How to Fix: Can’t Change New Apps Save Drive in MS Store

Summary :

Sometimes, you might be unable to change the drive where new apps will save to in Microsoft Store. This annoying problem could happen due to various factors. If you come across the problem unfortunately, don’t worry. MiniTool Partition Wizard has developed a simple guide that provides several possible solutions.

For better application management and other reasons, many users would like to change the default save location for some new Microsoft Store apps according to their preferences.

However, you might fail to set the save path of new apps to the desired drive, and the MS Store will keep saving apps to the system drive. At the same time, MS Store gives an error message “We couldn’t set your default save location”.

What can you do if you can’t change new apps save drive? Take it easy, you can troubleshoot the issue with the following solutions. Let’s check them out one by one.

Fix 1: Edit the Group Policy

If you can’t are unable to change the drive where new apps will save to, perhaps the group policy prevents apps from being installed to a non-system volume. You can go to edit the group policy to solve the problem.

Note: The Local Group Policy Editor is not provided in Windows 10 Home edition. If your computer doesn’t support it, just skip this method and jump to the next one.

Step 1: Press Windows + R to invoke the Run window. Input gpedit.msc and click the OK button to open Local Group Policy Editor.

After that, restart your computer and check if you can change new apps save drive now.

Fix 2: Remove Old Reference to the Target Drive

Besides, if your system already has an old reference to the target drive, you might also receive the “We couldn’t set your default save location” error message. To fix the problem, you can remove the old reference to the target drive.

Just follow the steps below:

Step 2: Navigate to the following path: Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Appx\PackageVolumes

Then, you can restart your computer and check if the problem has been resolved.

Fix 3: Disable Compression or Encryption of The Target Drive

If the drive you want to set as the new apps save path is encrypted or compressed, you might also be unable to change the drive where new apps will save to. In this case, you need to disable compression and encryption for the target drive. Here’s what you need to do.

Step 3: Open the target drive. If there is a WindowsApp folder, right-click it and choose Properties. Under the General tab, click the Advanced button. In the Advanced Attributes window, uncheck Compress contents to save disk space and Encrypt contents to secure data and click the OK button.

Step 4: Go to disable BitLocker for your Windows.

After that, restart your computer and check if you can change the default save location of new Store apps.

Fix 4: Change Permissions

In addition, you can also try changing permissions for the target drive to solve the problem. You just need to:

Step 1: In File Explorer, right-click the target drive and choose Properties.

Step 2: Click the Security tab and hit the Edit button.

Step 3: In the pop-up window, select System from Group or user names and check the box of Full Control in the Allow column. Click Apply and OK to save the changed settings.

Once it’s done, reboot your system and try changing new apps save drive again to see if the problem has been resolved.

Fix 5: Reset Microsoft Store

Some users have successfully resolved the problem by resetting Microsoft Store. If the above methods fail to work for you, you can try resetting Store as well.

Step 3: Scroll down to find the Reset section and click the Reset button. Don’t forget to confirm the operation.

Now, you should be able to change new apps save drive without problems.

See also: Where Does Microsoft Store Install Games? Find the Answer Here

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Position: Columnist

Amanda has been working as English editor for the MiniTool team since she was graduated from university. She enjoys sharing effective solutions and her own experience to help readers fix various issues with computers, dedicated to make their tech life easier and more enjoyable.

She has published many articles, covering fields of data recovery, partition management, disk backup, and etc. In order to provide more useful tips and information, she is still committed to expand her technical knowledge.

Originally published at https://www.partitionwizard.com on December 28, 2020.