Cannot find an .exe file for MSFS2020

[trainplane3 97]

9 minutes ago, vonduck said:

Well guys, this is  mystery install that's for sure!

I made a folder on my clean SSD drive (D) called MSFS2020...

Downloaded the files from the STORE (not steam) and pointed it to this folder... installation went smoothly with no issues and subsequently was able to play the sim for a good while

When trying to set up my NVIDIA control panel settings for it i went to the folder and the ONLY folders in the MSFS2020 folder are: Community and Official! There is NOTHING in the community folder and in the official folder there is another folder called One Store, inside that are multitudes of folders namely planes and scenery...NO exe anywhere!!

In the NVIDIA control panel and (GRD) it did have many MSFS exe's to choose from but im not sure which one to point too!

I hope that its installed it all to the right place and files aren't all over the show! Why does it have to be so darn hard to find a simple exe file!

New Nvidia driver adds FS to the control panel. Exe is locked away because it's not needed to be touched.

Where are the cfg's if I want to tweak them? Here:

DRIVELETTERHERE:\WpSystem\S-1-5-21-2314696840-3529547494-3859088855-1001\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.FlightSimulator_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalCache

Where do I put addons at?

DRIVELETTERHERE:\Wherever you put FS during the launcher setup portion of the install\Community

Edited August 18, 2020 by trainplane3

[milleron 3]

I'm glad Nvidia added in MSFS on its Software.  AMD also released a brand new driver yesterday that's optimized for MSFS 2020. That was very nice of them, but the updated Radeon Software does NOT find MSFS on "scanning for games," and manually adding a game (so it can launch the correct profile for the game being run) requires the location of the .EXE file, which seems impossible. I'll switch to Nvidia when their 3000-series cards are available, but for now, I'd like to be able to use the tweaks AMD prepared for MSFS. 

[SPEEDB1RD 1]

I think I might have the same problem too. When opening FS2020 for the first time, I got a message saying “Can’t find flightsimulator.exe”. 

[HC1Gunner 2]

On 8/18/2020 at 4:27 AM, Lynchie said:

Hi click on windows start then scroll to MFS then left click and drag to desktop.

Lynchie

That did not work for me, under properties none of the tabs point to the target or location of the exe. I have profiles for peripherals that need to be pointed to an exe,

[Squeezy 0]

After the initial 990Mb download I select the FSim icon and it tries to run C:\Program Files\Windowsapps\FlightSim.exe which it cannot find. 

WindowsApps in inside Programs, but it is locked 
I did the install an another drive but the Windowsapps folder there is also locked.

Help, getting desparate now

[tpete61 227]

On 8/18/2020 at 8:52 AM, trainplane3 said:

New Nvidia driver adds FS to the control panel. Exe is locked away because it's not needed to be touched.

Where are the cfg's if I want to tweak them? Here:

DRIVELETTERHERE:\WpSystem\S-1-5-21-2314696840-3529547494-3859088855-1001\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.FlightSimulator_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalCache

Where do I put addons at?

DRIVELETTERHERE:\Wherever you put FS during the launcher setup portion of the install\Community

What are you talking about! I need access to the "exe" file for a number of purposes.

For example I need other hardware & software to know when the "exe" file is launched. This is done by pointing external software and hardware at this "exe" files so it knows when it is launched! Currently it is not possible as it is locked.

I would NEVER tell people it doesn't need to be touched. You don't know what you are talking about!!!

Edited August 20, 2020 by tpete61

[Mike44 22]

With steam I've:

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\MicrosoftFlightSimulator\FlightSimulator.exe"

 

[CURT2026 0]

Why am I getting the feeling that the Microsoft Store has not truly uploaded the files for this game.  I can't find them anywhere in my computer and this hidden file thing sounds far fetched to me.  Could it be that what I have is an Image downloaded but the files are in a Microsoft server?

[SPEEDB1RD 1]

9 minutes ago, CURT2026 said:

Why am I getting the feeling that the Microsoft Store has not truly uploaded the files for this game.  I can't find them anywhere in my computer and this hidden file thing sounds far fetched to me.  Could it be that what I have is an Image downloaded but the files are in a Microsoft server?

No, from the store, it downloads the simulator. Then once you run it, it installs all the game files. Typically if it can’t find the .exe, it means u aren’t on a correct build of windows. Recommended is version 2004 and nothing higher (insider builds) and lower versions.

[ASP Rao 4]

Hi,

I installed Samsung NVMe M.2 1TB SSD as D Drive exclusively for MSFS2020 and downloaded MSFS to D drive from Microsoft Store App. All went well with couple of hang ups and now got stuck with configuration my Thrustmaster Joystick, Throttle and Rudder Pedals in the TARGET software, unable to direct  it to the executable file of MSFS2020 though I could configure the buttons in the game. In P3D V4.5 its straight, you can find exe file in the game folder and direct it and show the path to TARGET software to work never faced problem.  Though I could find Flightsiumlator exe file in D:\WindowsApps\Microsoft.FlightSimulator_1.7.12.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe  this is not an executable file. I read in some other article that simulation gets launched through WpSystem , I could find only CFG file  D:\WpSystem\S-1-5-21-3714596691-3681953293-2284956911-1001\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.FlightSimulator_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalCache.  Unless all controls do not work can not play the game. Also another funny thing I observed after launching the game and by choosing Airbus and airport, the aircraft automatically starts and goes to hold short runway and takes clearance and try to fly...as I have no controls working the plane gets crashed. This is my present situation, trying to search for a solution from experienced pilots.

 

Watching video of Squirrel may help for buttons configuration. 

 

 

Edited August 21, 2020 by ASP Rao

[bursco 14]

I want to know in simple terms " WHERE IS THE EXE FILE -plz someone" in msfs2020

Edited August 23, 2020 by bursco

[DPSimulation 235]

2 minutes ago, bursco said:

I want to know in simple terms " WHERE IS THE EXE FILE -plz someone" in msfs2020

Where did you buy it?

[Rhino1938 0]

11 hours ago, bursco said:

I want to know in simple terms " WHERE IS THE EXE FILE -plz someone" in msfs2020

Yep me to i purchased through MS store

[AS-XGS1 0]

I think I managed to get around this issue of locating and changing the properties of the actual fligth sim exe ...First thing you'll need (to locate and perform a sanity-check) is download a copy of processExplorer ... this is a free Microsoft dev utility thats basically TaskManager on steroids:

 

With ProcessExplorer running, launch MSFS2020 and Inspect the FlightSimulator.exe process (double-click the process), you'll notice under the 'Image' tab that the 'Command line' points to the location (take note of this location) of the of the actual exe which exists under ProgramFiles/WindowsApps ... by default, you cannot access this location ... to get around this problem, you will need to take ownership of the folder. There are some great tutorials online to help (some even have batch files that will do the work for you by modding the registry).

 

Once you have taken ownership, you will be able to navigate to the loaction of the flightsimulator.exe we took note of earlier and mod the exe properties as we see fit.

 

Just a few words of caution ... when I first did this, the music and aircraft sounds stopped working ... going into 'sound mixer options' and adjusting the volume of Microsoft Flight Simulator bizzarely brought the sounds back to life?!!? ... also, inspecting the path of the exe, it looks like there is version info is in there .. I suspect you will need to reapply your .exe options whenever there is an update.

 

Thsi worked for me and I hope this helps as it was driving me nuts too!! ... obviously, this is changing the ownership of a application folder and I can't say whether or not this will break other things on your system ... please double check as I cannot and will not guarantee this will create other problems on your rig.

 

Happy modding!

[jabloomf1230 2,445]

7 hours ago, AS-XGS1 said:

Thsi worked for me and I hope this helps as it was driving me nuts too!! ... obviously, this is changing the ownership of a application folder and I can't say whether or not this will break other things on your system ... please double check as I cannot and will not guarantee this will create other problems on your rig.

I was going to do this also, as the icon on flightsimulator.exe is now white for some reason on my system and of course, without changing the folder permissions, there's no way for the OS to "see" the default icon. It wasn't worth it to mess with the icon cache just for one icon. After thinking about this a bit and also considering that this a MS app, it's probably not too good an idea to meddle with the permissions and in the end I chickened out and left the owner as "Trusted Installer". It was a lot easier to make my own icon with Photoshop.