I have seen a number of users having issues with Metro apps in Windows 8. The most common issue is Metro apps fail to open when the user clicks on their tiles. If you too have installed Windows 8 and experiencing issues while trying to run Metro apps, it could be because of the reasons explained below.
The first possible reason could be PC’s screen resolution. Most of Windows 8 users probably not aware of the fact that Metro apps require 1024 x 768 or higher screen resolution to run properly. That is, the screen resolution must be at least 1024 x 768 pixels. If you are unsure about your current screen resolution, here is how to check it:
Check Screen Resolution:
Step 1: Do a right-click on Desktop and select Screen Resolution option to open Screen Resolution window.
Step 2: You will see the current screen resolution next the Resolution box. If the resolution is lower than 1024 x 768 pixels, you can set a higher resolution, if your PC supports. To change the current resolution, click on Resolution box and select a higher resolution.
If your PC meets the minimum screen resolution requirement and still you can’t run Metro apps means that you have to check the status of User Account Control (UAC). Metro apps may fail to open when the UAC is turned off. To check whether the UAC is on or off, follow the steps given below.
Turn On User Account Control:
Step 1: Open Run dialog box. To do this, use Windows + R keys. Type control.exe in the box and hit enter key to launch Control Panel.
Step 2: In the Control Panel, click on System and Security and then click Change User Account Control settings to open UAC settings window.
Step 3: Here, you can see the status of UAC. Slider in Never notify position indicates the disabled status of UAC. To enable or turn on UAC, move the slier to Always notify or Default position, and then click Ok. Click Yes for the UAC prompt.
Move back to the Start screen and try to run Metro apps.
If the Metro apps are not working even after performing the above steps, you may consider creating a new user account. It’s easy! If you can’t create a new User Account from the Control Panel, try to create one using Command Prompt.
Create a New User Account:
To create a new user account, type the following command in an elevated prompt (Command Prompt with admin rights):
net user username password /add
(replace “username” with a custom name and “password” with a strong password)
Refresh Windows 8:
The last option is to refresh your Windows 8 with the help of Refresh PC option. Refresh PC feature helps reload Windows without deleing your photos, music, videos and other personal files. Tens of guides available on the Internet to show you how to refresh Windows 8. Good luck!
treefarmer says
Metro Apps!!!!!!!!!!!! Weather, store, finance, sports and Bing news have quit working. It appears weather and sports are updating bur will not open when I click on them. IE works on desktop?
Any help?
Thanx
ronnie schwartzberg says
I’ve had my computer with Windows 8 for about 6 months. All worked fine until the apps just stopped working. Metro apps just won’t open. Tried refresh and user account code with no success.
Dee says
Carol when you find I’d like to know to…I hate windows 8 I thought I would be getting a better system but this is turning out to be worse than Vista Was….
Carol Zess says
New computer, Asus, with windows 8. Cannot get photo app to work and other apps come and go. Where do I go for help?
meGrimlock says
i tried to move the Users folder to another drive to make space on my SSD. i made a symbolic link in command prompt mode after using xcopy /s /h to make a copy of the Users folder on my other drive. this causes the metro apps to fail. any thoughts on a different way to move the Users profile and retain use of the metro apps?
Ghost says
I wouldn’t call this a fix but it seems to work for me, this is what i do…when my metro apps won’t open:
1.Go to metro store: “Store” tile in the metro start screen…
2.Right click in a blank area, which brings down a ‘green panel’
3.Select ‘Your Apps’ from the panel…
4.From the first drop-down menu select ‘Apps Installed On ‘
(It should list all the metro apps installed on your PC)
5.Press [CTRL+A] to select all the apps or hold [CTRL] & manually select the ones that aren’t working..
6.From the menu panel at the bottom of the screen choose ‘Install’…
(NOTE: Since that apps are already installed, it just performs a quick re-install of the apps)
(Also, this “will not” reset/remove any configs or saved data of the app)
7.Afterwards the metro apps work again…at least it does for me….
As mentioned above, I don’t consider this to be a fix & am open to any actual fixes found.
Personally i find this much simpler than having to ‘Refresh’ my PC lossing all my thrid party installs,
every time the metro apps stop working…hope y’all found this useful.
admin says
The issue may be because Windows 8 is still in pre-beta stage and the Metro apps included in build 8102 are not the official apps for Windows 8. If I am not wrong, those Metro apps were developed by some university students.
Jimm22 says
I have installed Win 8 three times since it was made available. I installed it on a separate hard drive. I still have it on my computer but rarely use it. Each time I installed it, some of the Metro apps worked for a short period of time, but not many of them. Most of them I have no need for anyway. Eventually, all stopped working. My system meets all the qualifications you outlined in your article. I see very little difference in Win 7 and Win 8 at this time except that Win 8 starts faster. Makes you wonder why the fast start up was not included in Win 7.
Snuffy says
Why not simply tell them to stop using 3rd party programs that modify the “Explorer.exe” – that is instant Apps killer.