Unable to start up Gamepass games, and XBox PC app stuck on install

Nico_el_Suave · Jul 19, 2022

Hello there!

The subject title isn't all that's gone wrong, so I'll explain from the top.

1. I wanted to play some games on my computer, but when I went to click on them, they all appeared as blank pages on my desktop, and when I double clicked on one it just sent me to the Microsoft Store Gaming Services page. Worth noting, all the games that appeared as blank icons were acquired through gamepass, which is a service I am still paying for.

2. To fix this, I first attempted to restart my computer, both by clicking "restart" and by shutting down and powering up the computer. This did not work.

3. I then tried to restart my instance of windows explorer. This did not solve the issue.

4. I then tried to uninstall and reinstall a smaller game (Golf with your Friends). I went to uninstall the game on the Xbox app, but it got stuck on preparing. The blank page that used to be the game disappeared, but when I go into "XboxGames" in my local disk, a Gold with your Friends file still exists. When I went to reinstall the game, the Xbox app got stuck at 0% and would not move. In this case, the game did not install at all.

5. Since the Xbox app was unable to properly uninstall and reinstall any games, I tried deleting it and reinstalling it. I reinstalled it from a browser download, not the Microsoft Store. However, the download progress bar got stuck about 1/3rd of the way through, and would not progress further.

6. I tried cancelling the download and restarting it multiple times. At a certain point, the progress bar started stalling earlier, about 1/5th of the way through. This is where I am currently.

Other issues of note: I believe this issue may have stemmed from a recent windows update, although I am not sure. Also, it turns out that ALL Gamepass games are exhibiting this issue, not just the ones that appear blank. When I hover over a game, it just says "location: Applications", so perhaps the shortcut is not routed correctly? I thought so, but when I go back into my "Local Disk" and click on "XboxGames" only 3 of the games appear, and none can be opened from their files. All the other games are nowhere to be found; not in my x64 or x86 program files. When I use the search option on my PC for one of the games, nothing comes up.

I would like help with getting the Xbox app to install properly, and also to have the games be playable again. Thank you.

:)

Lucas Lauer

Installation or game playing issues can be caused by the gaming services not working properly. I'm not really sure about everything that the gaming services does, but it checks your account connection to the Xbox servers, check the game license, any active subscription on your account, etc.. So if it is not able to check one of these things it needs to check to perform an installation or to let you play a game, it just throws some random messages, stops the progress of the game installation or startup, or sometimes just crashes. But it does not throw a message like "The gaming services could not validate the game license" or something like that. It just crashes, stops or freeze game downloads, installations or launches.

Feel free to ask back any questions and I hope you understand my explanation.

Lucas Lauer

Hello, Nico_el_Suave. Thanks for reaching out! My name is Lucas. I'm an Independent Advisor and a Microsoft user just like you. I'll be happy to assist you today.

Would you please try to completely remove the gaming services, reinstall them and reset the Microsoft store? Please perform these steps with the Microsoft store closed and make sure there are no games or apps being downloaded or installed on it.

- Go to start > Search for PowerShell > Right click > Run as administrator. Type the following command and press enter:

get-appxpackage Microsoft.GamingServices | remove-AppxPackage -allusers

- Press Windows + R and type in "regedit". Press enter.

- Search for HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services

- Delete the folders "GamingServices", "GamingServices.net" (if they're still there).

- Go to Start > Settings > Apps > Apps & features > Microsoft Store > Advanced Options > Repair, then Reset.

- Press Windows + R. Type TEMP and press enter. Delete all the files inside this folder. Repeat this step by typing %TEMP% and Prefetch. Delete everything on both folders too.

- Press Windows + R. Type WSRESET and press enter.

- Restart your computer. Run Powershell as administrator and run the following commands (one at a time):

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

(this command can show you some errors, this is normal, just wait until it finishes)

start ms-windows-store://pdp/?productid=9MWPM2CQNLHN

- Install the app on that page and select Yes when you receive the User Account Control (UAC) prompt. Also sign in on the Microsoft store with your Microsoft account.

- Restart your computer one more time. Check your computer region/country and language and please make sure it is the same as your Microsoft account (https://account.microsoft.com/profile). Also check your time zone and date/time is correct.

See if you can reinstall the Xbox app and please let me know.

Nico_el_Suave

Quite the convoluted solution, but it worked! The Xbox app downloaded with no problems, I was able to uninstall and reinstall games, and the games themselves opened properly. What was the issue exactly that occurred here? Thank you for your help!

Christyna64

Are you using the Xbox (beta) app on PC to install Gamepass games?

Tanture

Sorry to hear it. As this is the beta app there are still issues to be fixed. If you are unable to download the game from the app then cancel it and open the Store App from the start menu and find the game there to install

When I canceled and used store app to download the game, I started and stuck at 24% again

Unable to start up Gamepass games, and XBox PC app stuck on install