Windows 10: why cant my microsoft app open?

Discus and support why cant my microsoft app open? in Windows 10 Gaming to solve the problem; why cant my Microsoft app open? https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/why-cant-my-microsoft-app-open/72b109bb-dbc0-40d4-80fd-21abd45b623d Discussion in 'Windows 10 Gaming' started by Kingsley Uwakwe, Jun 27, 2025 at 3:52 PM.

  1. why cant my microsoft app open?


    why cant my Microsoft app open?

    :)
     
    Kingsley Uwakwe, Jun 27, 2025 at 3:52 PM
    #1
  2. Brink Win User

    Mail app will not open on 10041.

    Hello Adam,

    This is the suggested solution below if you haven't already tried it. why cant my microsoft app open? :)

    In this Windows 10 build 10041, the Mail, Calendar, and People apps may be broken due to a licensing issue with the Store Beta. To get these apps working again, you need to follow these steps:

    • Open powershell as administrator
    • Run the command Get-appxprovisionedpackage –online | where-object {$_.packagename –like “*windowscommunicationsapps*”} | remove-appxprovisionedpackage –online
    • Re-install Mail, People and Calendar from the Store (green tile)
     
  3. mngerhold Win User
    Can I customize the list of suggest apps in the "Open with" menu?

    Well, I hope this helps the OP - it took a while. I tried 'Default Program Editor' (DPE) and it did indeed add (or remove) items, but when I tried to specifically add Word to pdf opening, it failed - it went through the motions, but nothing happened. So I started again, playing with settings for opening .doc files. This seemed to work: initially in explorer I had 3 programs appear in the 'default' list that pops up on a rt-click>open-with:

    why cant my microsoft app open? 294973d1598623103t-can-i-customize-list-suggest-apps-open-menu-explorer-doc-open-b4-edit.png

    and this is what the relevant bit of the Registry showed:

    why cant my microsoft app open? 294974d1598623158t-can-i-customize-list-suggest-apps-open-menu-regedit-doc-open-b4-edit.png

    Don't ask me why just 3 of those 8 (a to h) programs show up (maybe the 'instant' list is limited to three? - no, see later) - anyway, I used DPE to remove Wordpad from the list: when saving the edit as a REG file, this is what I got:

    Code:
    and the result in Explorer was:

    why cant my microsoft app open? 294976d1598623523t-can-i-customize-list-suggest-apps-open-menu-explorer-doc-open-after-edit.png

    and the registry now shows:

    why cant my microsoft app open? 294977d1598623552t-can-i-customize-list-suggest-apps-open-menu-regedit-doc-open-after-edit.png

    Note how item 'g' from the list has been removed (it seems there is no issue with having a letter missing). I then messed about trying to open a .doc file with various other programs, and they all started to appear in the 'instant' list:

    why cant my microsoft app open? 294978d1598623687t-can-i-customize-list-suggest-apps-open-menu-explorer-doc-open-additions.png


    So I thought 'well, that is easy - just open a pdf once in Word and it should appear'. So back to trying to open PDFs: but however many times I tried, Word would never appear.

    why cant my microsoft app open? 294979d1598623906t-can-i-customize-list-suggest-apps-open-menu-explorer-pdf-open-no-word.png

    even though there were any number of entries in the Registry 'Open With' list, including Word:

    why cant my microsoft app open? 980d1598623968t-can-i-customize-list-suggest-apps-open-menu-regedit-pdf-open-no-word-lots-others.png

    So what did DPE make of this - well, it showed some of the entries:

    why cant my microsoft app open? 294981d1598624067t-can-i-customize-list-suggest-apps-open-menu-dpe-list-pdf-open-some-others.png

    Although Word is shown, it doesn't appear on a rt-click. Its entry can be removed, but that doesn't help. So my attention was drawn to the existence of another folder below 'OpenWithList', namely 'OpenWithProgids', and that contained a specific ref to Sumatra (my preferred program for PDFs). Looking back at the same entry for .docx, I found this:

    why cant my microsoft app open? 294983d1598624540t-can-i-customize-list-suggest-apps-open-menu-regedit-doc-open-docx.png

    so I added an identical Word.Document.12 ref to the list for PDFs:

    why cant my microsoft app open? 294984d1598624610t-can-i-customize-list-suggest-apps-open-menu-regedit-pdf-open-word-progids.png

    I think IrfanView is there as it got added during my experiments! I now get this in Explorer:

    why cant my microsoft app open? 294985d1598624682t-can-i-customize-list-suggest-apps-open-menu-explorer-pdf-open-word.png
    Hurrah! I then tried to use DPE to remove the redundant entries, and got this as a .REG file:
    Code:
    But when i merge that with the registry, the IrfanView item does not get deleted:

    why cant my microsoft app open? d1598625244t-can-i-customize-list-suggest-apps-open-menu-explorer-pdf-open-irfanview-still-there.png

    and as seen in the registry:

    why cant my microsoft app open? 0d1598625265t-can-i-customize-list-suggest-apps-open-menu-regedit-pdf-open-irfanview-still-there.png

    so I deleted it by hand, and at last have the entries I (or rather, the OP) want:

    why cant my microsoft app open? 294991d1598625395t-can-i-customize-list-suggest-apps-open-menu-explorer-pdf-open-i-want.png


    Note that my manually added reg entry is of type Binary', as there seems to be no way to add a value of type 'None'.

    So it seems that DPE cannot cope with entries in the 'Progids' list, and something makes some programs fall into that list, rather than the 'openwithlist'. I am sorry for any typos above, or pictures in the wrong place - can't be bothered to check it too thoroughly. Hope it helps someone!

    atb, Martin
     
  4. Edwin Win User

    why cant my microsoft app open?

    Mail app will not open on 10041.

    Hey Shawn,
    I did that to no avail, then I ran WSReset.exe; now I'm good on all 3, Mail, Calendar and People! *Confused
    Go figure!

    Store Cache - Clear in Windows 8
     
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