I recently upgraded my Windows Phone 8 from the Nokia 820 to the Nokia 1020. After allowing the restore to complete, I noticed a bunch of my Apps were unavailable and listed but greyed out stating “attention required”. From the Store > Downloads page, many Apps were returning a fairly generic message with an error code of 8000FFFF:
After a little diagnostic, it turns out the explanation is pretty simple and even simpler to fix. The restore is attempting to “recover” the Apps rather than re-download them (despite the message appearing in the Downloads section!). The quickest way I found to fix this is share the App with yourself and just send them from the Windows Phone website.
Here are a few simple steps I carried out to get my shiny new 1020 in full working order…
- Find the troubled App in the list and long-click then select “Share” from the context menu
- Select the sharing method of your choice and send it to yourself. I used email because, for me, that was fastest
- When the message comes through, follow the hyperlink to the Windows Phone website and select “reinstall”
- On the next page, select “Reinstall” and any relevant T&C checkboxes
- After a few moments, you will receive a confirmation that the App is reinstalling (you will also notice the Downloads on your phone has changed too)
- Once everything is finished, your App should now be available, enjoy!
