Windows 10 Calculator broken, crashes right as is opens.

Tanquen

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Feb 15, 2005
Messages
1,226
Not sure when this happened or why but last week I went to use the calculator and it crashed on launch. I've gone through a few guides and nothing works.

At first the calculator was installed so I tried the built in calculator app reset and all that did was change the window to some default size before crashing.

Then I deleted it and tried to reinstall from the MS Store and it downloads and does nothing.

I just tried an in place Windows 10 install at it is still crashing and I can't reinstall it.

There is a setting to reset the MS Store and that did not work.

There is a PowerShell command to uninstall it and that also did not work.

Some guides suggest to try another profile and that did not work.
Run As Admin also don't work.

Some guides suggest to try DISM online repair. I recommend running sfc /scannow and that did not work.

So tired of dumb little things that force you to reinstall Windows 10. :(

Even the built in Windows Store troubleshooter just shows that there is a crashing app but can do nothing.

Why on Gods green Earth can MS not install their own App in their own OS?
 
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Sorry guys already tried those in the many online guides. Added them to my list. The main thing is that even the in place Windows 10 reinstall did not work. :(
 
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Maybe a long shot, but I had some really weird behavior recently due to fast startup being enabled. Try disabling that, shut down, power back up? Worth a shot
 
Go to settings, apps and features, and uninstall calculator. Then reinstall it.
 
Not sure when this happened or why but last week I went to use the calculator and it crashed on launch. I've gone through a few guides and nothing works.

At first the calculator was installed so I tried the built in calculator app reset and all that did was change the window to some default size before crashing.

Then I deleted it and tried to reinstall from the MS Store and it downloads and does nothing.

I just tried an in place Windows 10 install at it is still crashing and I can't reinstall it.

There is a setting to reset the MS Store and that did not work.

There is a PowerShell command to uninstall it and that also did not work.

Some guides suggest to try another profile and that did not work.
Run As Admin also don't work.

Some guides suggest to try DISM online repair. I recommend running sfc /scannow and that did not work.

So tired of dumb little things that force you to reinstall Windows 10. :(

Even the built in Windows Store troubleshooter just shows that there is a crashing app but can do nothing.

Why on Gods green Earth can MS not install their own App in their own OS?
There are other OSes to choose from, just dump Windows.
 
I like the idea of creating a separate user account on the computer and logging in, then checking to see if it works.
 
to be fair i cant count how many times ive hit a issue in linux and just nuked the os and started over. Almost as much as windows 10 (but not quite ;P )

esxi ftw. makes it easy to quickly unfuck the os
 
to be fair i cant count how many times ive hit a issue in linux and just nuked the os and started over. Almost as much as windows 10 (but not quite ;P )

esxi ftw. makes it easy to quickly unfuck the os
I have done the same, until I started to learn and understand how to fix things. With linux it's possible, not so with Windows.
 
I use the calculator on my phone. Is there a particular reason that your calculation has to be done on the desktop?
 
I use the calculator on my phone. Is there a particular reason that your calculation has to be done on the desktop?
I see what you are saying, but the calculator is such an essential part of a computer. Having it not work is an insult.
 
I have done the same, until I started to learn and understand how to fix things. With linux it's possible, not so with Windows.
Yeah, was trying to add a user to vboxusers group, but it just wouldn't take, no matter how many times I logged out and in. Well, ran `users` and found there were three sessions still open for who knows what reason. Everything worked after terminating the zombie sessions....

As for the win calculator, I seem to remember encountering a similar problem before. Unfortunately, dun remember how I fixed it. If windows gave some more helpful crash info, it'd be easier to figure out what's wrong...there's probably something in the logs...somewhere.
 
Maybe a long shot, but I had some really weird behavior recently due to fast startup being enabled. Try disabling that, shut down, power back up? Worth a shot
Already disabled. Updates seem to cause the computer to reboot and messes up the boot header or something so the US won't boot anymore. Seems more stable after disabling fast startup and hibernate and whatever the other ones are called I forget.
 
I use the calculator on my phone. Is there a particular reason that your calculation has to be done on the desktop?
Yeah no, I use it a lot for work and programming it's way easier just to hit the little calculator button on the computer and continue typing numbers on the number pad I'm already using then to go get my phone and get the calculator app working on it. Also, I'm already using the phone for various other things, teams meetings and so on.
 
Also, if you are programming, or maybe doing work in Excel, it's very handy to use the calculator on the PC and copy and paste into your work file.
 
Yeah no, I use it a lot for work and programming it's way easier just to hit the little calculator button on the computer and continue typing numbers on the number pad I'm already using then to go get my phone and get the calculator app working on it. Also, I'm already using the phone for various other things, teams meetings and so on.
If you do programming the most logical move is to switch to linux. Unless you made the mistake of learning some proprietary MS language lol.
 
Yes, as I said in the OP I already did that.
Whoops. When you say you tried to uninstall it with PowerShell and it 'did not work' do you mean it failed to uninstall it, or it uninstalled but when you reinstalled it still does not work?
 
The calculator is stored at C:\Windows\System32\calc.exe
Copy calc.exe from a working computer and replace your broken one.
 
The calculator is stored at C:\Windows\System32\calc.exe
Copy calc.exe from a working computer and replace your broken one.
I'll have to give that a shot. If not I can just wait a few months and get Windows 11. I wonder if it's still will be the calculator broken?
 
The calculator is stored at C:\Windows\System32\calc.exe
Copy calc.exe from a working computer and replace your broken one.
Did not help. :(
I tried from a working Win10 install with all the same updates.
 
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Yes, there are a few guides like this and none work. The EXE is good but something is blocking it from running just on this one install.
is this a personal computer or a work one with some group policy thing going .. ?
 
is this a personal computer or a work one with some group policy thing going .. ?
It's a home PC for office work and I just installed Windows 10 on it a couple of months ago. No domain or group policies. The RTX 3080 crashed on me a number of times when the monitors came out sleep. I had to disable that as there appears to be no fix and Nvidia doesn't give a flying you know what. Just the monitors not the OS. I don't use the calculator all the time but at some point I think something got corrupt and now there's an error message whenever I try to run the calculator. I have another SSD that I boot from and everything on that one still runs fine.
 
It's a home PC for office work and I just installed Windows 10 on it a couple of months ago. No domain or group policies. The RTX 3080 crashed on me a number of times when the monitors came out sleep. I had to disable that as there appears to be no fix and Nvidia doesn't give a flying you know what. Just the monitors not the OS. I don't use the calculator all the time but at some point I think something got corrupt and now there's an error message whenever I try to run the calculator. I have another SSD that I boot from and everything on that one still runs fine.
maybe it's an issue with that particular drive .. not dead, but just enough broke to cause weird oddities that are hard to diagnose ...
 
maybe it's an issue with that particular drive .. not dead, but just enough broke to cause weird oddities that are hard to diagnose ...
Maybe but did all the offline and online file check in windows and reinstalled windows so I'm just guessing it's something tweaked in the registry or whatever. Cuz I can't uninstall the calculator and I can't install the calculator. So something's just perfectly borked. It's just pretty sad that you can reset the Windows Store app and have it try to install the calculator and have it just crash and or not install the flippin calculator.
 
Maybe but did all the offline and online file check in windows and reinstalled windows so I'm just guessing it's something tweaked in the registry or whatever. Cuz I can't uninstall the calculator and I can't install the calculator. So something's just perfectly borked. It's just pretty sad that you can reset the Windows Store app and have it try to install the calculator and have it just crash and or not install the flippin calculator.
just to be clear .. you did a full drive wipe and clean install of windows and still the windows calculator app crashes? ..if that's the case, try different/new install media maybe?
 
just to be clear .. you did a full drive wipe and clean install of windows and still the windows calculator app crashes? ..if that's the case, try different/new install media maybe?
No but the install is just a few months old and another install on another drive works fine. Trying to run the calc.exe from the good install still don't work. I'll just do a reinstall at some point, it's just lame that none of the tools or reinstalls work.
 
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