I’ve been using MSFS since the latest update but when I tried to start the sim I got a message it wasn’t installed in my computer. I’m reinstalling right now.
I also had to reinstall the XBox app.
Has anyone else had this problem?
Will it rediscover all my add ons?
Anyone else have this issue and find out what is going on?
Download is complete. My entire community folder is gone including purchased add ons.
Hello Nerfmuerf,
Today I ran ORBX Central and no flight simulator could be found. The MSFS 2020 directory is completely empty! Fearing a virus, I have run Bitdefender and Malwarebytes and nothing found. I am totally mystified by this. At least I am not alone. I ran Win 10 update a couple of days ago and updated drivers. I am worried now because this is totally weird and I am the only person using the computer.
If anyone else has experienced this, please enlighten me.
Charles.
I forget how I found my folder again. Sorry. So much time has passed and other issues have had to be corrected.
Another thread has appeared reporting the same problem, I think others may become effected by this problem in time. I hope I am wrong!
Charles.
I purchased MS light Simulator in June 2020.
I haven’t used it in a while. When I double- click on the icon in All Apps, nothing happened.
Other than the icon, I can’t find Flight Simulator downloads, any files, etc.
I don’t know how it disappeared.
Microsoft has a record of my purchase. Any chance I can download it again?
Yeah, same problem here. I was playing the game pretty consistently (i.e. no crashes) then it started to crash more often. I ‘verified’ the files in Steam which it did pretty quickly (probably only scanned the 1.5 GB installer package). I went to go play the game today and it’s completely gone from my system.
This is some EPICALLY puzzling behavior. What game / software DELETES itself with zero input or consent from the user??
Money well spent.
Hi everyone. So, I am having the same issue. MSFS was running fine on Wed. I shut my computer off Wed evening and turned it back on last night. I went to double click on the icon to start it up…nothing…my flight simulator, community folder, everything is wiped off of my hard drive. it was installed on a 2TB m dot 2, now mind you i also have other games installed on that m dot 2 but only MSFS was removed. I’ve done everything i can think of, restarting my computer, 2 shutdowns, logging in and out of the Microsoft store everything. It’s not even installed on my game pass. Any advice would help. Thanks!
Literally same thing just happened to me!! Now im reinstalling
update 14 has just done this to me !!
2 days later it’s done it again. Lost all of my addons etc. NOT good enough!
Not reinstalling , it took 2 days last time?
Ok. so I’m not insane. I installed 2-3 months ago, went through some of the training sims. I didn’t use it for a while, but today I went to ‘pick up where I left off’, its gone.
I enabled ‘show hidden items’ and checked for the folder C:\Users[Your User Name]\AppData\Local\Packages\ Microsoft.FlightSimulator_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalCache\Packages\
Not there?
Sounds like the fix is to reinstall. Reinstalling…
It happened to me this month too, twice.
happend to me today for the second time since 2 years. played the game, did some browsing, shut down the pc, started it up again 2 hours later and all is gone…
Just a guess: false positive by a virus scanner caused it to delete the folders? If correct, see if you can set the virus scanner to quarantine the folders rather than delete them.
This just happened to me. Last used MSFS2020 about 3 weeks ago with no problems. Shutdown was normal, Today I tried to launch program and got popup showing “Microsoft Flight Simulator can’t open because it cannot be found. The storage device might be missing or disconnected”. Searched everywhere to no avail–No MSFS on computer.
Here’s a thought, I noticed that many of the posts on this subject mention low available space on drive where MSFS is supposed to be stored, same with me–only about 45MB available. Is is possible that MSFS is programed to self delete program if a low available space is detected? I honestly wouldn’t put it past them.
Check Settings, Apps, Installed Apps.
Is MS Flight Simulator there?
Open ms store app and update all apps.
Thanks for the suggestion, I tried those areas and No MSFS. Searched PC for MSFS, MSFS2020 and all possible combinations with no luck. Even tried Recycle Bin, still no joy.
Hi @FlyGuy8081679
If Microsoft Flight Simulator is not listed in Settings | Apps | Installed Apps, then I’d suggest re-installing it using the Xbox App. Make sure beforehand that you have ~500 GB available space on the drive that you want to install it too if you plan to install all the available World & City Updates.
Search for UserCfg.opt on your whole PC (“This PC” in File Explorer).
If one is there, use Notepad and see what the last line says.
If there , then your “Installed Packages” are there.
I just did a clean re-install this morning .
Formatted my D: drive where FS2020 was installed.
Took around 90 minutes.
Download speed was around 335 Mbps.
Note the location and tell the FS2020 install screen where it is.
You will not have to download it.