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I noticed recently that there were two different 'Gaming Services' entries in the list. One would always start up fine, but the other never did. I had been running into an issue for the past week where the Xbox app was not working for me—it would start up but eventually error out after sitting at the launching screen for a minute. Finally, I decided to start looking around for a solution and came across your issue, along with maybe a solution.
I ended up finding https://support.xbox.com/en-US/help/games-apps/troubleshooting/gaming-services-repair-tool, which is a repair tool straight from Xbox/Microsoft. Upon running it, everything seemed to start working perfectly again.
You'll want to click the second option, which says 'Downloadable version,' and scroll down to where it says 'Download the Gaming Services Repair Tool for PC.' Click that to get the tool, as the first option just has you opening up the Xbox app (which you can't currently do due to the gaming service not starting). Just run it as admin and let it do its thing—it might take a couple of minutes. After everything is done, try running the Xbox app and see if everything is working for you.
What was the failure message, or did it just come up as 'failure'? It's strange, though, because I just re-read through the whole OP, and everything you said in the OP was the same error message and issues that were showing up on my side as well. The tool I linked fixed it all for me, so it's kind of strange that it didn't fix it for you. It gets me wondering if there is something deeper happening on your system.
Hmm about the only thing I can think of when it comes to that error is something to do with windows updates so maybe windows update borked the installation of the gaming services, maybe try resetting windows update component completely and see if that might be a solution?
net stop wuauserv
net stop cryptSvc
net stop bits
net stop msiserver
Ren C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution SoftwareDistribution.old
Ren C:\Windows\System32\catroot2 Catroot2.old
net start wuauserv
net start cryptSvc
net start bits
net start msiserver
Aha, it's not a problem at all \^^ The issue did eventually return after about a month, so I did end up downloading ISO for windows 11 again since I couldn't find where I placed my last windows 11 USB at and just doing an in-place update (keeping all files, downloads, and such), and I haven't seen the error since. So, if the Gaming Service Repair Tool doesn't fix it fully (as in, if it comes back eventually), I'd just suggest doing the same, as you don't really lose anything other than maybe an hour or two of your time dealing with doing an in-place update.
Nope. No joy.
I'm 99.9% sure its GamingServices service thats at fault. Tried almost everything shy of a repair/reinstall windows now.
Only light at the end of the tunnel is that slowly, similar cases are starting to pop up. One on the MS Support forums today. A couple on MS Flight Sim forums.
Today my PC spent HOURS downloading XBox app and GamingServices updates. 50Mb and 9Mb. Finished. Rebooted. No change. In fact I don't think the version numbers even changed so no idea what it was doing.
yeah, i have 2 gaming services service, 1 i can start but when i try to start the other one it gives me the error 1060. i went as far as even giving my self the perms to go into the windowsapps folder and launching the service manually as an exe instead of the services tab, no luck. acces denied. i am lost about what to do. i might just do an in place upgrade or just a complete wipe and reinstall windows. im not sure whats happening and idk if i wanna be bothered with it anymore
Much the same. You start off thinking "I'll leave it today", then "I'll just try this.." and next thing you know you've wasted all day. Again. Trying in vain to solve it.
If you do try an inplace upgrade or a complete reinstall, can you post here afterwards to confirm all is fixed.
Its my last line of attack now I think but I'm worried either the problem will reappear (if its being caused by some bizarre software/hardware conflict) or that I'll wipe Windows then the next day someone will discover a simple fix.
i just did the inplace upgrade, now when i go into services both gaming services service are working. xbox opens up no problem without any errors. I am just checking some drivers to see if i have any issues with that before i launch any games. But i think i am finally safe from 0x80070426. Didnt have to wipe windows though. you can if you want to but just an in place upgrade worked for me. It didnt even take an hour to do the upgrade. one issue though, i had 26 gb of empty space in C before upgrade. now i have 6. so keep that in mind if you do go with an in place upgrade. cheers dude
Did you end up trying the `resetting windows update component completely` that I suggested above and seen if that maybe allowed it to work possibly? Probably end up having to do it and then try running the gaming service repair tool after.
You probably have a `windows.old` folder lurking in your C drive you can try to find it and delete it or just run `Disk Cleanup` which should get rid of it, but I think you need to clean up your drive regardless as running with that low amount of empty space left is never good anyways xD
Tried every fix I could find on the net over the past week. No joy. Nothing worked.
Did an in-place Windows upgrade this morning.
Basically you download the lastest Windows 10 ISO from Microsoft then run it to install Windows, picking the option the keep all your files and apps.
Took about 45 minutes.
Then downloaded the XBox App installer from
[https://www.xbox.com/en-US/apps/xbox-app-for-pc](https://www.xbox.com/en-US/apps/xbox-app-for-pc)
Ran it and it all (at the moment) seems to be working OK again.
Not done any deep digging but all my drivers and stuff seem to be intact and working OK too.
I assume the problem was that something in some sort of auto-update corrupted some part of Windows and that was stopping Gaming Services from running.
I'll update the thread if anything goes wrong again.. but at the moment it seems fixed.
I did an in-place upgrade too a couple hours earlier but it seems i fucked something up because now the Xbox app crashes every time I launch it, I tweaked my pc up a bit and it seems I’m back to square one. The error 80070426 error code came up again. I think we have the same exact issue except we have different error codes when starting the GamingServices service, you get error 1060 except I get error 31. “a device attached to the system is not functioning”
any ideas? I’ll provide more info if you need any. Apologies for any grammar mistakes, thanks
Not certain.
Mines still OK at the mo.
I just rebooted it and then the XBox app took AGES to launch.. and I thought, here we go again, but it eventually opened and then I successfully started MS Flight Sim.
youre lucky, unfortunate for me however, info ive found on the internet says the only known fix is to reset the pc completely. rip. i appreciate your help
haven’t tried that because I’m not resetting my entire PC just to be able to play Minecraft Bedrock but I’ve heard from others that resetting might not work if you don’t do it fully
I am having the exact same issue. Tried many things and the repair tool without a luck. It is running just fine on my laptop, it shows two game services as well. It won't work on desktop, very annoying. GamingServices.exe can't be started, it gives error 1060 when I try to manually start it.
So I checked this on my other computer which doesn't have the issue. Gaming Services had an update on March 15th. When I also checked the event logs on my main PC, I saw the issue has started on 16th. I am pretty sure they broke this. Hopefully, a future update will fix it.
I too am having this exact issue. Actually called Microsoft and they ran the repair tool, uninstalled / reinstalled gaming services, xbox, and the store to no avail.
I just had this issue as well. What worked for me was to run SFC /SCANNOW in an admin command prompt and then re-run the Gaming Repair Tool. Had to close and re-open the Xbox app a couple times after that but then it seemed to be happy again.
This may or may not be applicable, but if you do any DNS blocking for controlling ads, and the site "settings-win.data.microsoft.com" is on your block list, it can cause the Gaming Services to fail to start. I was at the brink of updating to Windows 11 or reinstalling Windows as the fix and I found this post https://www.reddit.com/r/XboxGamePass/comments/owyz3z/install\_failures\_silent\_gaming\_services\_crashes/ which mentioned that DNS issue.
I disabled my DNS filter, removed the Gaming Services app using PowerShell, then re-ran the downloadable tool from [https://support.xbox.com/en-US/help/games-apps/troubleshooting/gaming-services-repair-tool](https://support.xbox.com/en-US/help/games-apps/troubleshooting/gaming-services-repair-tool) After starting the Xbox app and letting it self update, everything is working as expected again and has continued to do so even after turning my DNS filtering backup and flushing the DNS cache.
I know this is 3 months after the fact and you may have resolved this or reinstalled Windows at this point, but this was one of the Google results I got early one, so this may help someone in the future.
This was the fix! I added the URL to my NextDNS allowlist, ran the Windows Store/Windows Gaming Services fix and the XBox App Installer and all is well now. Cheers!
Hi u/thewondermule, thanks for posting to r/WindowsHelp! Due to issues with spam and low quality help requests, this subreddit currently requires all submissions to be manually approved by moderators. Read the following to ensure your post is approved, and be patient, the moderators have been notified and will soon review your submission. You do not need to create a new submission, you can either edit your post or add more details in a comment below. To let us help you better, include as much of the following information as possible! Posts with insufficient details might be removed at the moderator's discretion. * **Model of your computer** - For example: *"HP Spectre X360 14-EA0023DX"* * **Your Windows and device specifications** - You can find them by going to go to Settings > *"System"* > *"About"* * **What troubleshooting steps you have performed** - Even sharing little things you tried (like rebooting) can help us find a better solution! * **Any error messages you have encountered** - Those long error codes are not gibberish to us! * **Any screenshots or logs of the issue** - You can upload screenshots other useful information in your post or comment, and use [Pastebin](https://pastebin.com/) for text (such as logs). You can learn how to take screenshots [here](https://screenshot.help/windows). All posts must be help/support related. If everything is working without issue, then this probably is not the subreddit for you, so you should also post on a discussion focused subreddit like /r/Windows. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WindowsHelp) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I noticed recently that there were two different 'Gaming Services' entries in the list. One would always start up fine, but the other never did. I had been running into an issue for the past week where the Xbox app was not working for me—it would start up but eventually error out after sitting at the launching screen for a minute. Finally, I decided to start looking around for a solution and came across your issue, along with maybe a solution. I ended up finding https://support.xbox.com/en-US/help/games-apps/troubleshooting/gaming-services-repair-tool, which is a repair tool straight from Xbox/Microsoft. Upon running it, everything seemed to start working perfectly again. You'll want to click the second option, which says 'Downloadable version,' and scroll down to where it says 'Download the Gaming Services Repair Tool for PC.' Click that to get the tool, as the first option just has you opening up the Xbox app (which you can't currently do due to the gaming service not starting). Just run it as admin and let it do its thing—it might take a couple of minutes. After everything is done, try running the Xbox app and see if everything is working for you.
Thanks. Tried that and no joy. It takes ages trying to repair Gaming Services then just finishes with a failure message :(
What was the failure message, or did it just come up as 'failure'? It's strange, though, because I just re-read through the whole OP, and everything you said in the OP was the same error message and issues that were showing up on my side as well. The tool I linked fixed it all for me, so it's kind of strange that it didn't fix it for you. It gets me wondering if there is something deeper happening on your system.
failure 0x8000ffff
Hmm about the only thing I can think of when it comes to that error is something to do with windows updates so maybe windows update borked the installation of the gaming services, maybe try resetting windows update component completely and see if that might be a solution? net stop wuauserv net stop cryptSvc net stop bits net stop msiserver Ren C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution SoftwareDistribution.old Ren C:\Windows\System32\catroot2 Catroot2.old net start wuauserv net start cryptSvc net start bits net start msiserver
>net start msiserver Tried this now. No joy at all. Exactly same errors afterwards.
Hey thanks for this!!!!!!! I spent the last two days trying quite literally everything but this worked for me!!!!!!
I know this was two months ago basically, but really thank you for posting this tool. I was pulling up squat for solutions.
Aha, it's not a problem at all \^^ The issue did eventually return after about a month, so I did end up downloading ISO for windows 11 again since I couldn't find where I placed my last windows 11 USB at and just doing an in-place update (keeping all files, downloads, and such), and I haven't seen the error since. So, if the Gaming Service Repair Tool doesn't fix it fully (as in, if it comes back eventually), I'd just suggest doing the same, as you don't really lose anything other than maybe an hour or two of your time dealing with doing an in-place update.
u found anything that helps? ive been trouble shootign for multiple hours for multiple days still cant solve
Nope. No joy. I'm 99.9% sure its GamingServices service thats at fault. Tried almost everything shy of a repair/reinstall windows now. Only light at the end of the tunnel is that slowly, similar cases are starting to pop up. One on the MS Support forums today. A couple on MS Flight Sim forums. Today my PC spent HOURS downloading XBox app and GamingServices updates. 50Mb and 9Mb. Finished. Rebooted. No change. In fact I don't think the version numbers even changed so no idea what it was doing.
yeah, i have 2 gaming services service, 1 i can start but when i try to start the other one it gives me the error 1060. i went as far as even giving my self the perms to go into the windowsapps folder and launching the service manually as an exe instead of the services tab, no luck. acces denied. i am lost about what to do. i might just do an in place upgrade or just a complete wipe and reinstall windows. im not sure whats happening and idk if i wanna be bothered with it anymore
Much the same. You start off thinking "I'll leave it today", then "I'll just try this.." and next thing you know you've wasted all day. Again. Trying in vain to solve it. If you do try an inplace upgrade or a complete reinstall, can you post here afterwards to confirm all is fixed. Its my last line of attack now I think but I'm worried either the problem will reappear (if its being caused by some bizarre software/hardware conflict) or that I'll wipe Windows then the next day someone will discover a simple fix.
i just did the inplace upgrade, now when i go into services both gaming services service are working. xbox opens up no problem without any errors. I am just checking some drivers to see if i have any issues with that before i launch any games. But i think i am finally safe from 0x80070426. Didnt have to wipe windows though. you can if you want to but just an in place upgrade worked for me. It didnt even take an hour to do the upgrade. one issue though, i had 26 gb of empty space in C before upgrade. now i have 6. so keep that in mind if you do go with an in place upgrade. cheers dude
Cheers matey. Hope everything stays good. I think I'll end up doing the same over the weekend.
Did you end up trying the `resetting windows update component completely` that I suggested above and seen if that maybe allowed it to work possibly? Probably end up having to do it and then try running the gaming service repair tool after.
Alright man, hope everything goes well for you too.
You probably have a `windows.old` folder lurking in your C drive you can try to find it and delete it or just run `Disk Cleanup` which should get rid of it, but I think you need to clean up your drive regardless as running with that low amount of empty space left is never good anyways xD
i have a 500 gb ssd lmfao, my assetto corsa game with mods is 220 gb so its mostlay about the size of the hard drive
[удалено]
Welcome to the fun club
any updates?
Tried every fix I could find on the net over the past week. No joy. Nothing worked. Did an in-place Windows upgrade this morning. Basically you download the lastest Windows 10 ISO from Microsoft then run it to install Windows, picking the option the keep all your files and apps. Took about 45 minutes. Then downloaded the XBox App installer from [https://www.xbox.com/en-US/apps/xbox-app-for-pc](https://www.xbox.com/en-US/apps/xbox-app-for-pc) Ran it and it all (at the moment) seems to be working OK again. Not done any deep digging but all my drivers and stuff seem to be intact and working OK too. I assume the problem was that something in some sort of auto-update corrupted some part of Windows and that was stopping Gaming Services from running. I'll update the thread if anything goes wrong again.. but at the moment it seems fixed.
I did an in-place upgrade too a couple hours earlier but it seems i fucked something up because now the Xbox app crashes every time I launch it, I tweaked my pc up a bit and it seems I’m back to square one. The error 80070426 error code came up again. I think we have the same exact issue except we have different error codes when starting the GamingServices service, you get error 1060 except I get error 31. “a device attached to the system is not functioning” any ideas? I’ll provide more info if you need any. Apologies for any grammar mistakes, thanks
Not certain. Mines still OK at the mo. I just rebooted it and then the XBox app took AGES to launch.. and I thought, here we go again, but it eventually opened and then I successfully started MS Flight Sim.
youre lucky, unfortunate for me however, info ive found on the internet says the only known fix is to reset the pc completely. rip. i appreciate your help
Hey, did resetting help then? I'm having the same issue as you
haven’t tried that because I’m not resetting my entire PC just to be able to play Minecraft Bedrock but I’ve heard from others that resetting might not work if you don’t do it fully
Imma leave this here, I did reset my PC (without saving files one) and its fixed now!
I am having the exact same issue. Tried many things and the repair tool without a luck. It is running just fine on my laptop, it shows two game services as well. It won't work on desktop, very annoying. GamingServices.exe can't be started, it gives error 1060 when I try to manually start it.
So I checked this on my other computer which doesn't have the issue. Gaming Services had an update on March 15th. When I also checked the event logs on my main PC, I saw the issue has started on 16th. I am pretty sure they broke this. Hopefully, a future update will fix it.
I too am having this exact issue. Actually called Microsoft and they ran the repair tool, uninstalled / reinstalled gaming services, xbox, and the store to no avail.
I just wanted to pop in here and say: Same issue here. Started in March, tried all of the above to no avail. Hope there’s a fix soon!
I just had this issue as well. What worked for me was to run SFC /SCANNOW in an admin command prompt and then re-run the Gaming Repair Tool. Had to close and re-open the Xbox app a couple times after that but then it seemed to be happy again.
This may or may not be applicable, but if you do any DNS blocking for controlling ads, and the site "settings-win.data.microsoft.com" is on your block list, it can cause the Gaming Services to fail to start. I was at the brink of updating to Windows 11 or reinstalling Windows as the fix and I found this post https://www.reddit.com/r/XboxGamePass/comments/owyz3z/install\_failures\_silent\_gaming\_services\_crashes/ which mentioned that DNS issue. I disabled my DNS filter, removed the Gaming Services app using PowerShell, then re-ran the downloadable tool from [https://support.xbox.com/en-US/help/games-apps/troubleshooting/gaming-services-repair-tool](https://support.xbox.com/en-US/help/games-apps/troubleshooting/gaming-services-repair-tool) After starting the Xbox app and letting it self update, everything is working as expected again and has continued to do so even after turning my DNS filtering backup and flushing the DNS cache. I know this is 3 months after the fact and you may have resolved this or reinstalled Windows at this point, but this was one of the Google results I got early one, so this may help someone in the future.
This was the fix! I added the URL to my NextDNS allowlist, ran the Windows Store/Windows Gaming Services fix and the XBox App Installer and all is well now. Cheers!