MSFS 2020 - Not enough disk space

User Support Hub Hardware & Peripherals
1

Hey all - I am coming back to MSFS 2020 after a bit of a break and when trying to update its showing approx 110GB update.

The problem is the drive its installed on is 223GB (SSD) and of course the existing install is around 144GB. So the problem is I don’t have enough space.

110GB seems a bit much but I have checked its installing to the correct parent folder. There’s nothing else installed on this drive as I purchased it just for MSFS2020 when the game came out. The cache folder is on a seperate drive, so as you can see I have nothing to clear down.

Even if I reinstall at some point if MS come up with another update bigger than 80GB odd, I’m going to have the same problem all over again.

Any ideas?

Cheers

Tim

2

If you are certain the correct folder is selected, we’re you in the SU8 beta, and didn’t opt out manually? Also, is your sim folder default or custom i.e. is it on the C drive or somewhere else?

3

Bear in mind the install replaces a lot of what you already have rather than being additional, so it’ll probably fit

4

But not >100GB which it is reporting. It should be much smaller than that. The worst that could happen is the core sim ends up having a partial install of a second copy, till the disk fills up. So either the update merges, and really doesn’t use that disk space, or a broken second copy is installed.

The fail state can be fixed by completely removing the sim, and reinstalling. Just make sure to back up the Community folder in case that gets removed. I suspect it won’t get touched by the uninstaller, but better to be safe than sorry.

5

its time to start thinking about getting a 1 TB replacement drive I think.

6

Don’t think that is how it works, it downloads and replaces as it goes along rather than downloading the whole lot then installs it.

7

So how come my updates are a few gigs each time, and always have been, and I have never had >100GB “updates” reported?

This seems to happen to some users, but has never happened to me. I have read that it can happen if you are forcibly ejected at the end of beta participation, and also if you have installed the sim on your C drive, and not D or elsewhere. This is documented somewhere, so I will look for the thread now.

If you have MSFS content installed completely on a custom path, you will have a much lower chance that a full re-install will be necessary when the update is officially released. However, if your sim content is installed in the default path selected by the in game content manager, you may have to reinstall the whole sim when moving from the test build to the public build.

It’s at least one possiblity.

8

Hey all thanks for replying - no beta and its not in the default install location.

9

Yeh in the past this is exactly whats happened but now its like it wants to re-download the lot despite the correct area of install being selected.

10

I’ve never once had this issue, and as time went on, and the issue was investigated, I assumed it was because I have the sim installed on my D drive.

11

I’ve logged a MS Zendesk ticket… tried many troubleshooting guides and googled to death but still can’t get it updated.

Thanks for your help anyway

1 Like