How To Bring Back Windows Phone Marketplace In Zune [Hack]
A few days back, Microsoft announced two major changes regarding WP7 – app support for pre-Mango versions of Windows Phone 7 was finally dropped (which shouldn’t be much of an issue, given the fact that no existing WP7 device is incompatible with Mango), and rather surprisingly, the guys over in Redmond killed the Windows Phone Marketplace in Zune. This may be to counter cracking of apps, or maybe the Zune Marketplace was just thought to be extraneous after the web Marketplace became active. Whatever the reason behind this move may be, apparently, it isn’t too difficult to get the Zune Marketplace back. Anyone can do this, even those who don’t have a developer unlocked device. In fact, to follow the method to hack the WP7 Marketplace back to Zune, you won’t even need to touch your phone, as everything will be done on PC.
Look at the screenshot above. That is all what’s left of Zune’s Marketplace – just a few apps targeted at Zune HD, and not a single one for Mango phones. So, how can you restore things back to the way they were previously? Simply by using any registry editor! Just follow the instructions outlined below, and you will have the Marketplace up and running in no time.
Disclaimer: Please attempt this guide at your own risk. AddictiveTips won’t be responsible in case your system gets damaged in any way in the process.
- Start Zune. Although this isn’t necessary, but it is better if you keep Zune running in the background while following these instructions.
- Launch the registry editor of your choice (or simply enter “regedit” (without quotes) in Windows’ Run dialog and hit Enter).
- Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER.
- Under that folder, you will find Software. Select that.
- The next step is to go to the Microsoft folder, followed by Zune. Steps 2 to 4 constitute the following path:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Zune - Once you have reached Zune, choose the main folder and add a new Key (by right-clicking the main area displaying Name, Type and Data). This key will show up as a new folder in the registry hierarchy under Zune.
- Rename the newly created Key to FeaturesOverride.
- Now click the FeaturesOverride value you just created, and in the area to the right of the screen, add a new DWORD (32-bit). This can be done from the same right-click menu that was used in step 6.
- Name the new DWORD “Apps” (again, without quotes), and set its value to 1 (by clicking it and assigning the value in the menu that comes up).
- Exit the registry editor, and close Zune as well.
Now, you will see that the next time you launch Zune, the Marketplace will be back in all its original glory, and you can use it to download apps just like the good old days. The method worked flawlessly for us, and there were no apparent drawbacks, but tinkering with registries can be a dangerous task, so take care in performing each of the steps outlined above.
[via WPCentral]
Thanks a lot!!! I used that to be able to sync Xbox Music with my Windows Phone 7.5 and worked perfecly!!! I just replaced the word “Apps” by “Music”!!
Not working anymore! As I can see key named “Features” has been removed. Maybe something else was changed too, ’cause this hack is not working…
I wanna thank you for this little trick i can asure you that it still working till now i’ve made every step that you said! thank you so much.
This brings back the apps in the Marketplace section, but it is still missing from the Collection. Is it possible to change that?
How is this gonna improve speed and security. I feel sorry for those
Developers who will die of starvation due to a decrease in customers due
to this bad-strategic move. The Developers like Mazhar Mohammed and
their bosses did not think through this well.
Its like go to work every morning then instead of improving
accessibility and reliability they just figure out more ways of making
their customer’s lives miserable. I hate this
Now I only have Internet on my PC, Internet Data inconvenience and
expensive how am I going to get apps from MarketPlace. There is still no
way to connect your phone to the internet using Zune. Using Zune to
install apps was a pain in an A*s. Now they decrease the available
methods to only 1. Having an internet connection on your phone without a
proxy. Wake up bunch of fools money does not grow on trees. Most of you
who liked this announcement are;nt aware that you are just getting more
limited as prisoners.
This move was dumb as a results many customers are gona find
alternative brands like Android. How can the only way to get apps is via
the 3G internet on the phone with is limited to 20MB. I wouldn’t be
complaining if the Proxy Authentication on the phone applied to
Marketplace and other apps. It only works for IExplorer9 only. I cant
connect to maps, markertplace, XBOX Live,or even update my phone just
because proxy authentication is not supported by those apps. If I had a
choice I would brake this phone then buy me a Galaxy S3 or iPhone they
are much better than this.
Awesome! Never can understand why they take something that works and then kill it.
True that, Microsoft/Nokia are trying to Dictate us on products we bought with hard earned money. I will never buy any Windows Mobile Product again, period
it works
But on my Lumia 800 it only browser throught the MarketPlace but It does no begin downloading. Please Help