DCOM / Kernelbase.dll error? - Several Windows Apps not working (Photos, Groove, Calculator, others).

Hi Folks,

I have a client with a less than one month old Inspiron 5515 running the latest updates of Windows 10.  Since receiving this computer, the computer has been throwing a significant number of critical events relating table stakes Windows applications. These were usually associated with DCOM errors (event id 10001) in the event viewer (two examples below):

Example 1:

Unable to start a DCOM Server: Microsoft.MicrosoftOfficeHub_18.2106.12410.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe!Microsoft.MicrosoftOfficeHub.AppXt4mh7c9swwc5cmd5jgmtmwcfmvkddpn1.mca as Unavailable/Unavailable. The error:
"2147942405"
Happened while starting this command:
"C:\Windows\system32\backgroundTaskHost.exe" -ServerName:Microsoft.MicrosoftOfficeHub.AppX54h2e8jwdm50fj5ha8987vz1etpx7czd.mca

Example 2:

Unable to start a DCOM Server: Microsoft.Windows.Photos_2021.21070.22007.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe!App.AppXy9rh3t8m2jfpvhhxp6y2ksgeq77vymbq.mca as Unavailable/Unavailable. The error:
"2147942405"
Happened while starting this command:
"C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\Microsoft.Windows.Photos_2021.21070.22007.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe\Microsoft.Photos.exe" -ServerName:App.AppXzst44mncqdg84v7sv6p7yznqwssy6f7f.mca

For Example 1 I decided to do a repair install of Office and that cleared that error...yay.

However, when I attempted to reinstall the Microsoft Photos app from the Microsoft Store I got an error 0x80070005 upon the attempt to install which according to the internet is basically "Access Denied".

I then noticed that this Photos app was not the only app exhibiting this behavior.  Pretty much everything from the c:\program files\WindowsApps directory was doing this.  Specifically, Groove Music, Photos, Calculator and a few others are all doing the same thing.

I decided to dig into this WindowsApps directory and gave Administrators ownership and read only access since I couldn't tell who the owner was (I later learned it should be TrustedInstaller). 

After giving Administrators read permission, now I can see what's in there, and when I attempt to open the Calculator (for instance) it now appears to be opening (which it wasn't before), but then it immediately closes.  In the event viewer now, all I see is this error after attempting to open one of the affected apps (event id 1000):

Faulting application name: Calculator.exe, version: 10.2103.8.0, time stamp: 0x6062256a
Faulting module name: KERNELBASE.dll, version: 10.0.19041.1202, time stamp: 0xc9db1934
Exception code: 0x00000004
Fault offset: 0x0000000000034f99
Faulting process id: 0x5360
Faulting application start time: 0x01d7ab6968231dec
Faulting application path: C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\Microsoft.WindowsCalculator_10.2103.8.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe\Calculator.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Windows\System32\KERNELBASE.dll
Report Id: 26cba42c-7ba0-4951-b9a3-803667f6b970
Faulting package full name: Microsoft.WindowsCalculator_10.2103.8.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe
Faulting package-relative application ID: App

And event id 1001 always immediately follows the event 1000 message also:

Fault bucket 2043802790116840559, type 5
Event Name: MoAppCrash
Response: Not available
Cab Id: 0

Problem signature:
P1: Microsoft.WindowsCalculator_10.2103.8.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe
P2: praid:App
P3: 10.2103.8.0
P4: 6062256a
P5: KERNELBASE.dll
P6: 10.0.19041.1202
P7: c9db1934
P8: 00000004
P9: 0000000000034f99
P10:

Attached files:
\\?\C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\Temp\WERFC30.tmp.dmp
\\?\C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\Temp\WERFC9E.tmp.WERInternalMetadata.xml
\\?\C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\Temp\WERFCAF.tmp.xml
\\?\C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\Temp\WERFCBD.tmp.csv
\\?\C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\Temp\WERFCED.tmp.txt

These files may be available here:
\\?\C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\ReportArchive\AppCrash_Microsoft.Window_adabf17f1929e24aa452859c3e5fe418bea6dedd_45c74590_09afd2f5-cd46-4d6f-ade6-1caad9a8241c

Analysis symbol:
Rechecking for solution: 0
Report Id: dbdd19fb-995d-4050-a4fd-3b1a3b44eadc
Report Status: 268435456
Hashed bucket: 391e55cfc9ba2e09ec5d0bcf1fddd46f
Cab Guid: 0

So, this leads me to my question:

While I suspect that the 'sledgehammer solution' of reinstalling windows will probably fix this, i'm really trying to avoid that because this client is supported remotely and I don't have physical access to the computer.

The only other thought was to give Administrators full control over the WindowsApps directory to see if it is a permissions issue of sorts...but that's a total shot in the dark and am not sure what kind of impact that might have.  

Any ideas on how I can solve this?  The internet has been of very little help unfortunately. 

Thanks
Jon