Once again the Majorly flawed software called MSFS requires an entire redownload of all data. How can thus be. I have top end flawless hardware and internet. My understanding of it being a PC builder is better than most and yet todays 126 MB update freezes 3/4 of the way through requiring me to exit and restart the program followed by MSFS being blind to the entire sim and it’s correct download file path and then proceeds to redownload almost 170 GB of data.
Have we nobody there that knows how to fix this. I have used this software since day 1 and can no longer remember by sure volume how many times this has happened. I know what I am doing…seems Microsoft no longer knows how to create a seamless update ! I’m so sick of this …fix it !
Updates are flawless for me!
I get exactly the same problem… now, when I see an update is required, I turn it off and wait for a time I have a few hours to spend attending to ‘computer problems’ as my wife calls them.
The reality is, the problems are due to a buggy and unstable installation/update implementation.
Thanks
PaulyFSPauly
What update today? Perhaps the OP is talking about the NAV data update, but that was a several days ago now. That worked for me, as have previous updates, and only the ~120MB of data was downloaded.
This issue seems rare, and not many users have reported it, but there has to be some common element between those that do get it.
One theory was modifying core files could be detected as missing data, but that was never proven.
Q: when did you last use MSFS ? before today ? We’ve had quite some updates lately 
Do you set that file path manually ? did you check if the files previously downloaded were at that location ? It should skip files already there… you say it downloads at the correct location again. A version issue could explain this, e.g. your first download was the old version, it was broken off (because it was the wrong one) and now you’ll have a good setup ?
I was having this issue as well. I finally saw that someone had recommended clearing the community folder. Once I did that and restarted the application it worked as it is supposed to… So for me, it was the third-party addons. You would think there would be a way for Microsoft to account for that and ignore that folder or something.
UPDATE: I purchased mine through Steam. When I reached out to them they said all the in-game updates were done directly through Microsoft so they could not help me.
Steam or MS Store?
If Steam, clearing the Steam cache may help. Also, double check your user.cfg file and confirm the path noted at the end is the path where the packages really are.
Before any significant update the loader will ask where you want to put the files and it defaults to what is in that config.