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Edit: This Issue has been - fortunately or unfortunately - solved by Yet Another Clean Install, as it has been specified toward the end of the text of this question.

Still, as advised by @Ramhound, we need to specify the fact that before noticing the manifestation of this Issue, the User Account Control had been disabled long time ago. For a certain period of time, still our Microsoft Windows Universal Windows Platform Static Software Applications have been working quite all right.

Now begins the Original Text of the Question.

Our Microsoft Windows Universal Windows Platform Static Software Applications have started vanishing today after their launch into execution.

We have already fully updated twice the Microsoft Windows 10 Operating System today. Everything has been working out smoothly. We would not blame the applying of any Software Update Packages this time.

What we have done has been to take the ownership of the WindowsApps Folder ourselves. It would have been enough just to add only Read Access to ourselves, as we just wanted to read a certain piece of data from within it.

Instead of doing that, we have gotten greedy and we have taken ownership of the whole Folder with all of its Sub-Folders and Files. We do not know how to set it back, as we cannot select the TrustedInstaller User when we have to.

The <code>WindowsApps</code> Folder

The Current Erroneous Owner

Finding the <code>TrustedInstaller</code> User

The Inability to Find the <code>TrustedInstaller</code> User

Update:

Great answer, @harrymc. It did fix our Issue with the TrustedInstaller User.

Resetting the Ownership of the <code>WindowsApps</code> Folder

We also had to check the following check-mark and to recursively apply the ownership to the Sub-Folders and to the Files within the WindowsApps Folder.

The Check-Mark for the Recursive Resetting of the Ownership

It would be great if you could improve your answer so that everything is automatically done recursively.

However, this did not solve our Issue. We have renamed the title of this question.

We might not be blamable at all. Other than this erroneous setting of the ownership of the WindowsApps Folder to ourselves, we have not done anything obviously wrong to the machine today. We have to imagine that the two Software Update Packages that we have applied today have messed up something related to the Microsoft Windows Universal Windows Platform Static Software Applications.

Behavior:

  1. Some Microsoft Windows Universal Windows Platform Static Software Applications, such as the Microsoft Windows Calc Static Software Application or the Microsoft Windows Skype Static Software Application, are appearing shortly for a few seconds and then they are simply vanishing.

  2. Some Microsoft Windows Universal Windows Platform Static Software Applications, such as the RCS-RDS-Digi Digi.Online Static Software Application, are processing something for a few tens of seconds and then they are simply vanishing.

Update:

What we have done other than messing up the ownership of the WindowsApps Folder has been to uninstall a certain number (around six) Static Software Applications - not only Microsoft Windows Universal Windows Platform Static Software Applications - before applying the two Software Update Packages.

Maybe the Microsoft Windows Installer had already gotten broken after the uninstallation of those around six Static Software Applications.

We have also applied the Get-AppXPackage | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml"} Microsoft Windows PowerShell One-Liner. It has been working out smoothly, except for Microsoft.Windows.StartMenuExperienceHost and for Microsoft.Windows.ShellExperienceHost.

Microsoft Windows PowerShell One-Liner for Re-Registering Static Software Applications

However, the Microsoft Windows Universal Windows Platform Static Software Applications are still vanishing.

To sum up, here is the number of potential mistakes that we have committed:

  1. The uninstallation of around six Static Software Applications - not only Microsoft Windows Universal Windows Platform Static Software Applications - from the Apps and Features Pane. Maybe they have been just too many at a time. Maybe they should have been followed by a reboot of the machine.

  2. The erroneous setting of the ownership for ourselves for the WindowsApps Folder.

  3. The installation of two Software Update Packages. Maybe they have been just too many per day. Each of them have been automatically followed by a reboot of the machine.

Update:

Just to make sure that we did it correctly, we have rerun the icacls "%ProgramFiles%\WindowsApps" /setowner "NT Service\TrustedInstaller" /t One-Liner with the /t Switch in it.

The Recursive Restoring of the Ownership

The behavior is persisting.

Update:

Just to double-check everything, we have also rerun the Microsoft Windows PowerShell One-Liner, this time with the -AllUsers Switch:

Get-AppXPackage -AllUsers | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml"}

This time we have got lots of Error Messages.

For instance, once it was searching for the C:\AppXManifest.xml File and it was complaining that it does not exist. Therefore, the InstallLocation Variable was probably not set for that Static Software Application.

The Microsoft Windows PowerShell One-Liner Rerun with the -AllUsers Switch

What we did notice today has been the fact that the Microsoft Windows Edge Web-Browser is working. It is located in the SystemApps Folder.

So, indeed, we might had messed up everything. Possible scenario:

  1. The erroneous ownership setting of the WindowsApps Folder has made further modifications to these Static Software Applications impossible by the TrustedInstaller User.

  2. The two Software Package Updates have modified something in an erroneous way, without complaining. The Success Message presented to the User was "You are up to date".

  3. Even after the restoration of the correct ownership of the WindowsApps Folder to the TrustedInstaller User, these Static Software Applications are no longer working.

Update:

Millions of thanks, guys, for your help, but apparently troubleshooting this Issue is going nowhere and it is working extremely, extremely slow.

We might have to reinstall the whole thing sometimes.

Just to note the output of the patch suggested by @harrymc, this is how far we have gone:

  1. The Troubleshooter of the Microsoft Windows Store Static Software Applications does not want to wake up itself from its own slumber that easily.

Weird Permissions of msdt.exe

  1. Awakened in an administrative way, it is also requiring a passkey that should be given by a support professional.

PassKey Requirement

We feel that we have been here before. We have debated this question for more than nine months and ten days. Its answer has been a simple Clean Install of the machine.

So we have to give some credit to @John also.

Closure:

We have finally closed this Issue after another Hellish Week-End.

We have been supported by Al Kim Repelliano or something from support.microsoft.com. We have been able to identify together the fact that during the subsequent manual uninstallations of around six Static Software Applications (not only Microsoft Windows Universal Windows Platform Static Software Applications) that we have performed on Saturday, something has gone wrong.

It might not have been the corruption of the Microsoft Windows Installer. Something else might have gone wrong. Al Kim Repelliano has shown us something, but we have been unable to grasp it that fast. These guys are moving way too fast.

We have decided together that the best solution was to revert the Operating System back to a certain System Restore Point that had happened to take place just before the manual uninstallation of the Backup and Sync from Google Static Software Application.

Al Kim Repelliano has ensured us that everything will work out smoothly. However, after the restoration of the System Restore Point, the Blue Screen of Death has come back into our world.

We have attempted to boot the machine from either of three (!) System Repair Disks. None of them has booted the machine, for unknown reasons.

We have rebooted the machine using an Universal Serial Bus Flash Drive. We have attempted to apply the Repair Option, as advised by @John. For some unknown reason, the System Image Restoration Operation that was supposed to use a System Image located on another Universal Serial Bus External Winchester Hard Disk Drive has failed with a stupid Error Message, although the System Image had been performed quite recently on the same machine.

An Error Message that Has Prevented the System Image Restoration

After a while, one of the three System Repair Disks has miraculously started to work. It has been able to boot the machine. Using the Universal Serial Bus Flash Drive that contains the Installation Kit of the Microsoft Windows 10 Operating System, we have been able to delete the entire Operating System Software Primary Partition and then to recreate it after a few attempts (!).

Therefore, no Repair Option has ever been working this time. The Solution to this Problem has been to perform yet another Clean Install.

It is interesting that we had the inspiration to copy the C:\Users\DOBRE\Documents\ Folder to the Internal_Data (D:) Software Primary Partition before accepting Al Kim Repelliano's speedy urge to apply the restoration of the System Restore Point.

We would like to thank @harrymc, @Ramhound and @John for their patient support that they have been offering to us during the manifestation of this Issue.

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    Possible duplicate of Editing/Creating files in C:\Program Files\WindowsApps
    – Ramhound
    Commented Oct 5, 2019 at 19:29
  • This could have been it. However, after applying @harrymc's answer, still my Microsoft Windows Universal Windows Platform static software applications are disappearing after a short while spent in execution.
    – user1018743
    Commented Oct 5, 2019 at 20:27
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    What exactly is a "Microsoft Windows Universal Windows Platform static software application"? If UWP applications are starting an immediately existing that is an indication that UAC has been disabled on the system.
    – Ramhound
    Commented Oct 6, 2019 at 1:01
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    @DOBRESCU_Mihai - They shouldn’t have worked but you made no mention you turned off UAC completely
    – Ramhound
    Commented Oct 6, 2019 at 16:01
  • 1
    @DOBRESCU_Mihai - UWP applications require UAC to be enabled in order to function. You should enable UAC, see if the behavior exhibits itself, with UAC being enabled. Edit/Update your question with this vital information. What exactly is the "installation kit" you speak of?
    – Ramhound
    Commented Oct 9, 2019 at 17:03

2 Answers 2

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I have not tried to do what you have done here. Try running a Windows 10 Repair install to see if you can correct this.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

Windows 10 is running, so click on the Download button (not Upgrade Button, select Save. Create a USB Windows Installation key and then run Setup on the USB Key. This will launch the Repair and proceed normally.

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    This solution should it be followed. It is filled with pitfalls, if you use this solution, your desktop based applications will be uninstalled. I would run the commands in the proposed duplicate instead. This answer should absolutely not be followed it is the incorrect solution to your problem
    – Ramhound
    Commented Oct 5, 2019 at 19:33
  • I am sorry, @John, but I have to agree with @Ramhound here. As you can see above, I have 2.19 Giga-Bytes of Data inside the WindowsApps Folder contained in 13,925 Files and 2,104 Folders. I do not want to risk my neck and to use a Repair Procedure that might do absolutely anything.
    – user1018743
    Commented Oct 5, 2019 at 20:30
  • I appreciate your concern (of course I would have backed up first), but the next course of action would be to back up completely and install Windows again. I do understand that is distasteful.
    – anon
    Commented Oct 5, 2019 at 20:46
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    What solution do you see here?
    – anon
    Commented Oct 6, 2019 at 0:43
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    @John - Diagnose the real problem and submit a solution to that problem. Author disabled UAC, which means UWP applications would not function, which is by design.
    – Ramhound
    Commented Oct 9, 2019 at 17:03
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You may reset TrustedInstaller as owner of the WindowsApps by entering the following command in an elevated Command Prompt:

icacls "%ProgramFiles%\WindowsApps" /setowner "NT Service\TrustedInstaller" /t

For more information on how to safely change ownership of system folders or files, see this answer of mine.

To re-register all the Microsoft Store applications, see the article
How to Reinstall and Re-register All Built-in Windows Apps in Windows 10.

If there is still corruption in the Microsoft Store:

  • Run the Microsoft Store troubleshooter in Settings > Update & Security > Troubleshoot > Windows Store Apps > Run the troubleshooter.
  • Reset the Microsoft Store in Settings > Apps > Microsoft Store > Advanced options > Reset.
  • Clear the Store cache by running wsreset.exe
  • Re-register the Microsoft Store by running PowerShell as Admin and entering the following command
    "& {$manifest = (Get-AppxPackage Microsoft.WindowsStore).InstallLocation + '\AppxManifest.xml' ; Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register $manifest}"

The above may lose you the UWP apps that you installed yourself.

3
  • Perfect. It might help other people.
    – user1018743
    Commented Oct 5, 2019 at 20:38
  • Good point. Maybe it is an older issue that is now just showing its full teeth. A while ago - maybe even a few years, I was using the Microsoft Windows Mail Microsoft Universal Windows Platform static software application. During the writing of a very nice, beautiful and colorful Electronic Mail Message, the application was simply vanishing. No Error Message. No Curse. No Punishment. Just leaving me high and dry. Now, let us take the instance of the Microsoft Windows Calc application. It starts. It prints a rectangle with a handheld calculator on it. Then - vanishing tricks.
    – user1018743
    Commented Oct 6, 2019 at 10:11
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    This may be corruption in the Microsoft Store, so I added a part for repairing it.
    – harrymc
    Commented Oct 6, 2019 at 12:54

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