Windows 10: Store failed with error 0x803F8001 (Jan. 2020)

[German]Microsoft has apparently once again broke its store for Windows 10 apps. The last days some people seem to have run into the error code 0x803F8001 when updating apps or accessing the store.


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This usually passes me by as I don't use the store and apps when I'm already running Windows 10. Barb Bowman just contacted me on Twitter and reported this issue.

The text indicates, that there was probably a massive disruption at the Microsoft Store so that people could not install or update apps. Barb Bowman had issues with all the apps she bought. It returned error 0x803F8001 on accesses. Either the message came to remove a device or it was claimed that the app was not available on the device. Yesterday in the late afternoon Microsoft seems to have solved the problem.

I then searched for something on the Internet. Barb Bowman was not an isolated incident. On January 19, 2020, this thread was opened in Microsoft Answers. 

Error 0x803f8001 – App is no longer available in your account

Drawboard PDF is a paid app which I have owned and used for years on multiple devices. It suddenly stopped working yesterday, on two separate machines. I get an error that says Drawboad PDF is no longer available in your account with an error code Error 0x803f8001. 

Devices (Surface Pro 4 and Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Yoga) are Windows 10 Pro and are up to date. I have reset the app, cleared the MS Store cache w/ WSReset.exe, and a few other things, but nothing works. 

The app developer says this problem is a persistent Windows Store issue. Please advise on how to resolve.

His purchased app was gone from now on and could no longer be used. It was said that the app was no longer available under the account and the error code 0x803f8001 was displayed. There is a similar description in this MS Answers forum thread


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Microsoft Majong error code 0x803F8001

I have latest microsoft windows 10 updates on my PC and am getting saying Error Code 0x803F8001 saying "Not Available in your Account.  In Microsoft Store it shows it is installed.  Shut down pc and rebooted but still error.

Again, they claim that the app is not available in the account, while the Microsoft Store displayed a Mahjong app installed on the device. Other MS Answers forum threads here and here also reported the problem. 

There are indeed articles on the Internet that promise a solution. But it only helps if the Windows 10 client is messed up (happens often enough). In the current case, however, Microsoft probably messed up the store infrastructure, so that any user interaction was for nothing. In the meantime, Microsoft has fixed the problem, according to Barb Bowman.

I don't know if this was related to the problem described in the article Surface Laptop users trapped in Windows 10 S Mode. But what I do know is that I've been blogging about issues with apps and the store since 2012, when Windows 8 started with its App Store. So it's another case that shows how depending app users are.


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