Yes, I tried looking for an update in Microsoft Store. What I'm hoping for here is that someone can tell me what happens differently when Microsoft store "opens" the application, versus what happens when it is run normally (Win+R, cmd prompt, or File Explorer). On edit: Okay, I found it, kinda sorta. Another weird Windows oddity, and yet another reason why I really like the straight forward simplicity of Unix and Linux. This is what, in effect, the store is running: explorer.exe shell:AppsFolder\Microsoft.WindowsCalculator_8wekyb3d8bbwe!App And guess what? That will also work from the command line, or from Win+R, or invoked via a batch file, or whatever. Not from File Explorer, because you cannot traverse that path (permission denied). From Task Manager, if you go into details, what is really running is apparently "CalculatorApp.exe", not the "calc.exe" that is found in c:\windows\system32\calc.exe. Weird weird and even weirder. Edit 2: This will also work: "C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\Microsoft.WindowsCalculator_11.2206.0.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe\calculatorapp.exe" Edit 3: Yet another way to launch: start ms-calculator:
Okay, now I can't run the cygwin setup program: Faulting application name: setup-x86_64.exe, version: 0.0.0.0, time stamp: 0x00000000 Faulting module name: ntdll.dll, version: 10.0.22621.440, time stamp: 0x122ad441 Exception code: 0xc0000409 Fault offset: 0x00000000000c8585 Faulting process id: 0x0x4058 Faulting application start time: 0x0x1D8B1B1D7BE9809 Faulting application path: C:\cygwin64\setup-x86_64.exe Faulting module path: C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\ntdll.dll Report Id: 9b110a35-0152-46a3-9b42-a25d23aa85b8 Faulting package full name: Faulting package-relative application ID: This time, running as admin worked, that didn't help with the calculator. I may have to start thinking about a clean install.
A clean installation is not a bad idea at all, but I can tell you in advance, this problem cannot be changed with a clean installation either, because the so-called Windows apps are launched in a different way than you do. They don't have to start like that. Here, the application_name.exe files have a completely different meaning than they did in the old standard programs. Everything changes and You should change. How things worked on previous century is different how they work today.
The Cygwin setup program is NOT an "app". It is a very straightforward, old fashioned executable written in c / c++. About as far from from an "app" as you're likely to get. Now calc is a different story, I'll freely admit that. I have tried it on 2 other computers around here running Windows 11, with no problems. The weirdness I have encountered seems to be limited to this one computer. Yesterday, Explorer up and died on me. It restarted after a few seconds, and the event log showed the same type of error, "sihost.exe" crashed in "ntdll.dll". I am giving some thought to going back to Windows 10 when or if I do a clean install. I have nothing against Windows 11, but I rather suspect Windows 10 might be more stable right now. And there is nothing in Windows 11 that I would miss.
In case anyone gives a ____ (probably not), here are some updates. I did in in-place upgrade (from 22622.575 to 22622.575 - don't laugh, it worked). That did not fix the problem. Today I just got in a new M.2 SSD (generation 4 to replace my generation 3). I decided to do a clean install of 22622.575, using an image downloaded from UUPDUMP. Everything went well, and after the install, calc would start. After installing about a bazillion programs, guess what? c:\windows\system32\calc.exe is once again failing. Also the Cygwin setup program. Obviously something I installed is causing the problem. If I were really OCD about this, I would start all over, clean install of Windows, and test running calc after each program gets re-installed. Somehow I just don't feel like going to that much trouble (smile).
Thank you, that was what I needed. The culprit was "Directory Opus", which surprises me, but I guess it shouldn't. Nothing about this should surprise me anymore.