I added a new larger d drive and reinstalled msfs. I now find I have the program on both c and d. Opt directs to d. The community folders are controlled by addon linker which is set to d. Simultaneously the c drive community folder fills with the same items as put in d. I x’ed out the c drive C msfs folder and msfs wouldn’t run even though the identical files are on d. What can be done to fix it’s taking up huge space on c.
Odd -
I have a similar install (not using addon linker) but I don’t appear to have your issue.
I have the “deep” flightsim files on my C: (Microsoft.FlightSimulator_8wekyb3d8bbwe) but have the game files on my D: (Flight Simulator).
I’m using the Store version on PC…what are you using?
Interestingly, my C: files are only 3mbs (they are only temporary or cache files in my opinion) while my D: install is the full game (the Official file is 178gigs).
You’re saying you have a full install on C and D?
I have 400+Gb on c. I have the same on d. I have the msfs 8 with the string of letters and numbers on both drives. If I x out the c version it won’t open. I haven’t tried Xing out the d yet.
Further to last response, I cannot X out the d drive msfs as it is protected implying it is the active program which it should be. Why it won’t run without the c drive is the issue
Are you sure they are duplicated? My C: drive shows the same files as are on my F: drive (which is dedicated to MSFS) however the files in the C: drive are just symbolic links referring to the files on the F: drive. (i.e. they’re only pointers to the F: drive files and the actual files don’t reside on the C: drive)
I have steam version. There’s a version in steamapps which more or less contains the launcher and then the entire game is located in C:/User/[username]/roaming/Microsoft Flight Simulator. This is the default location because i’ve had bad luck installing the game (and mods) elsewhere.
Previously when i had done this, it installed the game in the requested folder when the installer ran (not the steam download) and like maybe i guess half the files are still loaded to the roaming folder. Never got my head around this. So i just let it install to default to cause the least amount of potential issues
The community files, for cample, are duplicated on each drive. If I try to tprename or remove a file n one drive the same action occcurs simultaneously on the other drive. On c drive installation is found under user. On d drive it is found under something called wpsystem.
Reinstalled on new d drive. Still have on c drive. If if want to remove or change a community folder on one drive it instantly does the same action on the other drive. How can they be linked and is there anywhere to change a setting to ignore one drive? Opt file has d as selection. .
The stuff you see on the C drive is actually a virtual folder with it’s contents on the the other drive. Don’t worry. It’s not really there.
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When I run properties on the packages folder on the c drive i get 213GB, the same as d drive. Would a virtual folder report that?
the game should not link anything like that, are you using addonlinker or something of that sort?
as far as the official folder, the 3 times i reinstalled it did not delete anything Community or Official, i had to manually delete them after i uninstalled the game and before i reinstalled - later realized i could just move them to the new location and point the installer there but … live and learn
I use addon linker but had it zeroed out when I reinstalled.
Yes and no. If you check the size of the packages folder by right clicking on it and choosing properties then it will show something like like 6Mb. But, if you open the folder and check the size of everything inside it then it shows 145Gb on my system. That is if it is a virtual folder. MS Store games like to use these weird virtual folders.
Another way to be sure it’s a virtual folder is that the contents of the Packages folder on the C drive should be a bunch of folders with little arrows in the corner of the folder icon (this shows that they are shortcuts to somewhere else).
If all of the above isn’t true then you likely do have duplicated packages. If that’s the case then try renaming one packages folder and start the game. Does it work? If so then you could likely delete the other folder. Try renaming them before deleting them to see if anything breaks. That way you can figure out which one is really being used. .
Im running it on win11 and win 10 on the same machine with 2 different boot drives. On win11 the msfs dir is on the G drive, on win 10 its on the F drive, its the same base install. When I upgraded su7 on win11 it asked me where the dir was, I pointed it to the dir and then did the install. Now when I booted into win10 I had to download the steam end of things again, but when it got to the update screen and wanted to know where msfs was installed I had to tell the F drive (which is the G drive in win11). So anyways, after I pointed it to that drive, it didnt download anything else and ran just fine.
Now I can run under win 11 or win 10 without having the game installed twice…
I have arrows on all folders n community on both drives. There are no arrows on official folders. But if I try to rename a folder in official one store it renames on both drices
As has been said here several times, the items on the C: drive (with the arrows in the icon) are simply symbolic links (or “pointers”) to the actual places where the files are stored.
Whilst it may seem that they’re occupying Gb on the C: drive that’s because when you look at the folder properties it’s actually scanning the true location of the files.
When you change the name of a folder it will change the name of the symbolic link that points to it and vice-versa.
Hi, I hope I’m not confused and did something wrong now too.
In preparation for today’s beta I uninstalled MSFS and reinstalled it in a new folder c:/Georges FS.
When I install the beta later I was going to install it also on my c: drive but in the long default location c:/users/George….
I think I will now have the ability to run either SU7 or the new beta. Do I have that right? If so, how do I know how to start (select between) the two different installations?
Thanks for your time and information!
MSFS always installs in two ways:
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Installs on the C: drive (or boot drive) and can never be deleted from this drive.
The boot drive is the drive that Windows is installed on. -
After the initials files are installed on the boot drive, the install program will ask you where you want to install FS2020.
You have 2 options:
A. Let the install finish and install FS2020 “Packages” in the C:\users\ …
folders.B. Tell it to install in your desired drive\directory such as D:\FS2020. The "Packages Path" will be "D:\FS2020". D:\FS2020\Community D:\FS2020\Official\OneStore The OneStore folder has FS2020 files. The install program will also install a new folder on this new drive. D:\WpSystem This folder also has FS2020 files.
Do all installations have two community folders?
There are Community folders in around 3 places on your PC.
I have these since I installed FS2020 to a new non-default location (not the C: drive).
But the only one that matters is the one that is identified in the UserCfg.opt file.
This is the Community folder that FS2020 uses.