Why does Windows Store need the DNS client service to run (Windows 10)?

On my Windows 10 computer (and apparently others), the Windows Store app (or just "Store") will not start if the "DNS Client" is not running - Error "0x80072EE7".

Why?

The "DNS client" service is supposed to only supply DNS caching and name registration.

All other networked applications that I use on Windows 10 seem to work just fine without the DNS Client service, and I never experienced any problems disabling this service before - DNS is just resolved and cached by whatever DNS server/resolver that Windows is configured to use (via DHCP).

This issue is also mentioned at: http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_10-win_upgrade/app-store-isnt-loading-it-gives-error-0x80072ee7/2455d884-b66c-409b-a288-a5f1cf9aa025?page=2 But with no explanation.

I would like to know this because I generally recommend disabling the DNS Client service in order to make DNS troubleshooting easier (one less cache to worry about).

A somewhat educated guess is that some of the content available from the windows store ( eg streaming DRM content) is not stored on Microsoft servers and to avoid assuming there is unfettered access to a dns server ( some, although rare, require credentials, in other countries dns lookups are limited due to content and location censorship ).

Rather than risk a lost sale, they embedded a dns client into windows. Its likely just a cache - gets updates when permitted by network conditions, but it could prevent some types of Windows store firewall blocking. Pure speculation here.

The best way to find out is run a traffic capture / analyzer program like wireshark or ethtool, use the store, and make adjustments to your normal dns service and see if can compensate or not even skip a beat. You could at least get a first order approximation of its capabilities fairly quickly.

Closed source OSes are fun!