Microsoft pulls WinAppSDK update breaking Windows 10 app uninstalls

Microsoft has confirmed that, since November 12, some Windows 10 users have been unable to update or uninstall packaged applications like Microsoft Teams.

This known issue is caused by the WinAppSDK 1.6.2 package, which was automatically delivered to affected users’ systems after installing an app developed using Win App SDK.

On impacted Windows 10 22H2 devices, users will see the “Something happened on our end” error message in the Microsoft Store’s ‘Downloads’ panel.

“If you are an IT administrator trying to manage packaged apps through PowerShell using ‘Get-AppxPackage’ command you might observe the error ‘Deployment failed with HRESULT: 0x80073CFA’, ‘Please contact your software vendor. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80073CFA’) in PowerShell,” Microsoft explained on the Windows release health dashboard.

“You will also notice that apps like Microsoft Teams and other 3rd party apps are impacted if you choose to uninstall and re-install the apps as part of the update process.”

The company says this issue was not caused by a Windows security or preview monthly update, so it will not be fixed by uninstalling previously released Windows cumulative updates. Microsoft is also working on a fix that should be available via Windows update over the coming days.

Microsoft pulls buggy WinAppSDK update

Until then, Redmond has pulled the WinAppSDK 1.6.2 package to prevent more Windows 10 from being impacted (according to Microsoft software engineer lead Mike Crider, a WinAppSDK 1.6.3 update with a fix is also coming).

To work around these app update and installation problems, affected Windows users can run the following instructions in a PowerShell or Command Prompt with administrator privileges to help affected devices.

Earlier this month, Microsoft addressed another issue triggered by the September 2024 preview update (KB5043131), which prevented apps like Quick Assist, Microsoft Teams, and Windows Narrator from starting for non-admin users.

More recently, it pulled the November Exchange security updates after widespread reports from admins saying that email had stopped flowing on their servers and fixed several bugs causing blue screens and install issues on Windows Server 2025 systems.

On Wednesday, Redmond also confirmed a new Windows 24H2 issue causing game audio to unexpectedly increase to full volume when using USB DAC sound systems.