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Installing Apps

Removing a Windows app is not necessarily final. O&O AppBuster can install Windows apps that are present on the computer but not registered for your user account — which is exactly the state an app is in after you removed it for your account only.

This is the closest thing to an undo function for Windows apps.

What can be installed​

Only Windows apps (Store / UWP) can be installed by O&O AppBuster, and only when the app's files are still on the computer. Two situations produce that state:

  1. You removed the app for your account. The package stays on the machine and is available again for your account.
  2. Windows shipped the app but did not register it for you. These are the hidden apps — provisioned on the PC but not active in your profile.

Such apps carry the status Installable, and their tooltip reads App is available for install on computer.

Desktop apps cannot be installed

O&O AppBuster manages desktop programs, but it is not a software repository. Once a desktop app has been uninstalled, it must be installed again from its own setup file. O&O AppBuster can, however, update desktop apps that are installed.

Making installable apps visible​

Installable apps are hidden by default, because most people are looking at their PC to remove things, not to add them.

To show them, switch on View → Show installable Windows apps. The list then also contains apps with the status Installable, and the Hidden Smart View becomes a convenient way to look at nothing else.

Installing​

  1. Switch on View → Show installable Windows apps.
  2. Select the apps you want back.
  3. Click Install — from the row's context menu, or via Actions → Install apps.
  4. Confirm the dialog.

A progress dialog reports which app is being installed and how far the run has got. Apps are always installed for the current user; O&O AppBuster does not provision apps for other accounts.

When the run finishes you get a summary: One app was installed successfully, N apps were installed successfully, or No apps were installed.

After installing​

The app appears in the Start menu as usual. Its status in O&O AppBuster changes from Installable to Installed after the next refresh (F5).

Reinstalled Windows apps start with a clean slate — settings and data that belonged to the previous installation are gone if you removed the app with the Entire PC — including files scope.

When installation fails​

If an app cannot be installed, O&O AppBuster reports an error for that app and continues with the rest of the selection. The usual causes are:

  • The package is no longer on the PC. A removal with the Entire PC scope can delete the source files, in which case the app has to come from the Microsoft Store instead.
  • Insufficient rights. O&O AppBuster requires administrator rights anyway, but a policy on a managed PC may still block app installation.
  • The package is damaged. Reinstall the app from the Microsoft Store.
When O&O AppBuster cannot bring an app back

Open the Microsoft Store and search for the app there. Everything Windows ships as a Store app is available from the Store, and O&O AppBuster does not need to be involved.