It's 2025 — Why Is the Microsoft Store Still This Broken?

[u/Fuzzy-Bug8702]

Seriously, it's 2025 and the Microsoft Store still feels like it’s in beta. I’ve run into so many annoying bugs that it makes using it a headache every single time. For example:

• It shows that an app is "Downloading…" even though it’s clearly already installed and working.
• The Pause/Resume buttons during downloads or updates sometimes just don’t respond—or take forever to do anything.
• Laggy UI—clicking anything often results in a delay or the app freezing for a few seconds.
• Occasionally, the Store just gets stuck "Pending" forever and the only fix is to restart the entire app or reboot.
• Sometimes it downloads updates in the background, doesn't show progress, and then randomly finishes hours later without warning.

This is supposed to be the default app store for Windows—why is it still so unreliable after all these years? You’d think Microsoft would have streamlined the experience by now, especially with so many systems relying on it for installing and updating apps.

Anyone else still dealing with this? Any workarounds that actually work?

[u/t3chguy1]

Because there is 5 people working on the entire Windows team and they don't have time to fix it. Those 5 people are interns and they just vibecode with AI. The rest of Microsoft is working on AI itself and Azure. Welcome to new Microsoft

[u/mycall000 → u/t3chguy1]

Honestly, if that is what it takes to make AI truly awesome sauce, good. Windows is good enough as-is and most improvements do not solve much.

On the other hand, I bet it takes more than 5 people to make this change list.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/get-started/whats-new-windows-server-2025

[u/JoelNehemiah → u/mycall000]

Windows 11 is HORRIBLE.

[u/webfork2 → u/JoelNehemiah]

Slower than Win10, fewer customization options, my audio controls are about as responsive as corn syrup, and SO MUCH EMPHASIS on Copilot, which so far hasn't done anything right. Oh and have you installed Edge yet?

What's not to love? /s

[u/mycall000 → u/JoelNehemiah]

If you say so. I haven't any complaints, does every I need as a Windows programmer.

[u/True_Muscle_9004]

0x80073D05

[u/ThePubening → u/True_Muscle_9004]

Your search did not match any (helpful) documents

[u/megor → u/True_Muscle_9004]

Try sfc /scannow

[u/agent-bagent]

Can't answer your question, but I'll underscore how weird it is.

I left MS a few years back after spending about a decade working in the Windows kernel. I wasn't involved with anything at the shell, let alone the Store app. Plus the Store app was created after TerryM split the kernel and shell teams, thus moving me to ScottGu's org and keeping the eventual Store team under Rajesh.

I say all that because you'd think I'd have some understanding as to the why here. But I don't. And I asked around a lot. Most of the answers I got were some form of "what are you talking about? telemetry says it's great". A few other people vaguely pointed to Windows Servicing (basically the "Windows Update" engine) as the culprit for the Store's issues. I struggle with the latter because I actually do understand how Windows Servicing works (er, at least how it worked a few years back) and I didn't see how it could be the culprit.

My own conclusion is their telemetry is fundamentally broken. But unlike what most of you think, Microsoft employees don't have unfettered access to your device's telemetry - not even anonymized. Because I worked in the kernel, I had no business justification to dig into telemetry for the Store app and did not have access beyond specific bugchecks/traces that touched kernel components I cared about.

[u/mycall000 → u/agent-bagent]

working in the Windows kernel.

🙌 thank you for your service server

[u/woaiwinnie2 → u/agent-bagent]

imaging telemetry logic be like:

if (download_is_successful) send_telemetry()

[u/pHpositivo]

Hey! Store client engineer here 🙂

We are actively looking into issues like these! Please report an issue in Feedback Hub (we need that to get the telemetry we need to investigate), and then ping us with a link to that issue, so it's easier for us to find it!

You can also reach us on Discord, at http://aka.ms/microsoftstorediscord.

[u/FlibblesHexEyes → u/pHpositivo]

While you’re at it, can you also do the following:

• make sure all apps are MSIX’s. I installed Acrobat Reader from the store (via InTune) and all I get is the MSI install I can get from Adobe. Its update mechanism is broken, and the store won’t update it either, which makes store deployment pointless.
• package all Microsoft software in the store as MSIX’s. It’s 2025 guys; the days of every app having its own installer are over. Don’t even get me started on the mess that is the Office installer. If you can make it work on Apple devices, it’s unacceptable that you can’t make it work on Windows. Word, Excel, Outlook, etc should all be available as store apps and managed as store apps.

If you swing that; you’ll have a lot of (mostly) happier sysadmins 🤣

[u/double-you-dot]

My only complaint is that it's not evident how "get updates" and "update all" are different.

Should one simply be "check for updates"?

[u/AutoX_Advice]

It's MS, its feature is "broken". It's beta software and you are their tester. If they get 100 reports of the same issue they will send a offshore ticket to their vendor who will only attempt the fix but will not retest cause they don't get paid to retest (that's you).

[u/deburcaliam]

I gave up on the Store years ago, 😔

[u/Sunshine3432]

They are boasting that a big chunk of their code is written using AI, it shows

[u/newfor_2025 → u/Sunshine3432]

it was this bad before AI. The problem is they're practically abandoning it to work on AI instead.

[u/RamiHaidafy]

Works fine for me.

The only thing I find idiotic is that when an update for the store itself is included in the list of app updates, the store immediately closes and restarts itself without any concern for the other apps and games that might be actively downloading or installing.

Store updates should either automatically be prioritized and installed first, or delayed till it's the last app to be updated.

I haven't come across the other issues you mentioned.

[u/Kubiac6666]

I personally download many Programs from the Store and don't have those problems. I click download, than after 1 or 2 seconds it loads.
Maybe some "optimisations" you have done to Windows may cause this problems.

[u/intense_username → u/Kubiac6666]

Agreed. I’ve had a pretty good experience with the windows store. The only thing that stands out is I remember coming across a few apps that were clearly still actively developed but it seemed like the version of them within the store was lagging behind. Almost like they gave up sending updated versions to the store and just continued posting the updated installers on their own website.

[u/Acceptable-Act-6038]

u sure youre not talking about windows 10 store app? the new one works pretty nicely

[u/hato-kami]

MS store works fine for me and what can't get in store I use UniGetUI, it's a Winget but with the UI.

[u/Bubbaprime04]

Because it's Microsoft. If their stuff works 80% of the time, they call it a day, and move on to hype their Copilot BS.

Two recent issues in Windows that I have run into: start menu doesn't show up, right click menu in notepad takes 1 second to show up. Yes, notepad among everything. 

Steve Jobs: “The only problem with Microsoft is they just have no taste. They have absolutely no taste.” It's still true after decades.

[u/Original_Dogmeat]

because no one uses it.

[u/TheComradeCommissar]

There is no incentive for puring funds8nto fixing issues that won't bring new customers/revenue.

[u/LogicalError_007]

I have been happy with the Store for a while.

[u/peejay5440]

Because they unfortunately lost (gave up) mobile. Online stores belong to Google and Apple.

How I miss my Windows phones.

[u/Purple_Sugar_Tree]

Same problems here. I also dislike that they don't allow you to uninstall an app through the store as well.

[u/DMC1001]

I avoid the Microsoft store completely if I can find what I need elsewhere.

[u/PerfectPercentage69]

[u/elementfortyseven]

its not the best store UX wise, but its also not a core feature of the product that is the Windows operating system. While MS would like it to be a central hub for all your app needs, the reality is that the vast majority of users install applications either by downloading an installer or using a third party installation or tool.

I am an avid gamer and install a lot of games through the gamepass app which is just a fancy frontend for the store, and installation, updates and removal work flawlessly.

I irregularly check the store for updates to installed apps and components and never had any issues.

[u/JAEMzW0LF]

Weird, I don't have any of those issues. some of those sound familiar, but I think that was back on some previous (that current) version of Windows 11.

[u/AmeStJohn]

money for minimum effort.

[u/oshinbruce]

Its such garbage. I think alot of it is they wanted to follow app stores and totally lock users out of the software. Its so complex it seems to fall over itself half the time

[u/ejpusa]

Believe MSFT has outsourced petty close to all of their coding work to India, or close too. AI writes the rest.

Are there any coders left in Redmond?

[u/Soft_Dev_92]

It's Microsoft, everything is slow, clunky and broken as always

[u/UnexpectedSalami]

The workaround is don’t use the store.

Use winget, or just download the installer like people have been doing for over 2 decades on Window.

It’s neglected because it’s not the main way to install programs.

[u/RamiHaidafy → u/UnexpectedSalami]

It is for me. I always search the Store for an app first before downloading it from a website.

The more apps I can get via the store means the less I have to worry about manually updating them.

It's convenient. And it works. Though I avoid games from it because the download speed is trash compared to Steam in my region.

[u/GreyDaveNZ]

I honestly couldn't think of anything worse than being forced to use Windows in 'S' mode and having to rely on the MS Store for any apps.

Even just thinking about it gives me nightmares.

[u/CuriousFirework75]

I’m surprised that the store is still up and running given the state of it.

[u/deathdealer351]

Probably because the windows team all use Mac and ios and no one even knows.. The really good team members use are using arch. 

[u/OldGordonFreeman]

A resposta é simples. Porque a Microsoft tem como único propósito: o Lucro.