kind of microsoft outage that I will just have to wait till it sorts itself out.

AWESOME

Click to shrink...

Windows Store just...doesn't work.

I could be misremembering but it's worse than Steam when it first launched.

Just a pile of garbage with problems that don't just limit themselves to the individual app.

I have an issue with this as well. Sometimes a game will ignore the drive you set to install apps to and will only install to C.

Click to shrink...

You have to constantly check, you might have selected the selection of options that installs to the last used drive and you've forgotten to recheck the option to ask you where you want to install the game.

The whole experience is just dreadful like someone hasn't bothered to play test the Windows store. It's insane how mediocre to bad the experience is because this isn't the launch of Half Life 2. Model web stores has existed for at least a decade. All they had to do is copy how one of them worked and hire people who have done this previously.

 

[Deleted member 1698]

The bolded works, you just select your avatar and go settings > general > game install options. There you can select a desired drive.

Click to shrink...

No no no. I know how to install something on a drive other than C. I always want to do that because C is my smaller SSD (like you do).

But several games will flat out not work if you do so. Which you will find out when you finish the download and install and then have no way to move it to C drive and make it work.

In 2020.

 

[i like big butts]

No no no. I know how to install something on a drive other than C. I always want to do that because C is my smaller SSD (like you do).

But several games will flat out not work if you do so. Which you will find out when you finish the download and install and then have no way to move it to C drive and make it work.

In 2020.

Click to shrink...

I legitimately didn't know this was a thing, after Gears completely fucked itself up and wouldn't let me uninstall or reinstall or even play the fucking thing, I gave up on the store.

All Microsoft had to do is copy Steam.

 

[Cats]

Stupid problems call for stupid solutions! Glad I could help.

Click to shrink...

It still says I need permissions to delete stuff, do I need to be in safe mode or something? I ran 7zip as admin.

 

[Spacecowboy]

I have the same problems (cant install, uninstall or repair certain games) for weeks now and it's infuriating.

I refuse to re-install my whole OS just to "fix" this, just ridiculous to even suggest it

This needs way more attention by the media

 

[MrKlaw]

Trying to imagine a ticking time bomb powered by Microsoft


10..9..8..............7654.........3...........1.............2.......0

 

[SirSalabean]

Ives had issues on my last pc due to having windows on a ssd and trying to download games to the hdd.

I now have a large nvme and have t had issues but the windows store with a second storage is hell

 

[Slack Attack]

Because of issues like these and the fact that the PC game pass title offerings have been vastly inferior to console title offerings, I canceled my subscription for now.

IMO PC game pass is very much still in beta and until Microsoft can figure out how to make a functioning launcher app (on their own OS and native platform nonetheless!) on PC, I'm out. With that said, I still think game pass is awesome and I'm considering buying a Series X just because of game pass.

 

[vgp]

I was afraid about all of these issues before going to PC gamepass. But I had no issues (installing with the xbox app and uninstalling in windowsprogram menu). Anyway I double check every time I get my HDD space back after each uninstall

 

[laxu]

This. As someone who is forced to use their entire suite of products at work (desktop and apps), I'm continually amazed at how awful the UX/UI is. I once wrote the head of IT at my job an essay about how awful Planner is and how his decision to force the company to use it over Trello was a disaster. It's almost as if the product team at MS doesn't actually use the products they develop. A lot of problems that are clearly evident by just examining basic user flows are either ignored or missed. I don't use GamePass on the PC but I'm not surprised by any of this.

Click to shrink...

Exactly. There's a helluva lot of low hanging fruit that would improve how these things work but especially Windows progresses at a snail's pace. The whole design of the Start menu has been awful for ages to name one and they can't even manage a sensible search. If it wasn't for gaming I would not use Windows on my personal computer.

 

[WhovianGamer]

Glad I read this thread. I was seriously considering getting Gamepass for PC. Big nope until this is fixed.

 

[Zeouter]

Yeah, it's not a great program / download experience.
I still run into issues.

It feels way better than it was a year ago.
And no, that's not good enough.

 

[Hydeus]

Never had this problem fortunately.

 

[GroundCombo]

I unsubscribed Game Pass and bought MSFS on Steam solely because of neverending problems with the MS store/app system. It is a gigantic pile of steaming hot garbage.

 

[Irrotational]

Trying to imagine a ticking time bomb powered by Microsoft


10..9..8..............7654.........3...........1.............2.......0

Click to shrink...

This is really funny, but can I add some suggestions :)

The numbers would probably go negative at some point...

...and also the bomb would explode when the timer got to 3

 

[dock]

The PC client and login system experience is often really obnoxious. Even when it works there's all the weird account confirmation stuff for every game that launches and needs permission to access your Xbox account.

I bought six months on good will, and also expecting to be able to stream cloud to PC. My experience has been pretty bad and I have often have to jump through hurdles. Last time it just refused to acknowledge my login, then after reboot it would let me in but crashed during install.

 

[R1CHO]

It has happen to me in the past.

Lots of GB from Gears or Forza stuck in limbo. I was able to manually deleted them.

Another time, it took some time for Windows to get the space back after an uninstall, like 2-3 days later.

Lately is working fine.

Yeah, it's always shocking how MS can fuck the apparently most simple things.

NEVER EVER has something like that happen to me, and I have installed games for all the services around.

MS, the store, and the windows apps kind of suck, at least now we have the Xbox app, which still shits the bed sometimes, but it's much better than the store.

 

[wellpapp]

When Gamepass on PC was fairly new, I had to reinstall (read remove my partitions) Windows because of Halo MCC. Before that, I spent a lot of time via the worthless Microsoft support + 343 forums. Haven't had issues since, don't know if space is lost atm though, this makes me paranoid.

 

[Muffin]

I assume you have tried it, but I'll just mention it: Did you try using WSReset.exe? I had CK3 not being able to update or start on me, and after a few tries uninstalling it the Xbox App stopped working too. I then uninstalled the Xbox App, ran WSReset, restarted my PC and reinstalled the Xbox App, and it worked.

 

[OrangePulp]

Microsoft Store/UWP/AppX is such a disaster. Even as someone who didn't have much trouble with it personally (I think I had to do some reinstallation with Horizon 3), I hate it to death. There's really no reason for games to use locked, encrypted directories. Normally I'd think, as a last resort, you could just clear out the registry keys associated with the game in question and redownload that way, but I just went digging through the registry for Killer Instinct (the only thing I have installed from windows store) and there doesn't seem to be much there; I'm guessing most of that information is stored elsewhere, probably inaccessible.

 

[danmaku]

Seems like they learned nothing in the last few years. As long as their games are stuck in this terrible store, their PC gaming push will always be crippled. The only explanation I can think of is that they're trying to comply with some absurd security standard no other store cares for.

 

[ThatNerdGUI]

Luckily I have never had a single issue with games I've installed from GP in PC (most of my recent games in the last year are there) even thought they're scattered across a few drives. It sucks for thos who do and it's just bizarre that it's so inconsistent.

 

[thenexus6]

The only issue i've had with PC game pass is games not launching like MCC. It would be fine, then just crash. I had to reinstall it three times (100GB each time) before just buying it on Steam.

In terms of getting back HDD space I've never had a problem.

 

[Seijuro]

Yeah the reports about people losing dozens of gigs because they can't delete games is the main reason I haven't checked out Gamepass yet.

 

[mantis]

It works for me 90% of the time. But when it doesn't it's a giant pain.

 

[Deleted member 20831]

No issues with Game Pass/Microsoft Store installation myself.
But there has to be a reason why people are facing issues with the installations, there always is* some form of condition when it fails to work properly.

 

[Burai]

Windows store, in general, is a giant bag of garbage.

Want to install on something other than c? Well good luck with that, but if it works or not is a secret.
Want to update a game? Well if you want to update it once, isn't five times even better?
This game will share details of your pets with the company who made the game...do you agree? What is the matter? You don't agree? Or are you not clicking yes because the game has captured input focus and you can't actually click on the fucking button? Well we'll fix that by not even popping up the screen the first 6 times you start the game.
Enjoy the game that just got released! Oh but it isn't actually released, it is releasing in three months. The release date we have for today is just a reminder of the current date.

Small indie company indeed. All shit you put up with for $1, but paying an actual proper price? No fix that shit.

Click to shrink...

I like how Windows sometimes can't tell what drive you've installed stuff to, so when you try to free up space on c:\ it'll just randomly suggest uninstalling stuff on secondary storage or moving games from c:\ that aren't even on there.

 

[Siresly]

Well this sucks, but is hardly surprising with Microsoft. They've been garbage at PC gaming forever, always forcing their poor, malfunctioning, restrictive software on users so they can obtain more control.

This problem hasn't happened to me yet, as far as I'm aware.
Currently unsubscribed to Game Pass. If I renew before this gets addressed in like 2022, I guess I'll install games on the lesser SSD. Thanks for the PSA.

The issue I've had beyond pricing, the UI being terrible and mods being killed, is that the Xbox app temporarily restricted access to games that were rated above 12+, so couldn't install any of those games. Think it was a bug introduced with an update that was eventually addressed, because it just suddenly happened and suddenly went away.

 

[dunkzilla]

I installed Forza Horizon 4 back at release and eventually the Xbox app just forgot it existed. I couldn't boot the game without redownloading it, I couldn't uninstall the game, and I couldn't get into the folder it was installed into to manually delete it. I deleted Crusaders Kings 3 a month ago or so but again, the game didn't delete, it was still sitting there on my drive, but the Xbox app thinks it's uninstalled.

 

[Deranged Hermit]

I should probably check to see if I have anything weird going on. I tried Gamepass for a bit but the Xbox app is such a fucking nightmare on PC I gave up on it. I downloaded several games but the Xbox app would constantly fail to either recognize I had them installed or that I had permission to launch them. It was a nonstop headache.

 

[AhahaICantAnswer]

The only issue I had is transferring Dishonored 2 to another drive but it showed as the game wasn't properly installed. Panicked for a bit since that's almost 30gb of wasted space but luckily it got deleted and I was able to reinstall the game. Didn't have any problems with game pass ever since and I regularly transfer between my PC's hard drive to an external one.

 

[flyinj]

What happens to the locked WindowsApps folder if you install and use another instance of Windows on another drive? Can you delete the WindowsApps folder that is associated with another install of Windows when using the new install?

 

[No Depth]

Yea, I pretty much relegated all my MS downloaded games to its own isolated 500gb SSD. Nothing else on it but specifically those games. I don't want any of their nonsense interfering with other drives that have Steam games or system files. They get their own dumb fridge.

 

[mudai]

Everyone who played the Windoes 10 version of PSO2 can sing a song about this. Suddenly, the game would nuke itself, not start anymore, install itself three times etc. For some (myself included) it didn't even want to install unless you ran a command in Powershell during installation. What a mess it was. Good thing the PSO2 Tweaker team fixed most of those issues before the Steam release came out and made things A LOT easier.

 

[Darkstorne]

Voted other, because I had this issue when trying to uninstall Shadow of War but found a simple fix online. Forget exactly what now, but the install files were saved in some kind of temporary system folder or some such, and deleting them there was a simple enough process, but I wouldn't have had a clue to look there without internet heroes telling me to.

It's definitely a problem. If you ask GamePass to uninstall a game, that's what it should do. Simples.

 

[Deleted member 5621]

Every time someone says Microsoft is taking PC seriously again and doesn't address the shitshow that is the MS Store I just laugh. It's problem after problem since it launched, and then they tie Xbox/Gamepass stuff to it and make it worse. Just fucking what.