Windows Update KB4579311 causing explorer to crash repeatedly when logging in.

Hello all.

I believe I have found the real fix for this issue. I was battling with the same problem with KB4579311 as all of you.

The solution for me turned out to be uninstalling all the Xbox Game Pass games downloaded from Microsoft Store.

My Xbox Game Pass subscription had ended, but I still had some games installed. After uninstalling all of them my PC starts up without any problems now.

I believe the problem is related to Microsoft Store trying to update games after your Xbox Game Pass subscription has ended.

(This is why disabling Storage Service also fixes the issue)

Microsoft Store didn't show the games I had installed anymore, so I had to scroll through my Start Menu and uninstall them from there.

Hope this helps!

• Jimmy

Oh wow, this makes a lot of sense!

Thank you so much.

I am still beyond confused on why this would affect explorer as badly as it did, this is not by any means an edge case, you would expect microsoft's first party software and services to work well alongside windows.

I'm just guessing, but since all the games downloaded from Microsoft Store have a shortcut in the Start Menu (which is a part of explorer), Windows is not able to initialize explorer before it has some information about the games and shortcuts that need to be created (?)

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

• Jimmy

I think I can confirm this workaround as well. 

Uninstall all Xbox Game Pass for PC games, and the issue seems to go away. I would add I also uninstalled the Xbox app as well. I used the add/ remove Settings app, and double checked through the Start Menu to make sure I had them all (since the Xbox app doesn't function with Storage Service disabled, you cannot view and uninstall them there).

I was able to let Storage Service start automatically in Services with this fix.

Thanks Jimmy!

This isn't the best fix, since there are Xbox Game Pass for PC games I would like to play, but I think it's the best fix for now since it causes the fewest side effects. After all, disabling Storage Service can muck up Windows Store apps, and it also disables the Xbox app as well. I think it can muck up Windows Update too, so it's best to just delete all your Xbox Game Pass for PC games if you have this problem.

I hope the Windows and Xbox teams can fix the issue soon!

Edit: I updated the Feedback Hub ticket with the following workaround (thank you Jimmy!)

"1) Use Task Manager to access Services and stop and disable Storage Service.

2. Log out of your user account using Task Manager
3. Log back in, and uninstall all Xbox Game Pass for PC games in addition to the Xbox app, using (now functional) Start Menu or  the Add/Remove App.
4. Set Storage Service to Automatic.
5. Restart computer.

This should allow you to use your computer, minus Xbox Game Pass for PC games, and let Windows Update and Microsoft Store updates function using the Storage Service."

OP here. This issue has been plaguing me for ages. First the kb update removal worked. Then the issue returned and it looked like the update had integrated in to windows so I was unable to remove it.

So at this point I had to remove the Quality Update by holding shift and rebooting the machine to get in to the recovery options... this worked for a short time..... But yesterday the issue returned.

I'm going to give this a try blast and see how it goes. If it is successful then I'll just have to cancel my Game Pass subscription.

Hopefully if enough people cancel their subscription then Microsoft will finally have to address the problem and fix it.

**EDIT**

Fix Confirmed. Subscription cancelled.

My Xbox Game Pass subscription has been active for well over a year now and I still get this issue. If I only had a few games downloaded then I'd give this a shot but my library of games is fairly large and would take me many hours to redownload were I to try this. Regardless, I still hope this works for others and in the mean time I'll keep waiting on the powers that be at MS to do something about this.