Urgent help required - MSFS will not start

[noels7 10]

Reinstalled MSFS including update 1.26.50 and all updates in content manager yesterday.

Everything tested and MSFS operating perfectly. This morning I attempted to start MSFS and got the following error :

This app can’t open
MSFS cannot open because it cannot be found. The storage device might be missing or disconnected.

Is anyone else experiencing this problem at the moment. Any assistance/advice to rectify would be greatly appreciated.

noels7

[vgbaron 3,743]

Try doing a repair install and see if that fixes it. MS Store or Steam?

if ms store and W10

Start - settings--Apps - MSFlightSimulator--Advanced options --  repair

[noels7 10]

vgbaron

Many thanks for your response. Already tried that and problem still exists.

 

[Fielder 3,883]

1 make sure windows system32 drivers etc hosts file (edit with notepad) has no lines at the bottom not starting with #. If so erase those lines.

2 try moving OFFICIAL\Steam\fs-base-nav folder to the desktop temporarily and try booting MSFS

3 try moving  C:\Users\YOUR COMPUTER NAME\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft Flight Simulator\content.xml file to the desktop temporarily and try booting MSFS

4 There's another file, I'm not sure the path and filename, which tells MSFS where the program is installed (the last line in that file). Maybe someone can tell you the name of that file and its location.

 

[Fielder 3,883]

# 1 comes into play when using Google maps instead of Bing maps

#2 is what solves this issue for me

#3 is the arrangement that all your addons will be seen by MSFS. Sometimes it gets corrupted. MSFS will rebuild this file in the correct order of addons when you boot up MSFS when the file is not present.

#4 I see messages about this file here on Avsim from time to time. 

[The Moose 1,179]

1 hour ago, Fielder said:

 

4 There's another file, I'm not sure the path and filename, which tells MSFS where the program is installed (the last line in that file). Maybe someone can tell you the name of that file and its location.

 

UserCfg.opt     Same location as content.xml

[noels7 10]

Hi Fielder and The Moose

Many thanks for your responses. Appreciated.

I reverted back to image of 7 Jun . Updated 1.26.50 plus all other needed updates in Content Manager. Everything (aircraft, scenery, etc) appear to be working okay.

I will now re-image (always use Macrium) and restore image that I created yesterday and see if that cracks the problem hopefully.

noels7

 

[Fielder 3,883]

wow, interesting creating all those images. Seems like it would be as the Internet Wayback machine page 

[Fielder 3,883]

I'm right now having to set my router speed down to 40Mbits/s from 100 to download content from content manager. Otherwise , content manager downloads crashes after a few Gigabytes. So far its working fine at 40.

I'm reinstalling MSFS because my runways all turned green (grass all over them). I have no idea why. Anyway the runways look correct now and my fps almost doubled with the reinstall.

My system as you see is lowly, but now for some reason I can set V-Sync and lock at 60 fps. I never have even seen 60 fps for months even briefly so I locked at fps 30. Now 60 is very easy. I have no clue why reinstalling MSFS upped my speeds so much. MSFS is often a mystery to me. 

Edited June 16, 2022 by Fielder

[The Moose 1,179]

6 minutes ago, Fielder said:

My system as you see is lowly, but now for some reason I can set V-Sync and lock at 60 fps. I never have even seen 60 fps for months even briefly so I locked at fps 30. Now 60 is very easy. I have no clue why reinstalling MSFS upped my speeds so much. MSFS is often a mystery to me. 

Very interesting, especially as we have similar specs.

Been thinking about a reinstall for a while, think ill do it today, a refresh is always good.  Are you on the MS Store version or Steam?  If MS does it do a nice clean uninstall or did you have to manually delete any folders/files after the uninstall? it does seem to have bits all over the place!  

[Fielder 3,883]

I'm on Steam and to uninstall you just go to Steam Library and do a 'Verify Integrity of Game Files' in the Steam Library. This erased all the folders in Official, I had already removed everything from Community temporarily. It did not erase anything else, only the Official folder. None of the other system files were touched. All the controller profiles and options were the same as before. 

I have no experience with the MS Store version MSFS.

[Fielder 3,883]

This over LICJ. Before re installing I got 34 fps or so right here and so locked fps at 30.

Now I can lock at 60.

Going to LICJ RY 25 and flying the drone over to the left for a repeatable test of my fps is my standard performance test.

It's also been long time since I had green bars in main thread and gpu too. Some things are a mystery to me.

Edited June 16, 2022 by Fielder

[Fielder 3,883]

Of course I'm not on ULTRA (only HIGH) and LOD and Render are only 100. Still 60 fps has lots of headroom to increase the settings.

 

[noels7 10]

Problem now appears to be fixed. The problem was either a corrupt install of Macrium Reflect, corrupted data on USB rescue media flash drive or USB flash drive itself is faulty.
Fresh install of Macrium, new rescue media on new USB appeared to fix problem. 12 hours wasted.

noels7