App Readiness Service Greyed Out? 4 Fixes

You open Services to start App Readiness. The Start option is right there. Highlighted. But greyed out — you can’t click it.

So the service just sits. Stuck. And apps that need it won’t install right. Frustrating, because it *looks* clickable. Here’s how to actually get it going.

Why This Happens

Short version: the service can’t start, so Windows won’t let you start it. The button’s dead for a reason.

Usually something underneath is broken. Corrupted temporary files from a failed install. Damaged system components. Or the Windows Installer service it leans on being stuck itself.

And the greyed-out Start is just the symptom. The GUI gives up before it even tries. Annoying — but it means we fix the cause, not the button.

So we clear the junk, repair the system, and force the service on from the command line when the interface refuses. One of these does it.

Table of Contents

Fix 1 – Clear Out Temporary Files

Corrupted setup leftovers in your temp folder trip up the whole installer chain. Wiping them is harmless and quick. Start here.

1 – Press Windows + R, type %tmp%, and press Enter.

2 – Press Ctrl + A to select everything in the folder.

3 – Press Delete (or Shift + Delete to skip the Recycle Bin).

4 – If a few files say they’re in use, just skip them. The rest still go.

5 – Restart and check the service.

It won’t delete anything you care about — temp files are disposable by design. And clearing them fixes a surprising number of installer hiccups.

Fix 2 – Force the Service On From Command Prompt

If the Start button stays greyed out, skip the GUI entirely.

1 – Type CMD in the taskbar search, right-click Command Prompt, and choose Run as administrator.

2 – Set the service to start on demand:

sc config AppReadiness start= demand

3 – Press Enter.

4 – Now start it:

net start AppReadiness

5 – Press Enter.

Mind the space after the equals sign — start= demand, not start=demand. The command’s picky about it. This often gets the service running when the Services window flatly won’t.

Fix 3 – Repair System Files With DISM and SFC

If broken system components are blocking the service, these two scans rebuild them. Run them in order.

1 – Open Command Prompt as administrator again.

2 – Run the deployment repair first:

dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth

3 – Wait for it to finish (it can stall at a percentage for a while — that’s normal).

4 – Then run the file checker:

sfc /scannow

5 – Let it complete and restart your computer.

DISM fixes the underlying image. SFC then repairs individual files using it. Together they clear the deep corruption that leaves services unstartable.

Fix 4 – Reset the Windows Installer Service

App Readiness leans on the Windows Installer service. If that one’s stuck, App Readiness can’t come up either. Reset it.

1 – Hit the Windows + R buttons together.

2 – Then, type services.msc, and press Enter.

3 – Scroll down to Windows Installer.

4 – Right-click it and choose Properties.

5 – If Startup type can be changed, set it to Manual.

6 – Click Start if the service is stopped, then OK.

7 – Right-click Windows Installer again and choose Restart.

With its dependency healthy, App Readiness usually starts without a fight. Go back and try it.

How to Prevent This

– Clear your temp folder now and then. Failed-install junk piles up and jams the installer chain.

– Don’t disable App Readiness. It’s needed for apps to provision properly. Leave it on demand.

– Run SFC after any messy install or update.