GamePass on PC is Permanently Deleting Storage on My SSD

[steeze206]

https://www.resetera.com/threads/gamepass-pc-is-a-ticking-time-bomb-that-results-in-permanently-lost-hdd-ssd-space-unless-you-nuke-windows.340696/

 

Look at this BS. I uninstalled Forza Horizon 5 and the Master Chief Collection because I had games I'd rather play. After uninstalling (through the app) I noticed disk space wasn't cleared up. So I searched for where the default installation is. Was hit with an error message saying I'm not able to access this folder? On MY PC? Get outta here.

20 minutes later and a few elevated commands via command prompt later I had access to the WindowsApps folder. Found where the games are supposed to be installed and boom...... nothing there.

An hour of scouring the internet later and I've found zero solutions, yet countless claims of people suffering from the same thing with no solution in sight.

 

So now I've ordered another $100 1TB NVME SSD because of a backwards software design philosophy that's basically Apple's anti Right to Repair frenzy but with a software spin.

 

Let the user decide what is best. 

 

Even EA Play can manage this. The perennially worst voted company in the US. You click uninstall on Madden and like magic.... IT ACTUALLY WORKS.

 

More:

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/xbox/forum/all/cancelled-game-download-still-taking-up-space-on/171bc271-de21-47d0-979f-64c6821a3016

https://xbox-forums.com/threads/xbox-game-pass-for-pc-not-freeing-up-space-after-uninstall.455239/

 

More:

https://xbox-forums.com/threads/xbox-game-pass-for-pc-will-not-free-space-when-uninstalled.379094/

https://www.reddit.com/r/XboxGamePass/comments/jhjsn3/i_uninstalled_a_game_from_game_pass_but_its_still/

 

More:

https://www.reddit.com/r/XboxGamePass/comments/pbjylw/gamepass_app_never_freed_up_space_after/

https://www.reddit.com/r/XboxGamePassPC/comments/ly9wcc/cancelled_download_still_taking_up_space/

 

Yeah I think I'm done with this leasing media BS. I will gladly pay full price for Uncharted, Days Gone, Ghost of Tsushima, God of War and more to Sony to not put up with this bullshit. Microsoft is just Apple with half the brand recognition and an ever fading illusion of moral high ground.

 

GamePass is such a great deal and I generally like Microsoft but this is unacceptable. I made an account hoping one of you guys might be able to find a solution as I'd assume we're all quite tech savvy on this corner of the internet. 

[Helpful Tech Witch]

Ive not had this problem

If I cancled a download, it does remove it

if i uninstall, it removes it

The ONLY issue ive had was that it  didnt recognise the games on a second drive after I reinstalled windows

[RAS_3885]

Given I've cancelled my GamePass trial and only downloaded one game I tested it. After uninstalling the drive space was immediately cleared, however, the game files for me are located under a folder called 'WpSystem'. There is also a 'WindowsApps' that the Xbox app created which, annoyingly, I cannot access even with admin rights, but it's reporting zero file size so IDK.

 

I did confirm the 'WpSystem' had xx files size before uninstalling the game and 0 bytes file size after uninstalling, so the game was definitely there prior to me uninstalling it.

[steeze206]

This issue does appear to be affecting a lot of people. But from further research, a smallish percentage of overall users. 

 

I have had issues in the past with being stuck in an infinite sign in loop when launching games in the past (Forza Horizon 5 and A Plague Tale.) I would try to launch the game, it would prompt to sign into Xbox and then kick you back out to signing into Xbox again (I assume to verify their DRM.)

 

Pretty sure this authentication issue was caused by me having 2 windows accounts on the same PC (1 for work and 1 personal) then launching the same gamepass account between the 2 of them. 

 

I wonder if because of this, Windows changes the file structure to account for it being shared system wide or something along those lines. 

 

Just my best guess, but from what I've seen it could potentially add up. 

 

Does anyone know if there's a way to contact Microsoft/Xbox's elevated support directly? I'd really rather not go through the unplug/plug it back in dance.