Error 0x80070005

Question

Hi everyone.

I've been having this problem for a while and can't seem to fix it so after trying with Microsoft Community with little result I decided to try here. Don't really know if it's the place for more user-side problems but I figured I'd give it a try.

Basically, certain applications, seemingly all system ones (at the moment Groove Music, now called "Media Player" on the Store, Movies and TV and Photos), simply can't update to their latest versions because of the error i cited in the title, which happens after a couple seconds of the Store trying to install the app, after completing its download.

The main problem is related to the Photo app though. It originally wouldn't update and would weirdly only display the english language, while the rest of the system is in italian, so I tried resetting it and finally uninstalling it by removing its two main components from Windows' Settings to see if it would yield any result on the Store side.

What I ended up doing is leaving my system with neither a way of rapidly opening and viewing pictures or reinstalling the Photos app, which behaves exactly the same as the other two with the exception i'm trying to get it on my system instead of just updating it.

I already tried resetting the Store's cache and updating it but it didn't work. The troubleshooter also didn't give results and trying to remove and reinstall the Photo's app package through Powershell didn't work too.

An interesting thing is that the Photos app exists and works on my secondary user account, kinda leading to the conclusion my main account is at fault here. I don't understand what could be going on though. Thanks in advance and sorry for the weird spacing but my keyboard is also facing problems lol.

Answer 1

I finally, FINALLY, managed to fix it using the step number 5 of this article:

https://www.makeuseof.com/microsoft-store-something-happened-on-our-end/

Answer 2

Thanks for posting your question in the Microsoft Q&A forum.

The error code 0x80070005 indicates an "Access denied" issue, typically arising from insufficient permissions. If you are using a standard user account, consider checking if the problem persists when using an administrator account. Alternatively, creating a new user account and checking for the issue might be worth trying.

You can also run the Windows Update troubleshooter by navigating to the Settings app, selecting "Update & security," and then choosing "Troubleshoot." See if this resolves the problem. If the issue persists, attempt to reset Windows Update components by following the guidelines provided in the Microsoft documentation at the following link: Windows Update Resources If none of the above solutions prove effective, consider performing a repair upgrade. Detailed instructions on how to carry out a repair upgrade can be found here: How to Perform a Repair Upgrade

Please don't forget to close up the thread here by upvoting and accept it as an answer if it is helpful

Answer 3

Don't know if anyone's still reading but I saw some new activity on this thread and I myself have had to come to terms with this problem again these days so I thought It'd be right to update it.

I've understood the code stands for some kind of missing permission that denies the system access to components needed to finalize whathever process it's trying to perform, but it can be given out by Windows in a variety of situations and I guess solutions will look entirely different for similar cases even.

Mine had to do with the installation and updating of certain apps through the Microsoft Store. As I intially said, the system apps Photos, Media Player and Movies & TV would't update and remained in a constant error state in the Store's app view. The problem became worse when I experienced the exact same thing (error code 0x80070005 during the install phase) trying to get the new native Apple Music app and even the older iTunes one through the Store. The code unfortunately didn't give much information and I couldn't find a lot even in the once richer Event Viewer, which reported an installation problem happening but had pretty much the same depth as the message on the Store.

What I tried was trying to install the app directly from its .msix package downloaded from a pretty interesting website that appears to be fetching data straight from MS Store's servers. If you try opening such a package Windows will try to register it using an app installer separate from MS Store that actually gives some info on the error, which repeated with the same code but specified there was a problem with a certain "windows.fileTypeAssociation" extension and also referenced a precise point in the package's AppManifest, a document located inside it and viewable opening the .msix with a program like 7zip. I'm not an expert but there were references to this "fileTypeAssociation" function and a list of file extensions at the line and column specified in the error message.

The fundamental solution was going to the registry and then accessing the folder containing keys for basically any supported file format storing informations such as the programs that can open each, "HKEY_CURRENT_USER/SOFTWARE/Classes". I then selected every file format present in the problematic part of the AppManifest and found some of them actually had pretty fitting authorizations issues: existing keys couldn't be accessed or modified and new ones obviously couldn't be added, what was probably making the installation impossible. Changing the file extensions key security settings to "Complete Control" for the entity "Every App Package" miracolously had its effect and finally seemed to solve the issue. Trying the update or install process of the previously cited Apps from the Microsoft Store finally worked.

Don't know what exactly happened to the registry permissions and why but that's what I'm surely going to check first if anything like this happens again and what I can only suggest doing. Hope this can help and thanks for the numerous replies.