28
2012
Fix : Windows 8 UI / Metro Apps shows splash screen but won’t launch
An article by shantanu
After reading this post you will be able to fix an issue where none of your Windows 8 UI apps formerly known as Metro UI apps wont launch. You try opening the app and it creates multiple entries in device manager, but the application itself will not launch. This issue happens when your Windows 8 system detects a time-out. Your application is required to open in a specific time & due to some problem your application times out and does not open, while you do see a splash screen. In some cases when you press ALT + TAB, you can still the splash screen of your app.
Fixing the issue:
- Go to Your computer / system manufacturers support website
- Select Windows 8 as your operating system
- Download and Install the latest SATA / AHCI drivers ( storage controllers )
- Restart your computer
Step 2
- Press Windows key + X
- Click on Command Prompt (admin)
- type SFC /SCANNOW
- let this run & wait until the process finishes
- restart your machine
Step 3
Antivirus Update
- This step mostly applies to AVAST & Norton users
- Either Update or Uninstall / Reinstall your Antivirus application
- To Uninstall, Go to start screen & type uninstall a program
- Select your antivirus from the list & click on uninstall.
- OR
- Update your antivirus software
- Open your Antivirus software application
- Locate the update section
- Press update icon
- let the updates finish
- Restart your computer
Method 6
Microsoft Apps Troubleshooter
- Download and run Microsoft apps troubleshooter from this link
Method 7
Check if UAC is Disabled
- Go to the start screen
- Type control panel
- Locate View ( Top Right corner )
- Set View to Large icons
- Open User accounts
- Click on Change User Account Control Settings
- Set it to the Second Level from the Top
This should fix your problem. If not, use the comment section below to notify me & i will try to fix your issue further.
I have an Asus laptop. I could not find SATA/HCI driver. they did not mention windows 8 and I could not request a specific driver. It seems they have a massive download with many drivers. If you could help me navigate their website I would appreciate it. I will continue to look in the mean time.
thanks
Could you please tell me the model no. of your Asus laptop ?
You can also checkout windows update. Go to the optional updates section and see if it has some driver updates.
could you calrify what SFC/SCANNOW does will it affect programs settings etc thank you
Sure,
SFC or System File Checker is a tool / utility integrated into the Windows operating system. It’s primary function is to check for corruption within the protected system files & replace them, if necessary, from the cached version of the same file that Windows keeps as a backup.
/SCANNOW : directs the SFC command to run immediately, check for problems in system files & replace them if necessary.
& it does not affect your program settings or any other settings. It’s core System File checker utility that works on system files.
I tried those ways but nothing happened
but i notice that happened after installing bet defender .. I uninstalled it but also nothing happened
Hello,
If you have tried all, please try to Refresh you PC ( follow this guide : http://www.troubleshootwindows.com/windows-8/refresh-your-pc-windows-8-feature-make-your-installation-new-again/ )
Possibly worth mentioning that you need to run sfc/scannow with administrator privileges.
Thanks
Article edited.
Regards
I have a brand new Asus UX32. I tried all. Except te first one “Go to Your computer / system manufacturers support website”. Updated all Windows. Than even tried refresh Windows installation. Although it is written taht I will not löse anything, I even lost Office trial installation.
I don’t want to be Microsoft tester, how can I install Windows7. Thank you in advance.
You upgraded from windows 7 to 8 or did you fresh install windows 8 ?
Thank you for your answer. I freshly installed Windows 8 with the new computer. It was working. I only loaded Office, itunes, Sony PlayMemories and metro programs are not working anymore. By default it has McAfee virüs program. I have updated all Asus drives and softwares (SATA AHCI was already updated), all Windows 8. Accuweather was not working, after reinstallation it is working now. Reinstallation of programs seems to solve the problem. Do I have a chance to install Windows 7 or renstall all metro programs? Microsoft refuses to help due to my product ID classification, which I did not understand.
Have you tried uninstalling your antivirus software ( McAfee ) ?
How did you buy windows 8 ? did it came with your computer or you bought it online ?
Also, did you computer came with windows 7 preloaded ? if yes, you can go back to windows 7.
I am willing to help you all I can. Please answer my questions above to enable me to further help you.
Also,
Try running this : http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=271185
Microsoft troubleshooter
I have uninstalled McAfee before refreshing. It reinstalled with refreshing. It has just updated also it is currently active.
Windows 8 came with Asus. It was not loaded, installed itself, when I first open the computer asking me about he requied info.
I did not have chance to choose Windows 7. it was directly with Windows 8.
I run Microsoft troubleshooter. It fixed some corrupted files (I did not understand how happened within e few days) and restarted.
Today Nvidia olsa updated şt’s drivers.
Still mail, contacts, calender, photo, skydrive, etc. not running
Maps was working, yesterday, now it is not working either after all updates.
Thank you in advance.
I solved the problem. If you uninstall the non-working program and reinstall from app center, it works. Updated of the program don’t work.
Due to Refresh garbages(!), I decided to reinstall Windows. Than first updated Windows and Asus drives. This time the problem did not ocur, luckly. Thank you for your support.
Nice to know that your problem is solved
Excellent. Thanks, friend.
Have been helping my father with his two laptops, both running Win8 (which I installed).
Older Asus has been relatively stable, but the newer (3 month old Samsung) has not had Win8 running stable for more than a few days.
The latest was driving me crazy: It was the problem of Metro apps (90% of them) opening up and closing in a second or two.
I did not think I could easily reinstall the native apps (mail, photos,etc) – but did so after reading your steps. And it worked beautifully.
It’s interesting that the older laptop (2008) seems to work better than the Samsung.
Have many observations about Win8, but the main one is that there are so many bugs in it that there are a million solutions out there – so even if the symptoms are the same, it looks like every post has a different solution that worked for that person.
Personally, I like the concept, I think the W8 interface design is visually stunning. It really looks good – but am worried that there are just too many unresolved issues, design problems under the covers. I just hope MS does not choose to ignore them.
I do know that the interface and visual aspects have made my 86 year old father surf the net, look at his photos, etc etc – much more than he ever did on Win7.
cheers,
rashad
Hello,
I am glad that this article helped you.
I’ve tried all the steps and nothing seems to work. And, unfortunately, I did not set up system restore after installing Windows 8 so there is no restore point and to fix this it looks like a reload. What do you all think?
Please share your computer informaiton / specifications /model & make. I would be happy to help you. also, do share if you upgraded to windows 8 from windows 7 or is it a fresh install ?
Regards
I’ve tried all the recommendations above minus the first (updating drivers) although, I can’t see why that would make a difference. It all worked before when I updated to window 8. Aside from quirks with win 8, metro was working fine. I have an HP laptop/ pavillion dv-7 i7 core
any help appreciated…thanks
Hello,
AHCI – SATA drivers ( proper drivers for windows 8) are responsible for correct disk operations in Windows. I was facing the same problem and my problem was fixed once i updated the AHCI drivers. The problem is caused due to latency of data / command / response transmission.
Please let me know if updating the drivers help you.
EXCELLENT! I ran the Microsoft Apps Troubleshooter and I can now launch Metro apps!!!
Thank you!!
Tried all of the above and still can’t use apps….they were working a few days and then stopped working. Please help.
im using acer v3 471g with preinstalled windows 8. my apps dont start and keep on loading. ive tried using some of the methods posted –
method 2 – ive tried sfc scannow. it stops at 51%. with this message
“windows resource protection corrupt filesbut was unable to fix some of them. details are included in CBS.log windir\logs\cbs\cbs.log. …..note that logging is currently not supported in offline servicing scenarios”
method 3 – uninstalled avira AV, now using defender. – still not fixed. btw is win defender for windows 8 a good AV choice?
method 6 – if i run the apps troubleshooter it gives two detected errors aetnd prompts me to restart. but after restart it is not yet fixed, and if i run app troubleshooter again same problems.
a. Checking for missing or corrupt files (detected)
b. microsoft account required (detected)
for item b, i’ve made a windows and account and tried to sync it but windows cannot connect to the internet even if internet connection is well and good(windows update even works).
method 7 – i cant find UAC when i search from start.
i have even tried refreshing but after refreshing it says “no changes were made to your PC”
i would appreciate the help shan. thanks
Hi,
1.It looks like that your core installation is having problems. SFC /SCANNOW should always complete, if it says that there is a problem, then it should by all means fix it.
2. Windows Defender in Windows 8 “equals” Microsoft security essentials in Windows 7. I am using just that and works fine for me
3. If apps troubleshooter also says that there is a problem & ultimately ( after restart ) again finds the problem, this would be second instance of a core installation problem.
4. You can find UAC in Control panel as well( Control Panel -> User accounts ) ( make sure your view setting is set to “large icons” ) – After opening user accounts click on Change User Account control settings )
5. If your computer is unable to perform a Refresh, I am very much sure that your problem is with corruption in system files or a BAD install.
Conclusion & Possible Resolution : If you can & you are comfortable with clean installation. I would suggest you to re-install Windows by performing a format.
thank you for the response. i am not comfortable with clean installation, but i guess i have no choice. since my OS is OEM and i dont have CD for reinstallation do i use the “remove eveything and reinstall windows” setting?
do i have to backup all files in my hard disk? even if they are on partitions other than C:? will these files get deleted?
thanks shantanu
So sorry for the late reply
Yeah you can choose that setting, but haven’t you created a Recovery disc yet ? Acer must have provided you with information regarding the same ? if not, contact acer support to ask about clean installing windows with recovery DVD. Other partitions will not be affected, but it is always advisable that you backup your data. better safe then sorry right ? 
I have an HP Envy h8 1400 which came with Win 8 preinstalled. (It also had Norton Security Suite, which I never activated.) I’ve had the machine for several weeks, and my apps worked fine until a couple of days ago, when they acted like what you describe here. (But not all of them; Wikipedia and Store worked) The rest would either immediately go back to the start screen (while showing as active in the sidebar) or just sit on the start screen with the “wait” dots whirring around. I did EVERYTHING you mention in this article and they still don’t work. The app trouble shooter said that I had some problems in the registry or something, said it reset things, but still nothing. I had already uninstalled Norton completely, and deleted all of its many files, so that can’t be the problem.
I have to say, this is very irritating. Please help!
Thanks.
Hi,
I can understand how you must be feeling. Let’s try a few things so that we can pin point the root cause
1. You are using HP Envy H8 1400 ( an u please confirm the exact model no. ) Check from the website mentioned below:
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/ProductList.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&taskId=135&prodTypeId=12454&prodSeriesId=5295996
2. Please do backup all your data, just in case something goes wrong. After that uninstall the display / graphics driver from your computer & restart ( I am assuming you know how to uninstall the display driver )
3. Go to the HP Support site or NVidia support website ( you have NVidia graphics right ? ) and download – install the latest 314.22 display drivers
4. Restart and check if your apps are working again.
5. Have your tried “Refresh Your PC” feature ?
Regards
Thanks, shantanu.
I aleady have updated the driver to the latest one. I didn’t want to refresh my PC since I have so many desktop programs (Office, Photoshop, etc) installed and configured. What I ended up doing was uninstalling all the apps and reinstalling them. Now they are working, but what a PITA! I think the OS should be updated to autocorrect whatever causes this to happen. Too many people have it happen, based on what turns up when I googled my problem.