Windows 8 How to download apps from Windows 8 Store which aren’t available in your country/region

This is a short tutorial outlining two possible ways to download apps from the Store which normally would not be available in your country.

There are dozens of the apps in Store which are not available globally or their features differ from other regions. There is no way to get that app in your region but, you can set change your region to some other which will let you download the app.

Before proceeding further, lets talk about the limitations about the trick of changing the region.


  1. You may be able to download the app but, you might not get the app services in your area if, they are not available in your country
  2. You may not be able to use the app in your PC due to the language problems
Now, if you still think you want to get the apps outside your region then, follow the instructions below to change your region.Instructions:

Method 1- Configuring the Store preferences

You can try changing your Store app settings which should work and they also did for me.
  • First of all, open up the Store.
  • Once opened, go to ‘Settings‘ by pressing ‘Windows key + C‘ and then, selecting ‘Settings‘.
  • Your ‘Settings‘ Charm will open. Here select ‘Preferences‘.
  • Your Store Preferences will open. Here you should see two options with switches.

  • prefs.JPG

  • Turn both of them ‘off‘ by moving the switches to the left side.
  • Close the Store app and re-open it. Now, you should have the apps which weren’t available previously.

If the above method doesn’t work and you still think that the apps are not appearing in Store then, you can change your PC region.

Disclaimer:
Use this method on your own risk. Some features of your PC might not work after changing your region

Open up ‘Control Panel


  • Control Panel will open on desktop. Here select ‘Clock, Language and Region‘ if, you have the Category view or select ‘Region‘ if, you have icons view.

  • If, you pressed ‘Clock, Language and Region‘ then, you can press ‘Region‘ in the next page or if, you pressed ‘Region‘ in the above step simply proceed to next one.

  • In both above cases, a pop-up window would open entitled as ‘Region‘. Navigate to the ‘Location‘ tab in that window.

  • Under ‘Location‘ you will see only one option of ‘Home Location‘. Select your desired location from the drop down menu.



    • Tip: The most number of apps are available in China but, most of them are in Chinese and then, United States comes on second in app count.
    • Press ‘Ok‘ after you have selected your location. Now, go to the Store and you would see apps which are available in your selected region.

Reference:
How to install apps from Store which aren't available in your region
 
Last edited by a moderator:
well I am not sure if I got more available apps or not .
I was looking for Nook which did NOT show yet, but as it was just released ( I assume) maybe it will take a few days to show up.. So will wait and see for now.. thanks.
G
 
OK UPDATE..
just had some more time to look at my STORE. and yes I have many many more apps available.. there are a lot of useless apps and a lot of what appear to be "chinese' apps but what the.....
Still have not found Nook yet but maybe later... for eg under TOOLS it shows 949 apps available. was no where near that before.. will take some time to look thru them all lol
Bottom line is your instruction suggestions appear to work
thanks..
g
 
OK UPDATE..
just had some more time to look at my STORE. and yes I have many many more apps available.. there are a lot of useless apps and a lot of what appear to be "chinese' apps but what the.....
Still have not found Nook yet but maybe later... for eg under TOOLS it shows 949 apps available. was no where near that before.. will take some time to look thru them all lol
Bottom line is your instruction suggestions appear to work
thanks..
g

Well that's some progress at least.. Thank you for following up.
 
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