Minecraft UWP save failure on Windows 11 Insider due to sandbox regression

UPDATE as of 4/21/2026

Final Summary of All Repairs, Findings, and the 2024 Minecraft Save‑Location Change

After extensive troubleshooting, we (CoPilot and myself) identified several independent issues that combined to create the appearance that Minecraft Bedrock was not saving worlds correctly. Below is the complete chronological record of what was repaired, why it was necessary, and the final discovery that resolved the confusion.

• The Windows installation was severely corrupted. Photos LocalState never populated, Calculator LocalState appeared empty (later confirmed Calculator no longer uses LocalState), Minecraft worlds did not appear in the expected LocalState path, several UWP apps were missing SystemAppData folders, and Microsoft Store apps behaved inconsistently. Sticky Notes LocalState worked normally, which proved the profile itself was fine and only the UWP subsystem was broken.

• WinRE and DISM were repaired. WinRE was damaged and had to be fixed before the system could be rebuilt cleanly.

• A full SSD wipe and partition reset was performed. All partitions on Drive 0 were deleted and the drive was left unallocated so Windows Setup could rebuild a clean GPT layout. SMART data and controller health were checked, and an NVMe sanitize attempt confirmed the SN770 firmware behaves normally. This ruled out SSD‑level corruption.

• The installer kept forcing Windows 25H2 (build 26200). Even when selecting Windows 11 23H2, the download redirected to 25H2. This Insider build has known issues with UWP provisioning, LocalState creation, SystemAppData, and Xbox Game Runtime, which explained the broken UWP behavior.

• Windows 23H2 was installed. This is the last stable build with fully working UWP provisioning, AppContainer inheritance, LocalState templates, Store behavior, and Xbox Game Runtime integration. After installing 23H2, UWP behavior returned to normal.

• AppContainer and UWP permissions were rebuilt using system‑level commands. The following commands were used to repair ACL inheritance and AppContainer capability permissions:

icacls “C:\Users<User>\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.MinecraftUWP_8wekyb3d8bbwe” /reset /t /c

icacls “C:\Users<User>\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.MinecraftUWP_8wekyb3d8bbwe” /grant “*S-1-15-2-…”:(OI)(CI)(F)

icacls “C:\Users” /reset /t /c

These commands restored LocalState template permissions, AppContainer SIDs, and Store package inheritance.

• A reboot regenerated AppContainer identities. After rebooting, UWP apps began saving normally again.

• Online information about Minecraft’s save location is outdated. Most guides still point to the old LocalState path, which has not been used since 2024.

• Minecraft’s real save location (2024 and newer) is under the Xbox Game Runtime system. Worlds are stored here:

C:\Users<User>\AppData\Roaming\Minecraft Bedrock\Users<XboxUserID>\games\com.mojang\minecraftWorlds

My worlds were saving correctly the entire time, just in the new location that most documentation does not mention.

• Final verification confirmed everything was working. Photos LocalState saved correctly, Sticky Notes worked normally, Calculator still did not use LocalState (expected), and Minecraft worlds saved perfectly in the new 2024 path. No corruption or permission issues remained.

Final Conclusion: Minecraft Bedrock was never broken. Windows 25H2 caused the UWP failures. Windows 23H2 is the last stable build with fully working UWP and Store frameworks. Minecraft’s save system changed in 2024 and now uses the Roaming Xbox Game Runtime path. Online documentation is outdated, which caused the confusion. My worlds were saving correctly the entire time under the new system.