Installer hangs decompressing files

User Support Hub Install, Performance & Graphics
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Please tag your post with #pc and/or #xbox.
pc

Are you on Steam or Microsoft Store version?
MS Store - Xbox Games Pass

Do you have any add-ons in your Community folder? If yes, please remove and retest before posting.
No. As it won’t install the main program

Are you using Developer Mode or made changes in it?
No

Brief description of the issue:
This is day 5 of trying to install for the first time. The installer continually hangs when decompressing files, forcing me to end the installer and start it again. I’ve worked through all the suggestions on this site and others, including deleting the file/folder that has caused the hang, then restarting; running as administrator; turning off the firewall or anti-virus, resetting MS Store, disabling autotuning, disabling my memory XMP profile, testing my RAM, increasing the page file size, installing ot a different drive, running disk cleanup tools, disabling IPV6, etc.

Deleting the file the installer hangs on allows me to continue, but it stops being useful when I get to the fs-base files starting at “fs-base-0.1.156.fspackage”. The downloads there are 15GB in total, and it usually hangs at the first file when it starts decompressing. I’ve made it to the end of that section on a few occasions by deleting the file that hangs and continuing, but once the last file decompresses the installer then just deletes the entire folder and starts again.

I’ve also tried using 7-zip to manually extract the files to the folder. Some have errors - maybe 1 or 2 files in the file. Same thing again, though. As soon as I start the installer it deletes the folder and goes back to the start of that section.

Windows is up to date, as are my drivers.

I can see that a lot of other people are having issues with downloads. If anyone can offer advice of what to do now, it would be very much appreciated. I’m fed up downloading 15GB, only for nothing to happen with it.

PC specs for those who want to assist (if not entered in your profile)
Windows 10 home. Ryzen 5 2600X, MSI B450 Gaming Pro Carbon, Sapphire Radeon RX Vega 56 8GB,
16GB (2x8GB) 3000MHz Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4

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A bit of a stab in the dark but I would also consider running windows in a clean boot state - please look up how to this, but it goes a little like this…

Type msconfig in the search box in windows and open the msconfig app/tool.
Tick the box to hide windows app/features, then disable everything else.
Lock on the startup tab then run task manager, from there disable anything that is loaded up during a normal boot - I suggest taking a screen sho of this window before you change anything so you know how it was before.
Apply an exit msconfig and allow it to restart the pc when prompted. When windows loads up it should be in a clean boot state so nothing that might be interfering with the update will be running. You revisers these steps when you are all done.

I would also suggest perhaps powering everything down, including your router, leave it for a few minutes then turn the router back on, let it establish a connection, then power up your pc. I can’t guarantee this will work, but at least you will rule out a couple of other potential problem points.

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Your router also might have a bad socket layer or something. At admin command prompt, do the following"
Ipconfig_/release Underscore _ indicates a space
Ipconfig_/renew
This will release your ip address into router and then reestablish it when renewed. I would restart PC after that. As suggested powering down router might do this, but you really want to flush all the routers stored connections which this should do. You can also hit the little red button on router, this resets back to factory, so any special passwords you have will have to be redone.
Long shot, could have corrupted installer. again at admin command prompt.
SFC_/scannow
That will run a system file checker and report any broken files it will attempt to repair, better repair is:
chkdsk_/F/R
This will check all the files and structures and fix and repair them, depending on disk size, it could take hours for this to run. On my 8TB drive (usb) it takes over 24 hours to finish. I don’t do it often.
I know nothing about AMD and their components, so someone else will have to chime in and say hey those should work.

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Thanks to you both for your replies and advice. I tried it all, but unfortunately it was still the same result.

However, I did manage to finally get FS installed after a hell of a lot of messing about.

For the ‘base files’ (15GB) and ‘cgl’ packages (60+GB) I dowloaded them, paused and killed the program as soon as decompressing started and took a backup of the archives. I then let the program start up again to see what file would fail when decompressing.

I then did the following repeatedly, until all the files decompressed successfully

  • delete all the downloaded files for that package, and the folder itself.
  • copy back the files I knew decompressed successfully, up until the file before decompressing failed.
  • start FS, which causes the program to start downloading from the file that failed

Once I had downloaded the remaining files - or a suitable chunk of them - I would

  • Use 7-zip to test the integrity of the backup file, and the newly downloaded file
  • Use 7-zip to copy any good files from the download to the backup, to replace any broken files in the backup (or vice versa, depending on which had the lower number of errors). You need to be careful about the folders inside the archive that you copy between - as some cgl files have lots of internal folders.

I repeated this until I either fixed the files completely, or had only a small number of errors. At various points I’d put all the backup files back into the main folder and start the program to see how far decompressing would take me with the newly repaired files.

I also didn’t sit for hours waiting for anything to decompress. I monitoried FS’s disk activity on Task Manager, and as soon as disk activity stopped for a few seconds I knew the decompressing had failed. I killed the program and started again.

I eventually got a point where all the files decompressed. I don’t think all the files were error free, but it worked.

For smaller packages that caused problems I found that deleting the files and folder for that package and restarting usually worked. It was only the packages that were massive in size that were a problem.

Shouldn’t have to do any of this, but I got it working eventually.

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I am facing the same issue. Load the game and it tells you to update the program with no update in the Microsoft Store. I tried loading the XBOX app but it does not solve the problem. Previously when I had this issue I uninstalled the game and reinstalled it. All was good until the next update. I do like the sim but starting to regret purchasing it. If this keeps up I will likely abandon MSFS for DCS. Please help

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Same issue here (Steam version) since last Friday I’m trying to install MSFS.
I have sent a ticket to Zendesk, text sent below
Following my previous ticket (126330) and after 10 attempts in 3 different computers with 3 different routers (in my home and at 2 friends place), since last Friday and until now unable to install MSFS in a computer, always staying stuck on different files.
All the suggestion provided by you were attempted by me including:
What you have published in Zendesk;
Check disk done, in different disks - all them perfect;
RAM check done using standard tool of Win10;
Trying installation on different folders / disks
Running MSFS as Administrator
And a lot of other different attempts
My PC specs: I9 10900K - GPU 3080 - 32 GM RAM - Motherboard ASUS Z490

I’m able to install any other big game as RDR2 for example from Steam. 100GB in around 2 hours
Issues only on MSFS.

Following this, I have the following questions:
Any suggestion about how I can solve the problem as your customer?
Or instead this, you as the software developer will take ownership of this problem and take any actions to solve the issue that several people are reporting on internet?
Or you will keep in silence and only delivering possible solutions to the community that simple don’t solve nothing?

Thanks in advance.

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I am doing the same procedure as you, pretty much. Minus the integrity test. I like that idea. You seem to have created a backup of all the compressed files. Way to go. I keep an eye on the compressed file that gets stuck, pause the process for good measure. I keep the game folder open to find the file that just failed the decompression. Close the game then delete the file… Launch the game again, and repeat the process.

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Can’t everyone share the packages in the torrent so that everyone can use it and not have to suffer so much?

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X Box Game site has the correct links for updates, store is where you purchase, it should send you to the Game site on X-Box if PC, not sure what it does if using a real XBox machine. . Then you should be able to download/update game and go.

All - The distribution method for this game is a “xlklklfjajds” (fill in your thought here), and I have numerous times recommended to Asobo/MS to put the files on a server we can login to and download to the local machine for extraction and installation. That falls on deaf ears, they are worried about piracy. Trust me, no one in their right mind would want to pirate this mess, it’s way to cumbersome and if we had “accounts” that then requires a password and login user id, so make it 2nd level send me a code on my phone to verify it’s me. The current method of getting updates and then updating is a mess. It failed on me a year ago, and I had it, and removed the whole mess from my PC and waited a month or so to see if it got better, it worked when I reinstalled it, but it lost all my settings and that took 3 days fussing with it to get right again. X-Plane is way easier to download/install and configure. It takes maybe an hour the first time, and maybe 10 minutes the second and subsequent time, I write down everything and put that into word document, and keep in a settings file so I don’t forget how this button is set for that game. I try to duplicate as closely as possible in MSFS and XP.

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My friend, you are absolutely right, they think they are going to steal game licenses, but with new security algorithms and strong identity enforcement, no thief can do this. We have no problem with their security, they can do whatever they want, but the game is make it available so that anyone anywhere on the planet can download it. Why does the installer have to download so many files and redo it because of a small disconnect then get so confused that he can’t decompress it? It’s true that Microsoft is not a small domestic company that is at this level. Microsoft is an international company and they should be responsible for the money they get. If it was any other company, they would have thought about installation after seeing 10 topics, but there are 1000 topics. There is but they are sleeping and as if nothing happened

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