How to Fix Xbox Error 0x87DD0005 (Sign-In & Launch Error)

By FixMyError · Updated October 17, 2026 · 8 min read

What 0x87DD0005 means

Error 0x87DD0005 is the Xbox app's way of telling you it never got you signed in. Before any game in your library can launch on Windows, the Xbox app authenticates your Microsoft account with Xbox services — that handshake verifies your identity, your game licenses, and your Game Pass membership. When that handshake breaks, the app shows 0x87DD0005, usually alongside a message like "Something went wrong. Please try again later."

It is worth understanding that this is a sign-in problem, not a game problem. Your games are not corrupted, your save files are untouched, and your account, purchases, and subscriptions are all safe — signing in on the Xbox website in your browser will usually work fine while the app fails. The break happens in the authentication layer on your PC: the Xbox app, Gaming Services, and a handful of Windows background services have to cooperate for the login to succeed, and any one of them in a bad state is enough to throw 0x87DD0005.

The error has a habit of appearing after Windows updates. Updates routinely touch Gaming Services, the Microsoft Store, and the account sign-in stack, and if any of those finish in a half-updated or corrupted state, the Xbox app can no longer complete authentication — even though everything looks normal. It can also appear out of nowhere when a sign-in session goes stale or when Microsoft's own services are having a bad day. The fixes below are ordered so you try the easy wins first: most people are signing in again within ten minutes.

Common causes

• Xbox service outage: Microsoft's sign-in or account services are down or degraded, so no app on Windows can complete the login.
• Corrupted or outdated Gaming Services: the Windows component the Xbox app relies on to launch games is damaged or stuck mid-update.
• Disabled Microsoft Account Sign-in Assistant service: the Windows background service that handles Microsoft account logins is stopped or set to Disabled.
• Corrupted Xbox app cache: the Xbox app's stored sign-in data is stale or broken, so every login attempt replays the same failed handshake.
• Network interference: a VPN, proxy, or blocked endpoints routes your login through paths Xbox's servers reject, killing the sign-in.

How to fix 0x87DD0005 — step by step

Work through these fixes in order. Most players are signing in again by step 3.

1. Check the Xbox status page for a service outage. Before changing anything on your PC, open the Xbox status page in your browser and look for alerts under Xbox Live, account services, or the Xbox app on Windows. If Microsoft reports an outage, error 0x87DD0005 is not your fault — wait until the service turns green again, then restart the Xbox app and sign in.
2. Restart the Xbox app and sign in again. Close the game, the Xbox app, and any third-party launchers such as the EA app or Ubisoft Connect completely — end their processes in Task Manager if they linger. Reopen the Xbox app, click your profile picture, choose Sign out, then sign back in with the Microsoft account you use for gaming. This clears a stale sign-in session, which is the most common cause of 0x87DD0005.
3. Repair, then reset the Xbox app. Open Settings, go to Apps, then Installed apps. Find Xbox in the list, click the three dots next to it, and choose Advanced options. Click Repair first and test the app. If the error persists, go back and click Reset — this clears the app's cached data and sign-in state without removing your games or saves.
4. Repair or reinstall Gaming Services. Gaming Services is the Windows component the Xbox app uses to run games. Open the Microsoft Store, search for Gaming Services, and install any pending update. If the error remains, open PowerShell as administrator and run the command Get-AppxPackage *gamingservices* -allusers | remove-appxpackage -allusers to remove it, then open the Xbox app again — it will prompt you to reinstall Gaming Services. Restart your PC when it finishes.
5. Enable the Microsoft Account Sign-in Assistant service. Press Win + R, type services.msc, and press Enter. Find Microsoft Account Sign-in Assistant in the list. Double-click it, set Startup type to Automatic, and click Start if the service is stopped. Then click OK, restart your PC, and open the Xbox app. This background service handles Microsoft account logins, and when it is disabled the Xbox app cannot complete sign-in.
6. Update Windows and fix your date, time, and VPN. Open Settings, go to Windows Update, and install all pending updates — recent patches include fixes for Xbox sign-in components. Then go to Settings, then Time and language, and turn on "Set time automatically" and "Set time zone automatically": a wrong clock breaks sign-in tokens. Finally, disconnect any VPN or proxy and retry, since routed traffic can make Xbox servers reject your login.

Did this fix it? Quick checklist

• The Xbox app signs in without showing 0x87DD0005
• Games launch from your library normally
• Gaming Services shows as installed and updated in the Microsoft Store
• No sign-in error after a full PC restart

If 0x87DD0005 persists, try signing out of the Microsoft Store as well and signing back in, since the store and the Xbox app share sign-in infrastructure — and as a final measure, uninstall the Xbox app entirely and reinstall it from the Microsoft Store, which gives you a completely fresh copy of everything. But try every step above first: the vast majority of 0x87DD0005 cases are fixed long before a reinstall is needed.