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I have a laptop running Windows 10 and it was running out of space. this folder:

c:\users\glenn\appdata\Local\

was like 22GB, so i went hunting for the culprit. I did find some stuff to delete, but I also deleted something I shouldn't have, I think.

I saw some files related to old Windows 10 apps in here, and so I thought it was a temporary file cache, and I cleared some of the files:

C:\Users\Glenn\AppData\Local\Apps\2.0

And now the Start Button, and Cortana, and all of the items in the taskbar do not work. All of the Windows 7ish stuff works well, as expected. All of the Windows8/10ish stuff doesnt work. I see this error message is the event viewer

Activation of app Microsoft.Windows.ShellExperienceHost_cw5n1h2txyewy!App failed with error: The app didn't start. See the Microsoft-Windows-TWinUI/Operational log for additional information.

This code _cw5n1h2txyewy found in the message above is shared by other apps in that apps folder, so I'm guessing I delete the Shell Experience Host app.

Awesome.

Is there away I can reinstall Windows from PowerShell or something? I'm trying to figure out how to revert Windows without losing my files.

Help? Anyone know where I can find the Microsoft-Windows-TWinUI/Operational logs?

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  • The easiest way would be to create a new user profile. That’s of course provided you can still do that. You may have some luck using mmc to manage “Local Users and Groups”. Virtually all Windows logs are available in Event Viewer (also mmc-based).
    – Daniel B
    Jan 17, 2016 at 17:06

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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Well, on my machine this folder weighs in at a whopping 0KB, so I don't think what you deleted was actually critical, although that doesn't explain why it stopped working for you.

The following command from an elevated powershell should reregister all the components that are failing:

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

As for the logs, you should be able to find these in Event Viewer, under:

Applications and Services Logs\Microsoft\Windows\Apps\Microsoft-Windows-TWinUI/Operational event log.

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  • AppData\Local being empty is impossible.
    – Daniel B
    Jan 17, 2016 at 17:03
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    @DanielB We're talking about %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Apps\2.0 aren't we?
    – Jonno
    Jan 17, 2016 at 17:11
  • Depends. ;) The Apps folder doesn’t even exist on my system.
    – Daniel B
    Jan 17, 2016 at 17:18
  • that powershell command did the trick. I think I have the Insider preview of Windows 10 Pro. its basically an apps shortcut folder i think.
    – Glenn Ferrie
    Jan 17, 2016 at 17:20
  • @DanielB Is that ... Negative... Bytes?? I'm confused :)
    – Jonno
    Jan 17, 2016 at 17:21

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