I was think about the same procedure.
But I think Microsoft protected their dvd’s from copying.
Does it work for you?
Did you create the ISO withe the win10 explorer, or did you use a specific program?
Cheers
I used “CDBurnerXP” and for me, it’s ok.
Choose Disk Copy and Check “Ignore Unreadable Data”.
Sorry, menu in french.
Hello,
As suggested I have opened a zendesk ticket asking for a patch to avoid this message “Please insert game disc” and then allowing users with boxed version to run MSFS in the same way as those with digital version. Let’s hope and wait.
Best regards
3 Likes
thank you so much!
it worked like a charm 
Zendesk is the wrong institution to contact because it’s not a bug. I had already opened a request there myself, which has since been closed.
In the meantime I’ve found out that the annoying disc check is a “feature”:
Aerosoft Knowledge Base: Will I need to keep the disc inserted to run the disc version of Microsoft Flight Simulator?
I ask myself the following question: Why does software activated via the Microsoft Store have to check the status of the activation via disc check? With Steam, UPlay, etc., every game that has been activated can be installed and played via the respective store or client, regardless of whether it is an online version or a disc version and regardless of whether the disc is in the drive at runtime. I expect that this will also work the same way with software activated via the Microsoft Store, such as the Flight Simulator.
That is why I hope that you will coordinate with Aerosoft and that the disc check will be omitted in the future. Thank you! 
@Bitnapper Unfortunately you are crediting the moderators of this forum with influence they do not possess.
The forums are not an official support channel for MSFS, which is Zendesk. When you click on ‘Submit a Request’ from the top menu bar there is the option to select a category under “How can we help?”. The best category to select for this particular request is “Feedback & Feature Requests” and then fill in the rest of the form as appropriate.
These forums are a great venue for fellow simmers to chat and exchange information and ideas but do not serve any official function for support. (The moderators are regular forum users like everyone else who happen to have volunteered for the moderator role and are not employees of MS or Asobo.) In this #self-service:wishlist category, where forum users can up vote on features they would like implemented, threads do get reviewed by the Community Management team . However, to ensure that a request formally reaches those who need to hear it, the best option remains submitting a ticket on Zendesk. The more people who do this then the greater weight is given to that particular issue.
My initial response to one and all was not in anyway trying to dodge anything. Rather, it was to genuinely try and help you get your case heard. I hope this makes sense.
Happy flying!
It is to be expected that the Community Management team and the moderators of this forum don’t decide on the further development of the Flight Simulator.
In this interview, Jörg Neumann, Head of Microsoft Flight Simulator, spoke about how the team would take the feedback from the community into account in the continuous development of the Flight Simulator:
Neue Weltupdates, Mods und Erweiterungen für den Microsoft Flight Simulator (german)
I think this forum, and especially the wish list, is an excellent opportunity for the Flight Simulator team to be inspired accordingly. That is why I suggest that the development and Community Management teams network.
But regardless of that, I will open another service request. Thanks for the hint!
After successful installation you need always first fs disc to start the simulator. This is frustrated and absolutly not nessecary. In the downlaod version you have the activation key which is linked with the microsoft account. This should be enough also for the box version! Please remove this usless disc check as soon as possible. Thanks.
The “Download” version will also sometimes as you for a 1st DVD when the Internet connection fails … and of course, with the Download Version, there is no “1st DVD” !!
The nostalgic thing when that happens, is that you get the famous “Press any key to Continue” message, and the old screenshot slide show …
Ahhhhhh Memories – I miss “Start any key to Continue” !!!
Try this out. It works really well for me, and is much more convenient.
https://forums.flightsimulator.com/t/tip-for-dvd-users-save-drive-space/199070
We asked about a removal of this check quite a lot at launch but unfortunately it wasn’t really acknowledged. Nobody has any idea why Microsoft deemed it necessary since the serial number is tied to your Xbox account. This workaround is probably the closest we’ll ever get to a solution.
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I have the download version and this also happened to me when I temporarily lost my Internet connection. I agree, the authentication rights to the program should be handled by system files encoded appropriately with ownership. Besides the concept of inserting a disk being rather kludgy, who these days still has a desktop or gaming computer that even HAS a DVD player anymore. It’s no longer considered standard equipment in a streaming world.
yes, my Laptop does not have a DVD Player/Recorder – I have to use a USB one if need it. - or access a Player on another PC on the network.
Microsoft Flight Simulator purchased with the DVD version has a ‘feature’ that requires that Disk #1 of the 10 DVD disk installation package be read during the program start activity. Absent that disk being present on the system the program will not start.
• This ‘feature’ is required by Microsoft for the DVD program
• This “feature’ is not required for the program version that is downloaded directly from Microsoft.
This document discusses a hack that can avoid that DVD requirement….
The information was gathered from the Microsoft Flight simulator forum. It is a common complaint and the following approach is able to work around this PITA.
The process involves a two step approach…
• Make an ISO file on your hard disk subsystem someplace with the contents of Disk #1. Disk #1 is about 8 GB in size
o ISO Workshop is a freeware program that allows creation of a subset of the Disk #1 and save it as an ISO file. Using ISO Workshop you can make a pseudo ISO file that will be only about 4.0 MB in size because the data and data header files can be eliminated the pseudo ISO file.
o ImgBurn is a freeware program that will read the DVD and make complete ISO file on your hard drive at the designated location. The ISO file will be about 8 GB in size. There is no option to make a subset of the files.
My preference is to use #I since the resulting pseudo ISO file is much smaller.
• Install DAEMON Tools Lite software. This program is a typical daemon – has a background process that is started when the system is started. This program will in turn mount a virtual disk with the ISO file that Microsoft flight Simulator looks for when it is activated. Note that VirtualCloneDrive is another freeware program that will do the same thing according to some posts.
Because of the extensive use of mapped drives with a NAS or other configurations, there may not be many drive letters left for ‘automatic’ attachment. That is the reason that I chose for Daemon Tool to not be configured to automatically mount the ISO file and instead the program must be started manually.
The process is not totally automatic but it ensures that the physical DVD does not need to be inserted in the real DVD drive.
Note that the pseudo ISO file named MFS DISK 1.iso created above is on the F:\ drive and also on the C:\ drive at the respective root levels. My version of belt and suspenders.
I would have attached some pictorial views but could not determine how to do that in this forum.
1 Like
Thank you so much!
Tried it and worked very well. Instead of a 8GB ISO-File i can use the 4MB Version
Thank you for free me from this nonsense.
Hi there.
It would be great to have a start of the sim without DVD for the DVD Version.
I guess it is possible working wlth the serial number only.
I am starting an external DVD drive for the Sim. I would like to avoid it.
But I dont like digital versions because I cannot share or sell them.
It would be a great and easy option.
Best regards
Dirk
With most games you can rip an image file of the DVD as an ISO. Then you create a virtual DVD drive and mount that image to the drive.
Since the game is tied to your Microsoft account, you can’t do this anyway, digital or not, right?