Question Microsoft Store apps deleted and file explorer reverted after cloning OS on to a new SSD ?

[FM2021]

I just used the Samsung Data migration to clone my Windows 11 installation onto a new SSD. Everything went well and I booted in and everything was normal.

A few hours later I was browsing the file explorer and then it just started not responding and explorer.exe restarted automatically. When file explorer rebooted, it opened the Windows 10 file explorer and the home page is just blank, but I can still see all my files. A little bit after that, I noticed that my Microsoft Store along with all the apps were deleted from my PC. I ran a command to get the Microsoft Store back, but my file explorer is still on the Windows 10 UI.

My Windows version is 10.0.22621 Build 22621

I saw another user have the same issue, where they cloned their windows installation onto a new SSD and the file explorer was reverted too. Does anyone have any experience with this?

 

[Lutfij]

If your installation of Windows 11 is based off an internal upgrade path, then I'd advise on reinstalling Windows 11 after you've recreated your bootable UBS installer for Windows 11. While you're still able to see your mission critical files I'd highly suggest that you backup all of your content.

 

[FM2021]

If your installation of Windows 11 is based off an internal upgrade path, then I'd advise on reinstalling Windows 11 after you've recreated your bootable UBS installer for Windows 11. While you're still able to see your mission critical files I'd highly suggest that you backup all of your content.

It was, I upgraded from Windows 10 and this was probably the issue. The file explorer fixed itself in a couple of days though, but the Windows Store wipe was pretty brutal. Lost notepad, media player and some other preinstalled apps. At least I'm able to reinstall them again