How to Fix Windows Apps Disabled?

Learn how to repair Windows apps disabled issue in Windows 10 via different methods to enable and launch disabled apps safely.

Posted by @Lucas December 17, 2024 Updated By @Lucas May 12, 2023

What causes Windows apps disabled?

In routine use, some users confront applications that were disabled for no reason or do a regular update and some even can’t open task manager, weather, or news.

It’s unreasonable that your software is ban automatically. It also has some common reasons that may bring about Windows apps disabled problem, like:

1. Drive glitch There are lots of things that can cause a drive glitch, which may also not allow you to open the drive. A drive glitch can lead to data corruption that can fail to read data, and then while the program is launching, the required documents will miss, thus your apps can’t run successfully.

2. Windows update Based on some user feedback, some meet apps disabled issue after the upgrade of Windows 10 system, half of all of the apps got disabled, even the Store can’t be opened.

3. Incompatibility If some of your programs cannot be run after a Windows update or a program update, the probable reason is incompatibility. If it’s forced to start, the stability and performance of the computer may be affected. Sometimes this includes apps for previous versions of Windows (including previous versions of Windows 10). When you try to open it, you will receive a message stating that the app or game cannot run on your device.

4. Firewall Anti-virus Your firewall will head off some software that it judges as dangerous and some illegal software.

How to enable disabled apps in Windows 10?

As the above content shows, various reasons may trigger Windows apps disabled problem. Therefore, we list some universal solutions for you to enable the disabled apps in Windows 10.

1. Check and repair the drive

We put this method as the first one because when Windows apps are disabled happens, the first thing you need to do is to eliminate the drive glitch that caused the issue. However, once it comes to drives, many people start to feel overwhelmed. We all know drives are really important for computers, for it’s possible to damage your computer if it’s not operated properly.

Thus, you can depend on a reliable and professional tool to check and repair the bad drive. AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard, a drive problem expert, whose “Check Partition” feature can help you check your drive via 3 options with effortless steps. You won’t have any worry of damage by wrong manipulations.

Let’s safely run check procedures.

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Step 1. Install and launch AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard, right-click on the partition which you are going to check, and choose "Advanced" and "Check Partition". 

Step 2: Select the way of checking errors to perform. You have 3 options:

Check partition and fix errors in this partition by using chkdsk.exe

Check partition for errors by using chkdsk.exe

Check whether there is a bad sector on the partition 

The first option not only finds out the wrong parts in the partition but also deals with them; the second option gets the errors only, the final one just tells you whether there is a bad sector on the partition. To fix the Windows apps disabled issue, we choose the first way. After you choose, click "OK" to continue. 

Notes: If you have programs that are running, you will see a warning window, please follow read the content and select “Yes” or “No” according to your situation.

Step 3. The operation will be completed successfully in a few seconds or minutes. While it is operating, you can view how far it goes through the process on the pop-out window. Click "OK" to finish this task.

Tips: If you want to check physical bad sectors, you can choose “Check whether there is a bad sector on the partition” when you click "OK", a window will pop out to confirm the decision you have made. At this moment, you need to press “Start” to begin the operation. It will show you how is it going and details such as where the bad sectors are located and how long the time it has already taken and this option is the fastest one of the three. However, you can do it much faster by ticking "Quick Check" in the new pop-out window.

2. Run Troubleshooter

Step 1. Select the “Start” button, and then select “Settings”.

Step 2. Open “Updated & Security”, and choose “Troubleshoot” in the left menu.

Step 3. From the list select “Windows Store apps”, “Run the troubleshooter”.

Step 4. In the new window, choose “Enable User Account Control(UAC)”.

Step 5. After the detect procedure, you’ll need to restart your PC to save the changes.

3. Clear the Windows Store cache

Step 1. Type wsreset.exe in the Windows search bar, right-click the best match and choose Run as administrator.

Step 2. Then a Command Prompt window will pop up to execute the command. After a while, the Windows Store will open.

Then you can go back to the Windows Store and install or update the apps in the Windows store to try to solve apps disabled issue caused by incompatibility.

4. Allow disabled apps through Firewall

This method only suits that you’re sure the application you want to authorize is safe for your PC.

Step 1. Click Start and find “Windows Defender Security Center”, then click it. 

Step 2. Click “Allow an app through firewall”.

Step 3. In the “Allowed apps” window, click “Change settings"

Step 4. Then, you can see all allowed apps and features are operable. Select the option on the right side of the application or function that is blocked by the firewall, private or public network, and click the "OK" button below. The previously blocked application can pass through the firewall.

Step 5. If you cannot find the blocked application in the window list, click "Allow other applications". Click the "Browse" button in the "Add Application" dialog box, select the blocked EXE file in the folder, and click " turn on".

Step 6. Then the added application can be ticked like others.

Step 7. Click “OK” to save the change.

These 4 ways can be your reference when you don’t know the actual reason, you can try them one by one, hope you can fix the Windows apps disabled issue quickly!