Moving MSFS Installation From One SSD to Another (Steam)

[SpaceHippy1975]

Hi All,

I was hoping that someone would be able to advise me with regards to moving my installation from one SSD to another, larger SSD?

I currently have the Steam version of MSFS on a 500GB SSD & I also have a 1TB SSB that I have going spare, so I'm hoping to future-proof myself by moving everything over.

**I'm hoping to do this without downloading everything again, if possible!**

Is this possible? I'm guessing that I'd have to rename the new drive the same as the old one (E?

Cheers,

Keith.

[Daube]

Ok, please wait for more feedback before trying this, because I'm not sure how the sim will react.
However, in Steam, if you right click MSFS in the list of games and go to "properties", you can then reach the section "local files" and there's a button to move the files to another drive.
I have never tried this.
I do not know how the sim will react.
Theorically, this is how it should be done, but please wait for some confirmations from more experienced people here before attempting that method

[Dangerous Beans]

I've used this method for other games and it worked well with those.
But as Daube noted I don't know how MSFS will react as its not a program in the traditional sense but really a Windows 10 App masquerading as a program.

[Tom Clayton]

I suggest posting this at the official board. There are people there with plenty of experience that should be able to get you a good answer.

[Brytskiva]

Just uninstall it the Microsoft/Windows way , i tried another way and i ended up in "the 19.th nervous breakdown state" , so uninstall and reinstall , all your settings will be back even for your controller , it will take time but it will be fine , maybe there are special programs who can do it , but i don´t know ~

HB

[ak416]

It's actually super easy to do using the Steam version.

I would recommend not using the method that Daube suggested. While normally good advice that works for 99% of Steam games, MSFS is a little bit different in that technically the only thing installed via Steam is the launcher. The launcher then downloads the game files to a location of your choosing. You want to find your main "Flight Simulator" folder.

Within this folder should be two other folders, "Community" and "Official". On my system, for example, it is located in "D:\Steam\steamapps\common\Flight Simulator". Note that this is different from the "MicrosoftFlightSimulator" folder. "MicrosoftFlightSimulator" only contains the files for the launcher. You can just leave that folder alone.

You want to move the entire "Flight Simulator" folder to it's new destination. For the sake of this post, lets say I want to move it to my F drive. So I take the Flight Simulator folder, and move it to "F:\Games\Simulation". The final path will look something like "F:\Games\Simulation\Flight Simulator".

Then launch Flight Simulator again via Steam. Flight Simulator will launch as if the sim is not installed. It will ask where you want to install the sim. Simply point the launcher to "F:\Games\Simulation\Flight Simulator" and instead of reinstalling the sim, it will verify the files that already exist in that location.

It is important to install to the main Flight Simulator folder, not the Official folder. Your "Flight Simulator" folder (the one containing the Official and Community folder" might be named something different but the process is exactly the same.

[SpaceHippy1975]

Cheers all,

Will check the info ak416 provided.

May well just copy the files from one drive over to the other & test it out that way (keeping the original SSD safe just incase!)

If that doesn't work I'll just have to start afresh!

Keith.

[ak416]

If you are reluctant to move the install, you can just rename the "Flight Simulator" folder and make a copy instead of moving it with no backup.

The method I posted will only work if the Launcher cannot "find" the files in the location you initially installed them in.

Good luck!

[SpaceHippy1975]

Hi All,

I took the plunge & copied all of the files over from drive one to the other, disconnected the original SSD & restarted MSFS. (Kept the original aside just in case for the time being!)

Other that MSFS needing to be pointed to the relocated Packages folder at the update screen.

Did a quick 10 minute flight & everything seems to be flying smoothly. Still need to do a longer flight when I get a chance.

Touch wood, all has gone okay & now have 650GB of free space to future proof myself!

Thanks for the advice provided.

Keith.

[johnbla]

Thanks for the info. After copying the files, are you able to clone/backup the copied files? I tried this on the MS store version but it did not work. Many thanks.

[SpaceHippy1975]

Thanks for the info. After copying the files, are you able to clone/backup the copied files? I tried this on the MS store version but it did not work. Many thanks.

I only did a straight copy & paste of the files from one drive to the other, then pointed Steam & MSFS to the new location. Not too sure about the MS Store version, sorry!


Keith.