Xbox Game Pass PC games freezing after in-game account sign-in/sync

Okay, I'm hoping somebody has come across something like this before. I'm playing on Windows 10 using the Xbox (Beta) app and a Game Pass Ultimate subscription.

Both Halo: The Master Chief Collection and Age of Empires Definitive Edition are freezing on my PC immediately following the Xbox account sign in process. Specifically I'm talking about the Xbox Identity Provider (this pop-up) and the follow up confirmation about permissions. As soon as I click Yes to confirm that I allow the games to access my account, they freeze.

The first time this happens, the games run normally until I hit Yes. I just can't do anything or actually take control of the game until I pass that sign in. In MCC, I confirm permission and the game auto advances to the main menu, and freezes. In AoE, the freeze happens immediately. I can let the intro sequence play while the pop-up appears and make it to the main menu, but again, I can't actually control the game. If I try to run either game again, the freeze still occurs even though the Xbox app is no longer requiring a sign in (since I've done it already).

I can restart the entire process by going into my Microsoft account, revoking permission for each game, restarting my PC, and launching each game again. This gets the Identity Provider pop-up to re-appear and I get the same freezes from then on. I can also disable my ethernet connection temporarily and launch the games; again, they run perfectly fine, I just can't do anything without signing in.

Also, once the games freeze, the only way to close them is to kill the process via task manager. As soon as I do that, I get a "Gaming UI" window that appears on my desktop if this was the first launch attempt of the current restart. It doesn't appear until I close the games. It stays at 0% and never advances (I've left it for over an hour just to test, but it doesn't do anything, it sits there with zero CPU or network usage). If I hit any of the buttons, it becomes unresponsive. All I can do is close it - not that it seems to be doing anything.

In an effort to narrow down the problem I also installed and ran Dead Cells, which also uses cloud saves and which also has the exact same Identity Provider pop-up to sign in on first launch. That game works perfectly and I had no problems after allowing permission.

Here's some things I've tried that haven't fixed it. Not an exhaustive list, I honestly can't remember everything I've tried now:

• Installed all Windows 10 updates I could
• Uninstalling and re-installing the Xbox (Beta) app and the games
• Checked/manually started/set to start automatically all Xbox related Services
• Signed out of the Xbox (Beta) app and signed back in
• Signed out of the Xbox (Beta) app and launched the games when I'm signed out
• Launched the games without opening the Beta app
• Signed into the Console Companion app alongside the Beta app and launched the games via the Console Companion app
• Manually deleted the Beta app's login tokens
• Tried to bypass the Identity Provider sign in by killing it via task manager (no dice, it just re-appears)
• Opened ports and re-registered my Windows Store via Powershell according to this support page for AoE

I also disabled all third party apps and updated (and rolled back) video drivers before I realized this was account-related.

If anybody knows how to fix this or can even throw out somewhat educated guesses, please do. I'm kind of losing my mind, it's been 17 days since MCC launched and I haven't been able to play a single second, and I really want to get back into AoE too. I've tried contacting all manner of official Xbox/Microsoft/343 support and I'm just shouting into the void, the little help I've received hasn't done anything and more often than not I just don't get any response. I can't be the only damn person with this issue.

I'd feel like such a chump buying both of these games on Steam when I'm already paying for a subscription that includes them but it's getting to that point now.

submitted by /u/-notthesun-
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