Windows 8.1 Program Launch Issues

[brat137]

So I updated Windows to 8.1 Pro from 8 Pro. I thought why the hell not. Booting straight to desktop will save me 2 seconds.

 

Now I am on 8.1 and I cannot open certain programs. For example Steam, Origin, Google Chrome. It seems really random as to what programs open and which don't.

 

I tried repairing the install of Steam and it couldn't do it because there was no install file. So I uninstalled steam and then re-downloaded and re-installed. Now I have done that Steam will open but it is forcing me to re-install all of my games. Which are all installed already on my PC. They are still there as are all of the old steam files except the .exe file to launch steam.

 

I then noticed that programs were "technically" opening. But only as a "Background Process" and I don't have any access or ability to use them once they are open. This happens with all of my Steam titles as well. They just open in the background which is obviously useless and annoying.

 

I have looked around on google and MS support (useless) and no other cases like this seem to exist. Others are having issues with Steam where games won't launch from within steam but not where programs won't launch correctly at all.

 

Any help would be great. Thanks.

 

[AjAlien]

I couldn't boot Steam and I deleted everything in the appcache folder and it worked, I rebooted after I deleted it.

[AjAlien]

I had the background process problem with Trine 2, run the launcher as administrator from the stream games folder.

[Guest Gazzer96]

Maybe start these programs as admin?

[brat137]

Maybe start these programs as admin?

Tried as admin for all 3 and they still appear as background processes.

 

Hadn't tried deleting appcache for Steam but will.

[brat137]

I couldn't boot Steam and I deleted everything in the appcache folder and it worked, I rebooted after I deleted it.

That did not help. Still runs as a background process.

 

 

Further investigation into which programs run and which do not shows that only programs installed on my SSD which is also my system (C:) Drive work. Any program on my storage drive will not run correctly.

[AjAlien]

That did not help. Still runs as a background process.

 

 

Further investigation into which programs run and which do not shows that only programs installed on my SSD which is also my system (C:) Drive work. Any program on my storage drive will not run correctly.

I installed Trine 2 on my SSD (C:) drive and that's what I had the problem with.

[brat137]

Well I spent an hour on the phone with MS support and after them taking control of my screen for a while and also creating a secondary test account we deduced that it was a 3rd party service that was preventing some programs from starting. No idea which service it was but I will find out in time. However no problems were had with Windows 8 so clearly something has changed in how it runs and one of my programs had not accounted for that so had not solved the issue.