PC Game Pass games not launching properly | Uninstall-Reinstall Workaround?

JoeyPalma · Jul 3, 2022

As the title says, after downloading a PC Game Pass game, I'm unable to launch into a newly installed game.

At the same time, I notice a weird behavior when attempting to launch games. What I observe is that the "splash screen" that triggers before the gaming app runs does not trigger.

I have been testing downloading games with small sizes to experiment and have observed that a FRESH INSTALL will never trigger the splash screen. But after UNINSTALLING ang REINSTALLING the game, the splash page will suddenly show up and I can launch the game normally. This is definitely not ideal because what if I try downloading a large game like Forza and Halo Infinite and this happens? So much time and bandwidth wasted.

I was already instructed to run Windows 11 setup on a USB/ISO and did so.

I've already tried Repair, Reset, and Uninstall/Reinstall of XBox App from Apps and Features. Nothing changes after this.

Not really sure what is borked in the PC Game Pass apps installation but this is my experience.

Would like to know if there is a fix to this apart from the things I've already done. Otherwise, I'll just wait for a future patch to Xbox app/Gaming Services I guess?

Thanks.

:)

JoeyPalma

Reinstalled Gaming Services now that I'm out of the Insider Program. Same old result.

I ran the SFC and DISM commands too. Still no launch.

Lucas Lauer

Thanks for taking the time to do this.

Have you tried to create a shortcut for the games on the desktop and try to launch it from there?

On the Xbox App > Right click on the game > Create a desktop shortcut.

Let me know how it goes.

Lucas Lauer

Are you on the Xbox Insider Program? I ask because two other users that were on it were having similar issues.

If you are, please try to leave the program now and see how it goes. If you're not on the program, please let me know so we can keep troubleshooting this.

Lucas Lauer

Would you please try to create another partition to test?

Go to Start > Seach and open Disk Management.

Select the disk from which you want to make a partition.

Right-click the Unpartitioned space in the bottom pane and select New Simple Volume.

Enter the size, click next and you are done.

Then, open the Xbox App.

Click on your Profile picture > Select Settings.

In the Xbox Settings, go to General Section > Game install options.

Click on the drop-down and change it to the new partition created.

Also change the default location for new apps in Windows to this new partition:

Go to Start (Windows Start) -> Settings -> System -> Storage -> Change where new content is saved (under 'More Storage Settings'). Change the setting "New Apps will install to:" to the new partition.

Try to install a new game on this partition to test and let me know how it goes.

JoeyPalma

Hi Lucas,

Thanks for the quick response.

This started happening 2 days ago, I think? I'd never encountered this particular issue before. I had trouble downloading before but that was sorted.

I tried all the steps you recommended but the first launch still does not trigger the splash screen unfortunately.

PC Game Pass games not launching properly | Uninstall-Reinstall Workaround?