How to Fix This App Can’t Open Error on Windows (8 Working Fixes)

My nephew called me one afternoon, completely confused. He’d just bought a new Windows 11 laptop, tried to open the Photos app to show someone a picture, and got hit with this message: “This app can’t open.” No explanation. No error code. Just a flat refusal.

He thought he’d broken something. He hadn’t. This error shows up on perfectly healthy Windows machines all the time, and it’s one of those problems that looks scarier than it actually is.

I’ve seen this error on Windows 10 and Windows 11 machines, on apps like Photos, Calculator, Settings, Microsoft Store, and even Edge. Sometimes it happens after a Windows update. Sometimes it just randomly appears one day for no obvious reason.

The good news is that this error almost always has a fix. Let me walk you through everything that actually works.

What Is This Error Actually Saying?

When Windows shows “This app can’t open,” it usually means one of these things:

The app’s files got corrupted somewhere. Or a recent Windows update broke something. Or your user account doesn’t have the right permissions. Or the app needs to be re-registered with Windows. Or, and this one is surprisingly common, your Windows isn’t properly activated.

The error message itself provides no useful information, which is why it’s so frustrating. But the fixes below cover all the main causes, so work through them in order.

Fix 1 — Restart Your PC First (Properly)

Before doing anything else, do a proper restart, not just closing the lid or using sleep mode.

Click Start, click the Power icon, and choose Restart. Not Shut Down  Restart. The difference matters because a restart fully clears RAM and resets system processes in a way that Shut Down sometimes doesn’t (thanks to Windows Fast Startup feature).

After a restart, try the app again. If it opens great, something in memory was just stuck. If not, move to the next fix.

Fix 2 — Run the Windows Store Apps, Troubleshooter

Windows has a built-in troubleshooter specifically for app problems. It’s not perfect, but it catches common issues automatically and takes only 2 minutes.

On Windows 11:

1. Go to Settings → System → Troubleshoot
2. Click “Other Troubleshooters”
3. Find “Windows Store Apps” and click “Run.”
4. Follow whatever it suggests and apply fixes

On Windows 10:

1. Go to Settings → Update & Security → Troubleshoot
2. Click “Additional Troubleshooters”
3. Find “Windows Store Apps” → “Run the Troubleshooter.”

Let it finish, restart your PC, and test the app again.

Fix 3 — Re-register All Windows Apps (This Works Most of the Time)

This is the fix that solves the problem for most people. Windows apps sometimes lose their registration; Windows forgets how to launch them properly. Re-registering them takes about 30 seconds.

1. Press Windows + S and search for “PowerShell.”
2. Right-click Windows PowerShell and select “Run as Administrator.”
3. Copy and paste this entire command and press Enter:

Get-AppXPackage -AllUsers | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml"}

You’ll see a lot of text scroll by; some red error lines are normal, don’t panic. Let it finish.

4. Restart your PC
5. Try the app again

This single command re-registers every Windows app on your system. I’ve used this fix on at least 6 different machines, and it’s solved the problem every time it was an app registration issue.

Fix 4 — Create a New User Account and Test

This one sounds like extra work, but it’s actually a very important diagnostic step. If the app opens fine on a new user account, the problem is with your current user profile, not Windows itself.

1. Go to Settings → Accounts → Family & Other Users
2. Click “Add account” under Other Users
3. Select “I don’t have this person’s sign-in information.”
4. Choose “Add a user without a Microsoft account.”
5. Create a username and password
6. Sign out of your current account
7. Sign into the new account
8. Try opening the problematic app

If it works, your original user profile is corrupted. The cleanest fix is to move your files to the new account and start using it. If it doesn’t work even on the new account, the problem is system-wide, and you need to keep troubleshooting.

Fix 5 — Check Windows Activation Status

Here’s one that surprises a lot of people. Some Windows apps, especially built-in ones like Settings, Photos, and Microsoft Store, refuse to open if Windows is not properly activated.

1. Press Windows + I to open Settings
2. Go to System → Activation
3. Check if it says “Windows is activated” or something else

If it says “Windows is not activated,”  that’s your problem. Enter your product key or sign in with a Microsoft account that has a valid license.

If activation looks fine, move on.

Fix 6 — Repair or Reset the Specific App

Instead of fixing everything system-wide, you can target just the app that’s causing problems.

1. Go to Settings → Apps → Installed Apps (or “Apps & Features” on Windows 10)
2. Find the app that won’t open
3. Click the three dots next to it → “Advanced Options.”
4. Scroll down and click “Repair” first
5. Wait for it to finish and test the app
6. If repair didn’t help, come back and click “Reset.”

Reset will delete the app’s local data and restore it to default, so if it’s a settings or storage app, you’ll lose your preferences. But for most utility apps, this works well and doesn’t cause any real issues.

Fix 7 — Run System File Checker (SFC Scan)

If the app’s core system files got corrupted, maybe from a bad update or an unexpected shutdown, the System File Checker can find and repair them automatically.

1. Press Windows + S and search for CMD
2. Right-click Command Prompt → Run as Administrator
3. Type this command and press Enter:

sfc /scannow

This scan takes anywhere from 5 to 20 minutes, depending on your PC. Don’t close the window while it runs.

After it finishes, it’ll tell you one of three things: no issues found, it found and fixed issues, or it found issues it couldn’t fix.

If it found and fixed issues, restart and test your app.

If it says it couldn’t fix something, run this command next:

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

This connects to Windows Update servers to download clean replacement files. It takes longer but is more powerful than SFC. Run SFC again after DISM completes.

Fix 8 — Check User Account Control (UAC) Settings

Sometimes, an overly aggressive UAC setting blocks apps from launching properly. This is less common but worth checking if everything else failed.

1. Press Windows + S and search for “UAC” or “Change User Account Control settings.”
2. Check where the slider is set
3. If it’s at the very top (Always Notify) or very bottom (Never Notify), try moving it to the second-from-top position, the default
4. Click OK and restart

Also, make sure your account is actually an Administrator account:

1. Settings → Accounts → Your Info
2. It should say “Administrator” under your name
3. If it says “Standard User,” that’s likely causing your problem
4. Ask someone with admin access to change your account type, or create a new admin account

Common Mistakes People Make

Reinstalling the app from the Microsoft Store before trying the re-register fix. Reinstalling often doesn’t help because the problem isn’t the app files themselves; it’s how Windows recognizes them. The PowerShell fix in Fix 3 handles this much more effectively.

Running fixes without administrator privileges. Almost every fix on this list requires admin rights. If you’re running Command Prompt or PowerShell without “Run as Administrator,” the commands won’t work properly, and you’ll get false results.

Trying Fix 7 (SFC scan) without waiting for it to complete. I’ve seen people close the CMD window after 3 minutes, thinking it finished. The scan needs to be fully completed. Sometimes it looks like it’s frozen, but it’s still working. Leave it alone.

Ignoring the new user account test. This step tells you exactly whether the problem is with your profile or with Windows. Skipping it means you might spend an hour fixing the wrong thing.

What If the Settings App Itself Won’t Open?

This is a special case if Settings is the app that won’t open; you can’t use Settings to fix it. Here’s the workaround:

Press Windows + R, type ms-settings: and press Enter. This opens Settings directly through the Run dialog, bypassing the normal launch method. From there, you can navigate to whatever setting you need.

Alternatively, many Settings sections can be accessed through Control Panel, press Windows + R and type control to open it.

The Fix That Works Most Often

From experience across different Windows machines:

Fix 3 (PowerShell re-register) solves this for about 50% of people. Fix 6 (Repair/Reset the specific app) handles another 20%. Fix 7 (SFC scan) covers most of what’s left.

Start with Fix 3 since it’s fast and has the highest success rate. If that doesn’t work, try Fix 6, then Fix 7.

The “This app can’t open” error sounds like a serious Windows problem, but it rarely is. In most cases, you’re 10 minutes away from having everything working again.

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If you’ve tried all 8 fixes and still stuck, mention which app is giving you trouble in the comments along with your Windows version — it helps narrow down what’s going on.