Migrating FS9 from XP 32Bit to Windows 7 64Bit

[Dillon 2,197]

I'm writing this for those scared of the prospect of reinstalling every add-on they had in FS9 to get things to work in Windows 7. The big elephant in the room is one doesn't have to reinstall everything. What I found is if an advanced FS9 simmer has their FS9 setup exactly like they want only a few things have to be reinstalled outside of FS9 to be back up and running in record time. All your texture, traffic, scenery, and 90% of everything else just needs to be copied over. I created a dual boot option on my machine seeing I had 500gigs of space on my C:\ and wasn't sure if I'd like Windows 7. This proved making the transition overall less painless as I otherwise would have lost critical setup information in my \Documents and Settings\ folder.What follows bellow is assuming you have backed up all required files for FS9 and fully setup Windows 7 with proper drivers (especially display drivers). Read through this first before trying anything so you know exactly what to keep from your XP FS9 setup:1. First off you have to keep your original install intact so you'll have two installs of FS9 once you get started with this on your computer. Those with C\: drive installations of FS9 who decide to blow their whole XP install away including all files in favor of Windows 7 need not apply. This is for those with FS9 on a separate drive. Not saying FS9 can’t be backed up but this has to happen in whatever way for this to work. Preserving your old setup is for the purposes of copying files over to the new install location. After a few weeks if you’re satisfied with your FS9 W7 instillation then you can remove the old XP version. I keep a backup on an external Terabit drive just in case either way. 2. FS9 will have to be installed in Windows 7 for its registry info to be recognized or the program won't run. Install it anywhere you want with the exception being under 'Program Files' (Windows 7 has too many restrictions for programs installed under Program Files x86)... Mine is installed on my D: drive under 'D:\W7 FS9'. You don't need to reinstall the FS9.1 patch as this will come over with all your copied over files. Launch FS9 initially only to get to the main menu screen before a flight (this may not be needed but this is what I did).3. Once FS9 is installed you need to find the new location of where the FS9.cfg file is located, rename the 'just installed' version and replace it with your old XP installation used in your profile folder under 'Documents & Settings'. 4. This is where space is needed. First renamed my new install of Flight Simulator (D:\W7 FS9\Flight Simulator 9 New) and 'copied' over (not moved) my whole install of my XP FS9 (D:\Program Files\Microsoft\Flight Simulator 9) to my D:\FS9 W7 folder to look like this (D:\W7 FS9\Flight Simulator 9). D:\W7 FS9 now has two FS9 folders with one labeled 'NEW'. You can now launch FS9.5. You'll find you have to setup your display settings again but FS9 should load up and look like it's always did in XP (or better).6. Once you find FS9 in good working order you can delete the 'new' install of FS9 you labeled 'NEW' in your Windows 7 folder you created for FS9. You may want to defrag your drive at this point or continue.7. Programs that will need to be either reinstalled or serial numbers re-registered are as follows:FSUIPC - Re-RegisterExternal apps like ActiveSky Evolution and FDC has to be reinstalled.Flight1 installs (Eaglesoft products etc.) - reinstall and then copy over your aircraft from your old FS9 XP install to save the hassle of reinstalling paints and custom configs.Some payware scenery will have to be re-registered like Cloud9, FSDreamtream, etc. Most of your scenery will just work.Some of the more complex aircraft will have to be reinstalled like Leonardo's Maddog and PMDG's work. Most you'll find especially the older work doesn't need a reinstall. Again reinstall and then copy over your aircraft from your old FS9 XP install to save the hassle of reinstalling paints and custom configs.7. Play around as you'll find a few things here and there that need to be handled as you go along but those things will be minor. I have found that FS9 wants to keep my old XP location where scenery is located as the default location (D:\Program Files\Microsoft\Flight Simulator 9\Addon Scenery). I have to address pointing the paths to my new install (D:\W7\Flight Simulator 9\Addon Scenery). Changing just the entries in the 'Scenery.cfg' file is not working as the default flight won't load. Either way I refused to totally rebuild my FS9 setup from scratch. It has taken me too long to get FS9.1 perfect visually with addons like ENB, REX, and WOAI traffic to start over. If all I have to do is install a few aircraft and re-register a few scenery packages I'll take that.I almost forgot to mention the performance gain going from a 32Bit OS to a 64Bit operating system is amazing. It's like I've bought a whole new machine but rather my machine's resources were never fully utilized until now... If it wasn't for a virus that took my whole XP setup down I wouldn't have bothered switching to Windows 7. I would have retired this machine once 'Flight' arrived never knowing what it was capable of with FS9. Talk about something bad ending up being for the best in the long run...

[Dillon 2,197]

Very Important when running FS9 in a 64Bit OS environment: The 'FS9.exe' file needs to be made 'Large Address Aware'... Here's a tool that was made for this. You only have to convert the file once: http://www.ntcore.com/4gb_patch.php

[Guest firehawk44]

Great info Dillon! I would think this would be valuable information in the Tutorial Forum too. Best regards,Jim

[FLEX1978 373]

Great post man, just what I was looking for today!

[Hoang 108]

Thanks a lot Dillon. Just what I need :D

[G7USL 117]

Good work Les, this thread should now be 'pinned'?

[David Roch 1,968]

Done!Thanks for the great job :--)

[Dillon 2,197]

Wow, my first pinned thread since I've been on these forums (1995). I'm glade people found this info helpful. Too many people seemed to have unnecessary issues migrating over and the going wisdom was blow everything away and start from scratch (which you should never do unless you've deleted your original install of FS9 that had your custom setup). I've had a total hard drive failure and was able to recover my data now I keep a backup on my external Terabit Drive. For those like me who've spent years getting FS9 setup exactly the way we want it; doing or should I say remembering all that we did over the years is an impossible task and not an option.

[Calypso50 0]

Hi Dillon, Thank you so much for taking the time to provide this information. I have a new W7 system with 500 Gb h/d--partitioned thus-- - Drive:C- 304 Gb (plus the installation I guess) and Drive:D 163 Gb- emptyI also have my old HD Drive "F" with my old FS9 still on it. Before I found your post and other's, I already installed FS on the new Drive C;Program Files(x86) oopps.!!My question is---Can I still move FS to a new folder such as --"'D:\W7 FS9'" as you suggest? So far I have only installed the FS APP, and a few of my old aircraft-- a few Carenados, HS748 and other Cal Classics, couple of POSKY's, etc. the easy ones... I have not re-installed any scenery yet..I may ask other questions later but this is the first and most important. I did successfully install the 'Large Address Aware'...patch Many thanks,Bill

[Dillon 2,197]

Uninstall your C: installation of FS9, reinstall FS9 on your D:, and follow everything I wrote above. The initial installation is very critical in where you place it. You don't want FS9 on the same drive as your OS.

[Calypso50 0]

Hi Dillon,Opps, too late. Before you posted on Oct 27, I already moved FS9 to C;"'D:W7 FS9'".. Then I also installed Genesis, UT, GE PRO, etc... Also, in my old installation in XP, there were some issues with REP that caused some visual problems that I was never able to correct.. even with lots of help from folks in the AVSIM Forum ... SO I just got used to flying with those few weird things.. That's one reason I didn't want to just transfer everything from the old OS to my new computer. That and.. just too much old stuff so I though I would start fresh to a great degree,,,Again, thank you for your help...Bill

[darian 0]

Dillon are you running your Windows 7 OS in XP more or normal mode. I am getting ready to purchase Windows 7 and wondering which version to buy. Home, Premium, or Ultimate. I already know I need 64BIT.

[PebbleBeach 119]

Dillon,Built (2) computers, both with Windows 7 Home Premium. Both systems have a 2 Terabyte "D" drive installed. Copied, did not install, the entire FS9 directory to both "D" drives on each computer. Then ran the Flight 1 FS9 registry tool which inserts into the registry the proper path etc. Fired up FS9 on the first system with no problems whatsoever. Tried it on the second, and I get an error. Click start, FS9 splash screen appears and then dissapears. Look in the tray and nothing. It just starts then vanishes. I have done a host of tricks to see if I could get it to work to include the following:1. Re-copied the root FS9 directory files again over to new system2. Deleted FS9.CFG and let it create a new one.3. Edited Scenery. CFG to assure proper scenery locations.4. Set Situation= to blank in FS9. CFG.5. Check all sound card and video card drivers6. Checked registry entries7. Checked Microsoft's fix suggestions and assured Document folders are in proper place which they were8. Etc etcAny suggestions?

[Quentin Moore 0]

Hi Dillon,Your article was most informative and helpful and, having followed the process, FS9 in now working in Windows 7. I have used FS9 since it was launched and have invested heavily in add-ons over the years, so am not keen to dump it and move to FSX. Windows 7 seems to be responsible for the fact that FS9 panels, which worked excellently in Xp, have now developed 'the shakes' and knobs and switches dither, sometime so badly one cannot fly. I have been told by the hardware guys (I thought it was my graphics card or drivers) that this has something to do with DirectX 11, but I cannot prove or disprove this theory, because it is impossible to re-load DirectX 9.0c on the Windows 7 platform. The installer says a later version of DirectX is installed and halts the process.Perhaps you might know of a solution to this problem, other than reverting to Windows Xp SP3, which seems to be a retrogressive step.Regards,Quentin Moore

[nunodaniel 0]

Hi Dillon,I saw your post, and although you people are discussing this since last year, I hope you can help me with a question:I used to play Fs9 on win xp 32 bits, 4gb memory, intel i5 2500k 3.3ghz, nvidia card 1gb ddr3, lots of addons, fs9 scenery almost to the max etc...no problems whatsoever. Then I migrated to win 7 ultimate 64 bits, to get full use of the memory and processor, and the result was: "not enough memory available, fs9 will now close, please check your hard disk for space bla bla bla bla". This is ridiculous, I have almost 400gb to spare on my hard disk and the 4gb memory are there, this is crazy...i just got the exact oposite result that I was hoping for, any ideas? Will the 4GB patch override this issue?Many thanksDaniel