Microsoft Photos App Not Opening after update? Lets fix it

The new Photos app on Windows 10 is amazing. It has a huge improvement, a nice interface, and decent image filtering options from what Microsoft gave us on Windows 8.1. But sometimes you might experience the Microsoft Photos App Not Opening or working as expected. The Photos app refuses to open or closes soon after launching. In some cases, the Photos app opens but doesn’t load image files. There are no fixed reasons for this behavior of the Photos app, it can be system file corruption, Windows update bug, or the app itself causing the issue. Well, if you have also noticed the Photos app refuses to open certain types of images or crashes whenever you try to use it, here are a few fixes to try.

Microsoft Photos App Not Opening or Crashes

If this is the very first time you have noticed this problem restart your PC. That helps fix the problem if a temporary glitch causing the issue.

First of all, Press Windows + R, type WSReset.exe to reset Windows store cache. Close the Microsoft Store App and then try to launch the Photos app again.

Restore default libraries

Microsoft Photo app is connected with libraries in your File Explorer, so if there’s some problem in libraries, the app won’t show any photos, and restoring libraries to default probably helps.

• Use keyboard shortcut Windows + E to open file explorer,
• Click on the View tab, then click Navigation pane and choose Show Libraries
• Now In the left pane, right-click on Libraries and click on Restore default libraries

Update Windows and Photos app

Microsoft regularly releases security updates with various bug fixes and installing the latest windows updates resolves the previous problems as well. It is a good idea to make sure your Windows 10 is up-to-date.

• Press Windows + I to open settings
• Click Update & security, then Windows Update
• Here, click check for updates button,
• Let Windows download and install available updates,
• Restart Windows to apply the changes and check the problem is fixed.

The same thing applies to the app itself, if the app is not updated, some component of the Photos app that conflicts with your system might experience an app crash issue.

• Open Microsoft store,
• Then at the upper right, select the account menu (the three dots) and then select download and updates,
• Now click update all links (located under available updates)

Run the troubleshooter

Run the built-in Windows store app troubleshooter that automatically detects and fixes the problems that prevent photos app open normally.

• Open the Settings app using Win + I key,
• Go to Update & Security then select Troubleshoot on the left pane.
• On the right pane, scroll down to the Windows Store Apps and highlight it, and then click on the “Run the troubleshooter” button.
• This will start to diagnose all the Microsoft Store apps, including the Photos app, and try to resolve them themselves.

Reset Microsoft Photos app

Still need help, Let’s reset the app to its default state, which makes the app fresh like a new install.

• Open settings app using Windows + I keyboard shortcut,
• Click Apps, then Apps and Features on the left,
• Scroll down the Apps & Features panel and then click on Microsoft Photos. Next, click Advanced Options.

• This will open a new window with the option to reset the app
• Click on the Reset button to initiate the process. It may take a few moments to complete the process, and the photo will be reset to its default settings.

Reinstall the Photos app package

If all the above methods didn’t solve the problem it’s time to remove the app and reinstall it from scratch. To reinstall the Photos app package on your Windows 10, just follow the steps below.

• Type PowerShell into the Start menu and select run as administrator,

• Now Type the following command into the PowerShell window and press Enter

Get-AppxPackage *Microsoft.Windows.Photos* | Remove-AppxPackage

• It should take only a moment to remove the Photos app you need to exit PowerShell and restart your PC to complete the task.
• Now open the Microsoft store, search for photos and click Install to get it back on your PC.
• Let’s open the photos app and check if it’s stable now.

Re-register the Photos app

Also, few Windows users report after re-registering the app helps make it more stable and open photos quickly. You can re-register the app following the steps below.

Open PowerShell as administrator and perform the command below.

Get-AppXPackage -AllUsers | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register “$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml”}

Once done, restart your PC and check if the photos app is quicker than before.

Run system file checker utility

Run the System file checker utility to make sure missing corrupt system files not causing the Photo app to crash or not open.

• Open the command prompt as administrator,
• Type sfc /scannow and hit the enter key.
• This will check for missing corrupted system files if SFC found any this will restore them from %WinDir%\System32\dllcache.
• Wait until the scanning process is 100% complete, after that restart Windows.

Check with a new user account

Create a new user account and check with the new user account profile photo app is working properly.

• To create a new user account, open the command prompt as administrator,
• type  net user <username> <password>/add

• Then type command net localgroup administrators admin /add to add the newly created user account on to the Administrator group.
• That’s all type exit to close the command prompt,
• log off from the current user account and login to newly created user account and check photos app is working.