Windows App Runtime Main Installed / Updated?

I received this app by "Microsoft Corp." the same day I updated my Google Chrome.


Is it safe? What does it do? Is it related to me updating google chrome? Any idea what is going on?

Secrios said:

What does it do?

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Windows App Runtime (including Main, Framework, and DDLM packages) is a set of shared libraries required by modern Windows 10/11 apps (built with Windows App SDK/WinUI 3) to run properly. It enables advanced features like AI, new UI components, and better app stability. Yes, you likely need it to run modern applications; deleting it can cause apps to fail.

What You Need to Know:
What it does: It acts as a bridge between modern apps and the Windows OS, providing essential functionalities that aren't built directly into the app, allowing for smaller app sizes.
Do I need it? If you use modern apps (e.g., from the Microsoft Store, updated Windows 11 tools), yes. If you uninstall it, those apps may not open or will error out.
Why are there multiple? Different apps target different versions of the Runtime (e.g., v1.4 vs. v1.5), so Windows retains older versions to ensure compatibility.
Can I delete it? It is generally recommended not to remove them. While old versions can technically be removed, it is safe to leave them as they use minimal resources.

These packages are installed and updated automatically by Windows Update or when you install a compatible app.

Here is a non-Microsoft source on this (there are others who give the same advice):

Can I uninstall Windows App Runtime Main independently of my application?

The Windows App Runtime Main is typically installed and managed as part of the Windows App SDK. While you might be able to uninstall it separately, doing so could break applications that rely on it.

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When you see any Installed Apps that are exactly 8.00 KB in size, it's actually a placeholder entry. Not until that package gets installed, does it change from "8 KB" to its actual size on the disk. As long as a framework (library) package isn't needed by a client app, then it stays as an empty placeholder.

I keep seeing updates for it in reliability history but the version number never changes and it stays at 8kb in installed apps.

Try uninstalling, then installing from the Microsoft Store. I've run into this problem using WinGet. The Store version maintains itself, but WinGet has trouble updating itself sometimes. OTOH, you can always grab the latest version (and previews) from the GitHub page as well.
HTH,
--Ed--

Edwin said:

it is safe to leave them as they use minimal resources.

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The 18 versions installed in my system occupy 1GB altogether. I don't consider that "minimal resources".

Do you have more than one user account configured for this PC? UWP apps can't clean up older versions if one of the local user accounts was using a specific earlier version, the last time the user was logged on.

Try running this command as Administrator, and then reboot Windows:

garlin said:

Do you have more than one user account configured for this PC? UWP apps can't clean up older versions if one of the local user accounts was using a specific earlier version, the last time the user was logged on.

Try running this command as Administrator, and then reboot Windows:

Code:

rundll32.exe AppxDeploymentClient.dll,AppxCleanupOrphanPackages

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Thanks for the quick reply! The command seems to have deleted several of the old versions. So far everything is working. Thanks again!