Lost the Microsoft Store after clone
I used Acronis True Image to clone a Windows 10 drive to a larger SSD, and then changed to boot from that new SSD. Everything seemed to be OK, but then apps started disappearing: first the HP Support Assistant, then NVIDIA control panel and the Intel Thunderbolt control. The last two are Microsoft Store apps, so I tried to reinstall -- and that's when I discovered the store is gone. I think it took the store apps with it, along with certain UWP apps like the HP support assistant.
I think there's a good chance that this is related to the clone. Either it didn't copy something, or the store is sensitive to the boot volume (not just the drive letter, since I'm on C:, same as before).
Google says I'm not the first person who has lost the store after a clone. But I don't see any solutions.
My question is: has this happened to anyone else after a True Image clone? How do you fix it?
I think I found the same article as you, because I tried those steps already:
1. The powershell command gets an error:
Add-AppxPackage : Cannot find path 'C:\AppXManifest.xml' because it does not exist.
At line:1 char:61
+ ... | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.I ...
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : ObjectNotFound: (C:\AppXManifest.xml:String) [Add-AppxPackage], ItemNotFoundException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : PathNotFound,Microsoft.Windows.Appx.PackageManager.Commands.AddAppxPackageCommandbecause the InstallLocation field for the Microsoft.WindowsStore package is blank.
If I try to put in the install location myself, based on the WindowsStore PackageFullName and the expected location, it still can't find it:
PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\Microsoft.WindowsStore_22309.1401.2.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe\AppXManifest.xml"
Add-AppxPackage : Cannot find path 'C:\Program
Files\WindowsApps\Microsoft.WindowsStore_22309.1401.2.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe\AppXManifest.xml' because it does not exist.
At line:1 char:1
+ Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "C:\Program Files\W ...
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : ObjectNotFound: (C:\Program File...ppXManifest.xml:String) [Add-AppxPackage], ItemNotFou
ndException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : PathNotFound,Microsoft.Windows.Appx.PackageManager.Commands.AddAppxPackageCommand
The file AppXManifest.xml file it is looking for does exist on the SSD I cloned from.
2. All available Windows updates have been applied.
3. Resetting doesn't work because the Microsoft Store is not in the list.
4. I'm an administrator of this computer. I'm not seeing any signs of other permission problems. I was able to reinstall one of the UWP apps that disappeared (i.e. one that isn't from the store).
Regarding a ticket, I assumed I'm not entitled to support, because I'm using an OEM version: Acronis True Image for Western Digital version 2023 build 39676 (licensed until 10/15/2028).
Michael Schmitt wrote:I think I found the same article as you, because I tried those steps already:
1. The powershell command gets an error:
Add-AppxPackage : Cannot find path 'C:\AppXManifest.xml' because it does not exist. At line:1 char:61 + ... | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.I ... + ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + CategoryInfo : ObjectNotFound: (C:\AppXManifest.xml:String) [Add-AppxPackage], ItemNotFoundException + FullyQualifiedErrorId : PathNotFound,Microsoft.Windows.Appx.PackageManager.Commands.AddAppxPackageCommandbecause the InstallLocation field for the Microsoft.WindowsStore package is blank.
If I try to put in the install location myself, based on the WindowsStore PackageFullName and the expected location, it still can't find it:
PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\Microsoft.WindowsStore_22309.1401.2.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe\AppXManifest.xml" Add-AppxPackage : Cannot find path 'C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\Microsoft.WindowsStore_22309.1401.2.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe\AppXManifest.xml' because it does not exist. At line:1 char:1 + Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "C:\Program Files\W ... + ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + CategoryInfo : ObjectNotFound: (C:\Program File...ppXManifest.xml:String) [Add-AppxPackage], ItemNotFou ndException + FullyQualifiedErrorId : PathNotFound,Microsoft.Windows.Appx.PackageManager.Commands.AddAppxPackageCommand
The file AppXManifest.xml file it is looking for does exist on the SSD I cloned from.
2. All available Windows updates have been applied.
3. Resetting doesn't work because the Microsoft Store is not in the list.
4. I'm an administrator of this computer. I'm not seeing any signs of other permission problems. I was able to reinstall one of the UWP apps that disappeared (i.e. one that isn't from the store).
Regarding a ticket, I assumed I'm not entitled to support, because I'm using an OEM version: Acronis True Image for Western Digital version 2023 build 39676 (licensed until 10/15/2028).
Hello! Thanks for the updates.
It's uncommon the code doesn't work in your OS. Make sure you disbable any 3rd party A.Virus for example before executing that code.
If that's an OEM version then everything changes because those versions of the product are updated maintained by the reseller, in this case by WD. They aren't exactly the same as our version. Please follow this KB and contact them: https://kb.acronis.com/content/2201
Best regards.
That's why I posted the question as "has this happened to anyone else after a True Image clone?" -- I wanted to see if this was a known issue with a solution.
But it is a moot point, because I have the store back! For others to know how to do it, here's the procedure I created myself, i.e. this is a new procedure. This procedure assumes that you have a backup you can restore from, such as if you got into this situation by cloning from an old drive.
1. Open Windows PowerShell as administrator.
2. Try Get-AppXPackage | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml"}. If this gets the error "Cannot find path 'C:\AppXManifest.xml' because it does not exist.", then continue, you're in the problem situation where you've lost the store files.
3. Enter just "Get-AppxPackage -allusers Microsoft.WindowsStore". If it gives a result for the Microsoft.WindowsStore, confirm that the InstallLocation field is blank -- that's why the command in step #2 failed.
4. Now you need to determine the correct install location. It will be C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\, followed by what's in the PackageFullName field that was reported in step 3. For example, if the Package FullName is Microsoft.WindowsStore_22309.1401.2.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe, the correct install location is C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\Microsoft.WindowsStore_22309.1401.2.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe.
5. Restore the files from that path on the backup to that path on the current drive. This is tricky, because Windows locks down read access to these files hard, and there's special security attributes.
One way is to use Robocopy, which is built-in to Windows. For example, given the above location, and given that the backup is drive D:, you can copy the files by opening a command prompt as Administrator and entering:
robocopy "D:\Program Files\WindowsApps\Microsoft.WindowsStore_22309.1401.2.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe" "C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\Microsoft.WindowsStore_22309.1401.2.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe" /e /b /sec /MT:32 /sl /xj /dst /r:5 /W:10 /mir
6. Now you need to re-register the store. Use this command in the Admin PowerShell, replacing the path with your install particular location. Note the AppXManifest.xml at the end.
Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\Microsoft.WindowsStore_22309.1401.2.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe\AppXManifest.xml"
7. The store is back!
New information:
I think the issue here is because my laptop has 2 SSD slots, I cloned using the following procedure:
- Put new SSD in the 2nd slot
- Booted into Windows
- Used Acronis True Image to clone from old SSD to new SSD
- Shut down
- Booted into BIOS, turned off the old SSD's port
- Booted into windows.
So far, so good. But I didn't want to leave the old port permanently disabled, since at some point I was thinking of repurposing it as a backup drive. So...
- Booted into BIOS again, turned port on
- Booted into Windows
- Used Disk Manager to take the old drive offline -- I didn't want to have the old drive visible, I thought could cause problems.
But Windows doesn't like having both the old drive and the new clone of it online at the same time. It is the act of taking the old drive offline that removes the UWP apps (not just the Store, but many others) out of the Start menu.
At that point the files used by the UWP app still exist, and you could re-register them. But if you do a Windows update, part of the clean-up appears to be that it removes all the UWP app program files that it thinks no users is using. And once that happens, it is harder to get it fixed.
You may say, "well, don't have both the old and new SSDs online at the same time!" But you have to do that at some point, else you'd never be able to reformat the old drive. And consider that you can't take the drive offline until you've started at least once with it still online.