I have had this running on my Dell PC for sometime with minimal issues along the way. It runs great on my SSD hard drive. But the hard drive is now a few GB away from being full.
My HDD drive has enough room. Plus, moving it there will make room for FS2024 on my SSD.
Can anyone let me know if you have had issues uninstalling then reinstalling (mine is via MS Store)? Is it a simple process?
I do not have anything in my community folder- I use the sim in its stock state. I am only concerned about freeing up my SSD drive and keeping my cloud data such as flight log/hours.
HI there,
I think with the store version and with the steam version you can set the install location on startup.
I had a similar issue and remembered Windows lets you mount devices in a proper way for some time now: aka in a folder. For MSFS it seemed totally transparent (aka never complained and did not see the difference)
So i did:
Format new disk and mount it (E:)
Copy over the msfs - folder (containing Offical and Community) to the root of this drive.
Once done, remount the new SSD into the old folder.
You can do it without having to deal with mounting devices, etc.
Create a new folder on the new drive, with a name like āMSFS2020ā and copy the Community and Official folders from your current installation there.
Go to add/remove programs and uninstall MSFS2020. (Reboot for good measure.)
Go to the Xbox App and re-install MSFS2020 to a drive of your choice. The main program is under 3GB, so you might want to install it on your SSD.
The first time you launch MSFS, the Installation Manager screen will prompt you to download the rest of the files. Do NOT click Next. Click the folder in the lower right and change the directory to the one you created in Step 1. Instead of re-downloading everything, the app will see you already have all of the āOfficialā files and will use your new folder to find those, hold updates, etc.
Thank you. If I went this route is there a way I can use this method for all future content updates such as the large sized world updates? Or even uninstalling currently installed such content and re-installing the same content using this method into the other drive? Again, for example: the many many (all of themā¦) world updates I have installed?
Iām not at the PC tonight but perhaps I can explore the install path in the main settings and see if deleting the world updates and then reinstalling them to the new directory might be an option,
Thank you. I have confirmed that āmoveā is an option in my Windows 11 add/remove programs feature in Windows settings for my MSFS installation (although I have not tried it yet - with my luck it would give some error message, etc.). Is there a benefit to doing it one way over another?
I donāt recommend moving your MSFS2020 content to slow HDD especially if you also want to use it in MSFS2024. Particularly scenery would be an issue and I more than suspect most of it will be shared across both versions anyway. Aircraft are pre loaded into ram pre flight so are not such an problem but Airports and handcrafted objects/buildings/textures and other addon scenery only load in as you approach them.
You could get a bigger SSD drive. then use a disk imaging software like Acronis, take an image of the old drive, swap it out, then restore the image to the new drive. Easy.
Hi @NJG1978,
While I agree with @DensestSnail693 that moving MSFS 2020 to a HDD is not the best solution, I would say that MSFS 2020 does run on a HDD pretty well.
I have it installed on a 4TB WD HDD and the only issues I see are:
Launch to the welcome screen takes ~ 2:45 mins. (My install is the standard version + all world & city updates. No addons.). If it were on SSD Iād expect it to be somewhat less.
I always get a stutter when approaching any airport with a large amount of scenery, ground and / or AI traffic as the various models are loaded from the HDD.
So, running from a HDD is OK, but getting a second 1 - 2 TB SSD (if your motherboard supports it) would be better. @RelativeBell177ās suggestion is a good one too.
The actual MSFS2020 installation is only a couple of gigabytes. So assuming 2024ās packages will share the same file structure (plus extra for exclusive 2024 content) I canāt really see why you should uninstall 2020 just for the sake of saving 2 to 4 GB
Of course best practice would be to rename Community, uninstall 2020, install 2024 with all itās content and then reinstall 2020 with the packages sharing the same location as 2024 (move them to a non default location). Then paste your own content to the new community folder
Do we know of any issues associated with installing on a SSD drive that does not contain the operating system? For example, purchasing and adding a new SSD drive to, for example, use for MSFS 2024?
Not to my knowledge. My current OS (Win 11) is on an SSD, MSFS on a HDD. No problems. I plan on purchasing a new SSD for 2024, & maybe moving 2020 to it at that time, too.
I read the following:
Apps downloaded from the Microsoft Store are saved in a folder called āWindowsAppsā inside the āProgram Filesā directory of your Windows installation drive (boot drive). This folder is hidden and protected from access by default.
The MS wording of āinstall the game to a new folderā ( on both of your screenshots) is misleading.
It is referring to the āInstalled Packagesā.
Both screenshots show thae required space needed is 157 GB.
The āLauncherā is only ~2GB.
Your statement:
The FS2020 initial install program, the āLauncherā, is installed on the boot drive and then displays the install screen showing the default location of the āInstalled Packagesā on the boot drive.
The location of the āInstalled Packagesā can then be specified by the user if the user wants to install the āInstalled Packagesā on another drive\folder.
The new drive/folder location is pointed to by Windows Symbolic Links to the new physical location of the folders/files.
After the āLauncherā and āInstalled Packagesā are installed on the boot drive. the user can move the āInstalled Packagesā to another drive/folder.
Windows will keep a reference on the boot drive to the moved location via Symbolic Links to the physical location of the folders\files.
A. Move via the FS2020 app āMOVEā command
B. Use the Xbox app.
C. User can manually cut/copy/paste/delete the āInstalled Packagesā to a new drive\folder and then tell Windows where they are via the last line of the UserCfg.opt file so that the Symbolic Links can be created on the boot drive.
My reply was to the reference to the āmain programā.
The Xbox app will only move the āInstalled Packagesā to a new drive/folder.
The āLauncherā remains on the boot drive unless the user moves it
at their own risk.
Finally, the MS reference on their screens to installing/moving the āgameā is valid from their point of view because they have the access to the āLauncherā hidden and protected on the boot drive.
In this respect for the user, the āgameā to MS is the āInstalled Packagesā (Official and Community folders plus the WpSystem folder on the root of the drive.).
