Microsoft has confirmed that Windows 11 Shell and every associated core feature and element are actually broken, and have been like this for many months.
Microsoft says that it is working on a fix but, for now, has provided a couple of workarounds to deal with the issue. First, Microsoft says that restarting the Shell Infrastructure host (SIHost.exe) service will help restore the missing Immersive Shell packages. This can be done with the following commands:
Second, a PowerShell logon script has been shared that essentially blocks Explorer from launching prematurely until the required packages are fully provisioned. The batch script for that is given below:
@echo off
REM Register MicrosoftWindows.Client.CBS
powershell.exe -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Command "Add-AppxPackage -Register -Path 'C:\Windows\SystemApps\MicrosoftWindows.Client.CBS_cw5n1h2txyewy\appxmanifest.xml' -DisableDevelopmentMode"
REM Register Microsoft.UI.Xaml.CBS
powershell.exe -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Command "Add-AppxPackage -Register -Path 'C:\Windows\SystemApps\Microsoft.UI.Xaml.CBS_8wekyb3d8bbwe\appxmanifest.xml' -DisableDevelopmentMode"
REM Register MicrosoftWindows.Client.Core
powershell.exe -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Command "Add-AppxPackage -Register -Path 'C:\Windows\SystemApps\MicrosoftWindows.Client.Core_cw5n1h2txyewy\appxmanifest.xml' -DisableDevelopmentMode"
I swear to god, if I hear “Windows just works” one more goddamn time…
It does, if you are talking about pre 11, and dont care about internet pre 10. But otherwise fuck Microsoft with a rusty shovel, theyve ruined anything good about windows and make it harder and harder not to switch to steamos, the only reason I don’t is because of the pain of reinstalling everything and not having the drive space to shuffle files to it.
“Linux is an objectively worse OS because you have to run all kinds of weird commands in an esoteric command line to even get it to work right”
Meanwhile: windows just works! You just have to run this batch file from some guy on GitHub, download this powershell script from some woman on MSDN, apply these reg hacks, and run this freeware debloat tool, and it’s smooth sailing after that. Well, at least until the next cumulative update which will make you repeat this process all over again. Oh whoops, something you did broke the install. Better sfc /scannow or clean install and try again!
I swear to god, if I hear “Windows just works” one more goddamn time…
But Linux is too difficult, someone might suggest you use the terminal.
And don’t get me started on the people who assume macOS does not have a command line.
Bonus points if they open Spotlight and type “CMD”.
It does, if you are talking about pre 11, and dont care about internet pre 10. But otherwise fuck Microsoft with a rusty shovel, theyve ruined anything good about windows and make it harder and harder not to switch to steamos, the only reason I don’t is because of the pain of reinstalling everything and not having the drive space to shuffle files to it.
“Linux is an objectively worse OS because you have to run all kinds of weird commands in an esoteric command line to even get it to work right”
Meanwhile: windows just works! You just have to run this batch file from some guy on GitHub, download this powershell script from some woman on MSDN, apply these reg hacks, and run this freeware debloat tool, and it’s smooth sailing after that. Well, at least until the next cumulative update which will make you repeat this process all over again. Oh whoops, something you did broke the install. Better sfc /scannow or clean install and try again!