Same here my man. After reinstalling the game due to “the checking for updates” debackle, now the sim simply crashes when loading. I have no sim now. Guess I’ll have to wait it out now and see if something gets fixed.
1 Like
I’ve been getting this a lot, but did notice something in common. I’m a steam user, and I watched Resource Manager after exiting MSFS a few times and noticed that the app took a long time after exiting before it finally left the list of active apps. It even continued to use CPU time after the screen had disappeared. I’m no computer expert, but that doesn’t seem right (or course that could be normal).
I start MSFS through a Steam shortcut, so clearly if Steam isn’t already running, Steam starts before MSFS. I thought what the heck, I’ll close Steam too, and after that, I tried to get back into MSFS again and it worked. I did it numerous times again, and every time I’ve received the Checking for Updates message, I’ve killed MSFS through Task Manager then exited Steam and tried again, and MSFS started. I’m guessing Steam must be holding a file open or something and when MSFS starts again it gets confused about what to do and throws the Checking for Updates screen.
Obviously this doesn’t apply to those not using Steam and won’t apply to everyone, but the same concept could be going on with Store versions. It could be just a coincidence, but I figured I’d let the moderators know.
I had this issue all day – Now I don’t
So it was Updating – Updating what – so I decided to try t find out
I DO NOT RECOMMEND YOU DO THIS, but this is what I took the risk in doing.
I changed the date of all folders & files in OFFICIAL, to today’s date, and a fixed time of 12:00:00AM
Now I should be able to see if any files get changed/updated.
ONLY PROBLEM now is, that since doing this, I no longer get stuck on “Checking for Updates” !! Go figure !!
BUT – I DO NOT RECOMMEND YOU DO THIS
Had the same issue an hour ago. because i was stuck on the checking for updates screen i tried to wait and play another game meanwhile for ~20min. then restarted MSFS and it suddenly wasn’t stuck anymore. did a short test flight, then restartet the sim to see if it`s still stuck, which it isn’t anymore. but now i get a CTD everytime i launch the game, something seems quite off right now for me.
I got a mandatory update today.
It was quick and was only for something concerning the SDK.
Since a few weeks this happens quite often for me. Some days every time i start the sim, other days it may work but get stuck at xbox sync screen. Basically there is always something since a while.
Europe here, Win 10.
If it happens, for it always works to force quit the task and start the Sim again. This is 100%, if i get stuck i do this and it will go past the screen very quick. Maybe half a second.
Thats true besides for today… TOday i also got that for around 1h and nothing helped. Then i got a qupdate from vers 1.37.18?? I thought we are at .19 already
1 Like
sorry for all the new user wat get this now,good for all wat wait for a fix 
i think now it get attention…
Disconnetting and reconnecting the network works for me too
I had an update just now, 600MB approximately.
Now the sim won’t launch, I have a CTD everytime I launch it…
Bloody update broke the sim.
I tried everything here and nothing…I didn’t try CTD this year and I promise I really liked the Sim after SU15. Well, I completely uninstalled it and won’t install it again for now… It could be a great idea to have an option to stop the “update” like Windows has in the settings, like pausing for up to 7 days etc… It’s a pain to make the sim works without problems. A lot adjustments, so much effort to perfectly adjust the settings, addons… and because of a “mandatory” update system you break the Sim. Now it’s time to download everything again… well, not today for sure! See you.
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I have had this on around 60% of my sim session starts.
I tried waiting and after 15-minutes I stopped waiting and restarted the sim. I find network activity high in status monitor.
I now just close and restart the sim until I get a successful sim launch.
I have noticed that when you boot the sim it says signing in, checking for updates, starting in countdown then the Asobo/black magic splash screens then it boots correctly into the sim.
On the times it gets stuck in the checking for updates loop, the sequence above misses out the checking for updates bit after the signing in message every time then does starting countdown and then the splash screens and the checking for update loop starts.
My personal view on the ‘workarounds’ is that it’s coincidental that anything works and it’s either load or there is some missing error handling when something that is contacted doesn’t respond.
1 Like
We understand how incredibly frustrating this is folks, and rest assured that we are investigating this as a priority.
Please ensure that you fill in the new survey we’ve created to gather data as best as you can, so that we can feed this back to the development team.
Whilst you’re always welcome to convey negative sentiment on these forums, especially when there is a problem like this affecting so many, please can I request that we keep comments constructive as per our Code of Conduct. Comments that aren’t constructive do nothing but take our time away from being able to try to help.
Once again, we are continuing to investigate this and appreciate your patience and feedback. We’ll be sure to provide any further information when we are able to do so.
https://forums.flightsimulator.com/t/checking-for-updates-community-survey/645891
5 Likes
It´s totally safe to do that. That´s a Windows side change only. Game still detects addons version by means of this string inside “manifest.json” file, which is inside the addon folder: “package_version”.
Your proposed change therefore does not change game contents themselves.
Cheers
1 Like
Stuck on the pre game loading screen with the blue bar all the way to the right.
Nothing happens, even 10 mins later. Anybody else?
Series X
When I started the sim last night, I got a UAC alert. This is normal when there’s an update and I just click Yes, but this time I clicked No just to see what happens (I like to live on the edge sometimes).
The sim started up and got to the Checking for updates screen. Normally, this should only take a few seconds, and if it takes longer I know I’m suffering from the current bug and I know to restart the sim (the workaround that’s always worked for me).
This time it seemed to be stuck, and just as I was reaching for the mouse, there really was an update! Just a small one and judging by the filename that was downloading, something to do with airports. Very fast download, too.
After it finished (didn’t take long), the sim had its sleeves rolled up and was ready. Out of curiosity I exited gracefully and restarted the sim. I got the UAC alert again (forgot about that) and this time I clicked Yes. The sim started with no issue at all. To see if it was just luck, I restarted again, and again no problem.
Maybe it’s fixed, and maybe not, but fingers, arms, legs and eyes crossed.
2 Likes
Easy Temporary fix (at least for PC)
-
When checking for updates appear, wait about 15 seconds to see it it continues.
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If not, disconnect Internet, and you will get the CONNECTION LOST message (and it will get past the PlayFabAPI hang up, waiting for a valid response)
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Then just reconnect Internet, and it will proceed to load MSFS.
Just do not wear out your Ethernet Socket or plug !!!
Since the cause is known, the correct fix cannot be far away
REF PlayFabAPI issue
Checking for updates? No, we're way past that - #312
2 Likes
thanks,
give it a try next time 
Hi @N6722C,
Just to confirm we have not yet fully established the root cause, or have any information available as to when a fix may be available for users.
As stated we’ll provide more information when we are able to do so!
Thanks
The MSFS Team
Maybe not the ROOT cause, but I believe it is now clear what is causing the “Checking for updates” to HANG, and thus why the above temporary “work around” works.