Windows 10 Apps don't work!

[DSAGEY]

Hello

I'm wondering if anyone else has had this issue, or have any guidance on what to do next.

All our machines are Windows 10 Pro, we have a Windows 2019 server, we gaced the same issue before when we were on Windows 2008 server where the client/workstation machines don't appear to have any apps such as Calendar, Calculator, Snip & Sketch, Photos etc. I have checked GPO's and can't see anything there either. The Store icon is there but when you click it, it then closes straight away without even loading.

 

The machines that used to be on the Admin server (Windows 2012) the apps worked fine until once again it joined the new server and now doesn't work either.

There is not 1 machine in the school where the apps work, our IT support company has done a lot of troubleshotting with commands for Powershell etc but had no luck. It seems odd that we got brand new laptops and the apps worked fine, until they were connected up to the server, then the apps didn't work. Which indicates to me that there must be a GPO somewhere preventing them from working. I have been advised by the support to wipe the machine and reinstall Windows which is going to take ages to do 80 machines before retuning on the 3rd Sept.

Edited August 14, 2020 by DSAGEY

[Steve21]

If you got access can you do a gpresult /h gpo.html and see what it's listing as having applied from that file

 

Normally that sounds like one of a few items, either disabling the store, or applocker rules that aren't setup for apps (or depending how the build is done it could be a bodged profile/appx package, but if that was the case it shouldn't work before you join the domain, unless they're forcing a mand profile)

 

Steve

[DSAGEY]

Hi

 

I have done that but can't find when the results are.

[Steve21]

It'll be in that folder you're running it as (C:\windows\system32 in your case).

 

If you can't access that, run it like gpresult /h N:\gpo.html or whatever drive you do have access on

 

Steve

[DSAGEY]

Hi,

 

I have the file, if you are happy to take a look?

[DSAGEY]

Why can't this be simple!!

 

Our IT support company have come back saying "The fix to this issue is to ensure that that following folders and permissions levels are correctly set;

 

Local Account "All Application Packages"

%Userprofile%\AppData\Local\Packages Folder - Full Control

C:\Users Folder - Full Control

C:\Program Files\WindowsApps - Read & Execute, List Folder Contents and Read"

 

I have done this and even the machine they did it on the apps still do not work.

 

I'm getting so frustrated with it, as it's one of those things that should work without an issue. They bring out these new operating systems, yet you just get issues all the time.

[dubsdj]

Check you are not using the N version of windows 10 (most likely you are not but) . If you are then make sure you have the media pack installed.

 

Also do the apps work in a local user scenario? Sounds like an appdata issue, do you redirect appdata?

 

I gave up with windows 10 and apps on the network a long time ago, just a big hassle. I hope you manage to find a solution.

Edited August 24, 2020 by dubsdj

[DSAGEY]

Check you are not using the N version of windows 10 (most likely you are not but) . If you are then make sure you have the media pack installed.

 

Also do the apps work in a local user scenario? Sounds like an appdata issue, do you redirect appdata?

 

I gave up with windows 10 and apps on the network a long time ago, just a big hassle. I hope you manage to find a solution.

 

We are Windows 10 Pro

 

The apps don't work as a local user either as far as I'm aware but will give that a try. But the apps worked before I joined it up to the domain so I know it's not the machine itself.

 

Thanks

[Steve21]

Did you check those GPOs out I said before? I'd still say 99.9% its down to them bodging your program files permissions

 

Steve

[agibson]

A few things to check:

 

1. Permissions (as above)

2. Has there been any customisation to the OS before deployment?

3. What version of Windows 10 is it (1809/1903/1909/2004 etc)

4. Is the Solitaire Collection installed?

 

I have had issues with all of the above in the past - try a base install of Windows 10 on a machine in your environment using a Windows 10 installation iso (no customisation) to see if that works, if it does, then maybe do an inplace upgrade on the PCs as a 'quick' fix rather than re-imaging everything?

 

The Solitaire Collection being removed before OS deployment can break a hell of a lot of stuff, to the point where most apps will not work at all.

 

The other thing to check is whether any GPOs are set to disable the store from running.

 

Give me a shout if you need any other ideas, I had an absolute nightmare with it, but now I feel like I know the OS and App infrastructure very well.

[DSAGEY]

I have been playing around with a test group so I have one machine under the group but can login as any domain user.

 

When I logged in as the Servername\Administrator the apps worked - when I created a new login called Test User it worked fine also. But when I give it a Profile Path & Home Folder and log back in as that user the apps stop working. Once I removed the profile path & Home Folder it works again. Anyone else have this?

 

I assume it is something to do with the Profile Path/Home Folder causing the issue.

[Steve21]

When you say Profile path do you mean for roaming profiles? If so it's best not to use them with Windows 10, as it breaks more than it benefits. You either go with local, or migrate to one of the newer technologies for profile management

 

Steve

[DSAGEY]

Yes we are on roaming profiles so all users can login and have all their documents on whatever machine they login to.

 

Attachment here as to what I'm referring to.

[Steve21]

Roaming profiles don't affect documents, that's folder redirection and home drive settings. Roaming profiles is only for moving things like individual program settings around with you

 

Steve

[DSAGEY]

So in theory I don't need Roaming Profiles as long as staff and pupils save to their N drive so their documents are stored on the server. The Desktop and taskbar doesn't matter anyway - I assume this will also make it quicker to login to a machine?

 

We have always had roaming profiles since 2010. So I have not known of not having roaming profiles. I do sometimes require to access the kids work from my machine I assume I can still do this without a roaming profile. As if everything is saved locally to the machine and that breaks (as we have had no new devices since 2012) so is likley to happen we would lose everything.

[Steve21]

You can also use folder redirection, so anything in Documents/Music/Downloads/Desktops etc etc is saved on the server, not locally. And yes it'll be quicker after the first login to a machine as it doesn't need to pull profiles down, just uses what's local. First login will always be a bit slower as normal as it has to create their profile

 

In terms of you accessing their work, you'd do it on the server (or via the UNC paths etc for their drives) as normal, that won't affect anything in that sense

 

If you don't have a test student/teacher setup, make an account and try it and see if how it works

 

Steve

[DSAGEY]

Ok I will give that a try - I do have a machine that is in a Test group with no group policies attached to it - I assume roaming profiles would be setup as a GPO?

 

I'll have a play around next week - thanks for your support

[Steve21]

No the "Profile Path" you did in that screenshot is what makes it roaming. For local profiles, you just don't set one.

 

So create a test user without the profile path, and you can log into any other machine to test it. Shouldn't need to use a special machine etc

 

Steve

[DSAGEY]

Hi,

 

I have just removed Roaming Profiles from all users. Is there a quick way of removing cached copied of roaming profiles from the local harddrive without having to go on every machine?

 

Thanks

[DSAGEY]

No the "Profile Path" you did in that screenshot is what makes it roaming. For local profiles, you just don't set one.

 

So create a test user without the profile path, and you can log into any other machine to test it. Shouldn't need to use a special machine etc

 

Steve

 

Hi,

 

I have done this now at long last, I was waiting for INSET Days to do it as I knew staff would be woring from home.

 

Fingers crossed issues should be resolved.

 

 

The next thing I need to do is sort out the Windows Apps issue, I have tried this on a couple of machines manually and it has worked by doing the following;

 

Local Account "All Application Packages" %Userprofile%\AppData\Local\Packages Folder - Full ControlC:\Users Folder - Full ControlC:\Program Files\WindowsApps - Read & Execute, List Folder Contents and Read

 

Can I add this to the follow GPO? Otherwise I'm going to have to do all machines manually which will take some time.

 

GPO can be found here https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bv8m4b7qcdFh89B-BUwmuBzL9-Dg4kfO/view (you may need to download it to view.

 

Thanks