Microsoft cobbles together a short-term fix for Photos app not opening in Windows 11

Last month, Microsoft acknowledged an issue with the Photos app that is included with Windows 11. Anyone installing updates for the app from June 4 onwards may have found themselves unable to launch Photos.

Having already announced that it was working on producing a fix, Microsoft has now provided details of a temporary workaround.

See also:

• Microsoft warns Windows 11 users of forced upgrades due to impending end of service for older versions
• Microsoft brings new archive format support, Copilot improvements and new emoji to Windows 11 with the KB5040442 update
• Microsoft releases KB5040427 update to fix bugs and make significant changes to Copilot in Windows 10

Microsoft has not shared much in the way of detail about the cause of the problem, but suggest that a failure for Photos to launch can be identified by a spinning circle, or by the error message Access Denied error on Process Exit (‘Exit Status: -2147024891’) in Procmon.

The problem is more likely to affect business and enterprise users, as users of Windows 11 Home are not typically going to have the settings in place which are currently thought to cause the issue for some people. Microsoft explains that having the Prevent non-admin users from installing packaged Windows apps or BlockNonAdminUserInstall policies enabled are liable to increase the risk of the problem arising. The fix, for now, is to install the most recent WinAppSDK.

The company shares the following instructions for administrators to follow if they are affected by the problem:

1. Download the latest WInAppSDK from Latest downloads for the Windows App SDK - Windows apps | Microsoft Learn. Select from the links titled “Installer” and choose the appropriate one for your system. If you’re unsure if you should download an Installer labeled with x64, x86, or arm64, open the System Information view by opening the Start menu and typing “System Information”. Then select System Information from the results. Once the System Information window appears, note the “System Type” field on the right-side panel of the window. It should denote either an x64, x86, or arm64 based system.
2. ​Right click the windowsappruntimeinstall-x64.exe file and select ‘Run as administrator’. A command prompt window will open and display some text as the installation is taking place. Please note that no action is required while this command prompt window appears, and it will close without notice after the installation has completed.
3. ​If you're an IT administrator, you can execute this installer in your environment using either system or admin context. The parameter “-quiet" is specific to this installer and can added to an execution command to prevent user interaction with the prompt. The installer only needs to be run once per device (not per user). 

Microsoft says that it is continuing to work on creating a proper fix for the issue. While there is no specific date in mind for when this may be avialable, the company estimates it will be ready “in the coming weeks”.

Image credit: AntonioGuillemF / depositphotos