Windows System Restore is a maintenance tool that saves users a lot of time when they have problems with their computers. Restore Point backs up mission-critical pieces of software, allowing the operating system to be restored to a working state without the need for a pristine installation and without losing data. Unfortunately, Microsoft has confirmed that using System Restore Points on the Windows 11 22H2 operating system may corrupt some applications and cause the error message “This application cannot be opened”.
Not all applications are affected by this issue, According to an official post on Microsoft’s support site, the bug breaks first- and third-party use of the MSIX Windows application package format (Notepad, Paint, Office, Cortana, Terminal, etc.), causing one or more of the following symptoms to appear.
- The error message “This application cannot be opened” is displayed and the application does not start properly.
- The application may have multiple entries on the Start menu.
- When trying to start an application, the application may not respond.
- An I/O error may occur, followed by the application not responding, or crashing.
- If you try to launch the app again, it will run normally.
Microsoft says affected customers can try the following to fix the broken app
- Open the app again
- Reinstall the app from the Microsoft Store or the original source
- Install an available Windows update
Users can also turn to other methods mentioned in the official documentation, which describes how to repair a corrupted application on Windows.
