Windows 8 App Store Tweak

Ok well I have my copy of windows 8 installed on my Force 3 60gig SSD and ive noticed for a few weeks now I was losing HDD Space around 3 to 4 gig over this time and I was trying to find out what was causing this hunting around hidden directory's until I found this located hidden under Program Files the WindowsApps directory so I did a bit of searching about and found that this is the storage place for all downloaded Metro Apps (what ever they call them). So i found a really useful tweak for this as in this directory every single app you download is stored there in multiple versions whats not a good thing when you don't have much disk space so i found a nice guide over at Windowns 7 hacker.

Part I: Taking WindowsApp directory (default Windows 8 App install directory) ownership

Navigate to C:\Program Files\WindowsApps

Make sure you checked “Hidden items” Under View tab

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You will soon realize you don’t have permission to access this folder.

Right click the folder go to Properties.

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Go to Security Tab > Advanced

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Click Continue under “Permissions” tab

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Click Change, next to where TrustedInstaller

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Add your user name in the “Enter the object name to select” Click check names, Windows will format the entry for you when it find the matching user.

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Once is done, should show your name as the Owner

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Click OK to accept the Security warning

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Now when you try to access the WindowsApps folder again, you will be able to see what’s in there

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Part II: Regedit Hack.

Go press Win + R to launch Run command and enter regedit

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Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Appx

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Right click > Permissions of the Appx folder

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Click “Change” then you will be prompt for the same dialog as you encounter earlier and enter your name to the list.

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Click Add, but make sure the permissions are set to Full Control to allow

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Now go back and Right click on the PackageRoot key > Modify …

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You can now enter a new location instead of the old location on C drive.

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As an example, I’m changing it to D drive and putting it under a directory called “Windows8MetroApp”

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Part III: Optional Fixes After making the change

Congratulations if you have made it to this step, but wait, you aren’t done it. You will soon realize all the old apps won’t be able to update to the new versions. There is nothing you can do to fix it. So in order to install those apps again, you will have to uninstall those apps from the start menu one by one.

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“Something happened and this app couldn’t be installed. Please try again. Error code: 0×80070057”

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Uninstall the apps you can’t update, and go back to the Store to reinstall it again.

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When you done, you can now navigate to the new Windows 8 Metro App directory you have created earlier and check if any new apps are being installed there.

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If you do see new apps are now showing up at this directory, that means you’ve successfully migrated the Windows 8 Apps install location to a new place !

Hope this is useful to some of you guys found this here http://www.windows7hacker.com/index.php/2012/12/complete-guide-how-to-change-windows-8-metro-app-install-location/