A fresh ZimaOS installation can temporarily show an incomplete or unusable App Store while the system is still initializing and refreshing its catalog. In the original case, no manual repair was confirmed: after roughly four hours, CPU usage fell and the App Store began working normally.
That does not mean every App Store problem should be solved by waiting. A later reply in the same thread described a different issue involving third-party stores on ZimaOS 1.5.4, so the two symptoms should not be merged into one cause.
What Was Actually Verified in the Fresh Install
The original poster returned after several hours and reported that the problem had resolved itself. Immich could then be installed normally. Another user had suggested checking for updates and doing a complete power cycle, but the thread does not prove which of those actions—if any—caused the recovery.
The defensible conclusion is that the fresh installation needed time for background initialization or catalog refresh in that particular case.
First Checks Before Reinstalling ZimaOS
- Confirm the server has stable internet, DNS and correct system time.
- Check Settings for a pending ZimaOS update.
- Allow the fresh system time to finish first-boot background work.
- If needed, perform one clean shutdown and power-on rather than repeatedly reinstalling.
The ZimaOS App Store requirements guide can help separate catalog problems from an app-specific hardware limitation.
Current ZimaOS Has Additional App Store Improvements
The official ZimaOS 1.7.1 release notes lists improvements to the App Store and app installation window display, along with Docker startup and YAML compatibility improvements.
Those release notes do not specifically state that the August 2025 fresh-install catalog delay was fixed, so avoid rewriting the old self-recovery as a named 1.7.1 bug fix.
Treat Third-Party Store Conflicts Separately
The later 1.5.4 report said the default store disappeared when a third-party store was added and returned when those stores were removed. That is a separate version-specific report and was not resolved in the thread.
If the default catalog works before adding another store, reproduce the problem with one third-party source at a time. The ZimaOS apps page provides a cleaner baseline for what is currently available.
Bottom Line
On a fresh install, give the system time to finish initialization and verify updates, DNS and connectivity before reinstalling again. If the problem starts only after adding a third-party store, troubleshoot that as a separate catalog-source issue.
