"winget search (any text) -s msstore" shows oddly few results.

Relevant area(s)

WinGet CLI

Relevant command(s)

winget search

Brief description of your issue

Considering the amount of packages in the msstore source is likely in the 4- or low-5-digits, far too few of them show up when using relatively broad search terms.

For instance, at the time of writing winget search a -s msstore shows 16 results. In contrast, winget search a -s winget shows 13,097 results.

Steps to reproduce

1. Open PowerShell 7.6.4 in Windows Terminal.
2. Run winget search (any text without these parentheses) -s msstore
3. See that there's particularly many results showing up for any of the chosen texts.

Expected behavior

All results in the msstore source that involve the letter A show up when running winget search a -s msstore.

Actual behavior

A vast supermajority of apps in the msstore source that involve the letter A, doesn't show up when running winget search a -s msstore.

Environment

Windows Package Manager (Preview) v1.30.90-preview
© 2026 Microsoft. All rights reserved.

Windows: Windows.Desktop v10.0.26200.8246
System Architecture: X64
Package: Microsoft.DesktopAppInstaller v1.30.90.0

WinGet Directories
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Logs                               %LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\Microsoft.DesktopAppInstaller_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalState\DiagOutputDir
User Settings                      %LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\Microsoft.DesktopAppInstaller_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalState\settings.json
Portable Links Directory (User)    %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\WinGet\Links
Portable Links Directory (Machine) C:\Program Files\WinGet\Links
Portable Package Root (User)       %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\WinGet\Packages
Portable Package Root              C:\Program Files\WinGet\Packages
Portable Package Root (x86)        C:\Program Files (x86)\WinGet\Packages
Installer Downloads                %USERPROFILE%\Downloads
Configuration Modules              %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\WinGet\Configuration\Modules

Links
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Privacy Statement   https://aka.ms/winget-privacy
License Agreement   https://aka.ms/winget-license
Third Party Notices https://aka.ms/winget-3rdPartyNotice
Homepage            https://aka.ms/winget
Windows Store Terms https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/storedocs/terms-of-sale


Group Policy                               State
--------------------------------------------------
Enable Windows App Installer Hash Override Enabled

Admin Setting                             State
--------------------------------------------------
LocalManifestFiles                        Enabled
BypassCertificatePinningForMicrosoftStore Disabled
InstallerHashOverride                     Enabled
LocalArchiveMalwareScanOverride           Enabled
ProxyCommandLineOptions                   Disabled
ConfigurationProcessorPath                Disabled
DefaultProxy                              Disabled

Start by reproducing winget search a -s msstore in PowerShell and trace the WinGet CLI search path for the msstore source. Compare its results with the winget source and verify that broad terms return the expected matching Store applications.