Dear Friends,just a short question. If I have a new system. And I do install a clean fs2004. Is it than possible to overwrite the new fs2004 install with my backed up fs directory? So I will have all my old settings? I use a few add ons like Leveld's 767 and a pmdg addon.Is this going to work???kim

I have done what you describe twice with no problems! I have an external hard drive to which I have backed up my entire FS9 installation...add-ons & all.After re-installing FS9 & its patch I just overwrote the new FS9 installation with the backup one.No problems! :)

I do it quite a bit, saves time on loading terrain mesh. Stuff like terrain mesh and freeware sceneries & aircraft will work fine.. but PMDG and LDS will not work as there are License files installed on the system... All you have to do is reinstall these programs in the new OS and they will work fine.Dennis Di Franco

That's pretty much what I do every time I reinstall Windows.....Copy FS9 directory to another partition, reinstall windows, erase original FS9 directory, install brand new FS9 in same directory/partition as original, install 9.1 update, do new installs of payware addons like PMDG/Flight1/Dreamfleet/Activesky/etc so the registry can be set reasonably close to correct, delete FS9 directory I just installed, copy backed up FS9 directory back to original location.Some addons may need to be reconfigured and registration codes re-entered, but it works every time. :)

don't forget that the saved flights and flightplans are in your documents folder, and fs9.cfg and some aircraft data are in your documents and settings folder.scott s..

FS ONLY overwrites or replaces default files and will leave all other files in place. So it is quite easy to copy your FS9 directory to another location, install a fresh FS9 then copy back what you need. Only a few addons need reinstallation as has been advised, but the one caution is any default files that you have modified or replaced will also be returned to default during the installation, so if you dont copy the whole thing, thinking you'll save time by just moving aircraft, addon and gauges files from your modified FS you end up with a mish-mash of old and new - and it take ages to sort it out!Allcott

Even though two people have said it already, I think I'll repeat it as some information was left out. Many payware titles rely on copy protection. Some of them write files to other locations, such as C:windows or wherever your operating system is, and these files may or may not be transportable between systems, most likely aren't, even if you could figure out which files they were. You are best off reinstalling your payware using your registrations. Flight One and Aerosoft are very good at helping you through this. I'd lost sales info due to a system crash and then the service people lost my computer when I sent it to them to be fixed, but both F1 and Aerosoft came right up and helped me reinstall my titles.After installation, I highly recommend using Flightsim Manager 2.85 to go through your whole system to find which files such as gauges and effects and textures are missing.At my site, I've written up a tutorial on installing FS9, including links to software and how to order things in your library. It's been reviewed by Holger Sandmann, Scott Gridley, and several other people. Click on the link below, and select "Microsoft Flight Simulator " on the menu to the left, and you'll see several choices there, including "Installation", as well as lists of links to Scenery and Aircraft. And the site is still growing. I've got a forum, too, if you have any questions. Thomas[a href=http://www.flyingscool.com] http://www.flyingscool.com/images/Signature.jpg [/a]I like using VC's :-)