Xbox app can’t choose Drive in Windows 11

If your Xbox app cannot choose the Drive in Windows 11 then this post will help you. A few users have reported finding it difficult to choose a desired drive to install Xbox games on their Windows 11 PC. Every time they install a new game, it gets installed in the default drive. This could be inconvenient, especially for those users who love maintaining all their games in a separate drive. Also, large Xbox games could occupy most of the space on your C drive and make your computer slow. In this post, we will show you how to select a desired drive to install Xbox games if you cannot do it using the Xbox app.

Xbox app can’t choose Drive in Windows 11

If your Xbox app cannot choose the Drive in Windows 11, we recommend using the following solutions:

Change default Storage device on Xbox app.
Repair the Xbox app.
Temporarily uninstall Gaming Services.
Move Xbox games to another drive from the WindowsApps folder.
Install the game via Microsoft Store using GamePass.

Let us have a detailed look at the above solutions.

1] Check where the Xbox games are installed by default

Start by checking where your system installs new apps by default and where the Xbox app installs games by default. If either or both of these locations are showing Drive C:, change the location to the desired directory on your system.

A] Check the Xbox settings

To check this in the Xbox app, launch the app and go to Settings > General. Then under the Game install options, check the drive name listed under Change where this app installs games by default. If it is not the drive you’re looking for, change it using the available dropdown.

B] Change default Storage device on Xbox app

To check this in your system settings, click on the Start button icon and select Settings. Then under System settings, go to Storage > Advanced storage options > Where new content is saved. Then using the dropdown available under New apps will save to, select the drive you would like your Xbox game to install to.

Once your games are installed, switch back to Drive C: to install new apps on your Windows 11 PC.

2] Repair the Xbox app

If there’s an issue with the Xbox app that may be preventing you from choosing a drive for installing games, repairing the Xbox app in Windows may fix the issue. To repair the Xbox app, follow these steps:

Open Windows settings.
Go to Apps > Installed apps.
Search for the Xbox app.
Click on the 3-dots icon next to the Xbox app and select Advanced options.
Scroll down to the Reset section.
Click on the Repair button.
Allow Windows to repair the Xbox app.

Now relaunch the Xbox app and see if it allows you to choose a desired drive to install games.

3] Temporarily uninstall Gaming Sevices

This workaround has helped a few users in installing Xbox games to the desired drive. See if this works for you.

Close the Xbox app. Then open PowerShell with administrator rights. Type the following command in the PowerShell window:

Get-AppxPackage *gamingservices* -allusers | remove-appxpackage -allusers

The above command will uninstall the Gaming Services from your system. Now open Xbox. It will ask you to install necessary services, which you must ignore (if it allows you to do so) until you download and install the games. Now you might be able to choose a drive while installing the game. Once the games are installed, reinstall the Gaming Services via Microsoft Store.

Also Read: Windows 11 Xbox app not downloading games.

4] Move Xbox games to another drive from the WindowsApps folder

WindowsApps folder is the default location where Microsoft Store apps and games are installed. This is a hidden folder, and you need to take ownership to access it on your PC. Once you take ownership of the WindowsApps folder, you can move the games to the desired location on your Windows 11 PC.

Create a system restore point before making any changes to the restricted folders on your system.
Open File Explore and navigate to C:\Program Files.
Then click on the option to show the hidden folder.
Navigate to the WindowsApps folder and right-click on it.
Select the Properties option from the context menu.
In the WindowsApp Properties window, switch to the Security tab.
Then click on the Advanced button at the bottom.
Click on the Change link next to the Owner field.
In the Select User or Group window, click on the Advanced button.
In the next window that pops up, click on the Find Now button.
Select your username from the search results.
Click OK three times in a row to close all windows.

Once you’ve taken ownership of the WindowsApps folder, change the folder permissions. Once you do that, you can move your installed games to the desired location. However, even after moving the game files, WindowsApps keeps a copy in the default drive. So you need to delete these (duplicate) files to free up space on your system.

5] Install the game via Microsoft Store using GamePass

A few users were able to resolve the issue by installing the game via Microsoft Store and not the Xbox app. You may also try installing the game from the Microsoft Store app using your Xbox GamePass and see if it works for you.

Open the Microsoft Store app.
Search for the game you want to download.
Download and install the game using the ‘Install with GamePass’ option.
Select the drive where you’d like to install the game.

If none of the above solutions help, format the drive to default NTFS settings and then try installing the game. A few users have been able to resolve the issue using this method.

I hope this helps.