Explorer, the Start menu, and other XAML-dependent apps might not start or close unexpectedly

After provisioning a PC with a Windows 11, version 24H2 or a Windows 11, version 25H2 monthly cumulative update released on or after July 2025 (such as KB5062553 or KB5065789), XAML-dependent modern apps such as Explorer, the Start menu, SystemSettings, Taskbar and Windows Search might experience difficulties. This issue primarily affects a limited number of enterprise or managed environments and is very unlikely to occur on personal devices used by individuals.

This might occur when Windows updates are installed prior to: 

• First time user logon to persisted OS installation.
• All user logons to a non-persistent OS installation such as a virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) or equivalent as application packages must be installed each logon in such scenarios.

Link: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/kb5072911-explorer-the-start-menu-and-other-xaml-dependent-apps-might-not-start-or-close-unexpectedly-on-some-enterprise-devices-d2d30684-4e2b-47f5-9899-a00a8e0acb09

Workarounds

Manual registration of the missing packages 

IT administrators managing enterprise or virtualized environments should register the missing packages in the user session and restart SiHost to allow Immersive Shell and related components to pick them up. To do this, run the following commands to register each of the missing packages:

Add-AppxPackage -Register -Path ‚C:\Windows\SystemApps\MicrosoftWindows.Client.CBS_cw5n1h2txyewy\appxmanifest.xml‘ -DisableDevelopmentMode 

Add-AppxPackage -Register -Path ‚C:\Windows\SystemApps\Microsoft.UI.Xaml.CBS_8wekyb3d8bbwe\appxmanifest.xml‘ -DisableDevelopmentMode 

Add-AppxPackage -Register -Path ‚C:\Windows\SystemApps\MicrosoftWindows.Client.Core_cw5n1h2txyewy\appxmanifest.xml‘ -DisableDevelopmentMode 

Run this sample PowerShell script on non-persistent OS installations

For non-persistent environments, a logon script approach remains the best option for IT administrators. Create a batch file wrapper to execute synchronously before Explorer launches.

Note This approach ensures the script runs synchronously, effectively blocking explorer.exe from launching prematurely until the required packages are fully provisioned.

@echo off 
REM Register MicrosoftWindows.Client.CBS 

powershell.exe -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Command „Add-AppxPackage -Register -Path ‚C:\Windows\SystemApps\MicrosoftWindows.Client.CBS_cw5n1h2txyewy\appxmanifest.xml‘ -DisableDevelopmentMode“ 

REM Register Microsoft.UI.Xaml.CBS 

powershell.exe -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Command „Add-AppxPackage -Register -Path ‚C:\Windows\SystemApps\Microsoft.UI.Xaml.CBS_8wekyb3d8bbwe\appxmanifest.xml‘ -DisableDevelopmentMode“ 

REM Register MicrosoftWindows.Client.Core 

powershell.exe -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Command „Add-AppxPackage -Register -Path ‚C:\Windows\SystemApps\MicrosoftWindows.Client.Core_cw5n1h2txyewy\appxmanifest.xml‘ -DisableDevelopmentMode“