Question Large games installed from XBox PC app to D: drive crash at launch with Exception code: 0xc0000005. Latest in line - Starfield.

[GamingLegend007]

Laptop Details:​

Lenovo Legion Y740, Model: 81UJ0001US,
Intel Core i7-9750H
RTX 2080-MQ
16GB DDR4 RAM
1TB PCIe NVMe SSD
Windows 11 Pro 22H2

GeForce Game Ready Driver 537.13
Xbox app version 2309.1001.3.0
Gaming Services 13.80.25001.0

Game Install Details:​

Installed to D: drive, at D:\Games\XboxGames\Starfield.

~190 GB left in D: drive after installation.
~52 GB left in C: drive after installation.

C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\BethesdaSoftworks.ProjectGold_1.7.23.0_x64__{alphanumeric} is a junction to D:\WindowsApps\BethesdaSoftworks.ProjectGold_1.7.23.0_x64__{alphanumeric} and that itself is a junction to D:\Games\XBoxGames\Starfield\Content. (These junctions are created automatically by MS Store / Xbox app, and not done manually by me.)

Issue:​

I installed the game Starfield from PC Game Pass to my D: drive (~190 GB left in drive after installation). Now whenever I try to launch the game in any way (from desktop shortcut OR clicking play button in xbox app OR by going to the installation folder and clicking the app exe), this happens -

• Starfield title splash-screen appears
• At the bottom right of that splash-screen, text appears - "signing in", "syncing data", "launching game".
• And then an error message appears saying "Error code: (0xc0000005)

This issue is not specific to Starfield. I have had this same exact issue in other games downloaded from the Xbox PC app before. RedFall, Atomic Heart, Scorn, Plague Tale: Requiem etc. all had same crash.

Troubleshooting:​

1. Made sure that OS, BIOS and graphics drivers are up-to-date.
2. Tried running the game as Admin
3. Tried running after disabling antivirus (Windows Security) and Firewall.
4. Added D:\Games\XBoxGames\Starfield\Content folder to the Windows Security antivirus exclusion lis
5. Deleted all files from %localappdata%\NVIDIA\DXCache
6. Tried verify and repair option available within Xbox app.
7. Clicked "Repair", and "Reset" option in Windows settings page of MS Store, Xbox app and Starfield app.
8. Fully uninstalled Xbox app, MS Store app and then reinstalled them.
9. Cleared the store cache using “wsreset”.
10. Removed and reinstalled Gaming Services. Rebooted device and then reinstalled Starfield from xbox app.
11. Did a clean reboot by disabling all non-MS services in msconfig and startup.
12. Did DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth and SFC /scannow
13. Create a brand new local (non-MS) user in Windows, logged in as that user, logged into MS Store as the same same user that has XGPU subscription.

None of these have any effect on the game. At each step, the game still crashes in same way.

Log from Event Viewer:​

I checked event viewer, and that shows this in the logs when the game crashes -

Faulting application name: Starfield.exe, version: 1.7.23.0, time stamp: 0x64e3d492
Faulting module name: Starfield.exe, version: 1.7.23.0, time stamp: 0x64e3d492
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x00000000015b94c7
Faulting process id: 0x0x3AF8
Faulting application start time: 0x0x1D9E0F17A887F8D
Faulting application path: C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\BethesdaSoftworks.ProjectGold_1.7.23.0_x64__alphaNumeric\Starfield.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\BethesdaSoftworks.ProjectGold_1.7.23.0_x64__alphaNumeric\Starfield.exe
Report Id: Redacting
Faulting package full name: BethesdaSoftworks.ProjectGold_1.7.23.0_x64__alphaNumeric
Faulting package-relative application ID: Game

Cause Speculation / Educated diagnosis from experience:​

I think this issue is caused by the game being installed on D: drive, i.e. a drive which is not windows drive (C

My speculation is - xbox / MS Store / Windows expects the games to be present in C: drive. That's why it creates a junction link from C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\{game's folder} to D:\WindowsApps\{game's folder}. But since the game is 100+ GB, and that amount of space is not actually available in C: drive, some storage or memory access miscalculation / error occurs when I try to run the game.

When I installed any game in D: drive, if the game's size is smaller than free space in C: drive, then the game runs fine.

Screenshot:​

Any help is appreciated. Because of this issue, I'm not able to play any of the big games from PC Game Pass even though I'm paying for the subscription.

 

[Homeman]

Remove all restrictions for accessibility on the D: Drive. You can do that in the File-Explorer as well

 

[GamingLegend007]

Remove all restrictions for accessibility on the D: Drive. You can do that in the File-Explorer as well

I've never heard of drive accessibility setting. Where do I set that?
I looked at these places -

 

[Homeman]

Let me get this clear:
You have Starfield installed on D: Drive?

 

[GamingLegend007]

Let me get this clear:
You have Starfield installed on D: Drive?

Correct. After the game installation, D: drive has 190 GB free, and C: drive has 50 GB free. Game size is ~116 GB.

 

[Homeman]

Faulting application path: C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\BethesdaSoftworks.ProjectGold_1.7.23.0_x64__alphaNumeric\Starfield.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\BethesdaSoftworks.ProjectGold_1.7.23.0_x64__alphaNumeric\Starfield.exe

The error logi ndicates that the exe file is being searched in C: drive. Somehow the path routing is messed up. Check if the given path exists in your C: Drive

 

[GamingLegend007]

Faulting application path: C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\BethesdaSoftworks.ProjectGold_1.7.23.0_x64__alphaNumeric\Starfield.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\BethesdaSoftworks.ProjectGold_1.7.23.0_x64__alphaNumeric\Starfield.exe

The error logi ndicates that the exe file is being searched in C: drive. Somehow the path routing is messed up. Check if the given path exists in your C: Drive

C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\BethesdaSoftworks.ProjectGold_1.7.23.0_x64__{alphanumeric}

is a junction to

D:\WindowsApps\BethesdaSoftworks.ProjectGold_1.7.23.0_x64__{alphanumeric}

and that itself is a junction to

D:\Games\XBoxGames\Starfield\Content

(These junctions are created automatically by MS Store / Xbox app, and not done manually by me.)

So,

C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\BethesdaSoftworks.ProjectGold_1.7.23.0_x64__alphaNumeric\Starfield.exe

points to

D:\Games\XBoxGames\Starfield\Content\Starfield.exe

and that exists.

There might be some owenrship related issue. "C:\Program Files\WindowsApps" is owned by TrustedInstaller. I had tried to take ownership of that folder earlier, following the instruction in another post, and that broke every Windows app I had installed, and in the end, I had to reinstall the entire Windows 11.

After reinstalling Windows 11, now when the Starfield game crashes, there's a little change in the Event Viewer log. Faulting module details are now showing as this -

Faulting module name: ucrtbase.dll, version: 10.0.22621.608, time stamp: 0xf5fc15a3
Faulting module path: C:\Windows\System32\ucrtbase.dll

Google search says ucrtbased dll file is a software component of Microsoft Visual C++. I tried troubleshooting that following these steps. sfc /scannow has never solved any problem for me. That might as well be a placebo.
When I ran regsvr32 ucrtbase.dll, that fails with this -

The module "ucrtbase.dll" was loaded but the entry-point DllRegisterServer was not found.
Make sure that "ucrtbase.dll" is a valid DLL or OCX file and then try again.

Ran DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth and sfc /scannow again and they again didn't solve anything. I did the "repair" of Visual C++ Redistributable. Still no change. Feels like I'm on a wild goose chase.