The Missing Software
In an effort to manage limited hard drive space, Windows 11 introduced a feature that automatically archives infrequently used applications. If the operating system detects that you haven’t opened a specific Microsoft Store app in several months, it will quietly uninstall the bulk of the application’s data while leaving the icon on your Start menu and preserving your personal save data. While this frees up gigabytes of space, it can be infuriating if you click on a massive game like Flight Simulator that you haven’t played since last winter, only to discover Windows has archived it and you now have to wait for a 100GB download to finish before you can play.
Disabling the Archiver
To ensure your installed applications are always immediately available and stop Windows 11 from automatically archiving your infrequently used apps, you must disable this storage management feature.
Press the Windows Key, type Settings, and hit Enter. In the left-hand navigation sidebar, click on Apps. In the main right-hand panel, click on Advanced app settings. Look down the list of options for a section explicitly labelled Archive apps. Click on this section to expand it. You will see a master toggle switch. Click the toggle to turn it Off. Windows will no longer touch your installed software, regardless of how long it has been since you last launched it. Keep in mind you will now be entirely responsible for manually uninstalling large apps when your hard drive gets full.