Have you ever had a stuck Windows Store download or downloads on your Surface? What I mean by this is that you go to download an app from Windows Store and it acts as if it started the download but it never finishes. It just sits there stuck.
If you have seen this, you know it can be frustrating. When this happens, it seems to persist no matter how many times you close and open the Windows Store or restart your Surface.
If this is happening to you, try these two fixes. Odds are one of them will resolve the problem and “unstick” your app download.
Stuck Windows Store Download: WSReset
The first thing to try is a Windows Store reset command. This command line tool is built into Windows and will usually fix most issues with the Windows Store. It’s pretty easy and works a majority of the time.
To run this task, just follow these steps:
- Make sure you’re logged in with admin rights.
- Close the Windows Store (if it’s open).
- Start a Command Prompt window.
- Type wsreset in the command window as shown below.
- Press Enter.
The command will take several seconds to run and will automatically open the Windows Store app on your Surface when it’s finished. If it worked right, the stuck Windows Store download will start actually downloading and installing correctly.
Stuck Windows Store Download: App Cache Reg Key
If the WSReset command didn’t clear up your problem, another thing you can try is to go into the registry editor and look for a bad entry.
Like the wsreset command, it’s pretty easy to do but it will require you to edit your registry and you will need to know what a SID (Security Identifier) looks like. If you’re not comfortable with either of those conditions, you might not want to try this procedure. Seek help from your local geek instead 🙂
Here are the steps, if you’re comfortable with registry edits:
- Make sure you’re logged in with admin rights.
- Start the Registry Editor by searching for regedit and selecting the top result.
- Once the you’re in the Registry Editor, browse to this location: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Appx\AppxAllUserStore
- Next, Look for an entry the looks like a SID. If it’s not there, close the Registry editor because it is not a registry problem causing your stuck download(s).
- If it is there, right-click on it and delete it.
- Close the Registry Editor and restart your Surface.
After your Surface restarts, the download should complete normally.
When you are following the above steps, be very careful to only delete ONLY the registry entry indicated. If you change or delete other entries, you could cause yourself much worse problems than a stuck download.
Tim
