Installing duplicate Fs2004 on another drive

[Guest tonicfan]

For testing purposes i want to re-install FS2004 but i want to do it on my other hard drive.I have read on another website that this is not recommended. Is it possible to do? If so is there a resource that will tell me how to do it properly? I dont want to confuse the computer and i dont want to mess up the original copy i already have installed on the C: drive.Thanks

[Jure 36]

Hi,I have four installations on two different drives without any problems. What I did was to simply copy a virgin FS9.1 installation three times and that was it. One is kept as a clean installation, the other three serve different purposes. So, simply duplicate the whole FS2004 folder. One thing... I use custom fs9.cfg files that reside in each FS installation main folder, not the one in C:\Documents And Settings\<USER>\Application Data\Microsoft\FS9\FS9.CFG. What you do is copy the fs9.cfg file from the above location into your FS9 installation(s) main folder and create as many shortcuts as you have fs9.cfg files. You can name them as you wish, for example, the one in your main FS installation could be "MyFirstFS9.cfg". Right click on the shortcut and in "Target" put a statement like this:"C:\Program Files\FS2004\FS9.exe /cfg:MyFirstFS9.cfg"When you click on this icon, the correct FS9 will start. Do the same for your second installation... if it is, for example on the D: drive in FS2004 and you renamed the fs9.cfg file to MySecondFS9.cfg, put the following into the second shortcut's "target" line:"D:\FS2004\FS9.exe /cfg:MySecondFS9.cfg"Again, when you double-click on this icon, the FS9 on drive D: will startYou can have as many fs9.cfg files as you wish and call on them in the way described. I use this for different jostick/yoke mappings, to run different FSUIPC setups for different aircraft and so on.Regards,Jure

[psolk 3,057]

Hi,I have four installations on two different drives without any problems. What I did was to simply copy a virgin FS9.1 installation three times and that was it. One is kept as a clean installation, the other three serve different purposes. So, simply duplicate the whole FS2004 folder. One thing... I use custom fs9.cfg files that reside in each FS installation main folder, not the one in C:\Documents And Settings\<USER>\Application Data\Microsoft\FS9\FS9.CFG. What you do is copy the fs9.cfg file from the above location into your FS9 installation(s) main folder and create as many shortcuts as you have fs9.cfg files. You can name them as you wish, for example, the one in your main FS installation could be "MyFirstFS9.cfg". Right click on the shortcut and in "Target" put a statement like this:"C:\Program Files\FS2004\FS9.exe /cfg:MyFirstFS9.cfg"When you click on this icon, the correct FS9 will start. Do the same for your second installation... if it is, for example on the D: drive in FS2004 and you renamed the fs9.cfg file to MySecondFS9.cfg, put the following into the second shortcut's "target" line:"D:\FS2004\FS9.exe /cfg:MySecondFS9.cfg"Again, when you double-click on this icon, the FS9 on drive D: will startYou can have as many fs9.cfg files as you wish and call on them in the way described. I use this for different jostick/yoke mappings, to run different FSUIPC setups for different aircraft and so on.Regards,Jure

hey Jure, goog to hear from you as always! Brilliant suggestion with the .cfg's, I never even considered doing it that way. I use the old copy/paste LOL. I love picking up a new tip, thanks a ton!Hope you are well!!!-Paul

[Jure 36]

hey Jure, goog to hear from you as always! Brilliant suggestion with the .cfg's, I never even considered doing it that way. I use the old copy/paste LOL. I love picking up a new tip, thanks a ton!Hope you are well!!!-Paul

Hey Paul, great to hear from you as well! :( All is well here, I hope you are doing great, too. I am starting to go into GoFlight modules direction these days. And that 3-monitor setup with TH2GO is very tempting, too. And a secondary PC through WideView for instruments display and.... argh! :( But I digress...You are using FSUIPC, right? If so, then you might be interested in multiple FSUIPC.ini's as well. Each add-on aircraft that I fly has practically it's own fsuipc.ini with it's own settings. Much more readable than using "Aircraft Specific" settings in a single fsuipc.ini. Here's how (I'll use a B744 as an example):1. Create a new fs9.cfg in your main FS9 folder and name it "fs9_b747.cfg" or something like that.2. Create a shortcut as described and point FS9.exe to this .cfg file.3. Go to your Modules folder and make a copy of "FSUIPC.ini" and FSUIPC.key"4. Rename the copies of these two files to "FSUIPC_b747.ini" and FSUIPC_b747.key" respectively5. Open fs9_b747.cfg and right on top insert these two lines (brackets are square, of course)(FSUIPC)ControlName=FSUIPC_b7474. Save fs9_b747.cfg, double-click on your new shortcut and FS9 will start with these custom fs9_b747.cfg and FSUIPC_b747.ini files. 5. Change settings to your content and never look back. :( Regards,Jure

[psolk 3,057]

Hey Paul, great to hear from you as well! :( All is well here, I hope you are doing great, too. I am starting to go into GoFlight modules direction these days. And that 3-monitor setup with TH2GO is very tempting, too. And a secondary PC through WideView for instruments display and.... argh! :( But I digress...You are using FSUIPC, right? If so, then you might be interested in multiple FSUIPC.ini's as well. Each add-on aircraft that I fly has practically it's own fsuipc.ini with it's own settings. Much more readable than using "Aircraft Specific" settings in a single fsuipc.ini. Here's how (I'll use a B744 as an example):1. Create a new fs9.cfg in your main FS9 folder and name it "fs9_b747.cfg" or something like that.2. Create a shortcut as described and point FS9.exe to this .cfg file.3. Go to your Modules folder and make a copy of "FSUIPC.ini" and FSUIPC.key"4. Rename the copies of these two files to "FSUIPC_b747.ini" and FSUIPC_b747.key" respectively5. Open fs9_b747.cfg and right on top insert these two lines (brackets are square, of course)(FSUIPC)ControlName=FSUIPC_b7474. Save fs9_b747.cfg, double-click on your new shortcut and FS9 will start with these custom fs9_b747.cfg and FSUIPC_b747.ini files. 5. Change settings to your content and never look back. :( Regards,Jure

Glad you are well Jure!!!Trust me, I feel your pain LOL!!! I just got a single 27 inch monitor at 2048*1152 resolution to replace my Hanns-G 28 that went bad and have to say it is magnificent! Now Imagine 3 of them LOL!!!But I digress too...I love your FSUIPC idea too. I am going to steal that LOL.Cheers!-Paul

[Guest tonicfan]

I do not have a virgin install currently, its modified with sceneries and other things, i was looking to install a new copy on another drive not copy the one i have now, is that possible? or am i misreading something

[Swoop 0]

Do you think it's possible to simply use the cab's and unzip them into a duplicated folder structure of FS9. I'm guessing here but I think you might be able to piece meal it together. The DOS xcopy /t command will create an empty folder structure for you.Mark

[Jure 36]

I do not have a virgin install currently, its modified with sceneries and other things, i was looking to install a new copy on another drive not copy the one i have now, is that possible? or am i misreading something

It could be done... what I did was to rename my current FS installation from c:\FS2004 to c:\FS2004xxxxxx and installed FS9 again - into the same location so you don't mess up the registry. Once installation is done, simply move the contents of this newly created c:\Fs2004 to the other drive (let's say, D:\FS2004), delete the folder c:\FS2004 and rename c:\FS2004xxxxxx back to c:\FS2004....Regards,Jure

[Guest tonicfan]

Good idea.What about scenery addons that are installed with installation programs? Those would not be installed any longer? I would like to have a copy where i can start installing scenery from scratch as i have tons installed and some i believe are creating issues. Plus i no longer need all the planes i have but i would like to keep some of them on another version for fun. I have several FlyTampa sceneries among others that were installed into the copy im running now, if i install a new copy of fs9 into the same directory what occurs? How do i make sure those flytampa sceneries are still around on both versions?

It could be done... what I did was to rename my current FS installation from c:\FS2004 to c:\FS2004xxxxxx and installed FS9 again - into the same location so you don't mess up the registry. Once installation is done, simply move the contents of this newly created c:\Fs2004 to the other drive (let's say, D:\FS2004), delete the folder c:\FS2004 and rename c:\FS2004xxxxxx back to c:\FS2004....Regards,Jure

[Jure 36]

What about scenery addons that are installed with installation programs? Those would not be installed any longer?

They would remain installed if you went through with all the steps and after copying the "new" FS9 rename the original folder back to c:\FS2004. The problem with this approach is that if you wanted to uninstall a scenery from your current FS9 installation and install it to the new one on a different drive, the installer would only always find the current FS9 because of the registry entries. I often install scenery to a dummy folder, copy the contents to a folder of my choice (I keep a strict folder hierarchy and placement for scenery) and then uninstall it. With some sceneries this won't work, of course, depends what kind of protection the authors put in place. What you could do is install a second copy of FS9 to the same drive. Current one in C:\FS2004, for example, and the fresh one in C:\FS2004new. Then you could uninstall a scenery from your current FS9, after that go and rename the folder C:\FS2004 to something like C:\FS2004Current and rename C:\FS2004new to C:\FS2004, thus fooling the installer in thinking that it is still the same FS9 and install the scenery to your virgin FS9 installation.I have such a case, one FS9 installation I use for heavy stuff flying and the other for VFR flying. Both can share the same scenery (just a matter of editing scenery.cfg a bit) but aircraft are totally different. Just remember to always rename the wanted FS9 installation folder to what you have in the registry - in our example, c:\FS2004. Phew... I hope it doesn't sound too complicated!? :(Regards,Jure