I recently returned from a three month trip and turned on my Windows 8.1 machine and found that nothing was working. For some strange reason, several apps were unable to connect to the Internet and I could not connect to the Windows Store. I was definitely connected to the Internet because I was able to browse the web using IE and Chrome, so I was puzzled as to why I couldn’t connect to the Store or why some apps weren’t working.
Eventually, I came across a post by Guerran on his blog, which said that all the usual methods for solving this problem did not work: checking the date / time on your computer, using the netsh and wsreset commands, using a local account instead of online, and trying to update your computer. In fact, I tried most of these options because this has happened before and I wrote a post on my other blog to fix the “Unable to Connect to Store” issue. He also mentions running wsreset, which seemed to work for a minute, but the second I tried to click anything in the store, it came back with the same error message.
However, none of the options in my old post seemed to work on this machine. Gerrand finally realized that this was due to a Windows Live account. In his post, he writes about how his account had to be verified, and then everything worked. In my case, the account was verified, but I had 2-step verification enabled, so I had to enter my authenticator code.
Let’s start by navigating to Settings in Windows 8 by moving the mouse pointer to the right side of the screen. Then click “Change PC settings” at the very bottom.
Now click on “Accounts” in the menu on the left.
Here you will see important information that causes problems with the Windows Store. If it is a problem with verifying your email address, you will see the message “You need to verify your account.” under your email address. Otherwise, it will say “Disconnect”. If you have two-step verification enabled, you will see the message “You need to update some information for your Microsoft account” with an “Update information” link.
Click on the Update Information link and a screen will open where you must enter the code generated in the authentication application.
After you’re done with that, open Windows Store again and it should boot normally. Again, Microsoft is great at returning error messages that have nothing to do with the actual error, so you’ll have to spend time looking for a solution online! If you are still having problems after trying all the methods from this post and my previous post, please post a comment with all the details and I will try to help. Enjoy!
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