Unable to Install Forza 7

TL;DR - Been trying in install Forza Motorsport 7 for 4 days now. It worked before. It’s been installed since day one, and I have plenty of hours on it. One day I went to play and it said that it “couldn’t be found”, and I’ve been trying to reinstall it for 4 days. It’s currently stuck on installing again. So now I have no Forza, and apparently an unactivated Windows. Details & attempted solutions below.

So, Day 1, I downloaded it (it’s 96GB), and when it got to 99% it got an error and restarted to try again. Since the Windows store is terrible, it has to redownload the whole thing again. I did this 4 times that day, never worked. Looked up fixes, and tried resetting the windows store and repairing some registry files. Started the download and went to sleep.

Day 2: Wake up and check, It finished downloading, but is now stuck on Installing. Let it go for awhile, still stuck. Cancel and restart the download. Do this two more times, always gets stuck on Installing. Looked up more fixes. Tried downloading the Windows Store troubleshooter, and it didn’t find any issues. Look up more things, and apparently trying to repair a game by reinstalling it may not work unless you do a clean uninstall. I try doing that with a Windows Uninstaller, but it doesn’t even see Forza 7 on the list of apps. It can’t detect an issue. I download Revo Uninstaller, also doesn’t see the game. Decide to try updating Windows. Start that, go to sleep.

Day 3: Wake up, download FM7 again. This time, it downloads all the way, and installs. Perfect, right? Nope, it needs an update. I click update. Downloads it, and then gets stuck on installing. RIP. Then Windows puts a watermark in the lower right and says my Windows isn’t activated. I go to settings and then activation, to check. It says it can’t connect to their activation servers to check if it’s activated or not, and to make sure I’m connected to the internet or try again later. Wonderful. Fed up, go to sleep.

Day 4 (today): Downloaded Belarc (PC info program), run it and it shows my results. You can do this to find your license key. Open command prompt and run “slui 3” to bring up the key prompt. Get the key from the Belarc results and put it in. It says the key didn’t work.

I just want to play FM7.

T10 may have an additional response but the Read First thread at the top of the forum does point to Microsoft Support for official support and I would suggest that “unactivated Windows” issue is a red flag that should be addressed first before the game app. Maybe a support agent will have something the Store troubleshooter didn’t pick up.

My Windows started showing as not activated after I ran the update, which wasn’t until 2 days of trying to install Forza 7. So, the issue had existed prior to that. Also, as far as I know, you can still fully use to Microsoft Store to download and play games with an unactivated Windows 10, there are just some personalization features you can’t use, and there’s the watermark and activation notifications. I’m still trying to resolve that, but I’m not certain it’s the direct cause of these issues, seeing as I had them prior to this. I’ve had issues with Forza Horizon 3 as well when that first came out, and months after. Games from the Microsoft Store just seem to be troublesome rather often.

Aaaaand now I’m getting this. Obviously the drive is connected, because my OS is running off of it. It’s just this game. Everything else is fine.


Also, it’s worth noting that every other app that I have in the Microsoft store is able to update/install without any issues. Including Forza Motorsport 6 Apex, Forza Horizon 3, and the Forza Hub. It’s just Forza Motorsport 7 that is giving me issues.

You’ve reset the windows store cache etc right? And taken ownership of those folders?
The windows store is indeed a nightmare but it’s been ok since i discovered most of the issues seem to be that windows doesn’t always inherit permissions for a folder after windows updates.
That goes for a different version (win 7-win 10) or the same version (win 10-win 10 creators update). It’s a ridiculous state of affairs but when they built the store it was from an enterprise standpoint, not a gaming one. So the store is practically unusable for games a lot of the time. But Microsoft’s own games seem the worst affected! unbelievable!

I’ve reset the store, but what do you mean by take ownership of the folders? As far as I’m aware,m the WindowsApps folder and it’s contents are encrypted, so you can’t access them anyway, even with admin privileges.

Follow this link it should tell you all you need to know!

Hope that helps.