Broken modern app shortcuts in Windows 8.1 after updating from Windows 8

Anonymous
2013-10-18T05:50:08+00:00

EDIT: See Page 3 for the solution to this problemNOTE: Please click the "Me too" link to the right of this post if you experiencing this issue so that Microsoft and Avast take notice of it. Thanks.

Short Story: Avast 2014 appears to interfere with the app shortcut cleanup process that occurs during the 8 -> 8.1 update. Also, Windows 8.1 really needs an easy/elegant way to remove dead Modern app shortcuts as you can with dead desktop app shortcuts

I updated from Windows 8 Pro x64 with Media Center on my 2 machines (Ivy Bridge Core i3 & i7) via the Windows Store and have had multiple broken/dead app shortcuts in All Apps on both machines as seen in the red rectangle below (direct image link):

When I attempt to launch any of the apps by clicking the shortcuts, I get the following message (the "Microsoft.Camera" part is specific to 1 of the shortcuts I tried) (direct image link):

Clicking the Go to the Store link only produces this message in the Windows Store app (direct image link):

Returning to All Apps and right clicking any of the dead shortcuts to remove it exposes no such option. There's no way to uninstall the app (it's probably gone already gone anyway) and also no way to remove the dead shortcut. As you can see below. the only options are Pin to Start and Customize (direct image link):

Does anyone know how to remove the dead shortcuts? I've tried going to *C:\Program Files\WindowsApps*, but access to that is denied and I can't find any way to give myself permissions for it. The offending shortcuts aren't listed in Control Panel -> Programs and Features, C:\Users<username>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs, or C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu either. Microsoft's own Apps Diagnostic utility doesn't fix it, and neither does syncing app licenses within the Windows Store app.

Help? Any ideas? TIA

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Microsoft Store

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Anonymous
2013-10-19T03:11:59+00:00

OK -- I FIXED IT.

Through a lot of trial and error.

Head to users/user/appdata/local/microsoft/windows/applicationshortcuts

Once there do a search for each file within application shortcuts using the search bar in the top right of the explorer, you might need to play with the search terms. For example, mine found the photo app when I searched 'modern' but not 'photo'. Odd.

I used the following terms, camera, microsoft ((for skydrive)), bing, modern.

You need to delete the little white shortcut tile (I had to adjust security settings first and give myself permission to delete within the app shortcuts file, but Windows will guide you through it.)

For the chat app, just delete and reinstall the calendar/people/mail group and its gone.

Hope it works for you guys too...

this worked like a charm, thanks

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Answer accepted by question author
Anonymous
2013-10-19T00:03:14+00:00

OK -- I FIXED IT.

Through a lot of trial and error.

Head to users/user/appdata/local/microsoft/windows/applicationshortcuts

Once there do a search for each file within application shortcuts using the search bar in the top right of the explorer, you might need to play with the search terms. For example, mine found the photo app when I searched 'modern' but not 'photo'. Odd.

I used the following terms, camera, microsoft ((for skydrive)), bing, modern.

You need to delete the little white shortcut tile (I had to adjust security settings first and give myself permission to delete within the app shortcuts file, but Windows will guide you through it.)

For the chat app, just delete and reinstall the calendar/people/mail group and its gone.

Hope it works for you guys too...

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  1. Anonymous
    2013-10-18T23:11:17+00:00

    Thanks for the info bud, please click "Me too" to the right of my 1st post on this thread to boost its priority at Microsoft. Thanks!

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-10-18T23:24:20+00:00

    Same problem here...

    Core i3-3120m

    Windows 8.1 x64

    Avast 2014 (free)

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  3. Anonymous
    2013-10-19T00:18:02+00:00

    I am getting a similar problem, but I am NOT running Avast 2014, I am running Norton 360, and I have an older (albeit somewhat upgraded) laptop (Lenovo T61, 2 CPU @ 2 GHz, 4 GB RAM, Intel 330 SSD 128 GB).

    Many of my tiles have a downward pointing arrow with a line underneath, and when I click on them I get the little moving dots and then nothing happens - not even an error message.  I tried to reinstall something as simple as Hearts Deluxe, and at least I finally got an error message:  "Hearts Deluxe  This App wasn't installed - view details".  When I click on the "view details", I get the following error message:  "Something happened and this app couldn't be installed (duh).  Please try again.  Error code: 0x80072ee4" and I see the buttons [Try Again] (yields same results) and [Cancel] (which tells me that "You aren't installing any apps right now").

    I also had the exact same results when trying to install a free game (Where's My Water 2) that was NOT previously installed on my PC.

    Also, when I click on the Internet Explorer tile, it appears to start up but does not run at all - all I see is a blue background.

    I tried the suggested "fixes" (Automatic App updates, screen resolution, etc.) but no change - I am not a happy camper right now...

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