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oldgray1938:
Boggin,
We tried to follow what you indicated but were unsuccessful. We were not able to take control and the and get WindowsApps either renamed to WindowsApps.old or to delete it. Could you please post a step by step of exactly what you did to get rid of Windowsapps so on the next boot Window re created a clean WindowsApps folder without the troublesome sub-folders. We keep getting a message that there is a file in use so the operation could not be completed.
At this time, our plan for my friends next visit is to pull the SSD c drive from my old ASUS PC and stick it into an external USB drive slot so it will look like just a data drive and then try to delete the WindowsApps folder. If that works we will then return the drive to my old ASUS PC and reboot with hopefully a new clean WindowsApps folder with all of its sub folders less the one causing my problem. Should that work we will create a dummy restore point and then try to recover it cleanly.
Boggin:
First, open Windows Explorer - right click on This PC and select Properties where you will see the full computer name.
You will need this for the icacls cmd - mine is KAM4-TOSH on this machine.
However, that cmd didn't work on this machine but did on my other upgraded Win 10 laptop.
The cmds need to be run from the WPE Command Prompt.
To get there, press and hold SHIFT throughout a Restart - click on Troubleshoot - Advanced options - Command Prompt
Then enter these cmds - noting the space before the / and substituting your username etc. for my KAM4 etc.
c:
cd Program Files
takeown /f WindowsApps /r /d Y
(This cmd should produce a Success as it scrolls through the WindowsApps folder).
icacls WindowsApps /grant "%KAM4-TOSH%\%KAM4%":(F) /t
attrib WindowsApps -h
rename WindowsApps WindowsApps.old
exit
Then use the back arrows to shut down and then reboot to try the restore point if the cmds were all successful.
You can create a manual restore point before or after you have completed these cmds - I did mine before I started.
oldgray1938:
We will try and let you know how we made out using your instructions. If we have to resort to pulling my c SSD and treating it as a data drive ie windows. Once inside hopefully we can delete the Windowsapps folder. If we do this I will let you know how it went.
oldgray1938:
Hi Boggin
Well I got gutsy and tried what you sent me the WindowsApps was renamed to WindowsApps.old. There is no WindowsApps folder in the Programs Files main folder. Rebooted the system created a test restore point and then tried to restore that test point. Same old message , system restore failed nothing changed. Also tried to delete the WindowsApps.old but that also failed. Not sure what to try next except pulling the C drive and placing it in an external USB drive and then deleting WindowsApps.old.
Any one have other ideas to solve this problem?
oldgray1938
Boggin:
Going by what it says in the right pane of this article, I don't think there is anything tangible to get hold of - https://www.file-extensions.org/pri-file-extension-microsoft-windows-compiled-resources-file
The MS tech was unable to find WindowsApps in Program Files either.
You can however, open Windows Explorer - This PC - Wndows(C) - Program Files and enter WindowsApps or WindowsApps.old into the top right search box.
Unfortunately, the .old doesn't produce a folder but lists every app like it did in the takeown cmd.
You can right click on each and select Delete, but I haven't checked to see if Windows will let you delete them - but given how many there are, you would have your work cut out.
Those that came up with just the search on WindowsApps produced two but not very big in size.
I had some updates on the KAM4 machine and am in the process of trying a restore on that one should the updates incorporated a fix, but it's just hung on Preparing to restore your system....
If it ever gets to the end it will probably give me the same error code.
For now it's probably best to just stick with the registry back up in Windows Repair or create system images onto external media.
EDIT - The restore has frozen now so it looks like I've got some work of my own :(
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