Windows – Metro apps crash on startup, driver or permissions issue?

After installing Win8 x64 RC, Metro apps worked correctly, but desktop OpenGL apps were slow and unresponsive. I installed the latest Win8 nVidia drivers, and the OpenGL apps started working correctly. At the same time, because of annoying permission messages, I changed the C: drive and all its files ownerships to my user, and gave it full permission.

I restarted my pc after installing the drivers, and now Metro apps only show the splash screen, then crash.

I tried installing other versions of the nVidia drivers, with the same result.

My GPU is a GeForce GTX275.

Is this a known problem with nVidia drivers?Or maybe changing the ownership of C: is the real problem?

Thank you.


More information (after looking in the event viewer)

I’ve managed to find the problem and the error in the Event Viewer. I still cannot solve it. Here’s the information I found by opening the Mail app and letting it crash:

Log Name:      Microsoft-Windows-TWinUI/OperationalSource:        Microsoft-Windows-Immersive-ShellDate:          07/06/2012 15.54.17Event ID:      5961Task Category: (5961)Level:         ErrorKeywords:      User:          VEE-PCVittorioComputer:      vee-pcDescription:Activation of the app microsoft.windowscommunicationsapps_8wekyb3d8bbwe!Microsoft.WindowsLive.Mail for the Windows.Launch contract failed with error: The app didn't start..Event Xml:<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">  <System>    <Provider Name="Microsoft-Windows-Immersive-Shell" Guid="{315A8872-923E-4EA2-9889-33CD4754BF64}" />    <EventID>5961</EventID>    <Version>0</Version>    <Level>2</Level>    <Task>5961</Task>    <Opcode>0</Opcode>    <Keywords>0x4000000000000000</Keywords>    <TimeCreated SystemTime="2012-06-07T13:54:17.472416600Z" />    <EventRecordID>6524</EventRecordID>    <Correlation />    <Execution ProcessID="3008" ThreadID="6756" />    <Channel>Microsoft-Windows-TWinUI/Operational</Channel>    <Computer>vee-pc</Computer>    <Security UserID="S-1-5-21-2753614643-3522538917-4071044258-1001" />  </System>  <EventData>    <Data Name="AppId">microsoft.windowscommunicationsapps_8wekyb3d8bbwe!Microsoft.WindowsLive.Mail</Data>    <Data Name="ContractId">Windows.Launch</Data>    <Data Name="ErrorCode">-2144927141</Data>  </EventData></Event>

Found other stuff, this is another error that appears when opening a Metro app:

Log Name:      ApplicationSource:        ESENTDate:          07/06/2012 16.01.00Event ID:      490Task Category: GeneralLevel:         ErrorKeywords:      ClassicUser:          N/AComputer:      vee-pcDescription:svchost (1376) SRUJet: An attempt to open the file "C:Windowssystem32SRUSRU.log" for read / write access failed with system error 5 (0x00000005): "Access is denied. ".  The open file operation will fail with error -1032 (0xfffffbf8).Event Xml:<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">  <System>    <Provider Name="ESENT" />    <EventID Qualifiers="0">490</EventID>    <Level>2</Level>    <Task>1</Task>    <Keywords>0x80000000000000</Keywords>    <TimeCreated SystemTime="2012-06-07T14:01:00.000000000Z" />    <EventRecordID>11854</EventRecordID>    <Channel>Application</Channel>    <Computer>vee-pc</Computer>    <Security />  </System>  <EventData>    <Data>svchost</Data>    <Data>1376</Data>    <Data>SRUJet: </Data>    <Data>C:Windowssystem32SRUSRU.log</Data>    <Data>-1032 (0xfffffbf8)</Data>    <Data>5 (0x00000005)</Data>    <Data>Access is denied. </Data>  </EventData></Event>

After changing permissions again (adding Everyone and Creator Owner to System32), the “access denied to sru.log” error disappears, but this one appears in its place:

Log Name:      ApplicationSource:        Microsoft-Windows-Immersive-ShellDate:          07/06/2012 16.16.34Event ID:      2486Task Category: (2414)Level:         ErrorKeywords:      (64),Process Lifetime ManagerUser:          VEE-PCVittorioComputer:      vee-pcDescription:App microsoft.windowscommunicationsapps_8wekyb3d8bbwe!Microsoft.WindowsLive.Mail did not launch within its allotted time.Event Xml:<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">  <System>    <Provider Name="Microsoft-Windows-Immersive-Shell" Guid="{315A8872-923E-4EA2-9889-33CD4754BF64}" />    <EventID>2486</EventID>    <Version>0</Version>    <Level>2</Level>    <Task>2414</Task>    <Opcode>0</Opcode>    <Keywords>0x2000000000000042</Keywords>    <TimeCreated SystemTime="2012-06-07T14:16:34.616499600Z" />    <EventRecordID>11916</EventRecordID>    <Correlation />    <Execution ProcessID="3008" ThreadID="6996" />    <Channel>Application</Channel>    <Computer>vee-pc</Computer>    <Security UserID="S-1-5-21-2753614643-3522538917-4071044258-1001" />  </System>  <EventData>    <Data Name="ApplicationId">microsoft.windowscommunicationsapps_8wekyb3d8bbwe!Microsoft.WindowsLive.Mail</Data>  </EventData></Event>

Now I’m stuck. It tells me “Activation of app microsoft.windowscommunicationsapps_8wekyb3d8bbwe!Microsoft.WindowsLive.Mail failed with error: The app didn’t start. See the Microsoft-Windows-TWinUI/Operational log for additional information.” but I can’t find the Microsoft-Windows-TWinUI/Operational log.

I’m starting a bounty.


I found the TWinUI/Operational log. It only tells me:

Log Name:      Microsoft-Windows-TWinUI/OperationalSource:        Microsoft-Windows-Immersive-ShellDate:          07/06/2012 16.28.57Event ID:      5961Task Category: (5961)Level:         ErrorKeywords:      User:          VEE-PCVittorioComputer:      vee-pcDescription:Activation of the app microsoft.windowscommunicationsapps_8wekyb3d8bbwe!Microsoft.WindowsLive.Mail for the Windows.BackgroundTasks contract failed with error: The app didn't start..Event Xml:<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">  <System>    <Provider Name="Microsoft-Windows-Immersive-Shell" Guid="{315A8872-923E-4EA2-9889-33CD4754BF64}" />    <EventID>5961</EventID>    <Version>0</Version>    <Level>2</Level>    <Task>5961</Task>    <Opcode>0</Opcode>    <Keywords>0x4000000000000000</Keywords>    <TimeCreated SystemTime="2012-06-07T14:28:57.238140800Z" />    <EventRecordID>6536</EventRecordID>    <Correlation />    <Execution ProcessID="3008" ThreadID="2624" />    <Channel>Microsoft-Windows-TWinUI/Operational</Channel>    <Computer>vee-pc</Computer>    <Security UserID="S-1-5-21-2753614643-3522538917-4071044258-1001" />  </System>  <EventData>    <Data Name="AppId">microsoft.windowscommunicationsapps_8wekyb3d8bbwe!Microsoft.WindowsLive.Mail</Data>    <Data Name="ContractId">Windows.BackgroundTasks</Data>    <Data Name="ErrorCode">-2144927141</Data>  </EventData></Event>

I need to go deeper. I found a forum thread that told me to look for “DCOM” errors. I found this one related to the app crash

“The server Microsoft.WindowsLive.Mail.wwa did not register with DCOM within the required timeout.”

Log Name:      SystemSource:        Microsoft-Windows-DistributedCOMDate:          07/06/2012 16.46.45Event ID:      10010Task Category: NoneLevel:         ErrorKeywords:      ClassicUser:          VEE-PCVittorioComputer:      vee-pcDescription:The server Microsoft.WindowsLive.Mail.wwa did not register with DCOM within the required timeout.Event Xml:<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">  <System>    <Provider Name="Microsoft-Windows-DistributedCOM" Guid="{1B562E86-B7AA-4131-BADC-B6F3A001407E}" EventSourceName="DCOM" />    <EventID Qualifiers="0">10010</EventID>    <Version>0</Version>    <Level>2</Level>    <Task>0</Task>    <Opcode>0</Opcode>    <Keywords>0x8080000000000000</Keywords>    <TimeCreated SystemTime="2012-06-07T14:46:45.586943800Z" />    <EventRecordID>2763</EventRecordID>    <Correlation />    <Execution ProcessID="804" ThreadID="2364" />    <Channel>System</Channel>    <Computer>vee-pc</Computer>    <Security UserID="S-1-5-21-2753614643-3522538917-4071044258-1001" />  </System>  <EventData>    <Data Name="param1">Microsoft.WindowsLive.Mail.wwa</Data>  </EventData></Event>

Solution:

OK, it took me forever to solve this problem so hopefully this helps someone.  I had changed permissions on my user folder (like I always do) to only allow my user and SYSTEM.  Unfortunately this broke some Metro/Modern apps including Weather, News, Finance, Netflix, etc.

The only permissions that ‘ALL_APPLICATION_PACKAGES’ needs in order for all Metro/Modern apps to work are:

  1. File – %USERPROFILE%AppDataLocalTemporary Internet Filescounters.dat – Read & Execute, Read – (You’ll need to uncheck ‘Hide protected operating system files’ in Folder Options to see the Temporary Internet Files folder)

(if you cannot find in the above location try %USERPROFILE%AppDataLocalMicrosoftWindowsTemporary Internet Filescounters.dat)

  1. Folder – %USERPROFILE%AppDataLocalWER – Special: List folder/read data, Create folders/append data

(if you cannot find in the above location try %USERPROFILE%AppDataLocalMicrosoftWindowsWER)

It does not need full access to your C: drive or even access to the Packages folder as previous answers suggested.

You can either reboot after making the above permission changes or kill the appropriate processes.