Windows 10: Can no longer launch games

So, this all started because for some reason, Windows Update wouldn't work. I was stuck on version 1909, trying to update to 20H2. Every time it attempted, I would get the "missing dependencies" error on Xbox, and in an attempt to mitigate, I started working on upgrading.Good news: I am now on Windows 10 version 21H1.Bad news: Any time I try to launch a game in the Xbox app, it just takes me to the Microsoft Store page for Gaming Services.I've tried sfc /scannow, I've tried DIM.exe, I've tried the Powershell getapp/removeapp, I've tried manually uninstalling Gaming Services from the add/remove

:)

 

Launching games

Hi Wesley,

Windows 10 is gamer-friendly by design. If an issue like being unable to launch a game happens, it can be caused by outdated display driver or other factors that cause conflict when launching the app. For us to better assist you, we'd like to ask for additional
information. Please answer the following:

• What build and version of Windows 10 are you using?
• Are you getting an error message when launching the game?
• Have you made any changes to the settings or installed updates prior to this issue?
• What troubleshooting steps have you tried so far?
• What specific games are you having issues with?

We will wait for your response.

 

Games won't launch and run in background.

Hi,

Thank you for posting in Microsoft Community, we appreciate your interest in Windows 10.

Please do let us know with the following information for better assistance:

• What exactly do you mean by games does not run in the background?
• Which are the games you are trying to launch?
• Were you able to see any error code/ error notification while trying to launch the game?
• Have you tried any troubleshooting steps?

I would like to inform that the Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable x86,
usually occupy 1 GB of the storage space.

I suggest you to run disk cleanup to free the memory: Free up drive space in Windows 10
and check.

Hope it helps. Reply to the post with an updated status of this issue and required information, we will be happy to assist you further.

 

I can't launch games

Hi,

There are several factors that we have to take into consideration when troubleshooting issues with launching games on Windows 10. Here's a list of the possible reasons:

• An outdated game version
• Outdated Windows 10 OS
• Corrupted game data
• Software conflicts

For us to determine the root cause of this issue, kindly answer the following questions:

• What are the games affected?
• Are you using the physical copy or the digital version of the games? If you're using the digital version, may we know where did you download the games?
• Are you encountering this issue when launching the games online or offline?

If you've downloaded the games from the Windows Store, we recommend running the Windows apps troubleshooter. Click this

link to run this troubleshooter.

You may also check if there are updates available for the games by following the steps provided on this

link. Keeping the game version up-to-date can help resolve common issues with games on Windows 10.

Keep us posted with the progress. We're here to clear things up.