V
Viktor Knutsson
Guest
We are having major issues with built-in apps for our Windows 10 Enterprise machines in my environment. Month after month I get new reports from users that have issues with their Photos, Calculator or Sticky Notes apps. When opened they simply close down immediately.
Event log shows errors such as
Activation for Microsoft.Windows.Photos_8wekyb3d8bbwe!App failed. Error code: The app didn't start.. Activation phase: COM ActivateExtension
and
The server Microsoft.Windows.Photos_2019.19011.19410.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe!App.AppXy9rh3t8m2jfpvhhxp6y2ksgeq77vymbq.mca did not register with DCOM within the required timeout.
I have spent maybe a full work week in total with this issue and I am still not able to find a consistent fix. More and more users report it/get the problem, and it seems to happen right after a Windows Update was installed and when the PC was rebooted. It happened for January and February updates, as well as now for March updates. Does not seem related to a specific update. Just now I got another report from a user with a freshly installed PC (2 months old, Windows 10 Enterprise 1809). I can’t find a pattern in the PCs that receive the problem.
I found a Microsoft article that suggested that this is a problem with permissions in known system folders, that may or may not have been modified via GPO. I have investigated this and could not find any GPO that modifies these folders permissions (only for other unrelated folders). I also cannot find any faulty permissions, but I have still attempted to ”fix” them but it doesn't seem to have helped. https://support.microsoft.com/en-us...-to-start-if-default-registry-or-file-permiss
Even though I am trying to find the root cause and stop it, I have also worked on trying to create a fix (like a script) to resolve it quickly when it happens. Gathering resources online for this or similar issues, this is the powershell script I run currently:
TAKEOWN /F "C:\Program Files\WindowsApps" /R /D Y
ICACLS "C:\Program Files\WindowsApps" /grant Administrators:F /T
ICACLS "C:\Program Files\WindowsApps" /T /Q /C /RESET
Get-AppXPackage -AllUsers | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml"}
After running this script the apps will show error message “App could not run” instead of crash-to-desktop. At this point I can usually (not always) just log into the Store and reinstall the app (after clicking around somewhat in the GUI to trigger this reinstall-button to show) and it works. This is a tedious task to do for each user every time and it does not always work. I also don’t seem to be able to script this, especially since auto login to Store require Hybrid/Azure AD which I am not able to implement right now.
Upgrading the Windows 10 machine to the latest update (for example 1803 to 1809) does not help. These machines have not had any “Remove Windows 10 Apps” script ran. I used to, but that was a long time ago and most if not all machines mentioned in this post have not. I found a resource online (SOLVED: Reinstall Windows Store app, if it has been removed during post OOBE) that guides you on how to download source files for apps (“Windows 10 Inbox Apps”) and install them again from this media via Add-AppXProvisionedPackage, but this generates error “Unspecified error” (seems to be a new bug with 1803/1809, many others have reported this online).
Also, going into the App settings via GUI and pressing “Reset” or even “Repair” does not seem to do anything. Specifically the “Repair” option suggests that it will reinstall the app, but it takes 1 second to complete and does not reinstall it. Is there any GPO or something that may block this one? That would be a possible fix if that button would work.
If you have any suggestions on how to approach this, please let me know. I am especially interested in finding and stopping the root cause.
More...
Event log shows errors such as
Activation for Microsoft.Windows.Photos_8wekyb3d8bbwe!App failed. Error code: The app didn't start.. Activation phase: COM ActivateExtension
and
The server Microsoft.Windows.Photos_2019.19011.19410.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe!App.AppXy9rh3t8m2jfpvhhxp6y2ksgeq77vymbq.mca did not register with DCOM within the required timeout.
I have spent maybe a full work week in total with this issue and I am still not able to find a consistent fix. More and more users report it/get the problem, and it seems to happen right after a Windows Update was installed and when the PC was rebooted. It happened for January and February updates, as well as now for March updates. Does not seem related to a specific update. Just now I got another report from a user with a freshly installed PC (2 months old, Windows 10 Enterprise 1809). I can’t find a pattern in the PCs that receive the problem.
I found a Microsoft article that suggested that this is a problem with permissions in known system folders, that may or may not have been modified via GPO. I have investigated this and could not find any GPO that modifies these folders permissions (only for other unrelated folders). I also cannot find any faulty permissions, but I have still attempted to ”fix” them but it doesn't seem to have helped. https://support.microsoft.com/en-us...-to-start-if-default-registry-or-file-permiss
Even though I am trying to find the root cause and stop it, I have also worked on trying to create a fix (like a script) to resolve it quickly when it happens. Gathering resources online for this or similar issues, this is the powershell script I run currently:
TAKEOWN /F "C:\Program Files\WindowsApps" /R /D Y
ICACLS "C:\Program Files\WindowsApps" /grant Administrators:F /T
ICACLS "C:\Program Files\WindowsApps" /T /Q /C /RESET
Get-AppXPackage -AllUsers | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml"}
After running this script the apps will show error message “App could not run” instead of crash-to-desktop. At this point I can usually (not always) just log into the Store and reinstall the app (after clicking around somewhat in the GUI to trigger this reinstall-button to show) and it works. This is a tedious task to do for each user every time and it does not always work. I also don’t seem to be able to script this, especially since auto login to Store require Hybrid/Azure AD which I am not able to implement right now.
Upgrading the Windows 10 machine to the latest update (for example 1803 to 1809) does not help. These machines have not had any “Remove Windows 10 Apps” script ran. I used to, but that was a long time ago and most if not all machines mentioned in this post have not. I found a resource online (SOLVED: Reinstall Windows Store app, if it has been removed during post OOBE) that guides you on how to download source files for apps (“Windows 10 Inbox Apps”) and install them again from this media via Add-AppXProvisionedPackage, but this generates error “Unspecified error” (seems to be a new bug with 1803/1809, many others have reported this online).
Also, going into the App settings via GUI and pressing “Reset” or even “Repair” does not seem to do anything. Specifically the “Repair” option suggests that it will reinstall the app, but it takes 1 second to complete and does not reinstall it. Is there any GPO or something that may block this one? That would be a possible fix if that button would work.
If you have any suggestions on how to approach this, please let me know. I am especially interested in finding and stopping the root cause.
More...
