Any PC users have trouble uninstalling Gears of War 4 completely?

[LQX]

So finished Gears 4 and was relieved I could finally get back over 100GB of hard drive space except that did not happen. Icon and everything is gone but the space is not free. Googled and none of the methods works. I cant even find the folder with windows search. Anyone else have this issue? How did you fix it?

 

[Skel]

This is a common issue for UWP games. Download a space manager software like TreeSize, choose the drive the game is/was installed, go to WindowsApps folder, Gears of War 4 is SpartaUWP folder. Delete the file manually (you probably need full administrator rights) and restart your PC. This should work, it did for me with Gears of War 4 and Forza Horizon 3/4.

 

[LQX]

This is a common issue for UWP games. Download a space manager software like TreeSize, choose the drive the game is/was installed, go to WindowsApps folder, Gears of War 4 is SpartaUWP folder. Delete the file manually (you probably need full administrator rights) and restart your PC. This should work, it did for me with Gears of War 4 and Forza Horizon 3/4.

Click to shrink...

That was a huge help. I see the folder and it is 133GB. I also have an additional 70GB folder for Horizon which did not uninstall. Wow.

Now I have to figure out how to gain full administration rights from my damn self to delete it. Any easy recommendations for doing this? Either-way thanks a lot Skel

 

[sredgrin]

Welcome to UWP!

Have had similar issues, usually when downloading a game or updating it because it wants ALL THE SPACE and then when it doesn't get ALL THE SPACE it does an oopsie and poops its pants.

 

[Musubi]

That was a huge help. I see the folder and it is 133GB. I also have an additional 70GB folder for Horizon which did not uninstall. Wow.

Now I have to figure out how to gain full administration rights from my damn self to delete it. Any easy recommendations for doing this? Either-way thanks a lot Skel

Click to shrink...

How to Access the WindowsApps Folder in Windows - Make Tech Easier

The WindowsApps folder in Windows is not accessible by default. Here are a few methods you can use to access the WindowsApps folder.

www.maketecheasier.com

 

[LQX]

How to Access the WindowsApps Folder in Windows - Make Tech Easier

The WindowsApps folder in Windows is not accessible by default. Here are a few methods you can use to access the WindowsApps folder.

www.maketecheasier.com

Click to shrink...

Awesome. Thank you.

 

[Pargon]

I've not confirmed it myself, but have read that Store apps also use Delivery Optimization now.
That means they will remain on the drive if there is available space, so that it can be quickly "reinstalled" on that PC, or installed to another computer on your local network, without having to download it from the internet again.
The Delivery Optimization settings are in the "Update & Security" section of the Windows Settings app, and can be cleared via the Disk Clean-up utility. Running Storage Sense may also clear it (caution: check the selected options before running it!).

Messing with the WindowsApp folder permissions can prevent the Store app from working correctly.
I recommend that you do not touch it, unless there is no other option.

 

[.exe]

I've had this happen when I tried to uninstall the Forza Horizon 4 demo. Pain in the ass. Post #2 is what I had to do as well :/

I've not confirmed it myself, but have read that Store apps also use Delivery Optimization now.
That means they will remain on the drive if there is available space, so that it can be quickly "reinstalled" on that PC, or installed to another computer on your local network, without having to download it from the internet again.
The Delivery Optimization settings are in the "Update & Security" section of the Windows Settings app, and can be cleared via the Disk Clean-up utility. Running Storage Sense may also clear it (caution: check the selected options before running it!).

Messing with the WindowsApp folder permissions can prevent the Store app from working correctly.
I recommend that you do not touch it, unless there is no other option.

Click to shrink...

If this is indeed how it works, that is some grade A bullshit. Pressing the uninstall button seems and should be pretty unambiguous in what I'd like to happen with that software.

 

[Pargon]

If this is indeed how it works, that is some grade A bullshit. Pressing the uninstall button seems and should be pretty unambiguous in what I'd like to happen with that software.

Click to shrink...

Considering that one of the biggest complaints I see is that you can't move UWP apps between computers and have to re-download them, it seems like Microsoft can't win either way.
It might be easier to think of it as being "uninstalled" from your computer/profile, but leaving the "installer" files on the drive after doing so, then clearing them if free space drops below a certain threshold.
At least that's my understanding of how it should work, if it's using Delivery Optimization. As I said, I've not tested/confirmed it myself.

Edit: Another reason to not immediately remove the files from the drive if there is free space, is that many people don't know that you can "reset" UWP apps rather than having to reinstall them. If you were trying to reinstall Gears 4 for whatever reason, and it immediately deleted the files, you would have to wait for another 133GB download rather than reinstalling it locally off the disk.
I'm not saying that the system is ideal by any means, and if that's what they're doing they should explain it somewhere, but it's not necessarily a bad idea so long as it frees up the space as required.

 

[MrBS]

When I mucked around with the folder rights I lost access to the store and had to restore a fortunately recent backup to get back to normal but I still had a partial install of Forza Horizon 4 on my main drive. The solution was to install a light Linux distro on usb and delete from Linux. That's a reasonable solution!