Bug: Xbox Components

Hellbovine

Hellbovine

Well-Known Member
Update: August 23rd, 2023 (Resolved)

Summary: NTLite was combining Xbox components together, which meant trying to remove just some of those features resulted in them all being uninstalled. This was a problem because some of the components are optional and will not break anything when removed, but others are dependencies and will break things when removed. NTLite was updated to fix this, and now each of the Xbox components are split individually.

ORIGINAL POST
Here is how to replicate the issue:
1) Install an unmodified Windows 10 21H2
2) At the desktop go to Start > Settings > Apps
3) Scroll to the bottom and see the apps called "Xbox" and "Xbox Live"

Microsoft allows you to uninstall these from this menu. However, the problem is software like NTLite cannot detect them. I uninstalled these apps from within Windows and recorded the registry key changes to try and figure out what these apps are, and I saw the keys below being altered:

Microsoft.Xbox.TCUI_1.23.28002.0_neutral_~_8wekyb3d8bbwe (This is the "Xbox Live" app)
Microsoft.XboxApp_48.49.31001.0_neutral_~_8wekyb3d8bbwe (This is the "Xbox" app)

Anyway, I'm just trying to figure out how to cleanly, and properly uninstall these 2 smaller apps in an NTLite image, rather than after Windows is installed. I'm not trying to remove the entirety of Xbox, so the solution won't be to just uninstall the Xbox stuff that NTLite can detect.
 
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You're probably not using the Filter (Search) box.

Capture3.PNG

NTLite recognizes them as Xbox.TCUI & Xbox App. Unfortunately, they're not grouped together.
Welcome to NTLite forum!
 
Thank you for looking into it, unfortunately I failed to clarify that exact bit by accident. Those 2 items inside NTLite don't actually relate to what I'm referring to, even though it seems like they should. To see what I mean, if you load up NTLite and look at your live Windows install the 2 NTLite items you pointed out in the screenshot will be there, checked.

However, if you exit out of NTLite, then proceed to uninstall the Xbox and Xbox Live Apps from within Windows, then restart the PC and load the live Windows into NTLite again, the 2 items you pointed out will still be there, checked.
 
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Run PowerShell and list what's actually installed.

PS C:\Windows\system32> (Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers).Name -like '*Xbox*'
Microsoft.XboxGameCallableUI
Microsoft.XboxGameOverlay
Microsoft.XboxGamingOverlay
Microsoft.XboxSpeechToTextOverlay
Microsoft.XboxIdentityProvider
Microsoft.Xbox.TCUI

UWP apps can either be uninstalled (removed) or deprovisioned ("uninstalled" for your user profile). There's an important distinction.
 
Ah, I see what you mean. So inside NTLite's "live" Windows it doesn't show an unchecked box if something is only uninstalled (deprovisioned in this case) for just 1 of the users, even if there's only 1 user on that install.

There is still at least a miscommunication in NTLite I think, because when I go to uncheck the Xbox and TCUI boxes from within NTLite it gives me a warning saying that they are dependent on by several other things. This doesn't actually appear to be the case though, with Windows 10 21H2 at least?

I can uninstall these 2 items from within the Windows App menu for the current user, and still proceed to use the Game Bar for example. So perhaps in more later versions of Windows 10 Microsoft has separated them out more?

It's rather common for a lot of NTLite users to be using much older editions of Windows, and/or LTSC and such. I wonder if that is the issue I'm running into here. I will uncheck Xbox and TCUI from within NTLite for my next install testing and see if anything breaks, or if it does exactly the same thing as uninstalling through the Windows App menu does, except it's for all users and not just the current user.
 
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Hellbovine said:
Ah, I see what you mean. So inside NTLite's "live" Windows it doesn't show an unticked box if something is only uninstalled (deprovisioned in this case) for just 1 of the users, even if there's only 1 user on that install.
Click to expand...
Correct. Provisioning is a per-user instance outside of NTLite's influence. You could create a new user, and it sees the Xbox apps.
NTLite only operates on installed AppX packages.

Hellbovine said:
There is still at least a miscommunication in NTLite I think, because when I go to uncheck the Xbox and TCUI boxes from within NTLite it gives me a warning saying that they are dependant on by several other things. This doesn't actually appear to be the case though, with Windows 10 21H2 at least?
Click to expand...
NTlite allows me to remove:

<c>Microsoft.Xbox.TCUI 'Xbox.TCUI'</c>
<c>Microsoft.XboxGameCallableUI 'XboxGameCallableUI'</c>
<c>Microsoft.XboxGameOverlay 'XboxGameOverlay'</c>
<c>Microsoft.XboxGamingOverlay 'XboxGamingOverlay'</c>
<c>Microsoft.XboxSpeechToTextOverlay 'XboxSpeechToTextOverlay'</c>
<c>xbox 'Xbox App'</c>

XboxIdentityProvider is locked for Game Pass support (PC version). You can override Windows Store compatibility, and uncheck it.
 
garlin said:
UWP apps can either be uninstalled (removed) or deprovisioned ("uninstalled" for your user profile). There's an important distinction.
Click to expand...
Send them to Room 101 along with rest of ms's abominations.
 
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I just tested some more and I cannot uninstall the Xbox App from within NTLite. When I try to uncheck that box it then also throws a warning about how it will break the game bar and other features, but then it automatically unchecks XboxGameOverlay, XboxGamingOverlay, and XboxSpeechToTextOverlay.

But, if you exit out of NTLite and instead go through Windows itself and go to Start > Settings > Apps > then scroll down to the bottom and left-click on "Xbox" and then click "Uninstall" it will remove only the Xbox Store App, it will not also remove all the other interconnected components, such as the Game Bar, but NTLite will try to remove all those things, rather than the singular app.

So basically, to summarize, unless someone sees something that I don't, I think the only way to address this at the moment is to leave Xbox and Xbox Live alone inside NTLite, and then put in an appx removal command in the Post-Setup maybe?
 
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Why don't we walk through this step by step? Sorry in advance, for the long read.
1. Installed a clean copy of 21H2 (19044.1288).

PS > (Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers).Name -like '*Xbox*'
Microsoft.XboxGameCallableUI
Microsoft.Xbox.TCUI
Microsoft.XboxApp
Microsoft.XboxGameOverlay
Microsoft.XboxGamingOverlay
Microsoft.XboxIdentityProvider
Microsoft.XboxSpeechToTextOverlay

2. Start > Settings > Apps > Xbox (uninstall app)

PS > (Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers).Name -like '*Xbox*'
Microsoft.XboxGameCallableUI
Microsoft.Xbox.TCUI
Microsoft.XboxApp
Microsoft.XboxGameOverlay
Microsoft.XboxGamingOverlay
Microsoft.XboxIdentityProvider
Microsoft.XboxSpeechToTextOverlay

PS > (Get-AppxPackage -User garlin).Name -like '*Xbox*'
XboxApp deprovisioned from my profile.

Start > Settings > Apps > Xbox Game Bar (blocked)
Start > Settings > Apps > Xbox Live (uninstall app)
Xbox.TCUI deprovisioned from my profile.

3. "Uninstalling" hasn't removed any actual packages from Windows.

PS > (Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers).Name -like '*Xbox*'
Microsoft.XboxGameCallableUI
Microsoft.Xbox.TCUI
Microsoft.XboxApp
Microsoft.XboxGameOverlay
Microsoft.XboxGamingOverlay
Microsoft.XboxIdentityProvider
Microsoft.XboxSpeechToTextOverlay

PS > Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers | Where PackageFullName -like '*Xbox*' | Remove-AppxPackage -AllUsers
Remove-AppxPackage : The request is not supported.
error 0x80070032: AppX Deployment Remove operation on package Microsoft.XboxGameCallableUI_1000.19041.1023.0_neutral_neutral_cw5n1h2txyewy from: C:\Windows\SystemApps\Microsoft.XboxGameCallableUI_cw5n1h2txyewy failed. This app is part of Windows and cannot be uninstalled on a per-user basis. An administrator can attempt to remove the app from the computer using Turn Windows Features on or off. However, it may not be possible to uninstall the app.

Remember that XboxGameCallableUI is protected by NTLite, because Solitaire requires it?

PS > Get-AppxPackage *Solitaire* | Remove-AppPackage
PS > Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers | Where PackageFullName -like '*Xbox*' | Remove-AppxPackage -AllUsers
Remove-AppxPackage : The request is not supported.
error 0x80070032: AppX Deployment Remove operation on package Microsoft.XboxGameCallableUI_1000.19041.1023.0_neutral_neutral_cw5n1h2txyewy from: C:\Windows\SystemApps\Microsoft.XboxGameCallableUI_cw5n1h2txyewy failed. This app is part of Windows and cannot be uninstalled on a per-user basis. An administrator can attempt to remove the app from the computer using Turn Windows Features on or off. However, it may not be possible to uninstall the app.

PS > (Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers).Name -like '*Xbox*'
Microsoft.XboxGameCallableUI
Microsoft.Xbox.TCUI
Microsoft.XboxApp
Microsoft.XboxGameOverlay
Microsoft.XboxGamingOverlay
Microsoft.XboxIdentityProvider
Microsoft.XboxSpeechToTextOverlay

PS > (Get-AppxPackage -User garlin).Name -like '*Xbox*'
Microsoft.XboxGameCallableUI

Start > Settings > Apps (no Xbox apps)
OK. Some progress?

4. Well how does NTLite remove packages? Using DISM.

Dism /online /Remove-ProvisionedAppxPackage /PackageName:Microsoft.XboxSpeechToTextOverlay_1.17.29001.0_neutral_~_8wekyb3d8bbwe
Dism /online /Remove-ProvisionedAppxPackage /PackageName:Microsoft.XboxIdentityProvider_12.50.6001.0_neutral_~_8wekyb3d8bbwe
Dism /online /Remove-ProvisionedAppxPackage /PackageName:Microsoft.XboxGamingOverlay_2.34.28001.0_neutral_~_8wekyb3d8bbwe
Dism /online /Remove-ProvisionedAppxPackage /PackageName:Microsoft.XboxGameOverlay_1.46.11001.0_neutral_~_8wekyb3d8bbwe
Dism /online /Remove-ProvisionedAppxPackage /PackageName:Microsoft.Xbox.TCUI_1.23.28002.0_neutral_~_8wekyb3d8bbwe
Dism /online /Remove-ProvisionedAppxPackage /PackageName:Microsoft.XboxApp_48.49.31001.0_neutral_~_8wekyb3d8bbwe

PS C:\Windows\system32> (Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers).Name -like '*Xbox*'
Microsoft.XboxGameCallableUI

Almost perfect.

Why does NTLite want to remove those other packages?
There's no point keeping Overlays when they can't perform without the base Xbox App. Same rule applies to NVIDIA's gaming overlays.

Just because Windows gives you a false impression of what's "removed", doesn't mean NTLite is wrong.
 
garlin said:
Just because Windows gives you a false impression of what's "removed", doesn't mean NTLite is wrong.
Click to expand...
Windows doesnt take NTLite into account but NTLite takes windows into account.
If you listened to ms then nothing we do here is possible but we know different dont we.

Moons ago someone asked if ntlite completely removed internet explorer, i said "yes" but technically the answer was "no" because a couple of files that are needed for Explorer are kept. Sometimes you can do a complete removal but sometimes there is a little trickery involved to keep compatibilities or windows happy.
 
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Garlin, I followed all your text, and I'm with you until I reach your step #3, but then it gets murky:
--3. "Uninstalling" hasn't removed any actual packages from Windows.
--PS > (Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers).Name -like '*Xbox*'

That returns all the items as expected since they are only deprovisioned (not uninstalled), which I learned from you, so I'm onboard so far.

But then you run:
--PS > Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers | Where PackageFullName -like '*Xbox*' | Remove-AppxPackage -AllUsers

This is where I think we start going in different directions. What I would have expected to see here instead is XboxApp rather than Xbox because the problem is you are trying to uninstall all 7 Xbox items at once with this wildcard name in PowerShell, rather than trying to just uninstall the 1 singular app, like the "uninstall" button in the App menu does.

So then Windows PowerShell throws an error saying "Hey, you cannot uninstall Game Bar/Overlay stuff because then things will break." Which makes sense, that's why in the Start > Settings > Apps menu the "Game Bar" is grayed out and cannot be "uninstalled" (deprovisioned), and in fact the other 4 Xbox components aren't even listed in the Apps menu at all.

What I'm getting at, is then the rest of the steps are misdirected because I'm not wanting to remove all 7 apps from the entire system. I only want to remove 2 of the 7 because only 2 of them aren't dependencies for other things. If you manually uninstall just the 2 apps I'm targeting, the Game Bar and overlays will still work, but uninstalling the others break various parts of Windows.

I think NTLite is doing exactly what you did in steps 3 and above, it's trying to remove all Xbox packages, meaning GameOverlay, GamingOverlay, etcetera, when I only want it to remove the specifically named XboxApp item. This is at least how it all appears to me, someone that is brand new to this Microsoft app concept, so I can of course be wrong and would like to learn if I am mistaken.

I do totally get what you mean too Clanger, I actually came across several MS bugs and typos today, while tweaking. The quality control and polish lacks in so many places, and there's just a complete failure in terms of the user interface (UI). Windows 10 has so many UI layers on top of layers, and the same information in multiple places, it's obnoxious and unorganized. I can't stand Windows ever since Vista and beyond.
 
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Got it, you want the Game Bar, etc. without the Xbox App & Identity services.

No problem, none of the apps require each other to be installed. NTLite allows me to remove Xbox App & XboxIdentityProvider separately from the loaded W11 image. XboxIdentityProvider requires unchecking Windows Store compatibility.
 
Hellbovine said:
The QC and polish lacks in so many places. And there's just a complete failure in terms of UI too. Windows 10 has so many UI layers ontop of layers, and the same information in multiple places, it's obnoxious and unorganized. I can't stand Windows ever since Vista and beyond.
Click to expand...
W10 is a fustercluck of epic proportions on so many levels. W7 x64 is still my daily driver and i have a sizable stash of Coffee Lake/Refresh(w7 capable) hardware in storage, cpu boards ram and gpus all tested and ready to go, just add ssd. Although i dont do many removals i can cripple/tweak/break an OS way beyond what most people find acceptable and with w7 eol and a captured image its easy.
 
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Hellbovine said:
I cannot just uninstall the "Xbox App" from within NTLite. When I try to uncheck that box it then also throws a warning about how it will break the game bar and other features, but then it automatically unchecks "XboxGameOverlay", "XboxGamingOverlay", and "XboxSpeechToTextOverlay" too.

...

Is there any way this can be fixed in a future NTLite version?
Click to expand...
I see, ok, it can be split of course, it's just for simplicity those that remove Xbox App, one would assume don't need anything Xbox related kept.
Seems like my assumption was wrong, will detach those links and move Xbox core removal as a new component.
Thanks for the detailed feedback.
 
The problem as usual, is non-Xbox features are branded as Xbox. From AppxManifest, none of the Overlays require any other apps.
 
The Xbox App was the wrong name indeed, it will be renamed to Xbox Core, and links to all Xbox related stays.
However, the real Xbox app is in the tool listed as GamingApp, will rename it to Xbox App.
 
xbox is really annoying if u ask me, it has lots of different little components, and they work like startmenu icons. they are not actually completely downloaded and installed. when you run xbox, it starts to update then runs. same goes for its components like xbox game bar... and if you don't seperately open them by their icon. or update them manually from microsoft store they won't work completely and give error when you try to login or download or invite others to game.... even if these aren't enough there will be 2 more components if i'm not mistaken inside xbox app's settings. that you have to download and install from there to make everything run smoothly.. too much work to get something work.
 
yeah but a company that gives you bloatware apps before asking you such as instagram candy crush etc will give you its apps without asking too
 
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