My existing computer on which I have MSFS installed suffered a catastrophic failure a few days ago and I am unable to access any data or even boot-up. I have ordered a new system and am wondering if it is possible to deactivate my existing license then reinstall on my new system or would I have to buy again?
Just use your MS login in the store and you are good to go. The game shows up under the apps and games you own.
It works like Steam and other game client services, where you just log in and your games are there.
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What @xBufferzz said. Licensing is login based. But, if the current drive still works, you could save a boatload of download time by hooking the drive up to the new system and copying the files/directories over en masse.
There could be reasons for doing a full fresh reinstall, but you may be able to save other files too if you don’t have backups.
This is more than just basic stuff though since you need to know how to configure FS2020 in this situation. Look for posts about UserCfg.opt.
So long as “catastrophic failure” doesn’t just mean that your CMOS battery is dead … and yes I have seen such a computer diagnosed as beyond repair by a supposedly certified Microsoft Windows engineer.
If you have not made the mistake installing some watercooling-trash nonsense like I did in my especially hardware-crazy days and lost your computer by having a leak… and if your PSU hasn´t sent an electric shock frying your whole system, you are lucky: probably almost all of your components will be still alive and okay 
Most of the times you just need a new mainboard (these things can sometimes cost 50$ or less if you don´t have much money to buy a new PC right now - but changing the mainboard is absoutely annoying because the whole computer must be taken apart and build anew). Sometimes the CPU or graphics card is broken which is more expensive but less work because it´s only changing one part is necessary.
Rarely to almost never a whole PC is completely destroyed at once.
When you start the machine you get an error code via LED lights on the mainboard to see what causes the boot failure, if it does nothing when trying to start probably the PSU and/or the mainboard needs to be changed.
You can also harvest all your harddrives and continue flying the sim without any problems on any other computer your harddrives are plugged in, and if you buy a new PC you have to just log into your Microsoft Account and re-gain access to all your DLCs and your flight sim - so don´t worry too much.
But your PC needs to be repaired urgently - if it can run flight sim it probably was some decent and relatively new machine too good to just be thrown on the trash without having checked every single hardware component.
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Id check the power supply 1st if its completely dead in the water. Make sure kitty didnt unplug if from the wall etc.
If you give us more details on what this failure was, maybe we can help you fix your current problem alot cheaper then going out and buying a new machine.
Did you try hitting it with a Big Hammer…->joking
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Yes, I upgraded my computer in November last year which I built myself, and just put a couple of my old drives into my new computer on which had FS it would work but wouldn’t recognize my account and had to make a new one. Anyway, that didn’t work properly so I uninstalled FS and downloaded and installed it again, and was able to use my original account.
What kind of catastrophic failure? Water damage?
I have an AMD system that decided one day to not boot or provide any video so couldn’t get into BIOS.
Fixed it by removing the CMOS battery, and putting it back in after a few minutes. Made me wonder how many other people have come across the same issue, and then just assumed the computer or CPU or some other hardware was dead since the motherboard lights were lit up for the CPU when the issue happened.
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That resets CMOS just the same as the prescribed jumper or nowadays shorting two contacts or even a button push … I’m sorry to say but you haven’t made an amazing discovery as resetting bios is always the first option for a PC no show.
Hello, thanks for your replies, I think I am sorted now.
I was looking forward to a great tragi-comic story along the lines of “…and everything was going really well until I installed the garden hose…”
Will we ever learn the nature of this catastrophic failure?
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What do you mean I can’t water it like my plants? Everyware you can read that watercooled pcs are great…
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I wonder if some people water cool there just to say that they have a water-cooled computer. On FB a person is selling an i5 10600K CPU with a GTX 1070 8GB card and it is water-cooled I thought what as I’m running the same CPU with a GTX 1060 6GB card and it is air-cooled and the fan on the CPU hardly ever ramps up. This is my CPU cooler. Buy the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Black Edition CPU Cooler Gun-metal Black with… ( RR-212S-20PK-R1 ) online - PBTech.co.nz
Well, it sounds cool to say you have a water cooled PC.
Being serious though, I thought I would get my PC water cooled because I intended to OC the CPU. And to be fair, i’ve never seen the CPU go above 70°C so I suppose it must be doing something. I was originally concerned about leaking but so far there have been no probs. Having said that I believe some of the better fans are also pretty good. When I update my MB and CPU I will probably look at the current best options.
I’m really happy with my new air cooled Deepcool Gamestorm Assassin 3. It’s a monster and will not fit in all case (I have a 1mm margin to close my left panel). I can finally OC to 5.1Ghz all cores my i7 10700K, even if the Room goes up to 31 degrees nowadays. As I don’t need such power (only MSFS need that and the coming update may change this) I stick to 4,9Ghz all cores. Cooler.
I know liquid ones can do better but for the price I paid the Deepcool (on sales at 65€ vs 85€ usually) the choice was easy
My opinion is water and electrics don’t mix I stick to air cooling 
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I have had a radiator for over ten years now and don’t regret it for one instant. I will certainly do it again on the next PC as well.
Just booted up my new machine and still have it active on my old machine. No issues
I’ve been using AIO watercoolers for the last 10 years or so. I switched from air for two reasons. One was noise, I can barely hear the AIO. Second the air coolers were just getting massive and heavy and really didn’t like that weight hanging of the mobo. Also made it difficult to add in new components and some just won’t fit as they are blocked by the air cooler.