Xbox pc app refuses to install games into specified folder, goes into WindowsApps instead.

Windows Games from both from the PC Game Pass and the Windows Store install differently to any other PC download service such as Steam, GoG, Origin etc as they go into a protected folder.

Error code 0x80070005 is a Windows 'Access denied' error code.



All Windows 10 games and Apps from the Windows Store (including games from PC Game Pass) install to secure encrypted folder called 'WindowsApps'. On the C:\ drive the WindowsApps folder is located in C:\Program Files\WindowsApps. But to see this folder you'll need to unhide it.



For any other drive, the WindowsApps folder can be found in the root directory along with two other folders 'WpSystem' and WUDownloadCache. So for example, if your drive is F:\ it will be located in F:\WindowsApps. This folder is not hidden on other drives, but it is still encrypted and protected.



If you've have installed Windows 10 again from scratch, your previous WindowsApps folder will no longer be accessible and Windows 10 will not be able to install Windows Store Apps and games to this drive until your old WindowsApps folder is deleted. This is why Windows 10 generates the 0x80070005 error code.



Please follow this guide to help you delete your current WindowsApps folder. Once done you will also need to the delete the previously mentioned 'WpSystem' and 'WUDownloadCache' folders.

Hi,

Windows 10 games whether they are on Microsoft's PC game pass App or Play Anywhere titles, use the standard Windows Universal Platform for installation. This places all downloads (apps and games) into a hidden Windows folder called 'WindowsApps'.

If your game or app is installed on C:\ drive, the WindowsApps
hidden folder will be located within the 'Program Files' folder. On other drives the folder will be located in the root location of the drive e.g.
D:\WindowsApps

Once you've un-hidden the folders and found the WindowsApps folder, you'll next need to take ownership of said folder. To do this, follow instructions on

this website from intowindows.com (not a Microsoft owned website).

This does not require you download or install anything, just follow the instructions in the link.

Hope that helps

Hi,

Letting you know I've done a live install of Windows 11 (so over my Windows 10 install, deleting all user/app/file data). I could install and launch the Xbox app after this with no issue.

I did run into additional issues when attempting to install any games.

OS informed me that the WindowsApps folder could not be written to (it resides on a non-C:\ partition). I messed around with the owernship after this, with no positive result. I could not delete the WindowsApps folder in Safe Mode despite having ownership as the user that the OS specified owns the folder. I got fed up and nuked the partition with a format. No problems after that.

I can only conclude that the WindowsApps folder or properties related to it must have somehow gotten corrupted, perhaps at the registry level? In any case, another adventure to attribute to the woes that is the WindowsApps design.

Best,

Geert

In this example, the external drive is D:\

Nearly all Windows Apps and games are installed to a protected and encrypted folder called WindowsApps.

If you've taken your D:\ drive from either another PC or you have installed Windows 10 again from scratch, your previous WindowsApps folder will no longer be accessible and Windows 10 will not be able to access or install Windows Store Apps and games to this drive. To use this drive for Windows Store games and apps, it will need to be deleted.



Please follow this guide to help you delete your current WindowsApps folder. Once done you will also need to the delete two additional folders called 'WpSystem' and 'WUDownloadCache'. These folders are not protected so should easily be removed.



Once your old folder is deleted you should be able to change the drive Apps are installed to in Windows 10 to the D: drive. Doing this will create a new WindowsApps folder on your drive.



Please let us know how you get on.

Hi

The error "this drive has apps from another device and that it needs to be deleted". is a common access denied error and error code 0x80070005 is a Windows
access denied error code.

It suggests to me that the D:\ drive already has Windows Apps installed from a previous PC or a previous Windows installation.

Have you either performed a fresh Windows 10 install recently or moved a hard drive from another machine into this one that used to have Windows Applications installed to the D:\ drive?

All Windows Apps including games are installed to a hidden protected folder called WindowsApps. The WindowsApps folder on the C: drive will be located in
C:\Program Files\WindowsApps. On other drives on the PC it will be in the root directory of the drive, so for D:\ it will be
D:\WindowsApps

To use your D:\ drive again you'll need to take control of this hidden folder on your D:\ drive, and delete it.Take a look at

this guide.

Remember however, that in your case you need to take permission of the WindowsApps folder on D:\ drive, there is no need to change anything on the WindowsApps folder on C:\ drive. Everything else in the guide is the same.