For the last couple of days I have been unable to start a flight from the Main Menu. I choose an aircraft, pick a departure airport and when I click on FLY the progress bar moves to about 75% then proceeds very slowly and takes several minutes to finish but the flight never starts. I have emptied the Community Folder, tried Safe Mode, emptied all caches and still nothing. I must use Task Manager to end the program.
I have also tried Repair in the XBox app with no success. I have run multiple speed tests on my network and all have been very good.
Any help will be appreciated.
This checklist is from the Sim Support tab at the top of the forum page.
It is a good reference for these type of issues:
https://flightsimulator.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4406039624338-How-to-fix-loading-issues-after-clicking-Play
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Tried everything on that page with no improvement. I even did the Reset on the Sim. It downloaded everything and after it was back open I went into Content Manager and downloaded everything there. That was a total of over 300 gb of data so my Internet is working fine.
Anything else?
Did the sim work before you downloaded all your content?
Whenever you are having problems with the sim, make sure it works ok before installing additional content.
If not, did you go through the items in the links for more advanced troubleshooting that were at the end of the above article?
I’ve been through those links and many others trying to sort this out. I have been using this sim for a long time now and all was working fine until a couple of days ago with a full community folder. I have since emptied it. All I have installed now is the sim itself. I have also reset my network, replaced all the drivers, etc.
In the last hour or so it has completed 2 flights where everything worked properly. The next flight hung up just as before. I did get a few warnings of lost connection which quickly reconnected while starting those flights. My Internet service has been tested and is working properly.
Is there anyway to test the connection to the servers?
Not really.
However, if there were issues with the stream from the servers, there would be lots of reports here about that.
I would suspect that warning message to be more of a local issue.
I didn’t notice any reference to deleting the rolling cache in the support articles.
I you haven’t tried that, it may be worth the effort.
Did you restart the sim between those flights, or was it all in one session.
FS2020 is not the best with more than one flight in a single session.
That often does lead to issues.
The only thing else I can think of is maybe a “power down / sleep” type of function that might be causing connectivity issues.
Last, if all else fails, you could try to “submit a request” to Zendesk, the official source for MSFS support. That link is located in the Sim Support tab at the top of every forum page.
All of the caches have been cleared multiple times. I believe there is some issue with the server feed on my computer. All speed tests are very good so the issue must be something on my system but what? File downloads complete without incident so my Internet is working.
Now, what can cause the sim to not get the signal?
Have you checked that the “hosts” file in the following path does not contain extra lines C:\Windows\System32\Drivers\etc ?
Source: https://flightsimulator.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408886545938-How-to-restore-the-sim-to-its-vanilla-state-to-get-back-in-game
If it does not help, as recommended by @TheSevenflyer above, you should create a zendesk ticket to get direct support from the Microsoft team: https://flightsimulator.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/requests/new
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Try a free VPN, and see if it helps.
A lot of folks have had success with that.
If it does, the issue is likely with your ISP.
I am seeing the same issue. MSFS 2020 Steam Edition + Windows 11. I have been running MSFS 2020 since the release never had an issue like this. Several different aircraft did not start from the main menu. Just now, I completed a flight, selected Restart and for the past 20 minutes it has not started. About 80% loaded as per the status bar.
In addition to this issue, I am constantly getting online connection issues while an aircraft is loading. I am on fixed Fibre connetion wihout any restrictions from the ISP. Again, never had this issue for the past 5 years and only started happening around 3-4 days ago. Is this related to the release on Play Station?
Absolutely not.
FS2020 is not available on PS, so I doubt it would have any affect, and in any case, MSFS has ensured that the extra usage on the servers does not create any problems.
That was a major reason for the PS betas.
In your case, start the sim in Safe Mode, and see if it cures the issue.
If so, I would suspect you have a mod conflict somewhere.
MSFS2020 can be fussy doing more than one flight in a single section.
A complete sim shutdown /restart is less likely to run into issues.
If are getting connection issues, for a trial, you could see if a free VPN helps.
Quite often a local ISP will throttle large usage demands such as the sim, unbeknownst to the user.
This seems to be quite prevalent in European areas.
I got mine working again. YAY! Try Dementedcorn’s remedy above. It fixed mine.
That absolutely fixed my problem! I’m back up and flying again. Thanks so much for the help.
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No need. Dementedcorn’s suggest did the trick.
Great to hear 
happy flights !
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That file did have several entries like the one you listed and a couple more.
Thanks again. You were a life saver.