For months now the new Microsoft Photos app in Windows 10 and 11 no longer works. Opening the app shows no local photos in your library. I can see the folders, click on them, and nothing shows up. Even after going with the nuclear option and reformatting the boot drive and installing Windows 11 again, it STILL does not work. I left it open for a few hours thinking maybe it was just indexing files but no, still nothing. How can such a simple app not work? I tried the "Photos Legacy App" but that crashes every few minutes, becomes unbearably slow or both. It is not usable. Also, uploading images to this question editor doesn't work either.
What I've tried:
System restore, even to the first one created after a fresh install - doesn't work.
https://thegeekpage.com/photos-app-is-not-working/ - doesn't work.
https://www.thewindowsclub.com/windows-10-photos-app-slow-open-not-working - doesn't work.
Using the "repair" and "reset" options in the app settings - doesn't work.
https://www.elevenforum.com/t/reset-uwp-app-to-default-in-windows-11.1174/ - doesn't work.
Uninstalling the app from the Microsoft store and reinstalling - doesn't work. Doing this step using PowerShell with a command - doesn't work.
Establishing a clean boot, running the DISM and System File Checker, doing a Windows 11 Repair Upgrade, literally NONE of these things worked. Like I stated before, even reformatting the boot drive and reinstalling Windows does NOT fix the issue.
I'm not looking for another photo editor or even to edit photos. I'm just looking to have a standard feature that should work on Windows that I've used for decades work correctly. I'm just looking for something I can view my photo library in order by date.
