Windows 8 is basically focused on Modern (Metro) Apps or Windows Store apps and comes with some pre-installed Modern Apps in order to make the users get started with Windows 8. However, there are some folks, who may not have use for Modern Apps and may want to uninstall them. While one can uninstall Windows 8 apps, there is no easy way to completely remove them from your disk.
In this article, I’ll share the way to completely remove all the Windows Store apps from Windows 8.
Please note that, when you uninstall a Windows Store App from usual options, the app is removed temporarily and goes to a staged condition discussed later in this article. Thus, when you create a new user account on Windows 8, it will again have all the pre-installed apps, since the default Windows Store Apps are not removed completely from the system.
To completely remove and erase all default pre-installed apps, you must be signed in as Administrator of you Windows Account – and you need to remove it in two places:
- Remove the provisioned package
- Remove the “installed” package from the administrator account.
Before you proceed, create a system restore point first.
1. Firstly, you will have to open an elevated PowerShell prompt. Press Windows Key + Q, and in the search box, typepowershell. From results, pick the Windows PowerShell. Right-click on it, select Run as administrator from bottom options.
2. In the Windows PowerShell window, type following command to enlist all the apps pre-installed on your Windows 8.
Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers
Command to remove all the Modern Apps from your system account
3. Run the following command to remove all Windows Store Apps:
Get-AppXProvisionedPackage -online | Remove-AppxProvisionedPackage -online
That’s it! Now whenever you create a new user account on your Windows 8, there will no be no pre-installed Modern apps on that account as well.
Whenever we uninstall a Windows Store App, its status in PowerShell window is displayed as Staged. That means, the app still lies in Windows. In other words, the application is prepared to get automatic installation when a new user account is created.
4. If you’d like to remove all Modern Apps for the current account only, use following command:
Get-AppXPackage | Remove-AppxPackage
5. In case you want to remove all Modern Apps for a specific user then add the -User part in above command, so it is:
Get-AppXPackage -User | Remove-AppxPackage
6. Finally, let us know the command to remove all Modern Apps from all the account on your Windows 8:
Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers | Remove-AppxPackage
In Windows 10, you should use: Get-AppXPackage -User | Remove-AppxPackage.
That’s it! The apps will now be completely uninstalled and erased from your system!
Interested readers can proceed to TechNet Blogs & Microsoft for advanced readings.
NOTE: mamuf says in the comments. For anyone who wants to try this on Windows 10, DON’T! These two commands remove also the Windows Store app. akemi says in Windows 10, you should use: Get-AppXPackage -User | Remove-AppxPackage.