Windows 8.1 Store Apps Won’t Open (Or Close Immediately) when logged on as a domain user. Make it stop! (Updated 3/14/2015)

“MAKE IT STOP!” was the subject of the e-mail I received yesterday from a customer who was incredibly frustrated with an issue on his new Windows 8.1 laptop.

Have you ever seen this? You click on an app you got from the Windows 8.1 Store and it won’t open? You click on the app, but the app simply reloads the Start screen.

StartScreen

(Actual closing behavior not pictured because reasons!)

This is apparently a not uncommon issue if the permissions for the "All Application Packages” group have changed in the registry or to specific folders. These changes to the registry can be caused either by User action or by a Group Policy that has been applied to a domain joined machine.

How to fix this:

(1) Open the Registry (REGEDIT)

Check that the All Applications Packages group has READ permissions to each of the following registry paths.

  • 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

image

This shows that HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT has READ Permissions for the All APPLICATION PACKAGES group. You’ll need to check this for each of the registry paths listed above.

 

(2) Open File Explorer

 

FILEEXPLORER

Open your OS Drive (C).

image

Then select the Program Files folder and select Properties.

 

PropertiesofProgFiles

In Program Files Properties select the Security Tab.

SecurityPropertiesProgramFiles

On the Security tab click on Advanced.

On the Advanced Security Settings for Program Files screen verify that ALL APPLICATION PACKAGES has Allow Permissions Read & execute for This folder, subfolders and files.

AdvancedSecuritySettingsProgramFiles

 

(3) If you are unable to make the changes to the Registry or the folder permissions to Program Files, it is likely that your issue is caused by a Group Policy applied by your Domain Administrator that prevents Windows Store Apps from launching.

You can verify that this is the case by running the following:

Open an Administrator Command Prompt from your Start button.

AdministratorCommandPrompt

The following steps are Optional, and may not work if you don't have the Administrative tools installed.  

You might need to download the appropriate toolset for your Operating System.

Proceed only if you have the gpresult tool. It is not necessary to complete this step to resolve this issue.

Type the following in the Administrator Command Prompt

“gpresult /h c:\gpresults.html” without quotes.

gpresultsreport1

Wait until the Report is finished being generated.

gpresultsreport2

Open the report location c:\gpresults.html

gpresultsreport3

Your report will look something like the below screen capture.

gpresultsreport4

Look for Computer Settings – Policies\Windows Settings\Security Settings. Check for both “File System” the entry for Registry. If you have settings here then you need to talk to your Domain Administrator about what Group Policy Objects are being applied, and how you can get the All Application Packages group the proper permissions via the Group Policy Object.

Direct your Domain Administrator to MSKB Article KB2798317 to resolve this issue.

I’ll be updating this article over the next couple of days with additional troubleshooting steps.

Dave