So you might have gotten a bit carried away and uninstalled all Windows 10 default apps only to find out you actually need some of them? Well, no need to worry since you can easily reinstall all default apps in Windows 10.
This will save you the work of reinstalling them one by one, although you might be getting back a few you don’t actually need. And if you haven’t installed the Windows 10 Anniversary Update yet, all previously uninstalled apps will be brought back.
How to reinstall all default apps in Windows 10
Even if you uninstalled those default apps after you upgraded to Windows 10 Anniversary Update, you can still reinstall all default apps in Windows 10, so here’s how you can do it.
To begin with, you will need to run PowerShell with administrative rights. To do this, click on the Start button to bring up the Start menu, then write ‘Windows PowerShell’. Right-click on the first result (the Windows PowerShell app) and select ‘Run as Administrator’.
In the PowerShell window, paste or type the following command then hit the Enter key:
Get-AppXPackage | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register “$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml”
You might think nothing happened. But give it a minute or two and then open the Start menu. You should be seeing the default apps available at this point. However, if you see an error message restart the PC and check the Start menu again.
If the default apps haven’t been restored, you might want to verify that you copied the code correctly and run it again.
How to reinstall individual default apps in Windows 10
The method described above is very convenient but not ideal if you want to install one or a few default apps. You can also reinstall individual default apps in Windows 10 by following the instructions below.
Run Windows PowerShell as an administrator just like for the method above. Then, paste or type the command below in the PowerShell window then press the Enter key:
Get-AppxPackage -allusers | Select Name, PackageFullName
At this point, you should be seeing a list of default apps, and their appxmanifest.XML file paths like in the image above.
Locate the app you want to reinstall, and double-click on its PackageFullName (the line in the right column) which will select it. With that string selected, press Ctrl+C to copy it to the clipboard.
To continue, type the following command in Windows PowerShell but replace PackageFullName with the string you saved to your Clipboard (press Ctrl+V to paste it), then press Enter.
Add-AppxPackage -register “C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\PackageFullName\appxmanifest.xml” -DisableDevelopmentMode
Then, you should see the app available in the Start menu, but if it’s not there, restart your computer and check again.
