Restore Broken Metro Tiles After Windows 8.1 Upgrade

If Windows 8 is upgraded to Windows 8.1 it is possible that it will break Metro Apps by showing a black X in the place of the Metro Tiles content, or they will otherwise be completely blank. Also other issues with a broken Windows 8.1 upgrade are that many computer settings will be reset to default. Another common issue that may arise is that no user will have administrator rights or able to access the Windows App Store to be able to update existing Apps or install new Apps. If you are experiencing any of these issues since upgrading to 8.1, use the fix below to correct this.

  1. How to fix the app store, as well as fixing the administrators:
    1. Open registry editor typing regedit.exe from a command line.
    2. Browse to the registry key at HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local Settings\software\microsoft\windows\currentversion\appmodel\repository\packages.
    3. Right click on the “packages” key and bring up the “Permissions” tab.
    4. Click the “Advanced” button located at the bottom right corner.
    5. Check to see the account name that shows up as the “Owner” (this is the first line of text on the “advanced security settings” dialog for the “packages” key). It should say “SYSTEM”. (For me this showed the built-in local Administrators group)
    6. If it is any other account, click on the “Change” button next to it.
    7. Type SYSTEM in the “select user” dialog. If “Multiple Names Found” window comes up, select the row for “SYSTEM”.
    8. Click OK to the dialogs and close them all.
    9. Run from admin command prompt: Powershell -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register $Env:SystemRoot\WinStore\AppxManifest.xml
  2. How To Fix all modern Metro-style apps:
    1. Run this command from an administrative PowerShell command prompt:
      ((Get-ChildItem “HKLM:SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Appx\AppxAllUserStore\InboxApplications”) | Get-ItemProperty).Path | Add-AppxPackage -Register -DisableDevelopmentMode
      When this is run, the black X in the Metro tiles will persist until after a reboot. Until the reboot, trying to start an app will give message and will open the Windows App Store.
  3. Fixing 3rd party apps:
    1. Delete the registry key below:
      HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Appx\AppxAllUserStore\[User’s Security ID, or SID]
  4. Finally restart your computer. After a reboot, the Metro App Tiles will show a black X for a minute or so, but it will soon clear up on its own and all Apps will be working again. Also the user can now update the apps from the Windows app store once they sign in with their Microsoft account. They should be able to get into their PC Settings now, as well.