Manually Refresh Software Center

If you need to install a piece of software from the Windows 10 Software Center, but you are not seeing it listed, it may need a refresh. This can be done with out preforming any actions and just leaving Software Center open and running, but if you preform a manual update it should refresh right away.

• At the bottom left of your screen, use the search option to locate the Control Panel application, and open it.

• When the Control Panel opens, you are looking for a category that says "System and Security". Click anywhere in this section to open the category. 

• In the System and Security category folder, you are looking for a section that is titled "Configuration Manager" towards the bottom of the window. Click on this section to open a new window.

• In the window that appears you are looking for a tab that is titled "Actions", click on that to reveal the Action options.

• In the Actions tab, we are looking to run three actions. After you select the action you will need to click the "Run Now" button. You will likely see a warning each time that states "The selected cycle will run and might take several minutes to finish.", Simply click ok and run each of them. The Actions you need to run are
  • Application Deployment Evaluation Cycle
  • Machine Policy Retrieval & Evaluation Cycle
  • Software Inventory Cycle

• Once you have run all three of those actions, you can click the "OK" button to close the actions window and then close the Control Panel window as well.

• After a few minutes, you can open the Software Center. To do this quickly, you can again use the search feature and begin typing "Software Center" and then select it when it appears in the menu.

• Once Software Center opens, you should see a refreshed list of software applications that you can install based on current offerings and policies related to your computer. Some computers may see different applications depending on where they are and who they are assigned to (e.g. Staff vs Students)