Recurring issue with "community Folder" which should not even happen [PC MS Store Version] NEED HELP PLEASE

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Already had this happen once and that time i had to reinstall everything again, now it’s doing the same thing and won’t allow me to use my pre-existing custom community folder, this is frankly ridiculous

I have a screenshot of the game loading with the specific error message showing, the location already has files and data as it’s my custom community folder but the message is saying i can’t point the installer here…ffs why not?

error it displays is :
You can’t select this folder it is already part of another package installation

It wants me to install it yet again to the default location, when it does not have the required space, i never planned to install anything “big” here it was always my programs tools antivirus etc location and not game installations or other content, so why do f** MS make these kinds of arrogant predictions, it’s my HDD not F** theirs!

C:\ drive is 450 GB it might have 50 GB free

MY other 5 drives are 4-8 TB each, and that’s where i already installed it to twice now , ie i already needed to reinstall the entire game again and the community folder content, now it seems it’s trying to force me to do this same hugely time consuming process again, surely there must be some way around this, or are MS really
this stupid and ignorant?
Cuatom location which i have been using for months now is:
B:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft FlightSimulator\Packages\Community

default location as some may know is
C:\Users\YourUsername\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.FlightSimulator_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalCache\Packages\Community

IS it possible to post a screen shot of a non Steam game?, i have one that will show you exactly what the issue is, but as well the game has not loaded either…so i have no idea if this is even possible…

Why is MSFS such a F pain in the posterier?

Screenshot (9)
Screenshot (9)1920×1080 128 KB

Sorry for the rant but i am seething …

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Do not, do not, do not install games in the Program Files or Program Files (x86) folders, as this can lead to permission issues and other problems.
Use the linked topic to learn how to correctly move game “big” files/folders official and community.
How to move Microsoft Flight Simulator to a new PC – Microsoft Flight Simulator Support (zendesk.com)

1 Like
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thx for replying, Well not really the game has ALREADY been installed to this custom location, and it has been working fine, but i have not used the game in over a month, not used the computer in that time to be honest, and today when i start it up it’s comes up with the installation screen and as you can see from the screenshot asking for the game to be reinstalled to the default community folder location, when i already have it installed at my custom location, but it won’t allow me to point to this location, i have to be honest this is totally ridiculous, it takes DAYS frankly to reinstall and this will just occur again anyway, why wont the installation screen now point to where i already know the Community folder" installation is, instead of trying to enforce me to revert to the default location which is of no use…and thx again

5

Have you tried this?
How to stop redownloading packages every time you launch Flight Sim – Microsoft Flight Simulator Support (zendesk.com)

Also is the xbox app and the Microsoft Store app up to date?

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Appreciate the frustration, but I going to go with TenPatrol and believe it sounds really quite plausible that the custom location you have used is the underlying issue.
The fact that your opening statement was “Already this has happen once…”, (I guess you used the same custom location) and the problem has returned raises the red flag methinks.
Have you considered creating a custom folder on the root of you B drive, e.g. MSFS then use that for your custom install? This still uses the drive with the space but negates the potential issue of installing in the Program Files folder.

Hope you get it sorted…

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Quote “Also is the xbox app and Microsoft store app up to date.?”…actually i have been looking for their shortcuts and can’t find them, nor i am able to run MS store from it’s supposed default install location, i see a lot of folders some even called MSFS but there’s no .EXe to run them, this was after closing down the sim moving the install location so that it’s no longer in Program Files(x86) loaction, but when i restarted the game.exe it now can’t find the game…i know there is a file which i believe is responsible for pointing to where it’s meant to be (i forget the name of it right now Optfile? or something, but in anycase that is not in it’s default location, all i want to do really is be able to start the game as normal without having to reinstall everything again when everything is already installed… this is what i mean by ignorance…would’t be such a mare if dl speeds were half decent but it’s like a half dead snail,

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Hi @espyorkshireman, re:

Are these two programs not available under Start | All Apps | Microsoft Store and Start | All Apps | XBox?

W.r.t. the default install location, search your hard drives for the file “UserCfg.opt”. The last line in this file gives the location for the Installed Packages Path.

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Ok found them, still not used to this win 11, as well only really use MS Store App for MSFS2020 anyway, however when i try to open the game, says it can’t be found, which is obviously because i moved it from where i had the game in B:\Program files(x86) to another location not being a subroot folderr of an (x86) location, (why don’t MS give notice of this anyway?, or do they really expect all users to install the community folder to this default location? logically if they don’t advise, how are players supposed to be aware not to use an (x86) location when this is the default for any game installation as far as i am aware for over a decade!? this is what i meant by “ignorant”

but dam*mit no i don’t see the usercfg.opt, would it be in my updated custom community folder location?, otherwise is there any other way around this or am i fated again to have to reinstall it yet again? (man i wish i had bought steam version now) this is if you will excuse my French a total Pi**take…p

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Well i just looked inside the settings for the MS store App (TY @SmotheryVase for helping me locate it btw) and what i see is that the default store location is C:\ but it’s not a specific folder, i’m just wondering how i can get it to point to where it’s installed now so that it allows me to boot the game and then to select the custom community folder, rather than this totally redundent default location on the C:\ drive?..i know there has to be a way to do this but i don’t know what that is…p

First thing i’m thinking is can i get a copy/backup or even create this userconfig.opt file? as i can’t seem to find it now, i feel that this may well be the key that unlocks this issue, or even can i do this by editing the registry?, i really want to avoid a totall reinstall if at all possible.

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I recommend installing Agent Ransack and using it to find the UserCfg.opt file. It’s a fast Windows Search tool. I never use the search function in Windows Explorer anymore. In fact, I turn indexing off in Windows and deselect it on all my drive properties. Ransack builds its own index, and it’s much much better than the Windows tool.

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Hi @espyorkshireman

The location of the usercfg.opt file depends on how MSFS was initially installed.

You could try seeing if it is still in:
C:\Users\YourUserNameHere\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.FlightSimulator_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalCache

but if not, try finding a folder called “WpSystem” on your PC and drilling down through the folder structure to find the file.

In your previous post you wrote:

What exactly did you move, and how did you move it?

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Well the update is that i have fixed this now, In reference to the query i moved the install folder for the game from it’s location in B:program files(x86) to a created folder called “xboxgames” at the root of the B:\ directory therefore no longer in either of the locations which some are saying cause big problems, I also redirected the storage/install location in the xboxgames and MSStore app to point to this location, moved the community and packages folders outside of the program to a safe location, then acknowledged the repair game function inside the app and the warning about reverting to a default state, once repair was complete, i plcaed the community and packages folders back inside the game where they supposed to go, rebooted the game and everything was back to normal after that. Though i am still slightly concerned about that user.opt file, whether where it is as i could not find it and whether or not it needs editing to avoid any potential future problems,but yes as far as my issue was concerned it is now solved…and this time i did not need to reinstall the full content of the game and all the mods this time it took maybe an hour not days like i know many who have experienced the same issue have wasted in having to redownload and reinstall the entire game using the snail pace servers available…