Hello everyone, hope you're having a nice week-end !

 

I have purchased MSFS 2020 from Microsoft Store.

Files have been installed in C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\Microsoft.FlightSimulator_1.8.3.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe with Official and Community folders on another drive (D).

I have tried to browse the Microsoft.FlightSimulator_1.8.3.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe folder to see what's there is in there.

To do that  I had first to take ownership of the WindowsApps folder, which I did succesfully. i'm now able to browse the Microsoft.FlightSimulator_1.8.3.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe folder.

Unfortunately, I'm not able to read/execute most of the files in this folder (I was initially trying to acces/modify css files to change the appearance of the tooltips).

I have noticed that Microsoft.FlightSimulator_1.8.3.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe is not a real folder but indeed a NTFS junction, pointing to nowhere though (see the three dots) :

19/08/2020  13:20    <JUNCTION>     Microsoft.DigitalOwnership_1.0.1.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe [...]
16/09/2020  20:16    <JUNCTION>     Microsoft.FlightSimulator_1.8.3.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe [...]

When I right-clik on a file in the Microsoft.FlightSimulator_1.8.3.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe folder or sub-folders, I cannot change the ownership nor edit the access control authorizations, even when the owner is the Admin group (which I'm part of, since I'm logged in as an admin). For some files, I cannot even see the owner, so even less change it.

Anyone having any idea ?

Many thanks

 

Greg

Hi Greg,

Unfortunately the Microsoft Store version is locked behind the XVD virtual disk format developed for Game Pass. The files don't actually reside on disk where it seems they do; they're actually in a different folder compressed and encrypted into a single file with a GUID name.

The MS Game Services driver then decrypts this virtual disk image and mounts it, creating an NTFS junction to the WindowsApps Store folder. However, this is only for the game and system to read. These "files" are not able to be read by any user. This prevents folks from subbing to Game Pass for a short time and just copying all the files and then unsubbing.

Unfortunately, you will not be able to access the game files. The Steam version does not suffer from this issue. My guess is that the Game Pass install and regular install are shared.

-Matt

Many thanks Matt for the clear explanation. Just to make a precision : I did not get the game through Game Pass but actually paid for it full price.

So, if I get your point :

1/ I should see a service called MS Game or something when I look in the services.msc ?

2/ There should be a very big file somewhere on my drive with a GUID : do you know where taht file would be most probably located ?

Thanks again

Edited September 27, 20205 yr by gpxe

some stuff can be accessed tho, like aircraft cfg files, some xml files.

i dont see it as a problem.

1 hour ago, gpxe said:

Many thanks Matt for the clear explanation. Just to make a precision : I did not get the game through Game Pass but actually paid for it full price.

Yes, that I definitely understood. The game installs the same way whether or not you bought the full game or got it through Game Pass.

I'm not sure where the MS Game Services comes up. It's a filesystem driver so I doubt you'd see it Services. However, in Device Manager you will see one or more 'XVD' devices (depending on how many of these types of games are installed, another example is Forza Horizon, for example) under disk devices.

If I remember correctly there is a folder called MSXVC under WindowsApps. However a word of extreme caution: when I went mucking about trying to get access, I broke the whole game driver permissions system so bad that the driver broke and I literally had to reinstall Windows completely from scratch to get Game Services to install again. And I'm an experienced Windows sysadmin.

-Matt

Thanks Matt

 

I'll be cautious. I've found the big 1Gb file under the MSIXVC folder. I won't touch it.

 

As for the virtual drive, you are right it's more a driver than a service and I can see the XVD drive in the device manager.

 

Have a good one !

31 minutes ago, wim123 said:

some stuff can be accessed tho, like aircraft cfg files, some xml files.

i dont see it as a problem.

You are right but these are not the files I want/need.

37 minutes ago, MattNischan said:

However a word of extreme caution: when I went mucking about trying to get access, I broke the whole game driver permissions system so bad that the driver broke and I literally had to reinstall Windows completely from scratch to get Game Services to install again. And I'm an experienced Windows sysadmin.

Yes, the same happened to me. Just taking ownership of these files is not enough to get access and, after having to reinstall Windows ( during the Alpha period ) *twice* when trying to get access to the main MSFS folder, I just ended up buying another copy on Steam when it came out.

Edited September 27, 20205 yr by virtuali

I did take ownership of the folders and now I can see the content of WindowsApps but when trying to set Run this program as an administrator on FlightSimulator.exe I get Access denied. I followed the RDpresets guide where it says it's possible and I did exactly what it said but I'm getting this Access denied issue. Of course I have a MS Store version 😞 Any ideas how to set Run as admin on this version?

My guess is that they are also trying to keep folks from messing with these files, creating problems, and then complaining about the problems they are having, that they created. 

14 minutes ago, Bobsk8 said:

My guess is that they are also trying to keep folks from messing with these files, creating problems, and then complaining about the problems they are having, that they created. 

So it's not possible?

Im glad I came across this thread, I was wondering which store to get the game from and have decided to stick with Steam. 

Yeah, I wish we'd know all this when MSFS 2020 came out. People were saying there's absolutely no difference but in fact there are some, specially regarding file access.

On 2/21/2021 at 11:08 PM, Tomaz Drnovsek said:

I did take ownership of the folders and now I can see the content of WindowsApps but when trying to set Run this program as an administrator on FlightSimulator.exe I get Access denied. I followed the RDpresets guide where it says it's possible and I did exactly what it said but I'm getting this Access denied issue. Of course I have a MS Store version 😞 Any ideas how to set Run as admin on this version?

Hi - I followed the RD pre sets guide and sim locked out of the Sim !