My hard drive failed. I replaced it with a new 2TB drive, then restored my entire drive from my external backup drive. Now when I start up FSX I get a error message about initialization, and it runs in demo mode only. Any ideas how I can get passed this problem

Maybe I have to do a complete reinstall , but this will be a lot of work because of many addons. Thanks, Jim

Leave you newly copied backup version in place on your HD.

 

Then grab your fsx disks and do a clean install, including acceleration if you have it.  Obviously you will need to ensure that the backup version directory name and this new clean install have different director folder names. This task will register the program into your registry properly.  If you use the registry fix tool to try to add the copied version it likely will not work properly until you have a fully registered ligit copy in your registry.

 

Once you have a clean install, rename your clean install directory folder to some other useful name to detach it from the registry.  Don't delete it.

 

Then using the freeware fsx registry fix tool, use it to locate your copied over version with all its addons etc.  Once you reconnect it using the tool, you should be good to go.

 

Its a good idea to keep a clean copy of your FSX on your HD in-case you need to replace original files or need to check to see if some file has been compromised.  You can now delete the new clean install if you like but I always recommend keeping a clean install handy.