Have your Windows 10 apps been crashing on your PC of late? You’re not alone. Moreover, this is not the only issue reported by Windows users after installing the Windows 10 May 2020 Update. Many users have complained that the installation of Windows 10 version 2004 progresses well up to 90 percent but then fails to complete. Other than that, there were complaints about internet access issues, Bluetooth modules failing to function correctly, and printing problems, to name just a few.
A significant number of users have also run into app problems where apps crashed or failed to load. Several users complained that after the update, apps like Chrome, OneDrive, and Edge required them to log in every time they rebooted their devices. It seems like a bug forced these apps to log users out after rebooting Windows.
Why Are Apps Crashing Anyways?
Now, what if Windows Store apps crash at launch? Is there a workaround? Before we get into the solutions on how to prevent apps from crashing on Windows 10 computers, it’s important to understand why the crashes are happening in the first place.
If any of your installed apps, including desktop apps and Windows apps, are not opening, hang at launch or crash, here are some of the possible reasons:
If you're having similar issues, don't panic. We’ll show you how to fix the “Windows apps keep crashing on Windows 10” issue.
How to Resolve Windows 10 App Crashes
Fix 1: Close Programs Running in the Background
First, you may want to check if you have too many apps running in the background. If you do, they are likely to be interfering with the app that you're trying to run. You can check this via Task Manager, which you can launch using the Ctrl + Shift + Esc keyboard shortcut or by right-clicking the taskbar and selecting “Task Manager”.
Check the processes that are running under “Background processes” and look at the right pane under the CPU, Memory, and Disk columns to check how system resources are being used. If you find an app that’s consuming a high percentage of system resources, select it and click “End task”.
If the problems persist, try one of the solutions below.
Fix 2: Restart Your Computer
Sometimes, a small glitch in your system can cause Microsoft Store and other installed apps to crash randomly. A simple reboot of your PC may fix this problem. When you restart Windows, any misbehaving component is reset and starts from scratch.
Among other things, a reboot wipes clean the RAM (Random Access Memory), stops memory leaks from programs that are outdated or overused, and fixes bugs that could be caused by an overloaded system.
If restarting your PC doesn’t work, try this next solution.
Fix 3: Update Windows
If you operate your computer without installing the necessary system updates, you can expect to run into various issues, including app crashes. The thing is, Windows updates address various PC problems by patching known issues that are affecting the system, bugs that could be causing glitches in your system, and security vulnerabilities that, if left unchecked, can be exploited by malware.
Additionally, when you install a new version of Windows 10, like the May 2020 Update, some of the executables may become obsolete. As a result, some of your apps might not function correctly. Updating Windows installs a new build that automatically replaces the obsolete executables.
To update your Windows 10 machine, follow the simple guide below:
Press the Windows logo on your keyboard, type in “Update” (no quotes), and select the topmost result, which should be “Check for Updates”.
This selection opens Settings > Windows Update.
If updates are available and awaiting installation, you’ll see a notification here. Otherwise, simply click the “Check for updates” button and allow Windows to scan the servers for any available updates.
If updates are available and you haven’t changed settings on how they should be installed (for example, you haven’t paused the updates), Windows should automatically install them. Once the installation is complete, you may be prompted to restart your PC.
Now, try running the app again to see if it crashes.
Fix 4: Update Your Windows Apps
By default, apps downloaded from the Store are updated automatically whenever the updates are available and your device is connected to the internet. However, if you’ve disabled the auto-update feature and a Windows app is crashing frequently, you may want to update it manually.
Here’s how:
Open the Store app and click on the ellipsis in the top-right corner.
A drop-down list will appear. Select “Downloads and updates” and click “Get updates”.
The Store app initiates a scan to check for all available app updates. If the Store app detects an update for an app, it automatically installs it
If you have disabled the auto-update feature, the apps won't be updated automatically. To check if it's turned off, do the following:
Open the Windows Store app, select the ellipsis in the top-right corner and click “Settings”.
Under the “App updates” section, check if the option “Update apps automatically when I’m on Wi-Fi” is turned on. If not, click the toggle button to activate it.
It’s also important to update any other app installed on your Windows device since outdated apps pose a security risk to your device.
Fix 5: Run the Windows Store Apps Troubleshooter
If updating Windows and the Windows Store app doesn't resolve the “apps crashing in Windows 10” problem, try running the troubleshooter. This useful feature can detect and fix common PC issues with little to no effort from the user.
It's an automated process that comes in handy when you want to quickly fix problems on your computer without making drastic changes to the system settings. It's especially useful if you don’t know what to look for or which settings to change.
The troubleshooter is located under the “Update & Security” section in Settings.
To access this feature, follow the guidelines below:
Use the Win + I shortcut to launch the “Settings” app.
Select Update & Security > Troubleshoot.
Scroll down to the “Windows Store Apps” option.
Click on the option to expand it and then select “Run the troubleshooter”.
The troubleshooter will scan your PC to detect any configuration problems on your Windows 10 device. If a problem is found, the troubleshooter will attempt to automatically fix it. Alternatively, the troubleshooter may prompt you to take a few recommended steps to fix the problem or suggest additional steps if it hasn’t found anything.
While the troubleshooter may offer a quick fix to common configuration issues, it doesn’t offer much information on what's happening in the background. This means that after the troubleshooting process is over, you may not be able to tell what the problem was. Sometimes, it doesn’t fix the problem at all. But it’s still worth trying.
Fix 6: Use a PC Optimization Software
To prevent apps crashing on Windows in the future, you can try using PC optimizers such as the Outbyte PC Repair tool. Programs like this can automatically find and fix issues on your PC.
The Outbyte program will scan your PC and identify instability issues caused by the corruption of system components or the accumulation of junk files, particularly Windows leftover cache and Windows Store cache.
The tool will also tweak your system settings to improve the performance of apps, eventually getting rid of the app crashing problem.
Fix 7: Reset Problematic Apps
If the crashing problem is still bugging you, you might try resetting the apps that are crashing. When you reset an app, it’s wiped clean and brought back to the state it was in when you first installed it.
This feature comes in handy when Windows apps are broken, and you can't find the culprit.
Keep in mind that resetting an app deletes the app’s data, such as settings and preferences, and you may want to reconfigure it again once it has been reset.
To proceed, here's what you need to do:
Open the “Settings” app using the Win + I keyboard shortcut and select “Apps”.
You’ll see an extensive list showing all the apps and features installed on your computer. Locate the problematic Windows app, click on it to highlight it, and then select “Advanced options”.
Locate the “Reset” button and click on it.
A few seconds later, the app should be reset, and a checkmark will appear next to the "Reset" button, confirming that the process was successful.
Now, reboot your PC and launch the app again to see if the issue has been fixed.
You may wish to reset the Windows Store to get your issue resolved without deleting the installed apps or changing the account settings, and the best way to do it is to use the wsreset.exe command. The command will clear the Windows Store cache without going through a long process. Please note that this process resets all your Windows Store apps, and you will have to reconfigure them all over again.
To run the command, follow these steps:
Right-click your Windows “Start” button and select “Windows PowerShell (Admin)”.
Click “Yes” when prompted by the system.
In the Windows PowerShell window, type in the command wsreset.exe and press “Enter”. This process may take a moment, and if it's successful, it will reset the Store.
Once it's done, try running the problematic app again or installing the updates to see if you encounter the crashing problem.
Fix 8: Reinstall Problematic Apps
Sometimes, your apps may start acting up for no apparent reason. If you can't identify the source of the problem, you can try to manually uninstall the problematic apps and reinstall them again. Reinstalling an app from scratch replaces the files that could be causing the crashing problem with fresh copies. Hopefully, this should fix the issue.
To clean install a Windows app, follow these steps:
Go to the “Settings” app using the Win + I shortcut and select “Apps”.
On the next screen, locate the app that’s having issues and click on Advanced options to display additional settings.
Select “Uninstall” and confirm that you want to uninstall the selected app. This action will delete the app and all of its associated data.
Restart your PC and open the “Windows Store” app. Use the “Search” box to quickly search for the app that you just uninstalled.
Once you find it, click “Install” for the latest version of the app.
If you can’t see the “Uninstall” button, don’t worry. Windows doesn’t allow some of the built-in apps to be uninstalled directly from the "Settings" app. After all, most of these apps occupy very little space on your device. Since some of the apps depend on each other to function correctly, removing one might affect the other.
Moreover, you cannot uninstall built-in apps for good since major updates like the May 2020 Update, aka Windows 10 version 2004, will reinstall them anyway.
If you still wish to proceed, follow the procedure below to reinstall all the Windows default apps collectively.
Here’s what you need to do:
Right-click your Windows “Start” button and select “Windows PowerShell (Admin)”.
Click “Yes” to grant the app permission to make system changes.
Paste the following command into the “PowerShell” window and press “Enter”:
Get-AppXPackage | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml"
At first, you might think nothing is happening. However, in a moment, all your default apps should be reinstalled.
To reinstall an individual app, follow these steps:
On the “PowerShell” window, type in or paste the command: Get-AppxPackage -allusers | Select Name, PackageFullName.
An extensive list of the default apps installed on your PC will appear, showing each app’s PackageFullName.
Locate the app that you want to uninstall, double-click its PackageFullName and press “Enter” to copy it to the clipboard.
Now, to remove the selected app from your computer, run this command: Get-AppxPackage PackageFullName | Remove-AppxPackage, replacing PackageFullName with the string that you just copied. For example, if you want to uninstall the “Camera” app, the code should look like this:
Get-AppxPackage Microsoft.WindowsCamera_2020.127.20.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe| remove-appxpackage
Alternatively, you can use the help of wildcards (*) to simplify the parameter above. For example, to remove the Camera app, run the command Get-AppxPackage *camera* | Remove-AppxPackage.
If you want to reinstall all of the Windows modern apps, execute the following command:
Get-AppxPackage -allusers | foreach {Add-AppxPackage -register "$($_.InstallLocation)\appxmanifest.xml" -DisableDevelopmentMode}
To reinstall apps individually, run the command:
Add-AppxPackage -register "C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\PackageFullName\appxmanifest.xml" –DisableDevelopmentMode
Replace PackageFullName with the copied information of the specific app as explained in step 3 above. For example, to reinstall the Camera app, execute the following command:
Add-AppxPackage -register "C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\ Microsoft.WindowsCamera_2020.127.20.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe \appxmanifest.xml" –DisableDevelopmentMode
Reinstalling the problematic app should fix the crashing issue. If it doesn’t, try the next solution below.
Fix 9: Repair Windows Component Store
If you suspect possible Store component corruption, try running the DISM (Deployment Image Servicing and Management) tool to repair the problematic files and correct the issue. Using this tool is pretty simple, and this is all you need to do:
Run the Command Prompt with administrator privileges. To do this, press the Windows key, type in cmd and select “Run as administrator” on the right pane.
On the “Command Prompt” window, type in or paste the command Dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth and press “Enter”.
The tool will start scanning your system for file corruption. The operation might take around 15-20 minutes, and it's important not to interrupt the process. The process might seem like it's stuck at 20%, but be patient – you’ll soon see it progress further.
Once the scan completes successfully, reboot your PC and try running the defective app again to see if it works this time.
Takeaway
There are several different reasons that can make the apps on your Windows operating system crush. Factors such as having the auto-update feature disabled, shortage of CPU, outdated drivers and corrupt files and system elements may be amongst the main causes of this issue. By using a combination of the tips outlined in this article you will be able to fix the problem and enjoy a smoother experience while using your PC.
