How does MS Store remember my previous apps?

mclaren85 · 2025-02-11T19:18:28+0000

I have 3 different MS win 10 LTSC os installed machines with different apps installed. After every format, MS store succesfully remembers the previous applications even I never log into my ms account. So how does ms store remember my apps?

Shihab · 2025-02-11T19:22:20+0000

I noticed that too.
My working hypothesis is that they use other Microsoft services you may have used to track you. In my case, I suspect Github Desktop.

mclaren85 · 2025-02-11T19:24:28+0000

Shihab said:
I noticed that too.
My working hypothesis is that they use other Microsoft services you may have used to track you. In my case, I suspect Github Desktop.

I don't use github. I Don't even use any app on windows that is "loggeable".

DaemonForce · 2025-02-11T19:25:29+0000

You're logged into one of the apps. Do you use a profile in Edge?

Frick · 2025-02-11T19:26:37+0000

IP/HID.

mclaren85 · 2025-02-11T19:28:03+0000

DaemonForce said:
You're logged into one of the apps. Do you use a profile in Edge?

I blocked and uninstalled Edge. here is my app list :

DaemonForce · 2025-02-11T19:35:34+0000

Does your board ship with anything like the Asus armoury crate or do any of these apps phone home with MS account details?
I don't have the temper to go over Turkish today so XIAOHONGSHU. :sleep:

My guess is MyASUS and Microsoft Store are doing something that phones home. If you go to your MS account settings the computer is probably remembered.

mclaren85 · 2025-02-11T19:41:11+0000

DaemonForce said:
Does your board ship with anything like the Asus armoury crate or do any of these apps phone home with MS account details?
I don't have the temper to go over Turkish today so XIAOHONGSHU.

My guess is MyASUS and Microsoft Store are doing something that phones home. If you go to your MS account settings the computer is probably remembered.

No, my board was shipped as freedos.
and hate to tell but my windows is pirated

LabRat 891 · 2025-02-11T19:43:45+0000

mclaren85 said:
I have 3 different MS win 10 LTSC os installed machines with different apps installed. After every format, MS store succesfully remembers the previous applications even I never log into my ms account. So how does ms store remember my apps?

AFAIK, your Windows Activation HWID is associated to your MSFT/Live account.
Regardless, there's more than enough metadata between HWID, IP, etc. to reliably 'remember' what apps were previously used/installed.

Also, your motherboard 'prompts' the OS to DL/install the 'associated apps'.
At every fresh install my Asus X570 build asks if I want to install Armory Crate, and my friend's Gigabyte B650 build asks the same for the Gigabyte utils (there's also an option in his UEFI/BIOS to disable that prompt-to-OS)

Me?
First time I had a web page open up the Windows Store, it got removed. Every reinstall since, has been IoT LTSC to avoid that entire mess.

DaemonForce · 2025-02-11T19:48:34+0000

mclaren85 said:
and hate to tell but my windows is pirated

That's on you but not hard enough it's not. Ffhahahaha!

LabRat 891 said:
AFAIK, your Windows Activation HWID is associated to your MSFT/Live account.

It's insane how easily I forget this is a thing. So, there you go.
The entire issue of Windows remembering your apps is Windows itself.
It was better when the keys were serialized to the CPU/board/whatever.
The sooner we dump all this useless telemetry the better. SteamOS when?

mclaren85 · 2025-02-11T20:05:59+0000

LabRat 891 said:
AFAIK, your Windows Activation HWID is associated to your MSFT/Live account.
Regardless, there's more than enough metadata between HWID, IP, etc. to reliably 'remember' what apps were previously used/installed.

Also, your motherboard 'prompts' the OS to DL/install the 'associated apps'.
At every fresh install my Asus X570 build asks if I want to install Armory Crate, and my friend's Gigabyte B650 build asks the same for the Gigabyte utils (there's also an option in his UEFI/BIOS to disable that prompt-to-OS)

Me?
First time I had a web page open up the Windows Store, it got removed. Every reinstall since, has been IoT LTSC to avoid that entire mess.

That is the closest reasonable explanation. Btw my IP is not static. I think it has to do with my motherboard UUID, maybe..

Frick · 2025-02-11T20:08:52+0000

DaemonForce said:
The entire issue of Windows remembering your apps is Windows itself.
It was better when the keys were serialized to the CPU/board/whatever

Is there a difference? HID is HID and it was so decades ago. And I remember how changing your NIC required a new key (if OEM)/actication, is was not better.

Bill_Bright · 2025-02-11T20:13:56+0000

Cerebral implants to track software thieves.

Pirated or not, it has an ID and I would guess, that, along with some hardware information, perhaps UEFI too, some form of checksum uniquely IDs you.

System Name	MSI-MEG
Processor	AMD Ryzen 9 3900X
Motherboard	MSI MEG X570S ACE MAX
Cooling	AMD Wraith Prism + Thermal Grizzly
Memory	32 GB
Video Card(s)	MSI Suprim X RTX 3080
Storage	500 GB MSI Spatium nvme + 500 GB WD nvme + 2 TB Seagate HDD + 2 TB Seagate HDD
Display(s)	27" LG 144HZ 2K ULTRAGEAR
Case	MSI MPG Velox Airflow 100P
Audio Device(s)	Altec Lansing
Power Supply	Seasonic 750W 80+ Gold
Mouse	HP OMEN REACTOR
Keyboard	Corsair K68
Software	Windows10 LTSC 64 bit

System Name	192.168.1.1~192.168.1.100
Processor	AMD Ryzen5 5600G.
Motherboard	Gigabyte B550m DS3H.
Cooling	AMD Wraith Stealth.
Memory	16GB Crucial DDR4.
Video Card(s)	Gigabyte GTX 1080 OC (Underclocked, underpowered).
Storage	Samsung 980 NVME 500GB && Assortment of SSDs.
Display(s)	ViewSonic VA2406-MH 75Hz
Case	Bitfenix Nova Midi
Audio Device(s)	On-Board.
Power Supply	SeaSonic CORE GM-650.
Mouse	Logitech G300s
Keyboard	Kingston HyperX Alloy FPS.
VR HMD	A pair of OP spectacles.
Software	Ubuntu 24.04 LTS.
Benchmark Scores	Me no know English. What bench mean? Bench like one sit on?

System Name	MSI-MEG
Processor	AMD Ryzen 9 3900X
Motherboard	MSI MEG X570S ACE MAX
Cooling	AMD Wraith Prism + Thermal Grizzly
Memory	32 GB
Video Card(s)	MSI Suprim X RTX 3080
Storage	500 GB MSI Spatium nvme + 500 GB WD nvme + 2 TB Seagate HDD + 2 TB Seagate HDD
Display(s)	27" LG 144HZ 2K ULTRAGEAR
Case	MSI MPG Velox Airflow 100P
Audio Device(s)	Altec Lansing
Power Supply	Seasonic 750W 80+ Gold
Mouse	HP OMEN REACTOR
Keyboard	Corsair K68
Software	Windows10 LTSC 64 bit

System Name	DevKit
Processor	AMD Ryzen 5 3600 ↗4.0GHz
Motherboard	Asus TUF Gaming X570-Plus WiFi
Cooling	Koolance CPU-300-H06, Koolance GPU-180-L06, SC800 Pump
Memory	4x16GB Ballistix 3200MT/s ↗3800
Video Card(s)	PowerColor RX 580 Red Devil 8GB ↗1380MHz ↘1105mV, PowerColor RX 7900 XT Hellhound 20GB
Storage	240GB Corsair MP510, 120GB KingDian S280
Display(s)	Nixeus VUE-24 (1080p144)
Case	Koolance PC2-601BLW + Koolance EHX1020CUV Radiator Kit
Audio Device(s)	Oculus CV-1
Power Supply	Antec Earthwatts EA-750 Semi-Modular
Mouse	Easterntimes Tech X-08, Zelotes C-12
Keyboard	Logitech 106-key, Romoral 15-Key Macro, Royal Kludge RK84
VR HMD	Oculus CV-1
Software	Windows 10 Pro Workstation, VMware Workstation 16 Pro, MS SQL Server 2016, Fan Control v120, Blender
Benchmark Scores	Cinebench R15: 1590cb Cinebench R20: 3530cb (7.83x451cb) CPU-Z 17.01.64: 481.2/3896.8 VRMark: 8009

System Name	Black MC in Tokyo
Processor	Ryzen 5 7600
Motherboard	MSI X670E Gaming Plus Wifi
Cooling	Be Quiet! Pure Rock 2
Memory	2 x 16GB Corsair Vengeance @ 6000Mhz
Video Card(s)	XFX 6950XT Speedster MERC 319
Storage	Kingston KC3000 1TB \| WD Black SN750 2TB \|WD Blue 1TB x 2 \| Toshiba P300 2TB \| Seagate Expansion 8TB
Display(s)	Samsung U32J590U 4K + BenQ GL2450HT 1080p
Case	Fractal Design Define R4
Audio Device(s)	Plantronics 5220, Nektar SE61 keyboard
Power Supply	Corsair RM850x v3
Mouse	Logitech G602
Keyboard	Dell SK3205
Software	Windows 10 Pro
Benchmark Scores	Rimworld 4K ready!

How does MS Store remember my previous apps?

mclaren85

Shihab

mclaren85

DaemonForce

Frick

Fishfaced Nincompoop

mclaren85

DaemonForce

mclaren85

LabRat 891

DaemonForce

mclaren85

Frick

Fishfaced Nincompoop

Bill_Bright

System Name	Sleepy Painter
Processor	AMD Ryzen 5 3600
Motherboard	Asus TuF Gaming X570-PLUS/WIFI
Cooling	FSP Windale 6 - Passive
Memory	2x16GB F4-3600C16-16GVKC @ 16-19-21-36-58-1T
Video Card(s)	MSI RX580 8GB
Storage	2x Samsung PM963 960GB nVME RAID0, Crucial BX500 1TB SATA, WD Blue 3D 2TB SATA
Display(s)	Microboard 32" Curved 1080P 144hz VA w/ Freesync
Case	NZXT Gamma Classic Black
Audio Device(s)	Asus Xonar D1
Power Supply	Rosewill 1KW on 240V@60hz
Mouse	Logitech MX518 Legend
Keyboard	Red Dragon K552
Software	Windows 10 Enterprise 2019 LTSC 1809 17763.1757

System Name	Brightworks Systems BWS-6 E-IV
Processor	Intel Core i5-6600 @ 3.9GHz
Motherboard	Gigabyte GA-Z170-HD3 Rev 1.0
Cooling	Quality case, 2 x Fractal Design 140mm fans, stock CPU HSF
Memory	32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR4 3000 Corsair Vengeance
Video Card(s)	EVGA GEForce GTX 1050Ti 4Gb GDDR5
Storage	Samsung 850 Pro 256GB SSD, Samsung 860 Evo 500GB SSD
Display(s)	Samsung S24E650BW LED x 2
Case	Fractal Design Define R4
Power Supply	EVGA Supernova 550W G2 Gold
Mouse	Logitech M190
Keyboard	Microsoft Wireless Comfort 5050
Software	W10 Pro 64-bit