Dear MSFS team!
I remember FSX had that odd need for leaving the CD1 in the CD/DVD drive to start up the program…
Now I own the European DVD boxed version of MSFS Premium Deluxe and it is the same. This is so outdated.
Guess what… my PC does not have an internal DVD drive, I am using an external USB DVD drive on demand which is not connected to the PC all the time. MSFS does definately not start without the DVD drive connected and the DVD no. 1 in the drive…
So what is the reason for this annoying behaviour? Are you serious? As I am logged in to my Microsoft account on the PC and the software is official, legally bought at Aerosoft and online registrated and connected to my Microsoft account you should be able to do an online check for the valid licence without messing around the customer. Why do you install such a pain…
Would you please be so kind and update that annoying feature please. I mean we are in the year 2020 and not back in the days of FSX! Compared to e.g. P3D which is activated only once online and never bothers again… this is really… well… weird. No way.
So I grabbed my external USB DVD drive again, while the MSFS startup screen was waiting for that DVD check… connected it to the same USB plug it was connected to on installation yesterday and managed to insert the DVD 1. What happened? MSFS froze and crashed. Oh Lord! Had to restart it with the DVD drive connected!
If there will not be an update to skip this I’d like to be refunded and have the online version instead (which I did not choose due to local internet connection speed) !
You should have at least warned the customers before buying the boxed DVD version that there will be this behaviour! Think it over: it is pure unjustice because the download version will not have this check implemented and will check the valid licence online I guess! Unbelievable. Sorry to say!
Sad to start with such posting, but it’s really really annoying! I’d really prefer to congratulate you on the amazing job and sim… but then you destroyed the positive impression with such torture.
Best regards
As far as i remembered, it was clearly announced that the first disc will be needed to start every time. That’s why i didn’t buy it.
A workaround to try : Copy/make an .iso from the first DVD. Use program like Daemon tools, and mount your image to your virtual device.
Ok, thanks mate. Will try that.
But really this is not acceptable, in my eyes, may it be announced or not simply because it is not needed. The Reg Key is the thing that counts…
It’s like Xplane boxed version sell by Aerosoft…
My workaround worked for X Plane. I made an iso from each disc (it takes a while…), installed from iso file and that worked fine
Hello to all pilots,
I´m an old man but i bought a brand new software package. Did the DVD installation…registered my key…downloaded many bits… a day is gone and it asks for a DVD on every startup?
Back to stone age?
Dear team, please stop this!
Regards fom Germany.
I think I missed that announcement (my bad) 
I bought the retail edition like a collectible (so to have it with all the previous MSFSs’ boxes I have), and thinking the code would be enough.
I’ll try that workaround once back home in a couple of weeks, as my gaming laptop doesn’t have a DVD reader. But if meawhile something changes, would be veery much appreciated 
Giulio
It was public knowledge that this was the case weeks ago. And Aerosoft said that MS insisted on this check. Is it stupid? Yes. Will it change? Doubt.
Hi Dawu777!
Forgive me, but “public knowledge” is something totallly different. This here is something very specialized and it seems I’m not the only one who missed that - maybe announced - tiny detail.
Anyway thanks for agreeing to the other facts. Appreciated.
I doubt it will be a good selling argument for the boxed version in the long run and Aerosoft would be wise to influence MS to cancel that stupid check. Particularly as the boxed version is more pricy than the download one the whole situation is not acceptable.
Thanks for all your input, folks! 
Still waiting for someone official commenting here.
Cheers
This is why I didn’t get the boxed version. And I’m sure it’s not something they are going to ‘fix’ I’m afraid. I would bet this is very intentional - they really want people to buy the download version instead. The boxed version = second-hand sales, which the video games industry has been desperate to kill off.
Having said that, I am tempted to buy the boxed version too just to have it on my shelf and it could well appreciate in value (FSX boxed version did sell for over £100 on ebay at one point when they stopped making them and you could only get it on Steam). It’s also the only way you can get an official manual for this game. How is the packaging and manual? I’d be interested to know.
Hello. Have someone tried it with a Virtual Clone Drive Disc 1 .iso? Thanks…
BTW, the boxed version has sold-out on amazon uk, and is currently on-sale on EBAY for £133. You can sell it and make yourself a profit, then buy the digital version. Loads of non-europe based residents keen to get the boxed version and the official suppliers aren’t allowed to ship outside europe.
Hello!
The quality of the box is nice. Stury hardcover booklet for the premium content included with stories / discriptions of every airplane and airport plus the little booklet for the regular content and a little poster for the key definitions of the game. The box itself is a hardcover of good quality. I like it. Looks great.
Well reselling is not my cup of tea. And btw. the reg key is only usable once and now connected to my Microsoft account. You cannot resell it.
So btw. the argument of banning the hard copy versions in future from the market for the benefit of selling downlad software instead is unlogical nonsense too. There is no difference in security system with the registration between download and box version regarding the activation code - once registered to your Microsoft account it’s burned - no possibility to resell… so really no need for bothering with this stupid check of DVD.
Urgh, sorry to hear it locks to a key. I’m not a pc gamer so wasn’t aware of this trend. Xbox games don’t do this and so are always resellable (though you need to have disc in the Xbox as with fs2020), I wonder what the Xbox version will be like. I hope someone here can give you a solution to this.
Flight Simulator X did not need a DVD check actually, it had a serial key that could be activated online or via phone. It was Flight Simulator 2004 that required CD 4 in order to start up. We’re back to 2003, not even 2006. Completely agree about the DVD check being removed, even though I have a drive bay in my system I swap discs a lot so this would be really inconvenient. It comes with an activation key for the Microsoft Store as far as I’m aware, so this really doesn’t make sense.
Ha. 2004? Yeah. LOL So it’s getting better and better.
I did a quick test and it works with an ISO.
I extracted it ImgBurn and then mounted it with Deamon tools.
Booted up and loaded into KDEN for a quick test. Looks okay.
Now I can safely store all the discs in the box, yaay! 
Thanks, great to know. I’ll actually consider getting the physical edition now.
Is it possible to place the ISO in whichever hard drive you want or does it have to be on the C: drive?
The drive letter doesn’t seem to matter
Ok stupid question from an older Gentleman that isn’t that familiar with ISO. How do you point FS to a different drive when starting other than the DVD Rom Drive which it currently looks at by default?
I was thinking exactly the same but apparenty that’s not needed. It finds the new drive by itself!
Edit: Just to doublecheck I rebooted my PC and tried it again. Still works. I mounted the ISO on the J-drive, while the original disc used to be the D-drive.