One thing that was tried in the Alpha... it said "Press Any Key to Start" and someone pulled his car keys out of his pocket and pressed one.  It didn't seem to help.  You can try it yourself, but no guarantees.

Hook

7 minutes ago, odourboy said:

Although I see a process called Gaming Services in the Task Manager,  I do not see anything called Xbox Gaming Services in my apps or in the MS Store. Where do i find this to install? (Note: I haven't hit my install window yet... another 5 hours, but im trying yo make sure im set up for a smooth experience when the time comes)

Try this

https://www.xbox.com/en-US/apps/xbox-app-for-windows-10

So just to clarify (and I'm a complete no-op when it comes to gaming with Microsoft and anything Xbox), I need to install an Xbox app on my PC even if I've pre-ordered MSFS (not a gaming pass version)? I only ask his because it seems ludicrous and complicated.

I had the same problem. I uninstalled MSFS 2020 and deleted the folder with MSFS 2020.
Then it started from the beginning and installed from the Microsoft Store and now it is installed.

11 minutes ago, odourboy said:

Xbox (Beta)

App ?

Go into APPS > Store 
Click in the ... 3-Dots in the top right corner
Click in Download and Updates
Click in Get Updates

That should update everything

3 minutes ago, odourboy said:

So just to clarify (and I'm a complete no-op when it comes to gaming with Microsoft and anything Xbox), I need to install an Xbox app on my PC even if I've pre-ordered MSFS (not a gaming pass version)? I only ask his because it seems ludicrous and complicated.

I don't think you need it unless you want the game pass.

Just now, joec63 said:

I don't think you need it unless you want the game pass.

Thank you (all). I'm going to leave the Xbox (Beta) App alone for now and see what happens at midnight (here).

31 minutes ago, Rhett said:

How did you find out that was the issue? I am stuck on the "Press Any Key to Start" Black screen and only the beautiful music is playing. Does this mean it is downloading ? I dont get the feeling it is downloading or doing anything. Really stuck.

Thanks.

Well, everybody said that they could see how much data should be downloaded, while I just had this blue bar. Then, there was no data written into the folder I had specified. And the bar did not move.

 So I assumed it got stuck. I stopped the program, restarted it, but it did not let me choose any drive/folder anymore again, just said it synched and tried to continue from there and was still stuck and did not progress.

So I had to delete the entire app in my account, and deinstall and reinstall the launcher. Then it started from the beginning and asked again for the folder. I left it on default and it started downloading. So I knew it was working now and the issue must have been the other drive (or maybe I should not have selected a subfolder, who knows?). 

While my C drive has enough space and I assume I can still choose a different cache location from within MS, I will still try to move the files at a later time. For now I leave it there and just hope it gets downloaded in full and I can try at least one short flight...

But I really do not like this launcher so far. Last week I downloaded a 70GB game from steam and it took 19 minutes. MS install routines are just a nightmare... 

2 minutes ago, Heavy Metal said:

Well, everybody said that they could see how much data should be downloaded, while I just had this blue bar. Then, there was no data written into the folder I had specified. And the bar did not move.

 So I assumed it got stuck. I stopped the program, restarted it, but it did not let me choose any drive/folder anymore again, just said it synched and tried to continue from there and was still stuck and did not progress.

So I had to delete the entire app in my account, and deinstall and reinstall the launcher. Then it started from the beginning and asked again for the folder. I left it on default and it started downloading. So I knew it was working now and the issue must have been the other drive (or maybe I should not have selected a subfolder, who knows?). 

While my C drive has enough space and I assume I can still choose a different cache location from within MS, I will still try to move the files at a later time. For now I leave it there and just hope it gets downloaded in full and I can try at least one short flight...

But I really do not like this launcher so far. Last week I downloaded a 70GB game from steam and it took 19 minutes. MS install routines are just a nightmare... 

so it sounds like the install has to be in the same directory as the MSFT Store from what I have been hearing? I agree, I downloaded almost 100GB of BFV data not that long ago and it took about 40 min. 

I read somewhere you have to have that xbox BS loaded to get sim - if someone knows otherwise I would gladly luv to dump it

Edited August 18, 20205 yr by Richard Sennett

1 minute ago, Richard Sennett said:

I read somewhere you have to have that xbox BS loaded to get sim - if someone knows otherwise I would gladly luv to dump that word not allowed

Searched but have not found where it's a requirement for playing a game off the Microsoft Store 

2 minutes ago, Richard Sennett said:

I read somewhere you have to have that xbox BS loaded to get sim - if someone knows otherwise I would gladly luv to dump it

I installed it just in case. Doesnt hurt. Just a small stupid app. 

7 minutes ago, Richard Sennett said:

I read somewhere you have to have that xbox BS loaded to get sim - if someone knows otherwise I would gladly luv to dump it

You do, that was what prevented me from running it, I removed all those apps so it wouldn't start, you have to have all of them running and up to date, that is how the licencing works

Made an account just to say that after hours of trying to get past Any Key and the loading circle just disapearing I decided to try it 1 more time and randomly this time it asked me to log in (through the Xbox App even though I was already logged in) and after I logged in it let me in and start the download. I'm not sure what I did to trigger it, I just started restarting any Xbox related services before I launched it. I was on the edge of just buying the Steam version lol, an entire day trying to get this to work and now 90gb download...

40 minutes ago, odourboy said:

Although I see a process called Gaming Services in the Task Manager,  I do not see anything called Xbox Gaming Services in my apps or in the MS Store. Where do i find this to install? (Note: I haven't hit my install window yet... another 5 hours, but im trying yo make sure im set up for a smooth experience when the time comes)

I also only have Gaming Services so I assume that is what that is called and not with the XBOX part at the beginning.

6 minutes ago, Matthew Kane said:

You do, that was what prevented me from running it, I removed all those apps so it wouldn't start, you have to have all of them running and up to date, that is how the licencing works

Thanks Matt thats what I thought Brother 

Edited August 18, 20205 yr by Richard Sennett