Observation of  the forums leads to think that people having a problem with downloads/ installations are mostly with the MS Store, almost never with Steam.

 

Edited June 24, 20214 yr by Dominique_K

Just now, yellowjack said:

OK Richard but why are you advocating "STEAM STEAM STEAM"? What are Steam's good points and are there any downsides. I just want a "reliable" flight sim that doesn't stop working and is impossible to fix which was my MSFS experience and I know that I wasn't the only one flying that flag. This is exacerbated because my network connection is copper to the nearest fiber box. To download MSFS takes most of a day and if that doesn't work its back to re-downloading  that gets very monotonous  very quickly.

John every update was butter smooth and no crashes or issues 

MS version something went wrong with folder rights/permissions - could not get it reinstalled to save my life - so went with Ed Patino (avsim member) recommendation to use Steam version never looked back

That said asked for refund within a few days of buying it from MS and never heard back from them so I'll take it in the arm but never again

Oh and Steam folder structure is normal not a convoluted mess 

Edited June 24, 20214 yr by Richard Sennett

Ms store no issues

No questions about it, Steam all the way. If I had to do it again I would not hesitate to go with Steam again. I am so glad I did because as as Dominque_K says, you just need to browse these forums to see that people constantly have issues with MS Store version, seldom if ever on Steam.
 

Since installing MSFS with Steam, and with all its subsequent updates, I have never once had to sign in or out of Steam.. It just works. Perfectly, all the time. Unlike MSStore. Plus, none of that utterly ridiculous MS Store encypted file nonsense. Steam. You won’t regret going with Steam. People here even buying the sim a second time to go with Steam. That says it all.

Edited June 24, 20214 yr by RaptyrOne

8 minutes ago, RaptyrOne said:

No questions about it, Steam all the way. If I had to do it again I would not hesitate to go with Steam again. I am so glad I did because as as Dominque_K says, you just need to browse these forums to see that people constantly

Perfectly stated Greg - good job 🙂

Steam for me aswell. I initially bought the sim on MS store but then my ISP cancelled their email service and a world of trouble started. I eventually  gave up trying to change emailadress and account in the MS Store and bought it again on Steam instead. Having used Steam in the past it was always trouble free. 

But a new problem has occured. To buy new content from the in-game store you have to use Steam Overlay for the transaction. And this just won't work on my PC, tried everything and realised that this is not an uncommon problem. Still have'nt found a solution so I'm going to reinstall when I have the time.

Steam for me - No issues

 

I've had issues with the Windows Store throwing an error when trying to download a sim update. In both cases I was able to resolve it, but it took many hours of troubleshooting the issue. If I could go back and do it all over, I would likely use Steam.

I think the way steam installs is WAY more user friendly than MS Store way where files are hidden and placed in stupid places. I bought the steam version, and no issues at all.

Steam, no issues or complaints. 

MS Store. never had an issue downloading since launch.

Edited June 24, 20214 yr by Car147

I own both Steam and MS Store versions on various computers. With the MS Store version, from time to time, I get either (random):

- Please insert disc message (although I never purchased a DVD set --- just reboot and hope in more luck)

- Issues with authentication (I need to logout and login again in MS Store)

- MSFS launcher directing me to MS Store instead of running the sim (this is the most terrible, requiring long time to troubleshoot)

None of the problems above with the Steam version instead. So, I would say Steam forever.

 

Heavy Steam user myself, but in this case I’d recommend MS Store as more money goes to MS to keep the servers running, and also devs who sell on the marketplace.

Steam all the way for sure. Nuff said. 

Steam user here as well. I had some problems with the very first sim update shortly after release last year, when the download got stuck and the entire sim essentially disappeared from my drive in the process.

But after that, it all went very smooth during the last few months. Updates seem to go active on Steam the moment they officially release, and the downloads within the sim itself didn't have any troubles either.

During the Steam installation, I selected a drive that only contains MSFS stuff for the Steam Library, and for the big package download inside the sim, I made a dedicated MSFS folder on the same drive. That one contains my community folder, so almost everything is in one place and easily accessible. There's only a few config files that reside in c:\user\appdata...whatever, but I almost never have to touch those.