Windows Store Apps fail to start? Check Registry & File Permissions

Many Windows users are unable to start Windows Store Apps downloaded from the Microsoft Store because of some modification in Registry & File Permissions. In this article, we are going to suggest some Registry and File settings that you will need to take a look at if Microsoft Store Apps fails to start on your Windows 10 system.

There are two issues related to Microsoft Store Apps, one may encounter because of the Registry and File Permission issue.

Redirected to Start Screen when trying to open the App

When users are trying to open a Microsoft Store app, the app starts but then they are redirected to Start Screen without seeing any error message. This usually happens because of alterations in Registry and File Permission.

Microsoft Store Apps have their registry and file system stored in the All Application Package group. When the group loses the required access to these registry and file systems, you may encounter this behavior.

Windows Store Apps and Start Menu not working

Many users are experiencing an error where they are unable to open Microsoft Store Apps or access the Start Menu. The reason for the error is pretty clear, one or all the keys have lost their read permission. The All Application Package lacks permission to the registry and file subsystem location.

The solutions we are going to lay in this article will apply to both these errors.

Windows Store Apps fail to Start because of Registry and File Permission

Before checking solutions, we need to determine how the permissions were changed. We are going to see three scenarios that could have happened. They are.

File Permissions were changed
Registry Permissions were changed
Group Policy was used

Let us determine what happened to your computer.

1] File Permissions were changed

You need to check File Permissions of three folders, Programs Files, Windows, and Users<userName>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\WER.

You need to make sure that the first two folders have control over the Read, Read & Execute, and List folder contents options and the last one has control over List folder/read data, and Create Folders/Append Data.

You can do that by right-clicking on the folder, going to the Security tab, and checking the Permissions.

2] Registry Permissions were changed

You need to check the following Registry keys and see if the All Applications Packages group has the Read permissions. If they don’t possess the permission, your Registry Permissions were changed.

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Drivers
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\HARDWARE
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SAM
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM
HKEY_USERS

3] Group Policy was used

To know if Group Policy was used to alter permissions, you need to check the gpreport of the computer that’s experiencing the trouble. So, go to that computer, launch Command Prompt as an administrator, and run the following command.

gpresult /h <path>\gpreport.html

Replace <path> with the drive letter on which you want the HTML file to be made.

Now, expand as per the following instructions.

Computer Settings > Policies\Windows Settings\Security Settings

Now, check if there’s a File System and Registry, if they exist then this means that the Group Policy is altering permissions.

Now that you know what’s altering the Permissions, it is time to fix the error. Depending on the way permissions were altered, you need to solve the Microsoft Store Apps fail to start because of changed Registry & File Permissions. The following are the four things that could have happened.

File System Permission changed manually
File System Permission changed by Group Policy
Registry Permission changed manually
Registry Permission changed by Group Policy

Let us talk about them in detail.

1] File System Permission changed manually

If you came to a conclusion that File System Permission changed manually then execute the following steps to fix the error.

Launch File Explorer by Win + E.
Go to C Drive > Program Files.
Right-click on Program Files, and click Properties.
Go to the Security tab and click Advanced.
Click Change permissions > Add > Select a principal > Locations.
Now, select your local machine and click Ok.
Add the All Applications Packages group name and select ok.
Set, Type = allow and Applies to = This folder, subfolder, and files.
Now, close all the other windows except the Properties one.
Click Edit and check Read, Read & Execute, and List folder contents.
Tick the “Replace all child object permissions with inheritable permission entries from this object” option and click Apply > Ok.

Do the same for Windows and Users. But make sure to grant the All Application Packages group Full Control for the latter.

Hopefully, this will fix the issue if the File System Permission changed manually.

2] File Permission changed by Group Policy

If you conclude that File Permission is changed by Group Policy, read this solution to fix the error.

Launch Group Policy Administrative Console and Go to the following location.

Computer Configuration\Policy\Windows Settings\Security Settings\File System

If the path exists then edit it, if not, right-click on the File System and select add file then browse to c:\Program Files and click Ok. Now, click Add > Location > Local Machine Name. Now, add All Application Package, give them control over Read, Read & Execute, and List folder contents, and click Apply > Ok.

Finally, select the Replace existing permissions on all subfolders and files with inheritable permissions option.

Do the same for Windows and Users. But make sure to grant the All Application Packages group Full Control for the latter.

3] Registry Permissions changed manually

If you conclude that Registry Permissions are changed, read this solution to fix the error.

Launch Registry Editor from the Start Menu.
Right-click on HKEY_Users and select Permissions. Now, give All Application Packages full control over Read and click Apply > Ok.
Do the same for HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT.
For HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, you need to make sure that subkeys HARDWARE, SAM, SOFTWARE, SYSTEM have the Read permissions.

This will fix the issue for you.

4] Registry Permissions changed by Group Policy

The last possible combination is when Registry Permissions are changed by Group Policy. To fix it, you need to read this solution.