MSFS not detected during Orbx Central installation, can't add manually, and products purchased through website not shown in Central

[NHWun]

When I installed Orbx Central it only detected FSX not MSFS (2020) and there was no option to choose it manually. How do I go about installing the Orbx products I purchased through the Orbx website?

[Doug Sawatzky]

Hi, welcome to the forums

 

Have you run MSFS (2020) before opening Orbx Central?

What do you see in the list as shown n the below image?

[tuisong]

Hi there NHWan, I just want to add my welcome to that of Doug's. And wish you many happy hours flying the Orbx world.

[NHWun]

Thanks Doug and tuisong for the welcome to the forum All I see when I click on that menu is "Flight Simulator X" (I have FSX and FS2004) also installed on this PC). I'm running both Orbx Central (v4.1.23) and MSFS on a Windows standard user account installed on the same SSD drive and I purchased the Orbx products through the same account as the one I logged into Orbx Central. Under the General Tab in Settings it only lists Flight Simulator X under "Active Simulator:"
 

My PC specs are:

• Windows 10
• Intel i9-9900K
• Motherboard: MPG Z390
• 32GB RAM
• RTX 2080 Super

[Nick Cooper]

Hello,

Orbx Central looks for certain things in order to find the simulator.

Which version are you using?

The choice seems to be

Microsoft Store

Steam

Aerosoft DVD

X Box Game pass.

[NHWun]

Hi Nick,

 

Sorry forgot to point out - I've got the premium edition from the Microsoft Store - version 1.11.6.0

[Nick Cooper]

Hello,

thanks.

Orbx Central looks for %LOCALAPPDATA%/Packages/Microsoft.FlightSimulator_8wekyb3d8bbwe/LocalCache/UserCfg.opt

AKA C:\Users\your user name\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.FlightSimulator_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalCache\UserCfg.opt

It then reads the file and looks for the final entry, 'InstalledPackagesPath', which must point to the MSFS core files folder.

 

In my case, that is:  InstalledPackagesPath "G:\Microsoft Flight Simulator"

[NHWun]

That entry in the UserCfg.opt file reads:

InstalledPackagesPath "C:\Users\*Username*\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.FlightSimulator_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalCache\Packages"

[Nick Cooper]

Thanks.

can you try uninstalling and reinstalling Orbx Central?

You will find it in Control panel\Programs and Features.

[NHWun]

Yep tried that with no luck. Once I sign in it has FSX there as before

[Nick Cooper]

Hello,

some users have found that it works again after they have run MSFS a couple of times,

perhaps try that?

Please make sure that Orbx Central is closing between sessions and not minimising to the taskbar.

[NHWun]

Hi Nick,

Gave it a go with 4 cycles but again, no luck.

 

The first time I installed it it detected FSX and had an option to add sims that weren't automatically detected, however, in the drop down menu MSFS wasn't an option.

 

I'll give it another crack later after a PC restart and some more flying time.

[Nick Cooper]

Thanks, I'm not sure what is happening, or indeed why there are so many apparent

solutions that work for some and not for others.

I cannot replicate the problem here, except by deliberately removing one or the other of the requirements.

[Jon Clarke]

Attach your User.cfg and tell me the location/path of your MSFS Official and Community folders.

[NHWun]

Here we go: UserCfg.opt

• The path to this UserCfg.opt file is:                      C:\Users\Non-Admin User\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.FlightSimulator_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalCache
• To the MSFS Official and Community folders is:  C:\Users\Non-Admin User\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.FlightSimulator_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalCache\Package

[Nick Cooper]

Hello,

I wonder if Orbx Central is looking elsewhere, the "non admin user" presumably means that there is an admin user as well?

 

[NHWun]

Yep! That is something I suspect. MSFS and Orbx Central are both installed on the non admin account, however, when running Orbx Central Windows User Account Control asks "Do you want this app to make changes to your device" and requires an admin password

[BobbieH]

Things can get a little tricky with Microsoft purchases as they are tied to the account that purchased them. If you purchased MSFS on the none admin account have you tried granting that account admin rights at all ? 

 

https://www.windowscentral.com/how-change-user-account-type-windows-10