Windows Apps after user profile rebuild

Question

Domain user on a domain computer. The user's Windows profile was completely fubar - Start button does nothing when clicked; Win+R does nothing; Ctrl Alt Del does nothing; file manager icon does nothing. Other user profiles on the computer work properly, so i rebuild the user's profile by rebooting, logon as Admin, rename C:\Users\userID to C:\Users\userID.old and then deleting HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\ProfileList<user>

User logs in and this rebuilds the user profile and I can recover data from the backup user profile … except Windows Apps don’t work. This is an annoyance when we are talking about Calc but is a hard stop when it is New Teams. Microsoft.DesktopAppInstaller is also apparently a Windows App, so the MSIX installer for New Teams does not work. I should also mention that the Microsoft Store is blocked by domain policy.

What do I need to do to recover the user’s Microsoft Apps after profile re-build? Or how can i delete the old profile and get Microsoft Apps to spawn fresh without deleting the old profile (because no matter how bad it is, it can always get worse).

I am guessing that there are encrypted files in the old user profile and pointers in HKLM. If i can move the encrypted files from old profile to new then Microsoft Apps will start working - or if i delete the pointers in HKLM after renaming user profile - the user profile would rebuild without thinking Windows Apps are already installed. Just give me a hint where to look.

I have the backup profile that I can rename and swap back in, but as I said in first paragraph, can’t run anything while in it – but could side-load the user’s old HKCU if the answer is in there.

Thanks

Answer 1

Re-register Windows Store and Reset Apps:

Re-register Windows Store:

Open Command Prompt as administrator.

Run the following command: powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register $env:SystemRoot\WinStore\AppManifest.xml

Reset Apps:

Open Settings app.

Go to "Apps" and then "Apps & features."

Click on the problematic app (e.g., Calculator, Microsoft Teams).

Click on "Advanced options."

Click on "Reset."

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Use User State Migration Tool (USMT):

You'll need access to USMT, a Microsoft tool for migrating user data.

Download and install USMT on a separate computer.

Configure USMT to migrate only the following folders from the old profile (C:\Users<userID.old> ) to the new profile:

C:\Users<userID.old>\AppData\Local\Packages

(Optional) C:\Users<userID.old>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\WindowsStore (Contains Store app data)

Run USMT to migrate the selected data.