Solved How can I block and then delete storeexperiencehost.exe safely?

cheaterslick · Jul 24, 2026

I periodically get this pop-up from Malwarebytes Windows Firewall Control warning me about this executable that wants to phone home:

I notice the Microsoft Store Logo and blue box below it flash and appears when I open apps like AdwCleaner and Malwarebytes itself. Then it quickly disappears as if it's trying to phone home to the Microsoft Store for some reason. I've never installed those apps through the Microsoft Store. Never.

Although I have a rule active in Firewall Control to block it, it sometimes keeps reappears again & again asking me to allow it. I'd like to delete these attempts to phone home to what appears to be the Microsoft Store (?) since I never use it. Malwarebytes detects nothing. How can I delete this from happening?

~

Revo also detects a number of these:

So I'm also wondering, are they related to what I asked up above? Do I need all these or can I delete them?

Marie SWE · Jul 24, 2026

I have never used windows store as i find that one more troublesome then it's usefulness..
Have a look in services if there is any service connected to "store experience" or something similar.
Perhaps there is a setting in the store app (just guessing here as i never had store installed) that you can disable it..
Or...... just try the ugly 90's/early 00's solution..... find the file "storeexperiencehost.exe" then rename it "storeexperiencehost.exe.bak"
This way you can easy restore the file if something dont play nice... and if it solves the specific problem.. let it be there as its probibly not many KB's

cheaterslick · Jul 24, 2026

Marie SWE said:
Have a look in services if there is any service connected to "store experience" or something similar.

services.msc, I checked, Nothing in there.

Marie SWE said:
(just guessing here as i never had store installed)

Nope, I don't have it installed.

Marie SWE said:
Or...... just try the ugly 90's/early 00's solution..... find the file "storeexperiencehost.exe" then rename it "storeexperiencehost.exe.bak"

I may have to do that at some point. It's not located at C:\program files\windowsapps\ so I know that. What's there is that store package folder that it's pointing to and I'm not sure if I need to take control of it and delete it or not. Even if I did that, it still leaves that executable to find and a search turns up nothing.

Marie SWE · Jul 24, 2026

Okay, so the file do not exist in the path it's listing C:\program files\windowsapps\microsoft.storepurchaseapp_226005xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Then it can be its more of a warning that it can't find the file... But if you say its trying to phone home.. it should be on the system.. What happen if you search for the exe file?
(if you have enabled to show all hidden and system files, otherwise you might never find it if its a system file and you have hide system files in explorer)

cheaterslick · Jul 24, 2026

Marie SWE said:
Okay, so the file do not exist in the path it's listing C:\program files\windowsapps\microsoft.storepurchaseapp_226005xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Then it can be its more of a warning that it can't find the file... But if you say its trying to phone home.. it should be on the system.. What happen if you search for the exe file?
(if you have enabled to show all hidden and system files, otherwise you might never find it if its a system file and you have hide system files in explorer)

Oh yeah, I found that folder, but I still can’t find the executable. All files are already unhidden. I leave show hidden files on by default.

hader · Jul 24, 2026

I have build 25H2, 26200.8894 and I looked with Revo at my type of "Microsoft Windows App Runtime DynamicDependacy LifetimeManager"
It found only 2 identical ones belonging to the same version: 2.2.0.0.

Can't say why the versions does not match. Maybe it's because (more likely) MS has changed their version numbers. (it seems that package "Microsoft Windows App Runtime Singleton" version type did not changed since your build. Yours is 8002.3.0.0. Mine is 8003.3.0.0. *Your build is older then mine*)
In general there should be only 2; the most recent ones. Mine are from 14-06-2026 (2), yours dates from 22-04-2026 (4). (Strangely 4! It should be only 2 also) I suspect that MS changed it's version tag. You have 26200.7623 and mine is 26200.8894. I bet if you update your system also to 8894 these 6000/7000/8000 will disappear in exchange for version 2.2.0.0 too.

Why the older ones aren't cleaned-up by the updates I don't know. Maybe you should run "DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /AnalyzeComponentStore" (CMD as Admin) first and check if the number of cleanup packages is higher than 2. (Despite what it says. It should be zero but if you identify these packages and remove them: you will have errors at the next update because those 2 were removed. So if it says 2; That's normal. If it is higher than 2; run: "DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /StartComponentCleanup" Another run with /AnalyzeComponentStore should now say 2. Check Revo again if it cleaned the other packages then date 22-04-2026.... Maybe after the cleaning operation there are also only 2 instead of 4.

I think you can de-install the older ones except for those 22-04-2026 ones. Why those 4 are double I don't know. The versions are the same but it size? The size difference is only a few bytes. (2 are removable but I don't know which ones) I don't think it would be wise to remove them all. It might have unseen consequence if you do. They serve a purpose. If this gathering on a illegal way some personal data I can't say. Maybe that's the reason why MalwareBytes reported this. If you are not sure about removing these packages and if it may have a negative impact on your system; you better make an exception inside MalwareBytes. They do not contain Malware; they are a part of Windows. If we like it or not.

There are other means to stop this unwanted telemetry; It changes some values in the registry so these packages don't send Telemetry data anymore. If you remove these packages without adapting the registry settings; things can go wrong. Windows thinks these packages are still there because the settings in the registry has not changed. That could have negative consequences for Windows. (performance wise. If it can't reach the deleted packages it could retry and keep on retrying. That is one possibility. There maybe more. That I don't know or like to find out.....) It's beter to cut this off at it source; changing some register values. Other packages may want to see this packages present also. I didn't designed Windows...

gunrunnerjohn · Jul 24, 2026

cheaterslick said:
Oh yeah, I found that folder, but I still can’t find the executable. All files are already unhidden. I leave show hidden files on by default.

Try turning off "Hide Protected O/S Files to see if something shows up. I don't leave it off, but I occasionally turn it off to see if something is hiding in a folder.

dalchina · Jul 24, 2026

I found this informative, as it seems to relate to what you're seeing:

A note on its origin:

I.e. you may or may not have it on your particular PC.

and you can find a suggestion on fixing it if there's a problem..

cheaterslick · Jul 24, 2026

hader said:
Why the older ones aren't cleaned-up by the updates I don't know. Maybe you should run "DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /AnalyzeComponentStore" (CMD as Admin) first and check if the number of cleanup packages is higher than 2. (Despite what it says. It should be zero but if you identify these packages and remove them: you will have errors at the next update because those 2 were removed. So if it says 2; That's normal. If it is higher than 2; run: "DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /StartComponentCleanup" Another run with /AnalyzeComponentStore should now say 2. Check Revo again if it cleaned the other packages then date 22-04-2026.... Maybe after the cleaning operation there are also only 2 instead of 4.

Yeah ran the analyzer and came up with this;

I routinely did a disc cleanup using Windows native disc cleaner about a week ago after the last updates were installed.

Marie SWE · Jul 24, 2026

cheaterslick said:
Oh yeah, I found that folder, but I still can’t find the executable. All files are already unhidden. I leave show hidden files on by default.

I have no more ideas now and i dont even have win11 at all, so i cant just dive in to my settings and poke around.

I only running win10IoT for 10 minutes once or twice a week

But i see you now have active windows users diving in, so i hope you solves it smooth and fast.

cheaterslick · Jul 24, 2026

hader said:
There are other means to stop this unwanted telemetry; It changes some values in the registry so these packages don't send Telemetry data anymore. If you remove these packages without adapting the registry settings; things can go wrong. Windows thinks these packages are still there because the settings in the registry has not changed. That could have negative consequences for Windows. (performance wise. If it can't reach the deleted packages it could retry and keep on retrying. That is one possibility. There maybe more. That I don't know or like to find out.....) It's beter to cut this off at it source; changing some register values.

Which registry entries should I look at?

Marcus Vinicus · Jul 24, 2026

Re the Microsoft Windows App Runtime DynamicDependacy LifetimeManager. The capture below from the URL provided explains what it is and why there are multiple versions of it.

On my desktop PC as stated by Microsoft on the page linked there are two versions. One x86 the other x64.

Windows App SDK deployment architecture and overview - Windows apps

This article provides a high level explanation of the Windows App SDK deployment architecture and scenarios.

learn.microsoft.com

cheaterslick · Jul 26, 2026

Marie SWE said:
Have a look in services if there is any service connected to "store experience" or something similar.

Thanks! I had another look at services.msc and found this buried in there:

Which I then disabled. I now see a blank gray square box flash appear before the app launches. Wish it would stay up long enough to take a picture and upload it here, but it's gone for now.

Not sure what made that service kick in but I want to thank Marie & everybody for posting here

hader · Jul 26, 2026

cheaterslick said:
Which registry entries should I look at?

Just as I said; I didn't designed Windows. It could be everywhere in the registry. I have no knowledge where to look for. But there are many programs which deals with unwanted things like AI and Telemetry. Look at this video;

I have used some of these programs. There is a risk involved here; The consequences wil or could bother future updates! Ik had to revert some of the changes in order to correct the issue. I bought a program Titus; tech utility because it has also some nice features that is not related to removing AI and Telemetry. I used RemoveWindowsAI in the past. Tried it and I had to revert the changes because my PC would not update anymore.

XxXxX · Jul 26, 2026

you can uninstall the store experience host using Revo un-installer free

Download Revo Uninstaller Free - Remove unwanted programs easily

Download Revo Uninstaller Free helps you to uninstall software and remove unwanted programs easily. Remove all uninstall leftovers and traces

www.revouninstaller.com

but that will also remove the Microsoft Store as well
so you will be unable to use the Microsoft Store for anything

you can install, remove and update app's without it using winget in an Admin PowerShell.
best of luck Steve ..

Marie SWE · Jul 26, 2026

cheaterslick said:
Thanks! I had another look at services.msc and found this buried in there:

View attachment 177566

Which I then disabled. I now see a blank gray square box flash appear before the app launches. Wish it would stay up long enough to take a picture and upload it here, but it's gone for now.

Not sure what made that service kick in but I want to thank Marie & everybody for posting here

They hide a lot in services and the registry.. and when you have Pro you also have a lot to manipulate in GPO (Gpedit)
You can use the phone and record the screen when you start it up... and then when you have it on video just pause the video when it happen and go frame by frame so you get it and can make a screen capture.
But my guess would be that the gray box is either a bug or it is a launcher that try to open something but cant as you disabled the service.

Its hard to make suggestions when i dont have a windows computer to just boot up and test it in, so i have to try to remember and make a qualified guessing.

Marie SWE · Jul 26, 2026

XxXxX said:
you can uninstall the store experience host using Revo un-installer free

Download Revo Uninstaller Free - Remove unwanted programs easily

Download Revo Uninstaller Free helps you to uninstall software and remove unwanted programs easily. Remove all uninstall leftovers and traces

www.revouninstaller.com

but that will also remove the Microsoft Store as well
so you will be unable to use the Microsoft Store for anything

you can install, remove and update app's without it using winget in an Admin PowerShell.
best of luck Steve ..

Hasn't Brink in here made a tutorial on different ways to uninstall MS-store?

Solved How can I block and then delete storeexperiencehost.exe safely?

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