Need to use Task Manager to Quit or Shutdown MSFS

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Are you using Developer Mode or made changes in it?

Does not make a difference

Brief description of the issue:

I am aware this isn’t exactly a CTD issue, but I wasn’t sure were else to put it.
Most of the times when I exit MSFS via the Main Menu pressing “Quit to Desktop”, the game appears to shut down. However the Task “Microsoft Flight Simulator” remains visible in the Task Bar and the task is still active in the Task Manager. When I hover over the Tab in the Task Bar I can “reopen” the Microsoft Flight Simulator window, but it remains unresponsive and switches to the background when I try to click on anything. The only way to close MSFS is by selecting “End Task” in the Task Manager.
Happens with mods installed as well as with empty Community folder.

Provide Screenshot(s)/video(s) of the issue encountered:


Detailed steps to reproduce the issue encountered:

Close MSFS via “Quit to Desktop” in the Main Menu.

PC specs and/or peripheral set up if relevant:

Store version, Windows 10 22H1, AMD 5950X, RTX 3070, 64GB DDR4

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Are you using DX12?

Does not make a difference

Are you using DLSS?

Does not make a difference


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Do you have the same issue if you follow the OP’s steps to reproduce it?

Provide extra information to complete the original description of the issue:

If relevant, provide additional screenshots/video:

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Couldn’t repro but curious - does this happen both in windowed and full-screen mode?

Looks like this may not be a new bug: Need to use Task Manager to Quit or Shutdown MSFS

Will make sure it is logged.

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Do you have the same issue if you follow the OP’s steps to reproduce it?

No, not yet, not exactly

Provide extra information to complete the original description of the issue:

My sim appears to close properly whether I press Quit to Desktop or Alt+F4.
Steam version, no mods or addons.
Update - My sim appears to crash sometimes in version 1.27.9.0 when pressing Alt+F4. More details in a post later on in this topic.

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Thanks. Well if it’s not new, at least I’ve never had it before the SU10 Beta. I also reinstalled MSFS from scratch for the Beta, just to make sure

I only use full-screen. But I just tried in Windows, and there it worked. The MSFS window stayed for a few seconds and then vanished. Also in windowed mode I can close MSFS by pressing ALT+F4 or by clicking the X on the top right. Then the window is gone immediately. But I guess it’s not the ideal way if I simply kill it off like that :slight_smile:

Have the same issue since a few days but without opting into the SU10 Beta.

Steam Version and SimConnect (could be related to sth like that) and various other mods turned on tho

Do you have the same issue if you follow the OP’s steps to reproduce it?

Yes, this occurs to me about half of the times I exit from the menu.

Provide extra information to complete the original description of the issue:

Whenever this happens, sometimes the application does stay in the task bar (with no way to bring it to the foreground or close it from there), but other times FlightSimulator.exe will just stay in the background, consuming CPU and RAM resources without any visible presence outside the Task Manager. Never happened before this beta, no add-ons installed, Microsoft Store edition.
EDIT: Since this was merged in an older thread, I will stress that I started getting this with the Sim Update 10 beta, never had this issue before.

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question:
do you own such a logitech flight- radio- panel ?

I remember about very rare cases ( may be 5-10? since day one of msfs ) that this happend and I was never sure whether this started since I owned the Logitech Radio-Panel.

At least I remember, because after killing MSFS Steam sometime still believe the Game is running as long as I not also kill the LogiMicrosoftFlightSimulator.exe ( the plugin for the panels ).

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Yes I do. But they weren’t connected at the time. The only thing connected was a TM Warthog Joystick (no throttle, no pedals)

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hmmm… I need to check whether the plugin ( the Logi…exe ) is allways loaded ( auto with msfs start ) or only in case I have the radio-panel physical connected. At least we have a common ground. May be it is not caused from the panels and some other issue, but thought its better to mentioned these Panels ( and the Logitech Plugins - where we all know how ‘good’ there plugins are :wink: )

I own the TM Joystick etc too, but I expect no issues from these side.

Are you using Developer Mode or made changes in it?

No

Brief description of the issue:

FS does not leave the taskbar, when i validate Yes to quit.
I can see thumbnail on the taskbar, and the process/ram is still active. I play in windowed mode
Force to kill the process to close the session.

Provide Screenshot(s)/video(s) of the issue encountered:

Detailed steps to reproduce the issue encountered:

i dunno, it’s irregular
PC specs and/or peripheral set up if relevant:

Ryzen 7 5700X , RTX 3080 16Go Ram

If on PC, Fault Bucket ID - Instructions here - Please type in just the Fault Bucket ID # rather than a screenshot for privacy reasons:

Are you using DX12?

No

Are you using DLSS?

Yes


:loudspeaker: For anyone who wants to contribute on this issue, Click on the button below to use this template:

Do you have the same issue if you follow the OP’s steps to reproduce it?

Provide extra information to complete the original description of the issue:

If relevant, provide additional screenshots/video:

If on PC, Fault Bucket ID - Instructions here - Please type in just the Fault Bucket ID # rather than a screenshot for privacy reasons:

Feedback has been submitted on this but internally we haven’t been able to reproduce this yet - I see some users who didn’t have this before SU10 though.

If anyone would be able to share more specific repro steps, pc setup specs, or perhaps a video, please do so we can look for a commonality. Thank you!

I have a full set of Logitech panels, and use FSRealistic. FSR loads when I launch the sim, and closes down when I close the sim. MSFS does not remain on my taskbar, and I don’t believe I have ever seen this issue.

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thanks… and yes… it is very ( much very :slight_smile: ) rare as mentioned and therefore I never thought to much about. And I forgot that I wanted to do a test :rofl:

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Check what apps are in your exe.xml file, and whether they completely close on shutdown. I had the same a while back, then I discovered Navigraph Simlink and Simbrief Downloader didn’t close when I shut the sim down and caused it to stay ‘active’.

When I close these down manually, MSFS stops as well

For me, who started getting this only after the Sim Update 10 beta, I can reproduce it almost always by simply going to the menu and exiting the simulator normally by clicking “Quit to Desktop” and “Yes”. Whenever the problem occurs, FlightSimulator.exe will still show up in the Task Manager consuming RAM, but its status is “Not Responding” until I kill the task manually.

So far, whenever I’ve used Alt+F4 to exit quickly from any point, I haven’t experienced this issue. I will try it more often to see if it’s a potential workaround.

I am using Windows 10 21H1 (will try updating to 21H2 as soon as I can) and the retail Microsoft Store edition, with no add-ons of any kind (except for the World Updates and official freeware). I’m using a non-English version of Windows so any video from the desktop might not be very useful, but if you think it can help I’ll try switching the language and make one with the Task Manager in view.

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Oddly it seems our roles have reversed and my Alt+F4 has now begun acting up lately. I get a Windows dialog box telling me something bad happened, but the next time I start the sim, it DOES NOT give me the safe mode prompt.

Faulting application name: FlightSimulator.exe, version: 1.27.9.0, time stamp: 0x00000000
Faulting module name: FlightSimulator.exe, version: 1.27.9.0, time stamp: 0x00000000
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x0000000002c8407f
Faulting process id: 0x187c
Faulting application start time: 0x01d89add2bac6273
Faulting application path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\MicrosoftFlightSimulator\FlightSimulator.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\MicrosoftFlightSimulator\FlightSimulator.exe
Report Id: 4f090ff7-4c64-4918-b450-d73c629aa3ae
Faulting package full name: 
Faulting package-relative application ID: 
Faulting application name: FlightSimulator.exe, version: 1.27.9.0, time stamp: 0x00000000
Faulting module name: FlightSimulator.exe, version: 1.27.9.0, time stamp: 0x00000000
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x0000000002c56a49
Faulting process id: 0xf84
Faulting application start time: 0x01d89adacc9a8ffb
Faulting application path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\MicrosoftFlightSimulator\FlightSimulator.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\MicrosoftFlightSimulator\FlightSimulator.exe
Report Id: c12d7da5-debb-4428-8e68-01c9c04d7182
Faulting package full name: 
Faulting package-relative application ID: 
Faulting application name: FlightSimulator.exe, version: 1.27.9.0, time stamp: 0x00000000
Faulting module name: FlightSimulator.exe, version: 1.27.9.0, time stamp: 0x00000000
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x0000000002c8407f
Faulting process id: 0x26ac
Faulting application start time: 0x01d8982ec7645c5f
Faulting application path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\MicrosoftFlightSimulator\FlightSimulator.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\MicrosoftFlightSimulator\FlightSimulator.exe
Report Id: 4ae1dac6-a281-427e-8041-dcf97c93922a
Faulting package full name: 
Faulting package-relative application ID:
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I should add that the safe mode prompt has not triggered for me so far, either by killing FlightSimulator.exe in the Task Manager or exiting using Alt+F4.

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I wonder if the safe mode prompt does not trigger if the Community folder is empty, because mine is empty.

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That’s a good thought, mine is empty as well. I’ll add an add-on and see if that changes things.

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Hi @Jummivana,

I get this issue sometimes dating back to at least SU8 and possibly earlier. Unfortunately, I don’t have any specific repro steps; it seemingly occurs at random. Most of the time, MSFS will shutdown properly when I exit, but every now and then I have to terminate the process from Task Manager. I haven’t yet been able to identify any common root cause as to why it works normally most of the time but sometimes fails to shutdown.

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