Cannot access Microsoft Solitaire and Casual Games?!

Question

Cannot access Microsoft Solitaire and Casual Games?!

S A 70

Two days ago, I was happily playing Solitaire and then on Wednesday, without notice or any downloads, it stopped working. I can go into Solitaire but my symbol (avatar?) doesn't show and the screen constantly says 'Signing in'. I have tried accessing the xbox thing too because last time (around September 2024), I had to sign up to this in order for Solitaire to work. That issue caused me untold wasted time too.

I have tried searching 'Community' now 'Q&A' - to no avail. I've spent hours searching my pc, desktop outlook, online hotmail, search engines and I can't seem to find one solution. 😡

I have uninstalled/ reinstalled Microsoft Solitaire twice, uninstalled/ reinstalled xbox numerous times. Tried to run a reset. Uninstalled / reinstalled Microsoft store. Gone back into Solitaire and still it shows 'little white dots circling a pencil image of a person, in the circle where my 'avatar' should be. I have switched off my pc for 10m then switched it back on again. Solitaire has been buffering for at least 2+ hours!

Now, I tried Solitaire on my cellphone and it works just fine with my progress visible?! I can also log into hotmail online so my password isn't a problem.

I gauge it's an issue with my Microsoft log in, but I don't know why.

Last year in 2024 September, Microsoft tampered with something which stopped my emails downloading from hotmail into Outlook desktop and scuppered my Solitaire access. I had to change my password numerous times, fiddle with xbox etc and then I got Solitaire back but have had to forward hotmail emails somewhere else.

Now I feel I have the same issue again?!

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Answer 1

Lucus-V 14,405 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Hi S A,
Welcome to Microsoft Q&A forum. I'm happy to help.

Please troubleshoot with bellow suggestions to see if they can resolve your issue.

Remove Credentials
1. Open Credential Manager
2. Remove credentials of Windows, XBOX and any credentials that related
3. Reboot your computer
4. Open the game again, you will have to sign in to your account
Restore Point The issue just happens for 2 days, you may have the Restore Point that games were still working. Try roll back to the point.
Scan your system Run these 2 commands on Command Prompt (Run as Administrator) to scan and repair:
```
   sfc /scannow
   DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth
```

I hope that above suggestions can help you solve the issue.

If you have any further questions, or issue still persists, please feel free to let me know by "Comment".

If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".

Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.

S A 70 Reputation points

2025-11-07T15:32:04.5833333+00:00

Thank you for the above Lucas-V. I will try them later on - spent so much time on this yesterday, I'm way behind on my to-do list :(

I was trying to find out how to remove credentials and didn't succeed, so THANK YOU for sending that information.👍🏽

I completely forgot about the 'restore point' 🤦🏽‍♀️

Health check was also on my mind.

Thank you again, be well.

And this time, I'm saving everything separately in case Microsoft have another bright idea and lose my comments again!!
S A 70 Reputation points

2025-11-08T00:25:44.31+00:00

Well Lucas, thank you for waving that magic wand! The credentials thing didn't work at first. I ran the scan now - that worked, but the DISM thing didn't want to work. I went back to keep deleting any login for hotmail including things within Settings 'your info' - restarted my pc for the third time and 'eh voila' - I'll save restore for another time.

Thank you sooooo much! I need Solitaire now to get rid of the stress from not being able to play it! 😂

Answer 2

It sounds like you're experiencing issues with signing into Microsoft Solitaire and potentially with your Microsoft account. Here are a few steps you can take to troubleshoot the problem:

Check Gaming Services and Xbox App: Ensure that your Gaming Services and Xbox App are up to date. You can do this by checking for updates in the Microsoft Store. If they are not up to date, you may need to uninstall and reinstall them using PowerShell commands.
Sign In Issues: Since you mentioned that your avatar is not showing and it keeps saying 'Signing in', it could be related to your Microsoft account. Make sure you are signed into the Xbox App with the correct account that you use for Solitaire. If you have multiple accounts, ensure you are using the one associated with your game progress.
Sandbox Issues: If you are in a developer environment, ensure you are in the correct sandbox. The sandbox value is case sensitive, and being in the wrong one could lead to issues with accessing your games.
Restart Your PC: Sometimes, simply restarting your PC can resolve temporary issues with services that may be in a bad state.
Check Network Connection: Ensure that your internet connection is stable, as connectivity issues can also prevent you from signing in.
Try a Different Device: Since you mentioned that Solitaire works fine on your cellphone, you might want to check if you can access your account through another device to confirm that the issue is specific to your PC.

If none of these steps resolve the issue, you may want to reach out to Microsoft Support for further assistance, as they can provide more tailored help based on your specific account and device configuration.

References:

Troubleshooting Sign-in and Sandbox Errors