Apps Reset and Clear Microsoft Store Cache in Windows 11

rickjrw · Apr 16, 2024

Thanks option 1 did nothing . On option 2 how do I know what SID is causing the issue?

Brink · Apr 16, 2024

rickjrw said:
Thanks option 1 did nothing . On option 2 how do I know what SID is causing the issue?

Hello Rick,

Correct. Part One on its own will not always work unless all of the steps have been completed.

The SID used in option two would be for the account you wanted to reset and clear the Microsoft Store cache for. Usually, it would be for the current user account.

rickjrw · Apr 16, 2024

Thanks.

Brink · Apr 16, 2024

rickjrw said:
Thanks.

You're most welcome. :shawn:

TheVisitor · Jun 4, 2025

@Brink
I found this to reset and clear the store cache. I got down to the part of deleting the SID, but looking there are a several entries below that SID. Is it really safe to delete that key and all its sub entries. ?

Brink · Jun 4, 2025

TheVisitor said:
@Brink
I found this to reset and clear the store cache. I got down to the part of deleting the SID, but looking there are a several entries below that SID. Is it really safe to delete that key and all its sub entries. ?

Hello,

No worries. It's just a cache getting cleared that will automatically repopulate.

TheVisitor · Jun 4, 2025

Brink said:
Hello,

No worries. It's just a cache getting cleared that will automatically repopulate.

Thanks

garlin · Jun 4, 2025

PART TWO as a single PowerShell command:

4. Terminate the Microsoft Store app to make sure it's not running.

5. Open Windows Terminal as the Administrator, and select Windows PowerShell.

6. Enter the command:

Code:

Remove-Item -Path ("HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Appx\AppxAllUserStore\" + ([System.Security.Principal.WindowsIdentity]::GetCurrent()).User.Value) -Recurse -Force

Bug locker · Jun 8, 2025

garlin said:
PART TWO as a single PowerShell command:

4. Terminate the Microsoft Store app to make sure it's not running.

5. Open Windows Terminal as the Administrator, and select Windows PowerShell.

6. Enter the command:

Code:

Remove-Item -Path ("HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Appx\AppxAllUserStore\" + ([System.Security.Principal.WindowsIdentity]::GetCurrent()).User.Value) -Recurse -Force

Please , could you write the command to execute from inside a batch file ?
I m creating a .bat to execute all these at once.
Thx.

garlin · Jun 8, 2025

Bug locker said:
Please , could you write the command to execute from inside a batch file ?
I m creating a .bat to execute all these at once.
Thx.

Code:

<# : batch script
@echo off
powershell -nop ^
"if (-not ([Security.Principal.WindowsPrincipal][Security.Principal.WindowsIdentity]::GetCurrent()).IsInRole([Security.Principal.WindowsBuiltInRole] 'Administrator')) { ^
    Start-Process 'cmd' -ArgumentList '/c start /min %~dpnx0 %*' -Verb RunAs ^
} ^
else { ^
    Invoke-Expression ('$args = @(''%*'' -split '' '')' + [System.IO.File]::ReadAllText('%~f0')) ^
}"
goto :eof
#>

$SID = ([System.Security.Principal.WindowsIdentity]::GetCurrent()).User.Value
Remove-Item -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Appx\AppxAllUserStore\$SID" -Recurse -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

Bug locker · Jun 8, 2025

garlin said:

Code:

<# : batch script
@echo off
powershell -nop ^
"if (-not ([Security.Principal.WindowsPrincipal][Security.Principal.WindowsIdentity]::GetCurrent()).IsInRole([Security.Principal.WindowsBuiltInRole] 'Administrator')) { ^
    Start-Process 'cmd' -ArgumentList '/c start /min %~dpnx0 %*' -Verb RunAs ^
} ^
else { ^
    Invoke-Expression ('$args = @(''%*'' -split '' '')' + [System.IO.File]::ReadAllText('%~f0')) ^
}"
goto :eof
#>

$SID = ([System.Security.Principal.WindowsIdentity]::GetCurrent()).User.Value
Remove-Item -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Appx\AppxAllUserStore\$SID" -Recurse -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

I think that is.

Code:

cls

echo After the reset , a reboot required

WSReset.exe

echo wsreset executed

taskkill /F /IM winstore.app.exe

pause

<# : batch script
@echo off
powershell -nop ^
"if (-not ([Security.Principal.WindowsPrincipal][Security.Principal.WindowsIdentity]::GetCurrent()).IsInRole([Security.Principal.WindowsBuiltInRole] 'Administrator')) { ^
    Start-Process 'cmd' -ArgumentList '/c start /min %~dpnx0 %*' -Verb RunAs ^
} ^
else { ^
    Invoke-Expression ('$args = @(''%*'' -split '' '')' + [System.IO.File]::ReadAllText('%~f0')) ^
    pause
}"
goto :eof
#>
pause
$SID = ([System.Security.Principal.WindowsIdentity]::GetCurrent()).User.Value
Remove-Item -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Appx\AppxAllUserStore\$SID" -Recurse -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

echo user's registry key deleted

pause

I m not sure if the reboot required , as with the sign out the registry key created again.

Thx.

garlin · Jun 8, 2025

No you can't rewrite the script this way. This is a mixed CMD + PS script, which uses a CMD wrapper to hide the PS script so inexperienced users don't have know anything about PS.

Code:

<# : batch script
@echo off
powershell -nop ^
"if (-not ([Security.Principal.WindowsPrincipal][Security.Principal.WindowsIdentity]::GetCurrent()).IsInRole([Security.Principal.WindowsBuiltInRole] 'Administrator')) { ^
    Start-Process 'cmd' -ArgumentList '/c start /min %~dpnx0 %*' -Verb RunAs ^
} ^
else { ^
    Invoke-Expression ('$args = @(''%*'' -split '' '')' + [System.IO.File]::ReadAllText('%~f0')) ^
}"
goto :eof
#>

taskkill /F /IM winstore.app.exe
& wsreset.exe -i

$SID = ([System.Security.Principal.WindowsIdentity]::GetCurrent()).User.Value
Remove-Item -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Appx\AppxAllUserStore\$SID" -Recurse -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

No reboot is required after running wsreset.exe.

Bug locker · Jun 8, 2025

garlin said:

No you can't rewrite the script this way. This is a mixed CMD + PS script, which uses a CMD wrapper to hide the PS script so inexperienced users don't have know anything about PS.

Code:

<# : batch script
@echo off
powershell -nop ^
"if (-not ([Security.Principal.WindowsPrincipal][Security.Principal.WindowsIdentity]::GetCurrent()).IsInRole([Security.Principal.WindowsBuiltInRole] 'Administrator')) { ^
    Start-Process 'cmd' -ArgumentList '/c start /min %~dpnx0 %*' -Verb RunAs ^
} ^
else { ^
    Invoke-Expression ('$args = @(''%*'' -split '' '')' + [System.IO.File]::ReadAllText('%~f0')) ^
}"
goto :eof
#>

taskkill /F /IM winstore.app.exe
& wsreset.exe -i

$SID = ([System.Security.Principal.WindowsIdentity]::GetCurrent()).User.Value
Remove-Item -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Appx\AppxAllUserStore\$SID" -Recurse -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

No reboot is required after running wsreset.exe.

Do you mean it not work ?

garlin · Jun 8, 2025

Use this version. This drops the taskkill and wsreset safely inside the wrapper.

TonyCzar · Jun 8, 2025

Has anyone compared the above method to the tool in Wintoys?

TheVisitor · Jun 10, 2025

Today's CU did not stop the event ID 2562 logs, updates downloaded and applied OK.

Boggy · Jul 8, 2026

TonyCzar said:
Has anyone compared the above method to the tool in Wintoys?

View attachment 136363

They do the same thing.

Boggy · 2026-07-17T15:47:17-0400

No worries. It's just a cache getting cleared that will automatically repopulate.

@Brink, hello. After more than half a day of troubleshooting and some ping pong with the owner of wsreset.exe I found that clearing this cache is actually what is causing my system to reinstall all provisioned applications after a system restart.

This means a lot of users probably ended up having Copilot, Solitaire, Power Automate and all the crap they previously uninstalled, back on their system. I would recommend you to put a warning in the article regarding this so people are aware of this side effect.

To get the list of your provisioned apps that are stored as a copy in the Windows image managed by DISM just use this command:
Get-AppxProvisionedPackage -Online | Select-Object DisplayName, Version

- all the apps returned by this command will be reinstalled after deleting the registry key

Basically, this cache tells Windows which apps are already registered for a specific user. If you delete this information, Windows thinks you log in for the first time on the next restart, reinstalling the apps as part of the initial setup. I'm not sure deleting it is a good idea.

Brink · 2026-07-17T16:49:01-0400

Thank you @Boggy. I don't remember it doing this before, but it sure indeed does now. Warning added. :shawn:

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