Winget fake-uninstalls packages like Microsoft.WindowsAppRuntime

[JustMyGithub]

Relevant area(s)

WinGet CLI

Relevant command(s)

winget uninstall

Brief description of your issue

winget claims to uninstall the app, but in fact it does not.

Steps to reproduce

winget list MSIX\Microsoft.WindowsAppRuntime
pick an old version that is no longer needed but that microsoft does not care to remove on update and try like
winget uninstall "MSIX\Microsoft.WindowsAppRuntime.1.7_7000.744.1258.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe"

Expected behavior

winget reports the truth (not found/removed/cannot remove because of xyz ...)
It may not be possible (why?), but it should not lie about being successfull

Actual behavior

winget claims to remove it, but in fact it does not.
(verify by repeating the uninstall command or repeating the listing)

Environment

Windows: Windows.Desktop v10.0.19044.6809
Systemarchitektur: X64
Paket: Microsoft.DesktopAppInstaller v1.27.460.0

[denelon]

It's possible an older version of the runtime is actually used as a dependency by another package. There are lower-level services checking on dependencies for MSIX based packages that may still have a pointer to one of those preventing the removal.

I'll ask if there is a way to see those dependencies.

[denelon]

One of our MSIX engineers posted a detailed response covering lifecycle and dependencies over at:

• Winget doesn't properly cleanup unused Microsoft.Winget.Source Appx Packages #5611

[JustMyGithub]

@denelon
Why is this considered completed? Winget claims it uninstalls successfully, even though it doesn't. Even if it was correct to not uninstall, winget should give a proper feedback like "cannot uninstall because x y and z depend on this package"
(or even "cannot remove because some app may require this dependency again one day and microsoft decided to keep all old versions of this package for that possible distant future")

I'll ask if there is a way to see those dependencies.

Sadly you did not answer about this part. I found a way to list dependencies as I mentioned on #5611 but according to that output, (some) packages are kept even without any reference in other packages' dependencies.