If the Photos app does not start or causes an error and the reset and repair method hasn’t helped, you can uninstall and reinstall the app using PowerShell. Here are the steps for Windows 10 and 11.
Reinstall the Photos app
To re-register or reinstall the Photos app, use one of the following methods:
Click Start, type powershell, right-click Windows Powershell, and choose Run as Administrator.
Execute the following commands to uninstall and then reinstall Photos:
Get-AppxPackage Microsoft.Windows.Photos | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage -allusers Microsoft.Windows.Photos | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml"}
The above commands remove and then reinstall the Photos App.
Alternate Way
Alternately, you can find the PackageFullName (or InstallLocation) and install it using a different command:
Run the following command to get the Package name of the Photos App.
Get-AppxPackage Microsoft.Windows.Photos -allusers | select PackageFullName
Copy the Package name displayed in the output. And then use the package name/path in the 2nd command below:
For example, if the Package name is listed as Microsoft.Windows.Photos_2022.30060.30007.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe, execute the next command as follows:
Add-AppxPackage -register "C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\Microsoft.Windows.Photos_2022.30060.30007.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe\AppxManifest.xml" -DisableDevelopmentMode
This reinstalls the Photos App.
You can also install it from Microsoft Store
After uninstalling the Photos app, you can also reinstall it from Microsoft Store.
- Open Microsoft Store from Start/Search.
- In the Store App, search for “Microsoft Photos” and install it.
Error 0x80073D02
If you get the following error 0x80073D02 when reinstalling the Photos app, it’s possible that the Photos app is currently running (or in a suspended state).
Add-AppxPackage : Deployment failed with HRESULT: 0x80073D02, The package could not be installed because resources it modifies are currently in use.
Open Task Manager and terminate the Photos app.
Attempt to reinstall Photos now.
Uninstalling Photos app
Type the following command and press {ENTER}
Get-AppxPackage Microsoft.Windows.Photos | Remove-AppxPackage
This uninstalls the Photos App for the current user account.