Remove stuck Windows apps from your system

I mentioned previously that stuck apps were being listed in the start menu on recent Windows 10 Insider Builds, and that I had yet to find a way to remove those from it.
The applications are listed in the start menu just like any other application, and you can distinguish them easily as they show a "loading bar" underneath them indicating that something is not right.
A click on these applications opens the apps' page on the official Windows Store application, and a right-click shows only options to pin the item to Start or display More options but not uninstall.
With Windows 10's new start menu layout, this becomes even more problematic as those stuck apps are highlighted regularly under "recently added" and the new position of the "all apps" listing.
Stuck Windows Apps
As you can see on the screenshot above, of the eleven apps and programs listed, six are corrupt and cannot be removed from the start menu anymore.
If you check the list of installed applications in the Settings app, you will notice that the stuck apps are not displayed there at all which means that you cannot remove them using the menu.
Fix Stuck Apps in Windows 10
The following guide describes how I managed to remove stuck Windows apps on Windows 10.
Reset the Store Cache
First thing you need to do is reset the Store cache. The applications were listed in the "downloads and updates" section of Windows Store initially, and resetting the Store cache will remove them from there.
While they were listed in the section, they would not download, and one could not remove them either from there which means that they were stuck there as well.
- Tap on the Windows-key, type cmd.exe, hold down Shift and Ctrl, and hit the Enter-key afterwards.
- This opens an elevated command prompt window after you accept the UAC prompt.
- Type wsreset.exe and hit enter. The process takes a while to complete, and you will notice that it ran its course when you can input text once again on the console. Windows Store will be opened automatically in the end as well.
- Type shutdown /r /t 1 to restart the PC.
Fixing stuck apps
Now that the Store cache has been reset, it is time to remove the stuck applications. This is done in the following way:
- Open the Windows Start Menu to get a listing of all apps including stuck ones.
- Click on a stuck application to open the Store listing of that app.
- If that does not work, and you are taken to "download and updates" instead, do the following.
- Right-click on a stuck application, select more, and then "rate and review". This opens the apps' Store page and a review overlay on top of it which you need to close.
- Third option, search for the apps' name in Windows Store to open it this way.
- You will notice that "install" is listed as the option on the store page.
- Click on install to install the application on your system.
- Once installed, open the start menu again, right-click on the newly installed application, and select uninstall from the menu.
- Repeat the process for each stuck app individually.
That's right, to remove stuck apps from your PC, you need to install them anew first to be able to remove them from your device afterwards.
The method described above is far from ideal and you will notice that it won't work for all apps necessarily. If you have installed a trial app for instance, you will notice that you cannot install it again when the trial expired which in turn means that you cannot get rid of it anymore using the method.
You may waste a lot of data this way as well depending on number and size of apps and games stuck on Windows 10.


What mental age of reader are you targeting with the first sentence? 10?
Why not write an article on how to *avoid* upgrading from W10 to W11. Analogous to those like me who avoided upgrading from 7 to 10 for as long as possible.
If your paymaster Microsoft permits it, of course.
5. Rufus
6. Ventoy
PS. I hate reading these “SEO optimized” articles.
I used Rufus to create an installer for a 6th gen intel i5 that had MBR. It upgraded using Setup. No issues except for Win 11 always prompting me to replace my local account. Still using Win 10 Pro on all my other PCs to avoid the bullying.
bit pointless to upgrade for the sake of upgrading as you never know when you’ll get locked out because ms might suddenly not provide updates to unsupported systems.
ps…. time travelling?
written. Jan 15, 2023
Updated • Jan 13, 2023
This happens when you schedule a post in WordPress and update it before setting the publication date.
Anyone willing to downgrade to this awful OS must like inflicting themselves with harm.
I have become convinced now that anybody who has no qualms with using Windows 11/10 must fit into one of the following brackets:
1) Too young to remember a time before W10 and W11 (doesn’t know better)
2) Wants to play the latest games on their PC above anything else (or deeply needs some software which already dropped W7 support)
3) Doesn’t know too much about how computers work, worried that they’d be absolutely lost and in trouble without the “”latest security””
4) Microsoft apologist that tries to justify that the latest “features” and “changes” are actually a good thing, that improve Windows
5) Uses their computer to do a bare minimum of like 3 different things, browse web, check emails, etc, so really doesn’t fuss
Obviously that doesn’t cover everyone, there’s also the category that:
6) Actually liked W7 more than 10, and held out as long as possible before switching, begrudgingly uses 10 now
Have I missed any group off this list?
You have missed in this group just about any professional user that uses business software like CAD programs or ERP Programs which are 99% of all professional users from this list.
Linux doesn’t help anyone who is not a linux kid and apple is just a fancy facebook machine.
Microsoft has removed KB5029351 update
only from windows update though
KB5029351 is still available from the ms update catalog site
1. This update is labaled as PREVIEW if it causes issues to unintelligent people, then they shouldn’t have allowed Preview updates ot install.
2. I have installed it in a 11 years old computer, and no problems at all.
3. Making a big drama over a bluescreen for an updated labeled as preview is ridiculous.
This is probably another BS internet drama where people ran programs and scripts that modified the registry until they broke Windows, just for removing stuff that they weren’t even using just for the sake of it.
Maybe people should stop playing geeks and actually either use Windows 10 or Windows 11, but don’t try to modify things just for the sake of it.
Sometimes removing or stopping things (like defender is a perfect example) only need intelligence, not scripts or 3rd party programs that might mess with windows.
Windows 11 was a pointless release, it was just created because some of the Windows team wanted to boost sales with some sort of new and improved Windows 10. Instead, Microsoft cannot support one version well let alone two.
Windows 11 is the worst ugly shame by Microsoft ever. They should release with every new W11 version a complete free version of Starallback inside just to make this sh** OS functionally again.
motherboard maker MSI has recently released a statement regarding the “unsupported processor” blue screen error for their boards using Intel 600/700 series chipsets & to avoid the KB5029351 Win11 update:
https://www.msi.com/news/detail/MSI-On–UNSUPPORTED-PROCESSOR–Error-Message-of-Windows-11-Update-KB5029351-Preview-142215
check out the following recent articles:
Neowin – Microsoft puts little blame on its Windows update after UNSUPPORTED PROCESSOR BSOD bug:
https://www.neowin.net/news/microsoft-puts-little-blame-on-its-windows-update-after-unsupported-processor-bsod-bug/
BleepingComputer – Microsoft blames ‘unsupported processor’ blue screens on OEM vendors:
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/microsoft/microsoft-blames-unsupported-processor-blue-screens-on-oem-vendors/
While there may be changes or updates to the Windows 10 Store for Business and Education in the future, it is premature to conclude that it will be discontinued based solely on rumors.
My advice, I left win 15 years ago. Now I’m a happy linux user (linuxmint) but there is Centos, Fedora, Ubuntu depending on your needs.
motherboard maker MSI has recently released new BIOS/firmware updates for their Intel 600 & 700 series motherboards to fix the “UNSUPPORTED_PROCESSOR” problem (Sept. 6):
https://www.msi.com/news/detail/Updated-BIOS-fixes-Error-Message–UNSUPPORTED-PROCESSOR–caused-BSOD-on-MSI-s-Intel-700-and-600-Series-Motherboards-142277