The Xbox app itself is kind of amazing with its huge selection of games, but it’s also kind of a mess, sometimes not running games, sometimes not running itself, and sometimes you need to double-sign into it. There are many ways in which the Xbox app for PC can fail to work, so we’ve decided to round up the best fixes here.
And good news. If you’re a prospective Master Chief struggling to play Halo: Infinite on PC Game Pass (until recently known as Xbox Game Pass for PC), we have the fix for you!
Reset the Game (Halo Infinite Fix)
This fix was most recently discovered to work for Halo Infinite, helping out those who found themselves confronted with the Xbox Gaming Services screen instead of the game menu. If you’re confronted with the below screen when you try to run Halo Infinite (or another game), then this is the fix for you.
First, open the Xbox app and leave it in the background. Then go to “Apps & Features” (I like to do this by right-click Start then clicking it from there).
Scroll down until you find Halo Infinite (or the culprit game). Click it, then “Advanced options”.
In the new window, scroll down and click “Reset”, then “Reset” again.
Back in the Xbox app, the game should’ve disappeared from the installed list. Find the game using the search bar, then click “Install”. You won’t actually need to reinstall the game, because you never deleted it, it’ll just “refresh” the installation to get the game working again.
Make Sure You’re Signed in … TWICE
It’s standard practice to sign in to a gaming platform, but there are two layers to signing in to the Xbox app, and without them, the app will work, but your games won’t.
First, you need to sign in to the Xbox app itself. If you’re not already signed in, click the person icon at the top-right corner of the app, click “Sign In,” then enter your details if you don’t get automatically signed in (or “Switch Account” if you’re in the wrong account).
Once you’re signed in to the app and your avatar image appears in the top-right corner, you need to make sure you’re signed in to your Microsoft account. Click your icon at the top right -> Settings -> Change my Microsoft Store account, and make sure you’re signed in to the account you use to pay for Xbox Game Pass.
Now that you’re signed in to the app and your Microsoft account, you can play your games.
Re-register PC Game Pass
If the app itself isn’t working properly, such as by displaying blank boxes where there should be images, showing an Install instead of Play button for games you’ve already installed, or other oddities, then you can try re-registering the app.
To do this, press the Win key, search for powershell in the Start search bar, right-click “Windows Powershell” then “Run as administrator.”
In Powershell, enter the following commands:
Reset the Microsoft Store App
Because the Xbox app is inextricably tied to your Microsoft account and the Microsoft Store app, problems with one can lead to problems with the other. A quick fix to reset the Microsoft Store app could also fix your Xbox app problems.
Press Win + R, then enter the command wsreset.exe. This should reset the Microsoft Store app and possibly fix your Xbox app problems.
Synchronize Time and Region Settings
For better or worse (well, mostly worse), the Xbox Game Pass app is deeply tied to your Windows OS. We saw the problems that can cause with the Microsoft account synchronization, but another major factor of the Xbox app not working are the time settings in Windows 10.
Your time settings may desynchronize when the time changes in winter and summer, during an update, or when your PC disconnects from the Internet.
To correct your time settings, right-click the clock at the bottom-right corner of your Windows desktop, then “Adjust date/time.”
Make sure the “Set the time automatically” and “Set the time zone automatically” sliders are set to “On,” then click “Sync now.”
If for some reason your time zone on Windows 10 isn’t the one you’re actually in, switch off “Set the time zone automatically” and set the time zone to your current one.
Your Xbox Game Pass app should now be good to go. The next step in ensuring good game performance is to benchmark your GPU in Windows 10 and take a look at our graphics card buyer’s guide.
Content Manager at Make Tech Easier. Enjoys Android, Windows, and tinkering with retro console emulation to breaking point.
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