G'Day All -I've had to do a 'System Recovery' on my machine (Windows XP Home), and it has caused FS9 to crash to the desktop during loading. FS2002 works fine so I'm not in withdrawal yet! Everything else seems to work, except that when starting FS9 Configurator, there is an error message "Unable to read registry to find path to Flight Simulator 9". Surely that's more than a coincidence?No doubt the answer is to reinstall, but here's the thing......The discs are long gone (I've been using the NoCD patch). Can anyone suggest a solution? I'll buy it again if I have to, but its the principle of the thing, y'know?Thanks,Brian

Hi,Not a good thing to, with your first post, admit you have FS without any CDs. Yes, you were free to do what you wanted with the CDs, but once you got rid of them, the proper thing would have been to delete FS from your hard drive. I would suggest you re-purchase FS and keep the CDs this time.Hope this helps,JimActiveSky Supporthttp://www.hifisim.com/images/as2004proudsupporter.jpg

Yes, a reinstall is probably the only solution. Trouble is, you'll need the ORIGINAL CD's to restore the existing setup as the licence number is unique and you can only reinstall over an existing copy with the same CD's. Well, the same CD 1, anyway.You could also try the MS helpdesk. They have been known to take pity on a seasoned, legitimate simmer.Otherwise, looks like you'll have to re-purchase FS, clean out all traces of the old install, then reinstall fresh. Then reinstall all addons. FS can be had cheap now.Like Jim, your admission that you no longer have the original CD's in your first post to this legitimate users forum does make me wonder. Allcott

Good Day All -Thanks for the replies - I've already sent my son to pick up another copy of FS2004.In the interest of brevity in my original post, I didn't go into detail as to why I don't have the original disks, however, since it was mentioned in the replies, I should clarify the situation,I work two months on and two months off on an offshore supply vessel in West Africa, and took the disks with me so I could fly on my laptop. (Technically, I guess that's contrary to the licence agreement as well, so from that aspect, I'm guilty as charged.) About 9 months ago, I stupidly left my cabin unlocked while alongside in Onne Port, Nigeria, and the CD storage folder which contained about 30 DVDs and FS2004 disappeared along with my laptop and joystick. I used the NoCD patch for the installation on my desktop when I returned home - the rationale being that I had already paid for the program (which was "the principle of the thing" I mentioned in the original post).Hopefully, the explanation will 'clear my name', as it looks like these forums will be a great help in enjoying the simulation experience to the fullest. Sorry I got off on the wrong foot.Brian

Brian - Welcome to the forum(s). One of the nice things about the forum(s) here is the ability to search for just about anything. (The Search button is near the top of the opening page). This prior post should help your current problem. http://forums.avsim.net/dcboard.php?az=sho...id=202835&page= Doug

Thanks, Doug. My son just returned from town with my new copy of FS2004, but I'll try the registry modification first, as I'll no doubt screw up transferring all my many freeware aircraft and scenery files. Perhaps you're aware of a utility that can do that? or is it just a matter of renaming the original installation directory and then dragging the old folders into the new installation one by one?Brian

There is no utility, per se, that will move everything. But an uninstall will leave all the add-ons intact and they will still be there after the reinstall. On a rename and second install, some of the add-ons can simply be moved over to the new copy but some will have to be installed from scratch - freeware is usually easier to move than payware. But it's often a trial-and-error process to see what works and what doesn't. I'd go with the registry patch as long as everything else is working OK. I always keep a backup copy of both the default install and the install with all my mods on a second HDD and with the registry patch I haven't used the discs at all on many, many reformats and reinstalls. Doug

Hi Brian,Doug's advice seems the best path for you, but another thing you might try is XP's Error Checking function. I'd be surprised if it fixes your situation but it's easy to do and costs nothing.Click "My Computer". Then right click the hard drive you wish to check and select "Properties". Click the "Tools" tab. Click "Check Now" and "Automatically fix file system errors". Finally, click "Start"... click "Yes" at the next pop-up screen. Do a cold shutdown and allow the computer to set for a minute or so. Upon start-up XP will do it's error checking act and repair any errors it deems required. Simply let it do it's thing (this may take a few minutes).I did this to my daughter's computer last week (she was having some goofy things happening... to many visits to sites like Kazza I think). Her system is running much better now.Good luck and welcome to the forums,Greg

BrianIf you run regedit and open Help it will tell you how to backup the portion of the registry you want to edit, and how to restore it if things go bad.David

Thanks Everyone -I tried Doug's suggestion re modifying the registry, but I received an error saying the file wasn't in registry script and had to be in binary form. So having already spent the money on another set of disks, I installed the new copy of FS9 and just dragged the applicable folders from my old installation into the new one and it works fine.So I've bought the program twice. Sounds like I'm complaining, but when I think of the flat green terrain and triangular mountains I flew over when I first started simming in FS3, well, what we have now is worth five times the price. And MS will have more money to invest in the next version :-)Thanks again to all who replied - I'm looking forward to being a part of this community. Maybe I'll see some of you on Vatsim.BrianC-GSZZ

Is your front door locked, Brian? Wink!Peter Sydney Australia

>Is your front door locked, Brian? Wink!>Peter Sydney AustraliaHi Peter -How are things at the Other End of the Earth?No...where I live, it doesn't have to be. If I actually lived in Nigeria, as opposed to only working there, my house would be surrounded by razor wire (as many of them are, incidentally)! If this happens again, though, I'm going back to FS2002 permanently - which I can legally use without the disk in the drive.Brian

Cheers Brian,We are coming out of winter here & it's 70 degrees F.Peter Sydney Australia

I hope you're still monitoring this post. I'm having the same problem after a Win98SE reload and my GoFlight avionics hardware configurator not "seeing" FS 2004. I tried amending the registry with a .reg file sent to me by Doyle from GoFlight, but I keep getting the same error message:"The specified file is not a registry script. You can import only registry files."I've tried double clicking, right clicking and "merging" and using regedit. Nothing works, I keep getting the same message. Here is what the text looks like after I open the .reg file with nNotepad:"MP9Check"="3""Zone"="http://zone.msn.com/asp/fs04redir.asp""Version"="9.0""Launched"="1""PID"="69768-442-5334015-49861""DigitalProductID"=hex:"EXE Path"="F:FS2004""CDPath"="H:""VersionType"="RetailVersion""InstalledGroup"="5""LangID"=dword:00000009Any ideas? So from your responses above, can I uninstall and reinstall FS 2004 without losing my add-ons like My Traffic, aircraft, panels in the FSFSCONV folder, etc?http://www.2decker.com/media/solent1-2.JPGAlex ChristoffN562ZBaltimore, MD

Hi Alex -All I can tell you is what I did, so best back up your entire installation so you can start again from scratch if need be. I renamed my old folder then did a new installation from the disks. Then, similar to installing a lot of the freeware aircraft, just dragged the entire old 'Aircraft' directory into the new 'Flight Simulator 9' directory and clicked yes to overwrite. Did the same with Add On Scenery (I'd grouped all my add-ons separately in that folder), Gauges, and Effects folders, along with any others that I thought might have been changed, e.g. Sound, Scenery etc.It may be possible to just re-install over the existing directories - which would undoubtedly be the easiest. If you have a copy of your original installation in another directory, I can't see any harm in trying it. Best hold on for a few hours though, and see if anyone less 'binary-challenged' than I responds to your post.Good Luck,Brian