I know this must be written somewhere but I have been googling this question for two hours with no luck. Years ago folks were told to avoid putting the sim ( P3D or FSX) on the Program files (x286) directory to avoid the permissions issues making life difficult. I always used that directory anyway, without much difficulty. 

I am getting ready to install MS 2020 on a brand new PC, 500GB harddrive. Should it install on the 😄 Program files( X 286) directory, or just 😄 Program Files,  or none of the above? 

None of the above. 😉

If you only have the one single hard drive, install to "C:\MSFS2020".

While you may not experience any issues with installing to "Program Files (x86)" or "Program Files", the potential is there. Installing it to a folder in the root of the drive avoids those potential issues.

As always, YMMV.

...jim

 

I hope the 500 GB drive is dedicated to MSFS...

If so, all you have to specify at install is the drive letter.. the program will do the rest.

It will create a set of folders, one of them: Windows Apps which is where the simulator will go.

This is completely unlike P3D in every way..

Edited January 26, 20215 yr by Bert Pieke

33 minutes ago, Bert Pieke said:

I hope the 500 GB drive is dedicated to MSFS...

If so, all you have to specify at install is the drive letter.. the program will do the rest.

It will create a set of folders, one of them: Windows Apps which is where the simulator will go.

This is completely unlike P3D in every way..

Yes, that is all that will be on the SSD, OS and FS2020

31 minutes ago, Bobsk8 said:

Yes, that is all that will be on the SSD, OS and FS2020

No, you misunderstood..  I was hoping that you would have the OS on one SSD and MSFS on another..

500 GB is very skinny for both...

50 minutes ago, Bert Pieke said:

No, you misunderstood..  I was hoping that you would have the OS on one SSD and MSFS on another..

500 GB is very skinny for both...

My IT guy says  W10 is around 20-25 GB/ That ;eaves 475 GB

 

My rig has the 500GB-SSD (WIN10 only) and a 2T hard drive. I just moved the FS2020 to the 2T. The 500GB is very skinny as another poster stated. Keep in mind the FS upgrades and add-ons.

9 minutes ago, aero943 said:

My rig has the 500GB-SSD (WIN10 only) and a 2T hard drive. I just moved the FS2020 to the 2T. The 500GB is very skinny as another poster stated. Keep in mind the FS upgrades and add-ons.

How does it run on the 2Tb HD?

 

23 minutes ago, Bobsk8 said:

How does it run on the 2Tb HD?

 

It runs very fast, but keep in mind it is not only the hard drive but the overall system ( graphics card et al). You must always tune your system. Good luck

19 minutes ago, Bobsk8 said:

How does it run on the 2Tb HD?

 

I had MSFS initially in a 2TB HDD. Although you will experience longer loading times, the sim runs just fine. Installation should not be in windows drive. As Jan Martin observed here : Attention MSFS Users - Maximum Path Length Limitation (alpha-india.net) , it is possible that you will install something that the sim will not read due to character limitation in the paths. For instance you will certainly have this path: C:\Users\theuser\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.FlightSimulator_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalCache\Packages\Community\.. 

and you will have more folders inside Community with subfolders and so on. I installed the sim in D:\MSFS with my windows at C drive. It keeps things tidy.

1 hour ago, Bobsk8 said:

My IT guy says  W10 is around 20-25 GB/ That ;eaves 475 GB

 

A 500 GB SSD is not that expensive... and Windows grows over time (like adopting a baby elephant..) 😉

6 hours ago, Bobsk8 said:

My IT guy says  W10 is around 20-25 GB/ That ;eaves 475 GB

 

It starts at that size.

It bloats pretty quickly.  A lot of that bloat is the way Win10 saves every update you ever install, If you do a regular disk clean-up with the "system" option ticked it will get rid of those and you can stay around 25GB.   Otherwise you can easily end up with 60GB or more.