Windows 10 Tip: Fix Problems Downloading Apps

With millions of people testing the Windows 10 waters for the first time this week, we’re bound to see some problems. And one of the more common ones is an inability to download apps from the Store. Here’s a fix.

This issue has come up in a number of emails from readers. And I experienced it myself last night while trying to download Word Mobile during the recording of Windows Weekly. Basically, the app or game you’ve chosen to download heads to Downloads in the Store app, says it is acquiring license, but then fails. If you click the “See details” link, you’ll see the error code is 0x803F7000.

I asked about this issue on Twitter this morning, and Rockford Lhotka had the fix: run wsreset and, if needed, reboot. The easiest way to do so is to open Cortana or the Run dialog (WINKEY + R) and type wsreset followed by Enter. The Windows Store app will then open. I didn’t need to reboot, either: Upon checking Downloads, and retrying the app, it started immediately downloading.

Bingo. And subsequent app downloads happen normally, at least in my case.