Why isn’t by Windows 10 Photos App not working! Here we will show you how to fix common issues that prevent Windows 10 Photos App or Windows 10 Video Editor from working.
Microsoft Photos App
Microsoft Photos app is terrific and easy to use. The Photos application can view varying formats of photos in your Windows machine. It can even open highly compressed Photos transferred from your iPhone or Apple devices with some help. With “help,” we mean by using some additional extensions for the (HEIC) format.
Microsoft Video Editor
As many of us know, Microsoft decided to drop support for the most popular video editor application out there: Windows Movie Maker. You can still install Windows Movie Maker, but you will get an annoying pop-up that says it is a security issue as the app is no longer in development.
So if you are a Microsoft Windows 10 user, it is finally time to let go of the Windows Movie Maker application because the built-in Windows 10 Video editor is better than you think.
To use the built-in Video Editor application, you must have the “Fall Creators Update,” released in 2017. If you have a Windows 10 Version of 1703 or above, you should be good to go.
How do I know which Windows 10 Version I have?
You can easily find this information in Windows 10 by going to the start menu > settings > about and you should see something similar as shown below. As you can see, I have the current latest version at the time of this writing (Version 1909).
If you don’t have an updated Windows version, you can follow this guide to update your Windows 10 version to the latest.
There are a few common problems with the Windows 10 Photos App, and the Video Editor application that we can fix quickly.
Windows 10 Photos App Not Working
Windows 10 Photos app not working is a problem that many users face in our workplace, and they often lack the technical knowledge to fix it on their own. Windows 10 Photos App not working could lead to multiple reasons.
Required Image Extensions Not Available
The most common problem users face is when they try to open an image taken on an iPhone. The photo transferred from an iPhone uses a highly compressed format known as (HEIC) High-Efficiency Image File. Windows 10 Photo App cannot read the picture without the (HEIF) extensions. We can mitigate this problem by downloading and installing the proper HEIF Windows 10 extensions.
Corrupted Installation or Application
Another reason why your Windows 10 Photos App stopped working is may be due to file corruption. In this case, you will need to re-install the Windows 10 Photos App. Right-click on your Windows start menu and then go to Apps and Features (Keyboard Shortcut WIN + X).
On the next screen, search for the Photos app then go to advanced. It is interesting to note that Windows 10 Video Editor and Photos App are in one application at the time of this article.
Once you are in the advanced settings menu, please try the repair option first. Once done, go back and make sure that you can open the Photos App. If this step did not work for you, then come back to this Windo and click on Reset. This will clear all of your Windows Photos App preferences and revert it to default settings.
If the above steps still did not work for you, then sometimes you may have to remove the Windows 10 built-in Photos App forcefully via Windows PowerShell.
Removing the Windows 10 Photos App Via PowerShell (First Method)
- Open Windows PowerShell (Admin) (Keyboard Shortcut WIN + X) easy to confuse with the regular PowerShell option in the same window.
- Type in or Copy and Paste the following command into PowerShell and press enter, this will completely remove the Photos App from your Windows 10 machine
get-appxpackage *Microsoft.Windows.Photos* | remove-appxpackage - Reinstall Photos App via Windows Store
Removing the Windows 10 Photos App Via PowerShell (Second Method)
1. Following the same steps as above, open PowerShell in Administrator Mode (Keyboard Shortcut WIN + X)
2. Type into PowerShell the following command
get-appxpackage *photo*3. Copy the “PackagefullName” as shown below, in my case it was
Microsoft.Windows.Photos_2020.20070.10002.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe 
4. Type the following command with the added package name to remove the Windows 10 Photos App.
remove-appxpackageMicrosoft.Windows.Photos_2020.20070.10002.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe Remember to replace the package full name with your own (very important).
5. Reinstall Photos App from the Windows Store.
If the above still did not work, you can try the HEIC converter mentioned at the end of the article. If it all points to doom then you don’t have much choice but to either reinstall a fresh copy of Windows 10 or reset Windows 10.
You can reset your Windows 10 installation by pressing (Keyboard Shortcut WIN + X) and going to settings. In the search bar type in reset, “Reset this PC” to start recovery.
Windows 10 Video Editor App Not Working
Required Video Extensions Not Available
Make sure you have the required video extensions available. For example, the VP9 Video Extension is a new popular codec used for streaming. On devices without a hardware-based encoder, the VP9 Extension also lets users encode the content. You can download and install VP9 Extension from the Windows Store.
Corrupted Installation or Application
If your Windows 10 Video Editor application is corrupted in any way, you can follow the same troubleshooting procedures above for the Photos App to fix the issue. Windows 10 Video Editor and the Windows 10 Photos App is essentially the same App installation package.
Tech Tips to Future Proof Some of these Problems
If you are in charge of managing technology for your company, you can avoid these problems by updating all of the Windows Apps and extensions in your master image before you Clone/Deploy Windows. Open the Microsoft Store and go to Downloads and Updates then, click on Update All. Then specifically search the Windows Store for HEIC Extensions & VP9 Extensions – download and install them if they aren’t already.
It is easier to do this in a master image if you are using cloning software. You should do this if your organization also doesn’t allow installing Windows Apps via the App Store. If your organization grants all users permission to install these extensions, there is no need to worry about it. More than likely, users will need these extensions at one point or another.
App Blocked by System Administrator
As mentioned above, sometimes, an organization can block the Windows Store, thus disabling the install of these necessary extensions. You can ask your organization to filter these extensions out not to be stuck with the rest of the applications.
If you are in a pinch and Windows Store is blocked by your Windows System Administrator, you can download CopyTrans HEIC and convert your image files to JPEG format. CopyTrans is an excellent program that can also convert an entire folder of images at one go. The software is well integrated with Windows Explorer – You can right-click on HEIC image file and click convert as shown below.
Please comment below and let us know if this article helped resolve your Windows 10 Photos App not working issue and any Video Editor issues.
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