Xbox App Can’t Choose a Drive in Windows 11/10? Try the 10 Fixes
A lot of users complain that the Xbox app can't choose a drive in Windows 11/10. Why can't choose a drive to install games on the Xbox app? How to fix the problem? If you are also trying to figure them out, this post from MiniTool is worth reading.
The Xbox app allows users to play and manage PC gaming content on Windows. With this app, users can choose a default drive to install their games. However, lots of people encounter the “Xbox app cannot choose a drive” issue when trying to change the games’ install location on Windows 11/10. Here’s a try example from the answers.microsoft.com forum:
Xbox app is not allowed to select a drive to install games. At some point recently, I don't know exactly when I'm no longer allowed to select a drive to install my games on via the Xbox app in Windows 10. The strange thing is that I can play my existing installed games and also "move" games to my games drive from the Add Programs window.
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/xbox-app-no-longer-allowing-me-to-select-a-drive/6b500aef-f326-4c90-8259-9e8d60ed141a?page=3
Why Does Xbox App Can’t Choose a Drive
Why does Xbox app can’t choose a drive? According to a survey, various reasons can lead to you can’t choose a drive to install games on the Xbox app. The main cause behind the issue is related to misconfigured storage settings. Besides, other factors like corrupted storage drives, disabled Xbox service, insufficient permissions, bugs in the current version of Windows, and the Xbox app itself are also responsible for the problem.
How to Fix Xbox App Can’t Choose a Drive in Windows 11/10
After investigating extensive user reports from different forums and communities (mainly from Microsoft and Reddit), we summarize 10 proven ways to fix the “Xbox app can’t change install location” issue. You can try them in order until the problem gets solved.
Before trying the following methods, you can simply restart the computer and update Windows 11/10 to the latest version and see if it works. If doesn’t, proceed with other solutions.
# 1. Repair or Reset or Update the Xbox App
First of all, you should rule out the issue of the Xbox app itself. You can try repairing, resetting, or updating the software. Here’s a tutorial.
Step 1. Press Win + I keys to open the Settings window, select App from the left navigation bar, and click on Apps & features from the right panel.
Step 2. Scroll down the right-side bar to locate the Xbox app, click on the three-dot icon and select Advanced options.
Step 3. Click on Repair or Reset and wait for the process to complete.
Step 4. If you still can’t choose a drive to install games on the Xbox app, try updating the app. To do this, open the Microsoft Store, and click Library > Get updates to search for available updates of the installed apps, including Xbox.
# 2. Change the Default Games Installation in the Xbox App
If the Xbox app can’t change install location while installing the game, you can try changing the game installation in the Xbox settings menu. This method has been proven by some Reddit users to be helpful. Let’s have a try.
Step 1. Open your File Explorer by pressing Win + E keys and directly create an XboxGames folder in the C: drive.
You can try creating the XboxGames folder in the drive that you want to save the games and set the drive as the default install location as below. Here we take the C drive for example.
Step 2. Launch the Xbox app, click your profile at the upper left corner, and select Settings > General from the context menu.
Step 3. Click the drop-down menu under the Change where this app installs games by default option and select the C drive, and set the Change Folder option below as “C:\XboxGames”.
Step 4. Untick the checkbox beside “Ask me for install options on every install” and restart your PC to see if the Xbox app can’t choose drives to install issue gets solved.
# 3. Reset the System Storage Settings
Another effective solution to the “Xbox app not allowing to select a drive to install games” issue is to change the system storage settings. Here’s how:
Step 1. Open the Settings window again, select System from the left sidebar, and click Storage from the right side.
Step 2. Scroll down to the Advanced storage settings category, expand it, and select Where new content is saved.
Step 3. Click the New apps will save to the drop-down menu select the drive where you want to install the Xbox games and click Apply. After that, restart the system and see if the “Xbox app cannot choose a drive” issue is gone.
# 4. Restart the Xbox-Related Services
If certain Xbox services are not running properly in Windows 11/10, you can’t change install location on Xbox app. In this case, you can restart these services to clear the problem.
Step 1. Press Win + R keys to open the Run dialog box, type services.msc in the box, and press Enter.
Step 2. In the Services window, find and right-click the following services and select Restart/Start from the context menu.
- Xbox Accessory Management
- Xbox Live Game Save
- Xbox Live Auth Manager
- Xbox Live Networking Service
# 5. Reinstall the Gaming Services App
The Gaming Services app is used to download apps and games from Microsoft Store and the Xbox app. If it gets corrupted, the Xbox app can’t choose drives to install games. Many users from the Reddit forum have proven that reinstalling the Gaming Services can fix the Xbox app cannot choose a drive issue. Let’s try.
Step 1. Close the Xbox app. Then press Win + X keys to open the context menu and select Windows PowerShell (Admin), and click on Yes to confirm it.
Step 2. In the elevated PowerShell window, type the following command and hit Enter to uninstall Gaming Services temporarily.
Get-AppxPackage *gamingservices* -allusers | remove-appxpackage -allusers
Step 3. Open the Xbox app and it will ask you to install the necessary services, ignore this message until you have downloaded and installed your desired games. At this time, you may be able to choose a drive while installing the games.
Step 4. Once installed, restart your computer and open Microsoft Store, search for and download the Game Services app again from the Store.
# 6. Reformat the Drive to NTFS
Many users from different forums have confirmed that reformatting the drive can get rid of the “Xbox app not allowing to select a drive to install games” issue. This might be caused by a corrupted storage drive. Here you can format the drive using Diskpart or a professional partition manager.
This operation will erase all data on the drive. So, make sure you have backed up all important data in advance.
Step 1. Press Win + R keys to open the Run dialog box, and then type diskpart in the box and hit Enter.
Step 2. In the Diskpart window, type the following commands one by one and hit Enter after each command.
- list disk
- select disk * (replace * with the disk number that contained your desired partition)
- list partition
- select partition * (replace * with the drive letter that you want to format)
- format fs=ntfs quick
However, this utility often runs into various errors while formatting, such as “Diskpart format stuck at 0 percent”, “DiskPart failed to clear disk attributes”, etc. In these cases, we highly recommend you use a professional partition formatter – MiniTool Partition Wizard. It can not only format a drive to NTFS/FAT/exFAT/EXT but convert FAT to NTFS without data loss (and vice versa).
MiniTool Partition Wizard FreeClick to Download100%Clean & Safe
Step 1. Launch the MiniTool software to get its main interface, and then select your needed partition and click on Format Partition from the left action panel.
Step 2. In the pop-up window, select NTFS from the File System drop-down menu. Then click on OK to save the change.
Step 3. Then click on Apply to execute the formatting process.
After that, you can re-download the games and see if the Xbox app can’t change install location issue gets solved.
# 7. Check the Drive for Errors
If you still can’t change install location on Xbox app after reformatting the drive, it may indicate that the hard disk gets failing or corrupted. So, it’s highly recommended that you check the drive for errors. Let’s follow the guide below:
Step 1. Type cmd in the search bar, and then right-click the Command Prompt app and select Run as administrator from the context menu.
Step 2. In the elevated Command Prompt window, type the following command and hit Enter. Here you need to replace D: with the drive letter that you want to check.
chkdsk D: /f /r
Although CHKDSK can be used to check hard drive errors, it often runs into many problems, such as “CHKDSK cannot run due to recently installed software”, “CHKDSK write protected error”, etc. So, we highly recommend you use an alternative – MiniTool Partition Wizard to check hard drive errors. This powerful partition software can help you repair file system errors and check bad sectors on the hard disk.
MiniTool Partition Wizard FreeClick to Download100%Clean & Safe
# 8. Install the Game from Microsoft Store Using GamePass
A few people reported that the “Xbox app can’t choose drives to install” issue can be solved by directly installing the game from Microsoft Store via GamePass. If you just want to play the games actually, this method is worth trying.
Step 1. Open the Microsoft Store and search for the game that you want to download.
Step 2. Install the game using the “Install with GamePass” option and you can select the drive where you’d like to install the game.
# 9. Manually Move the Xbox Games to Another Drive from the WindowsApps Folder
The WindowsApps is a hidden folder on Windows, which contains the Microsoft Store apps and games you installed. If you can’t choose a drive to install games on the Xbox app, try moving the games from that folder to another drive. Here’s how:
Before making any changes to the folder, you can create a system restore point to avoid unexpected loss.
Step 1. Open the File Explorer window and locate the C:\Program Files directory. Then navigate to the View tab and tick the box of Hidden items.
Step 2. Right-click the WindowsApps folder and select Properties.
Step 3. Navigate to the Security tab and click Advanced at the bottom.
Step 4. Click the Change link next to the Owner section. In the Select User or Group windows, click Advanced.
Step 5. Click Find Now, select your username from the list, and click on OK. Then follow the on-screen prompts to save the changes.
Step 6. Once you take ownership of the WindowsApps folder, you can try moving the Xbox games from the folder to your desired drive.
# 10. Reinstall Windows 11/10
If you still can’t change install location on Xbox app, the only solution to the problem may have to consider reinstalling Windows 11/10. But this method will delete data on the system drive, ensure that you have a backup beforehand. Then you can refer to the following guides to reinstall OS.
How to Reinstall Windows 11? Try 3 Simple Ways Here Now!
Detailed Steps and Instructions to Reinstall Windows 10
Have a Try Now
Why does Xbox app can’t choose a drive? How to fix the “Xbox app cannot choose a drive” in Windows 11/10? This post has discussed these questions in detail. If you have any other solutions to this problem, please share them with us in the following comment area. Besides, you can send us an e-mail via support@minitool.com if you have difficulty using MiniTool Partition Wizard.