I am unable to locate my MSFS Sim in the Windows 10 folders.
I bought the Premium version with XBOX.
What is the default location?
User/your name/Appdata/Local/Packages/
Unfortunately for me I do not have an Appdata folder.
Is there any way to fix that without deleting and then reinstalling the entire Sim?
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Set Windows to see all your files, is right upthere in the Top Menu, please do not delete anything, get familiar with the Windows menus.
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Not sure what you mean by Windows at the Top Menu?
Locate your self at the File Explorer, and look at the different top menus, start practicing Windows, otherwise you are going to have problems.
If you don’t know Windows OS, you have no business trying to solve anything in the simm, which brings me to why you want to know where is the sim located. Google is a good start. Good luck
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That is where I have been searching to find the installation - to no avail
The Appdata folder is hidden, you have to unhide it, which you can do in the File Explorer , last tab menu, I am exhausted already…
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- Open File Explorer from the taskbar.
- Select View > Options > Change folder and search options.
- Select the View tab and, in Advanced settings, select Show hidden files, folders, and drives and OK.
Thanks - with your help I found the folder.
But now I have another question.
The Sim is on my C: drive which is almost full
My Community folder is on D: which has some 600 Gbs of empty space.
The sim does not connect to (see?) the community folder and I have no idea how to fix that.
Can I move the sim folders to drive D: and would that then work as it shouud?
No you cannot, your registry entry would have to be altered to let Windows 10 know where MSFS is located.
By default Appdata is a hidden folder, you need to enable hidden file/folders to see it. Not the best location to install a game, really no idea why it defaults there. Best to manually change the install location to a separate folder
I don‘t know about the Microsoft Store specific installation path, but for Steam the game executable is not stored in the user (app) folder. Yes, the game data (including the „community“ folder) is located there (and you should be able to configure that path in FS 2020 itself - at least at installation/update times it asks about that path), but the game (executables, libraries) itself is installed somewhere under the Steam folder in the Programs (x86) folder (under „common“ or so…)
At least at installation / update time FS 2020 asks about this path. So I guess there should be a setting in FS 2020 where you can point it to the scenery / data / community folder.
You actually don’t have to. Just type %LocalAppData% into the Explorer address bar or into Win-key Windows search and hit Enter.
Yes, if you create a link then it should work. I haven’t tested this with MSFS specifically but I did it tons of times with Steam games prior to Steam finally adding the option to move games.
- Move the Microsoft.FlightSimulator_8wekyb3d8bbwe folder to D:, maybe to something like D:\Games\MSFS
- Search for “cmd” in the start menu, right-click the result and run as administrator
- Run: mklink /d C:\Users\yourusername_here\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.FlightSimulator_8wekyb3d8bbwe D:\Games\MSFS
That should be it.
You need double quotes around path names that have spaces in them, e.g. “C:\Users…”.
Yes but the steam and MSStore files are just the launch files, the main content defaults to appdata and its BAD place for it to default to. My point was that people should take the option once in game to install the game somewhere other than Appdata. Like the D Drive he mentioned, I have the Steam version and installed on the D Drive and it works fine. My Steam files are under D:/Steam and my FS2020 folder is also on the D Drive. D:/MyGames/…
Agreed. And since FS 2020 is actually asking at install time - and also when updates are available - where to store all the scenery, data and aircraft etc. data I assume there must be also some in-game setting which lets you select that path after the fact.
What happens with the existing game data (scenery, …) I don’t know. Possibly FS 2020 moves the data to the new location. In the worst case one needs to download everything anew to the newly selected location (but I cannot imagine that).
And yes, it is the scenery etc. data that takes the vast majority of install space. The executables are taking probably “only” a few couple of GB. Not worth to move the actual game from C: to D: (or wherever), unless you are really in dire need of space on the C: drive (or C: is still a spinning drive and D: some external SSD etc.).
How do I run the Command mlink /d as Administrator?
I get this response:
‘Mlink’ is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file.
mklink, not mlink 
You run the command prompt as administrator in the right-click menu before you start it; everything you do inside it is then as administrator.