I have searched through the forum, but I can't find another message that dupicates my problem -- which is that FS9 won't start beyond the splash screen. It goes directly back to the desktop. I have uninstalled and reinstalled several times and can't find a fix. Anybody care to help?Dell 8300 P4 3.2 ghz1 gig DDR SDRAM256MB DDR ATI Radeon 9800XTAudigy 2 THXXP home80 G Ultra ATA drive partitioned with logical drive for games.Bob

I would delete the fs9.cfg file and let FS rebuild it. I don't think the file is removed during an uninstall. See the Tips & Tricks forum if you don't know where this file is.

Bob,Has FS2004 ever run? Has it ever gone through the initial setup? If not, open control panel, user accounts, and review the account you are using and see if it has Computer Administrator in its heading. If not, you need to restart your computer in the Safe-Mode.Start (Restart) the computer, press the F8 key between the first DOS Screen (black screen) and the Windows Screen. If you miss it, try again until a black screen appears with options. Select the Windows Safe-Mode, let it stabilize, select control panel, select your normal user account, change the account previleges for this account to Computer Administrator, OK, reboot your computer to the normal Windows mode.Retry FS2004 and see if it corrects your problem.W. Sieffert

FS9 has never run, although it did go through the entire setup andI am logged in as Adminstrator. Thanks.Bob

Tried deleting the FS9.cfg file, but that didn't seem to do the trick. Unstalled again and deleted the FS9.cfg, but that didn't work either. I don't think the fact that I have FS9 in F:.... and the FS9 file is in the C: drive has anything to do it. But thanks anyway.

Perhaps this helps: Re-install DX9.0b. Then install sim. Concluding from the above, you seem to be ok with administrator rights. Now if you have a fs9.cfg, search for the line 'LoadWindow=0'. Change this to '1' and try to get it into window mode. If possible, synchronize your game and desktop resolution. Hope this works for you. Good luck Jaap

Thanks to all who tried to help. Turns out the problem is a missing "Flight Simulator Files" folder that should have been created in My Documents. It wasn't and FS9 wouldn't run, I created it and now everything seems fine. Guess the install procedure couldn't find My Documents, which is in a different partition from both the C: partition and the partittion where I park games. We'll see what happens next.