FS2004 Windows XP install problem

[Guest Speed]

WOOOHOO!!!Kenneth will you marry me?That solved the problem. I can't believe that was it but that was it.Speed.

[Guest Pardue802]

HAHAHAHAHAWellllllllllll that's the first time I've ever been proposed to on the Flight Sim forums. Heck, pay for the flight to Vegas and you've got yerself a deal.Seriously, glad to know that this is what was causing your problems and that its fixed now! Someone on another forum brought this up as a potential problem, and sure enough it was a 5 minute fix... after all the frustration and ~10 hours banging my head trying to figure out what was wrong. I'm anxious to hear from everyone who is having this problem to see if this is what was causing it.Best luck with the new sim! I know I can't wait to get home today :(Kenneth

[Guest Speed]

My wife says we can only marry if your cute. Hrmmm, I guess I wasn't specific enough to her about the threesome suggestion.Norm, try Kenneth's solution on the bottom of page 3, it sounds like you have the same issue.Speed.

[Magic Man 2]

Well I have also moved my "My Documents" folder, to another drive so I'll give the possible solution a go a little later.If this is a common thing then MS need to sort it out very soon and I am frankly very suprised at such an oversight by them.

[Guest]

Thanks. But my problem gets bigger, and bigger. Here is a copy of what I said in one email about. I really need help on this now. Ha.Thanks for your help earlier. But I have to speak, talk, or write to someone (there is no one else here) or go nuts. :-(I did what you recommended. Things looked better. I uninstalled. Tried to reinstall. Three times I got a hang on a file named: Bendix_King_Radio.gau, in the Gauges folder, under FS9. (This occurs now during my installation attempts on CD number two. And I had to X my way out of the setup screens finally after trying three times to get by it. I noticed my path was: D:Program FilesMicrosoft GamesFlight Sim 9 GuagesBendix_King_Radio.gauI closed out with the page upper corner X from trying to install MSFS2004. It would not install, and not close but with the upper corner "X." Then I went down the path in EXPLORE and tried to dump the offending file. No luck. It would not dump. It would not rename or delete. It was protected. I could not change the file attributes. Nothing I did worked. And I noticed that the Bendix_King_Radio.gau file was not only in Gauges, and in the Flight Sim 9 folder and on down the path. But that the Flight Sim 9 folder was sitting in the middle of all the folders from Combat Flight Sim II. It was not alone on the directory tree, but in the middle of Combat Flight Sim II. The message on install was that there was a problem with this Bendix_King_Radio.gau file,or it was IN USE. How I ask can it be in use? No sims are running. No games are on. So on. It would not delete, or rename, and it would not let me delete or rename the Gauges folder, or the Flight Sim 9 folder. So I uninstalled Combat Flight Sim II. That did nothing. All the screwy problems were still the same and same messages. No change. So I uninstlled Combat Flight Sim I. Still the same. No changes. Get same messages. I see three extra folders from the XP-38 Web Site of David Copley. I delete them all. (They were combat flight sim II add ons for the P-38). Now all I have in D:Program FilesMicroSoft Games is: Flight Sim 9, and under it Gauges, and under it five files, all gauges, and one is the Bendix_King_Radio. gau. Now we're getting somewhere. Right? Wrong. Still the same. Nothing changed. Can't delete. Can't rename. Can't do anything.Can anyone at all help me with this? I surely thought a change of attribute would let me delete the file that now hangs the FS2004 install. But I can't do anything at all with it. Nothing.ThanksAny help appreciated.Lowell Wiley

[Magic Man 2]

Bleeding 'ell - we've cracked it lads. We've only gone and cracked it!Brilliant! Restored the location of My Documents to default and it worked first time.Now, MS needs to be told about this and to issue advice to solve the problem.I would also suggest that AVSIM posts this solution as a sticky.For info. FS2004 creates a folder called "Flight Simulator Files" for, it seems, saved flight info. Obviously though it can't cope with anything other than a default location of My Documents - bit worrying since the publisher of both this and the OS of which this is a feature are one and the same...Just checked and if the directory isn't there it wont work. Basically you don't need to revert your My Documents folder back to default and then change it again, just create a directory called "Flight Simulator Files" in My Documents and it will work.Thanks again!

[Guest]

Gang: I have given myself Admin rights in XP. Guess it was something I forgot to do. And now I can and did delete the old FS9 files. Imagine that: old FS9 files? And I am way into disk four. I also did the fix as per above. I did the redo of the folders on "My Documents." I upgraded from 8.0a DirectX to 9.0b too. But the Diagnostics had said that 8.0a was perfectly okay to use. so let's hope we got it. I'll let you know. Thanks for the help.

[Guest]

Gang: I have given myself Admin rights in XP. Guess it was something I forgot to do. And now I can and did delete the old FS9 files. Imagine that: old FS9 files? And I am way into disk four. I also did the fix as per above. I did the redo of the folders on "My Documents." I upgraded from 8.0a DirectX to 9.0b too. But the Diagnostics had said that 8.0a was perfectly okay to use. so let's hope we got it. I'll let you know. Thanks for the help.

[Guest]

Gang: I have given myself Admin rights in XP. Guess it was something I forgot to do. And now I can and did delete the old FS9 files. Imagine that: old FS9 files? And I am way into disk four. I also did the fix as per above. I did the redo of the folders on "My Documents." I upgraded from 8.0a DirectX to 9.0b too. But the Diagnostics had said that 8.0a was perfectly okay to use. so let's hope we got it. I'll let you know. Thanks for the help.

[Guest Pardue802]

FWIW, I've told the MS tech support representative that I've been in touch with about the solution we've come across to the problem, and he said that it would be entered into Microsoft's database and, presumably, eventually show up in a Knowledge Base article.Looks like we're well on the way to getting this particular problem documented and cataloged with the boys in Redmond.Kenneth

[Guest Pardue802]

Whew! Not sure how you did it but you really did get yourself in a pickle! Have no idea how you could have wound up smack in the middle of your CFS directory. I would suggest uninstalling all of the games in corrupted directories (seems you've done that) and delete all files and start from scratch. It might help to defrag at this point just to make sure all your bits and pieces are in order.I also want to make sure you're moving the location of your My Documents folder properly. That is, right clicking on the My Documents icon, going to Properties, and hitting the "Move" button? I'm just incredibly tired and not reading well at this point, but from reading your post that seemed a big vague.Best of luck with the re-re-reinstall... be sure to post back and let us know what's going on!KennethEDITED to add this: If you're still having trouble deleting those offending files, try booting up into safe mode. That might allow you to more easily do it.

[Guest]

Thanks to everyone who took an interest in my problem, and for the great help. It was the "My Documents" folder. And I fixed it like you all suggested. How the Combat sims got in the primary path without a primary directory I do not know. But I now will just reinstall them. And get the P-38's from David again too. So thanks a bunch. I am up and running after a ten hour struggle. I really like the new CoF,or FS9, or MSFS2004 or what ever else someone is going to call it. I flew the C-172 and the DC-3 all over Arizona when I got up and running. A lot to like about this new program. And for those who might get some use out of it, you can get manuals from Garmin to download for the real GPS units. I would think they would come in real handy. I got mine.Lowell M. WileyNicholasville, Ky.AMDXP1700 @ 1.47 Ghz512 MB DDR RamAlbatron 400 Pro BoardGeForce 2 Hercules with 64MBWe are always behind and need to upgrade. Aren't you? Ha. Thanks guys.