I have saved up all my pennies and have purchased a new system running Intel® Core i7 cpu 920 @ 2.67 GHZ w/ 6 GB of RAM on 64 bit system w/ vista. Now this is light years from my previous system and over the years I have read there has been some difficulties with vista. So if someone could redirect me to a source so I can safely reinstall FS9 I would really appreciate it. Thanking you in advanceRichard

Before anything else, disable all of the permissions. Typically, when you install a piece of software, you can right click to show the properties. You can choose the XP compatibility box. Then you can choose permissions from the box at the top of the properties window. Some software packages run fine, others will never run in Vista 64. Be aware that Vista 64 is a different animal from Vista 32. That will become apparent very early. Some, if not all, add-ons will need to be checked XP compatible. Anything with RCB guages is a no go. They just won't work. You can load a plane with the guages, but you will need to delete the panel and find another that does not use these guages. Some installers don't work properly. Be sure that if you use the installer, check closely the path that it chooses. A lot of this will become intuitive after a few installations. Use windows explorer to study the structure of Vista. Its not a bad idea to buy a comprehensive guide for Vista. It really is quite different from XP. Good Luck!

Simply install FS9 and the rest of your addons like you would in XP. There is no reason to be afraid of Vista. 1. NO, you don't need to run addons in XP compatibility mode at all. 2. NO you don't need to disable any security. The only thing that you DO need to do is run FS9 and all your addons in administrator mode or many of your FS9 addons will not run properly. You can also opt to disable UAC completely, but is not necessary at all. Just make sure if you are going to disable UAC do it BEFORE you start installing FS9 and your addons and never turn it back on. If you will keep UAC then leave it on and run all your FS9 programs in administrator mode. 3. NO Vista x64 is not a whole different animal than x32. x64 can run 64 bit programs as well as 32 bit programs AND can recognize +3GB of RAM. Other than that, there is nothing you need to do on x64 to get any of your FS9 programs to run.4. NO you don't need a special manual to install FS9 and addons in Vista! Its not that serious! 5. Most addons that had installer issues with Vista 2 years ago (like Flight1 wrapper) have been long fixed.6. Install all Vista service packs and patches in addition to all updated drivers!The only issues I know of are with FSX (figures). DO NOT install FSX and / or its addons to your program files directory because many addons seem to generate errors trying to write to .ini and .cfg files during normal operation. This is not a consideration with FS9.FS9 ran on Vista or Vista x64 without a hitch from day on and so do ALL major addons (I don't use freeware panels so I can't vouch for those). As a matter of fact, FS9 and ALL addons run with Windows 7 and Windows 7 x64 even better than on Vista!If you have a choice, install x64 since it eliminates the dreaded OOM errors.Now, go forth and prosper!Regards,Mike T.

Agree 100% with Mike TThe only problem I've had so far was installing Ultimate Traffic.... when it gets to the part where it installs TTS, SAY NO. If you do FS9 won't start... all you get is the splash screen then CTD. However, even if, like me, you forget it's not the end of the world, just select system restore, then select the TTS installation restore point and you will have a working system again. UT remains intact and works just fine other than you can't use the arrival/departure board.... which I never used anyway!

I should be getting the same system soon and intend on still using fs9 with vista 64, I have heard of people editing the fs9.exe file in order to allow for more RAM to be used, is this necessary and if so, what's the easiest way of doing it? Apologies for hijacking the thread but I gathered it may be relevant here...

Simply install FS9 and the rest of your addons like you would in XP. There is no reason to be afraid of Vista. 1. NO, you don't need to run addons in XP compatibility mode at all. 2. NO you don't need to disable any security. The only thing that you DO need to do is run FS9 and all your addons in administrator mode or many of your FS9 addons will not run properly. You can also opt to disable UAC completely, but is not necessary at all. Just make sure if you are going to disable UAC do it BEFORE you start installing FS9 and your addons and never turn it back on. If you will keep UAC then leave it on and run all your FS9 programs in administrator mode. 3. NO Vista x64 is not a whole different animal than x32. x64 can run 64 bit programs as well as 32 bit programs AND can recognize +3GB of RAM. Other than that, there is nothing you need to do on x64 to get any of your FS9 programs to run.4. NO you don't need a special manual to install FS9 and addons in Vista! Its not that serious! 5. Most addons that had installer issues with Vista 2 years ago (like Flight1 wrapper) have been long fixed.6. Install all Vista service packs and patches in addition to all updated drivers!The only issues I know of are with FSX (figures). DO NOT install FSX and / or its addons to your program files directory because many addons seem to generate errors trying to write to .ini and .cfg files during normal operation. This is not a consideration with FS9.FS9 ran on Vista or Vista x64 without a hitch from day on and so do ALL major addons (I don't use freeware panels so I can't vouch for those). As a matter of fact, FS9 and ALL addons run with Windows 7 and Windows 7 x64 even better than on Vista!If you have a choice, install x64 since it eliminates the dreaded OOM errors.Now, go forth and prosper!Regards,Mike T.

TKS for the time and consideration to answer this I really appreciate it. Richard

Simply install FS9 and the rest of your addons like you would in XP. There is no reason to be afraid of Vista. 1. NO, you don't need to run addons in XP compatibility mode at all. 2. NO you don't need to disable any security. The only thing that you DO need to do is run FS9 and all your addons in administrator mode or many of your FS9 addons will not run properly. You can also opt to disable UAC completely, but is not necessary at all. Just make sure if you are going to disable UAC do it BEFORE you start installing FS9 and your addons and never turn it back on. If you will keep UAC then leave it on and run all your FS9 programs in administrator mode. 3. NO Vista x64 is not a whole different animal than x32. x64 can run 64 bit programs as well as 32 bit programs AND can recognize +3GB of RAM. Other than that, there is nothing you need to do on x64 to get any of your FS9 programs to run.4. NO you don't need a special manual to install FS9 and addons in Vista! Its not that serious! 5. Most addons that had installer issues with Vista 2 years ago (like Flight1 wrapper) have been long fixed.6. Install all Vista service packs and patches in addition to all updated drivers!The only issues I know of are with FSX (figures). DO NOT install FSX and / or its addons to your program files directory because many addons seem to generate errors trying to write to .ini and .cfg files during normal operation. This is not a consideration with FS9.FS9 ran on Vista or Vista x64 without a hitch from day on and so do ALL major addons (I don't use freeware panels so I can't vouch for those). As a matter of fact, FS9 and ALL addons run with Windows 7 and Windows 7 x64 even better than on Vista!If you have a choice, install x64 since it eliminates the dreaded OOM errors.Now, go forth and prosper!Regards,Mike T.

Mike T, I'm glad you had a different experience from mine. As for the manual, I was not suggesting that it was needed for FS9 or the add-ons. Its stricly for reference. I never was able to get a plane with Reality guages to work and received no help from Flight1 except the statement "some add-ons will never work". I had to run some add-ons in XP compatibility and had several problems with permissions. That was MY experience and was simply presented as a different view. I will agree that Vista 64 adds a great deal of stability. Its like a lot of things, set your expectations low and if things go smoothly, its a pleasant surprise.

I have saved up all my pennies and have purchased a new system running Intel

I should be getting the same system soon and intend on still using fs9 with vista 64, I have heard of people editing the fs9.exe file in order to allow for more RAM to be used, is this necessary and if so, what's the easiest way of doing it? Apologies for hijacking the thread but I gathered it may be relevant here...

If you are gonna run FS9 on Vista 32-bit, you can add the memory hack if you wish and you will still eventually get OOM errors. I have long switched over to Vista 64bit (and now Windows 7 x64) after long being an opponent of the need to use a 64-bit system at all. If you have a lot of memory hungry addons and you use any PMDG product you'd save yourself smashing your head into your desk by simply installing Vista x64 and be done with it. Unless you need to run a 16-bit program left over from your college days, there is no reason no to use it!SO, to answer your question. Simply install x64 and never worry about memory goobledy-gook again! :-) Of course, you may enjoy the challenge of never knowing when you will get an OOM (usually in the middle of that perfect 15 hour flight on final approach) then Vista 32-bit is for you! :( Regards,Mike T.

Additional question I see in Vista there are two program file location does it make a difference where fs9 is loaded???

Let it install to the default (x86). One is for 32-bit programs (Program Files x86) and the other (Program Files) is for native 64-bit applications. NOW, with that said, absolutely nothing will happen if you installed a 32-bit program in the 64-bit directory or vice versa, its there to keep things neat so you can seperate 32-bit from 64-bit programs or even install 2 of the same programs, 1 64-bit and 1 32-bit.Natively FS9 will put itself in the x86 directory and so will all of your addons, etc. You just have to remember that in case you install an addon that you have to type the installation path manually and forget to put in the x86 suffix.HTH,Mike T.

Very useful thread, thanks for the replies, I'm so glad vista 64 and fs9 requires no editing of the fs9.exe very comforting to know!! so will fs9 be able to utilise say 6GB of RAM on a Vista64 system or will it still only handle 2gb?