The Windows Store, introduced with Windows 8 and continued in Windows 10, is a one stop shop for downloading applications. All Windows 10 users will have used it at one point or another to download a game or an app and it is thus an essential part of our online life. Even a small problem with the downloading or installing would ruin the experience for us.
In this article, we will be addressing a common problem encountered by a lot of users –
Contents
error 0x80073D05. This is nothing but the “Windows Store Cache May Be Damaged” error
If you are facing this error as well, try a few of these simple methods one by one and one of them will definitely work for you and you can have a smooth, error free downloading experience again:
1. Reset the Windows Store
When the error shows up, it asks you to reset it as an attempt to fix it. Before doing anything else, you should try this first.
- Open the Start menu and type ‘PowerShell‘ in the search text space. Right click on the app that shows up under search results best match and choose Run as administrator.
- Then we need to find where Windows Store is located. To do this, copy “Get-AppxPackage -name *store*” as it is and paste it in to the PowerShell and hit enter.
- You will see quite a bit of information, but don’t be worried. Just find the line that says InstallLocation and see whether it contains “…Microsoft.WindowsStore…” in it and then copy it to the clipboard.
- Paste it in to the Notepad and save the file. (You are noting down this because of using it later for installing the windows store back at the same location)
- Go back to PowerShell and paste this:
Get-AppxPackage Microsoft.WindowsStore | Remove-AppxPackage
- The app is now uninstalled. Restart your PC.
- Paste the information you copied in to notepad instead of StorePackageLocation in the code below and then copy the entire thing to paste it in to Powershell.
Add-AppxPackage -register “C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\StorePackageName\AppxManifest.xml” –DisableDevelopmentMode
After replacing, your command should look like how it looks in the above picture.
- Once the operation is complete, restart your PC and try opening Windows Store again.
2. Run the TroubleShooter
Store Apps has its own troubleshooter and this is sometimes helpful in spelling out the problem and its fix for you. To open the troubleshooter:
- Hold down the Windows Key and I at the same time to open Windows Settings.
- Find Update and security and then click on Troubleshoot in the left pane. From the bottom of the list, select Windows Store Apps and confirm running the troubleshooter.
- You will then be asked to read and click ‘next’ on a series of pages until you reach the end and if you are lucky, the problem will have fixed itself.
- Try updating or installing something from the Windows Store to see if is working now.
- If you get an error saying the licenses or cache is corrupt, try another method.
3. Reset Store Cache
Store Cache can either be reset by downloading an app designed for it or reset by deleting the Store cache manually:
- Press the windows key and R together. Input “cmd” in the text area and hit enter. Or, open the Start menu and type cmd in the search box. Right click on Command Prompt and choose Run as administrator.
- Type ‘WSReset.exe’ in to the black box that pops up and press the Enter key.
- There is also an alternate way to do this: Open the Start menu and type ‘wsreset.exe’ in the search text space. Right click on the app that shows up under best match and choose Run as administrator.
- A cmd prompt pop up will open and then the Windows Store will open and you will get a confirmation that will tell you that the cache for Window Store has been completely cleared and you can browse it like before for apps.
- You will then be directed back to the Store. Try updating or installing something and it should work now.
If you get another instead like this “Windows cannot find ‘ms-windows-store: PurgeCaches’. Make sure you typed the name correctly, and then try again“, try the following steps to register the Store app again:
- Press the windows key and R together. Input “cmd” in the text area and hit enter. Or, open the Start menu and type cmd in the search box. Right click on Command Prompt and choose Run as administrator.
- Type the following in to the black box that pops up and press the Enter key:
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register $Env:SystemRoot\WinStore\AppxManifest.xml
