Fix Windows Store Problems on Your Surface

In this article, I’m going to cover how to fix Windows Store problems on your Surface.

Windows Store problems usually result in you either not being able to connect to the store or not being able to download/install the applications.

If that sounds like the issues you’re having then this article should be a great help.

Fix Windows Store Problems: Clear the Cache

If you’re having issues with apps not installing or you can’t find apps you know are in the store, it could be because of corrupt cache.  Often this can be easily fixed with this simple procedure:

• Open a Command Prompt
• Run the wsreset.exe command

When you execute this command, the Windows Store will launch, go blank for a couple of seconds, and finally re-open.

At this point, you should check to see if your Windows Store problem is fixed. If not, move on to the next step.

Fix Windows Store Problems: Windows Store Apps Troubleshooter

Next, you can try running the Windows Store Apps Troubleshooter tool Microsoft provides. It will usually do the trick but you might need to run it a couple of times to fix all of the issues.

• Make sure you’re logged in with administrator rights
• Download the Windows Store Troubleshooter and run it

• Select Windows Store Apps from the list and tap Next and wait for the tool to finish its analysis

• For each problem the tool finds, it will ask whether you want to fix it or skip it. In this case, it detected that the Windows Store Cache and Licenses may be corrupt. I’m choosing to fix it.

• After each fix it tries, the tool will continue to look for additional problems. It could do this multiple times.

• When the tool is done looking for and correcting problems, it will give you a short report screen along with the status of the problem.

As I mentioned before, you may need to run the tool multiple times to fix the problems you’re experiencing. However, if it looks like this tool just isn’t going to do the job, you’ll want to move on to the next step.

Fix Windows Store Problems: DISM

I’ve written about DISM before – it’s a pretty handy tool for finding and fixing problems with the built-in error correcting features in Windows 8.1.

It just so happens, it can help fix Windows Store problems as well. To use it for this purpose, just do the following:

• Open an Administrative Command Prompt by opening the Search Charm and looking for cmd, then do a tap and hold (right-click) on the Command Prompt (or cmd icon) and select Run as administrator

• When the Command Prompt appears, type this command: Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

It will take a while and it may seem to be hung up at 20% but just be patient, it can take several minutes to complete.

After it finishes, see if the Windows Store problem you were experiencing has been fixed. If not, go on to the next step.

Fix Windows Store Problems: Re-Register the Store

This command will, essentially, remove and re-register the Windows Store with the operating system. This could help if your problem is because of a “bad connection” between Windows and the Windows Store application or some/all of its components.

• Open an Administrative Command Prompt (as above)
• Run this command powershell -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register Env:SystemRoot\WinStore\AppxManifest.XML (It’s OK to cut and paste)
• You’ll get a weird message in a green bar as below

After the command completes and you get the normal command window back, try the Windows Store again to see if your problem is fixed.

Fix Windows Store Problems: Refresh or Reset your Surface

Unfortunately, if none of the suggested fixes above did the job, you will probably need to perform a Refresh or Reset.

I suggest trying a refresh first as it is a little quicker and shouldn’t affect your files (though you will need to re-install apps). If that doesn’t work, try doing a Reset (which will work but is like shooting ants with a shotgun).

Hopefully, the above troubleshooting steps were helpful to you and fixed the Windows Store problems on your Surface.

Tim