My motherboard was replaced by Dell this morning. Everything else is the same. Now I’m getting this (see below). I tried “repair” but it didn’t work. What do I need to do to restore MSFS2020?
Thanks for any help!
Do you know what motherboard the replacement is?
You may need to make sure your new Motherboard is setup properly with windows activation .When you done that try running MSFS again.
If it fails to start again you may need to uninstall MSFS then go to the store and reinstall MSFS .
What has a motherboard to do with activation?
Hasn´t this DRM and everything “live-online” stuff enforced into literally EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE (and even trying to implement this into PC hardware!) slowly becoming too excessive and insane over time?
Run windows update including any optional one’s. I can’t imagine them not doing so but also check that Dell updated to the latest bios for the board. Check especially chipset and audio drivers too
In the search box (“Type here to Search” on the bottom of the screen):
Enter “command” & press enter
Select “Run as Administrator”
Type sfc /scannow & hit Enter
If nothing is fixed:
Go to Win 10 Settings, Apps, MS Flight Simulator
Click “Uninstall”
Go to MS Store/Steam and install again.
It will not download the “Installed Packages” if you already have them.
Just a quick download of the FS2020 program on the C: or boot drive.
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The folder WindowsApps is a protected folder. You won’t be able to drill down into it, but you can verify it exists (its a hidden folder, so show hidden files).
If it does exist, I’d guess that the system doesn’t have the access to the files folders under that, for whatever reason, as an unintended side effect of the repair.
I’d start by seeing if any new windows store apps can be installed to that same c:\program files\windowsApps folder. If not, then it is a windows and file permissions issue.
If you can install windows store apps, then you know the system can at least access that folder and do what it needs. Next, I’d try to update other windows store apps. If they all update fine, then the windowsapps folder and permissions are probably fine. If not, its a windows issue to look further.
But if other apps can update/install/etc. and only msfs is having issues, I’d remove it and re-install.
Good advice, but I would take it one step further, and also run the DSM verify/repair command.
ie
You need BOTH these to pass, to verify that WINDOWS in intact.
Then, if still having issues with MSFS, that is a separate issue, that may require re-installing MSFS.
At the moment, I can Guarantee you that after that Dell MB replacement, your windows got corrupted, or was corrupted before, and one or both of these file Integrity programs will fail, or need to repair your Windows file system.
- get Windows working correctly then
- address any MSFS issues
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What exactly do you mean by this ?
You got your Dell PC back from Dell this morning, with a replaced Motherboard repair ?
Any idea WHY it needed replacing ??
WIndows and Windows Store software uses hardware serial numbers as part of the licensing and “knows” when it’s being accessed on main system hardware that is not the hardware to which it was originally installed. Presuming they have logged back into their MS Windows user account on the repaired system, the same one previously used to purchase the software, The OP should be able to simply uninstall/reinstall through the Store or XBox App without an issue.
I have had to have this done in the past - motherboards fail and are sometimes replaced under warranty by the system seller/builder. The WHY doesn’t matter in this case - it could be failed caps, it could be a bad MOSFET, if it’s a laptop motherboard it could be a failed fan controller, CPU or GPU. These things happen.
The issue for the OP is regaining access to the software he has purchased (e.g., “licensed,”). There’s a lot of higher-end software that uses hardware serial number data to ensure it’s only installed and running on one system at a time, or at all. In the sim’s case, since the software was installed to the system with a different physical motherboard, it can’t verify it’s legally licensed to run on the new motherboard. Unistalling through the Store/XBox App and reinstalling with the same WIndows/XBox account should fix the problem.
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Well, “Why” obviously mattered to me, which is why I was asking.
ie Failed caps ? could have cause the system to go unstable, and corrupt one or more files on the HD.
I suspect that when Dell replaced the motherboard, all they were concerned about was that the new MB was working correctly – what was on the HD is none of their concern, and they would not go exploring it, or changing any data on it.
As I said earlier, #1 is to make sure Window files pass integrity checks, before starting to home in on any possible MSFS errors.
And I disagree that this has any likely bearing on the root of the OP’s problem. The sim “knows” it’s not installed to the same system it was originally installed to by the presence of different hardware components. It’s not a Windows problem at all, nor even one specific to the sim. There is a LOT of professional software that will give the same kind of error if you simply move a drive to a new motherboard and try to run it.
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I believe you hit the nail on the head Lame … the integration between software and hardware is close knit. A new motherboard is a new system as far as MSFS is concerned and it was authenticated with your old system. A fresh install should tidy everything up.
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All these suggestions, but did anyone look up the error?:
OP: If that doesn’t open for you, google “file system error (-2015294512)”
I’st thing I googled 
Unfortunately, more people go to TicTok theses days than go to Google — Go Figure !!!
Make sure Secure Boot, TPM etc. are disabled when making such changes or they possibly won’t take.
The easiest guaranteed solution is to back up all personal data and wipe the system drive. On reinstalling windows choose ‘I don’t have a key’ and your licence will get renewed once you sign in to Microsoft and remove what to them is your old PC. Infact you might even try the latter before wiping the drive (but still back up your data).
Dell also recently replaced my Motherboard recently since the most recent BIOS would not update.
After that I had a heck of a problem getting Windows 10 to activate.
I also lost one of my SSD drive due to the Motherboard update. I have two Samsung NVMe SSD Drive. One on the Motherboard and the other in a PCIe card. Well with the new Mother board, I lost the second drive.
Samsung needs to have SATA set ACHI and by default is is set to RAID. In RAID the drives run much slower and you cannot use the Samsung Magician software.
Once you change the BIOS to ACHI I lose the second NVMe drive which I have on the PCIe card.
And Dell in unwilling to do anything to fix losing the PCIe slot when in ACHI mode is enabled.
So if I want to run both of my Samsung drives, I have to run RAID and the SSDs in degraded performance or run ACHI at higher performance and lose the one drive.
I have bought two Dell desktops in the past and this is my last one.
I am already shopping for parts and will build my own. Which is what I did for many years and had gotten lazy in my last two upgrades.
But if you want thing done right, it is best to build your own! Plus Dell has too many proprietary parts, such as the power supply and the largest you can get is only 500 watt, which will work in most cases but not with a big CPU and GPU.
I noticed that with the Dells I have seen, they seem to get their own versions of other manufacturer’s hardware, which typically are not to as high a specification, or feature set – I assume at a lower price.
It takes a huge leap in faith to send out your PC to Dell (or anyone) , for a motherboard replacement, without either removing the hard drives, or having a full image backup.
I bet in the fine print, Dell does not hold itself responsible for any data losses on those drives, while they have it in for Motherboard replacement !! 
Since the introduction of SSDs, the cost of high capacity Rotary Hard Drives have dropped dramatically, so at $45 for a 2 TB drive, there is little excuse for not having an Image backup, and being able to sleep night !
The easy solution was that I just reverted the system back 3 days. All is well