I have to tell this to someone, anyone, because I just need to rant and let it out even if no one cares, I am so angry I feel like my head will explode.  (I find writing therapeutic)

(Disclaimer: I am not a REX hater now, their products have given me years of joy and I still appreciate their work.)

[My Rant]

A few days ago, I decided after 5 years, to finally reinstall Windows 10 Pro because all the issues I had that just kept relentlessly popping up all the time using such an old and broken in WIndows OS install.  I have 3 flight simulators installed: FSX:SE, P3Dv5 and X-Plane 11  and I still use them all regularly depending on my mood.  They are all highly modded with hundreds of add-ons of all kinds for each and every one of them.

I had them and the majority of their add-ons installed on my 4TB HDD, drive letter D my system named it.  Since everything was installed on a separate drive from my OS drive, I didn't have to reinstall everything from scratch but it still took me two days (on my days off mind you, I'm break from work and I'm not doing anything else really) to complete this process from beginning to end with Windows installed, setup, installing all the word not allowed I needed on the OS drive and fixing my 3 flight simulators so that they work properly again.  Finally, I though, now I can begin actually flying.

NOPE, I was SO wrong.

I was planning for the first flight I wanted to do, then I suddenly realized, one last thing I forgot to install, I forgot to install REX Skyforce for both FSX and P3Dv5.  So first I go to install the 32 bit version for FSX, I wanted it to be installed on drive D to save room on my small OS drive.  I then realized, the installer did not automatically create a new folder, like most installers do, where it installs the program's files, instead, it installed all the REX Skyforce files and folders directly on the root of my D drive.  So I have all these loose files and folders for Skyforce laying around all over my D drive.  I didn't know exactly for sure which files and folders the Skyforce installer added to the root of my drive so instead of deleting them manually, I used the "Remove Programs" feature in Win 10 Control Panel to uninstall it figuring it would just uninstall all files and folders related to REX Skyforce.

NOPE, Wrong Again.

After starting the uninstall process, I left my pc and ate dinner before coming back to my pc so I could install Skyforce for P3D as well.  But when I came back, I immediately noticed something,after opening File Exporer and clicking My PC where I suddenly noticed the blue bar representing the used space on my D drive was gone and was all just white.  It then hit me like a ton of bricks, everything on D drive was gone, completely and permanently gone.  All 3 of those sims, all their add-ons, sim files, aircraft, scenery and other things, Poof!  My games, my huge collection of downloads including hard to find as well as no longer existing freeware I had collected over the years for FSX and P3D light sim freeware as well as lots of game mods for other games.  Poof, all gone, just like that...

My heart just sank, my blood pressure started going through the roof and the vein on my forehead was pulsing.  I then realized it was because the REX Skyforce unInstaller deleted EVERYTHING off of my drive D, not just the REX Skyforce files. I became so angry I started cussing and swearing, calling REX names even a sailor would find offensive.  I could not believe that the simple fact of an uninstaller for a single program deleted an entire drive's worth of stuff.  Really? I questioned, why in the f*** would anyone make it so easy for someone to accidentally erase an entire hard drive!!!  I just could not believe that I lost all that stuff for such a completely stupid and simple reason.  I even cried a little, I will admit it.

I do realize it's partly my fault for not backing everything up however I do not have or can afford all the storage needed for that too, but I should have backed up what I could have.  Once I realized how long it would take me to completely reinstall all that I had lost completely from scratch, I became extremely depressed and even more angry.  I swore some more at REX, calling them all kinds of names, then I decided to write all this.

[End of Rant]

After writing all of this, I'm feeling much more calm now and I'm ready to begin climbing mount Everest and get everything (or at least try to) back installed and working.  I don't even want to think of how many days or weeks this will take me but one step at a time right?

 

Thanks for listening (if anyone did)

I hear you and i can feel your pain as something similar happened to me long ago.

Poorly written, poorly tested software is, unfortunately, a reality and sometimes it will hit you in the face just like that. You know the solution already (backups) and while this won't solve your problem or ease your pain, it is really the only way to prevent such things from being a real problem.

Good luck on your restore process, one thing is for sure: Your stuff will be more organized now 🙂

My guess would be that the Rex installer is designed to delete its own folder after uninstalling.
Every Rex installer that I have used has allowed the user to install into a location of their choice.
It looks like you chose D:\ as the installation location, instead of D:\at least one folder, so the installer
just did as it was told and deleted the folder D:\

Fortunately, not all installers behave like that, FSX and P3D installers and to be fair most others are
programmed to delete just what they installed and not the folder that they installed into if that folder
is not empty.

I believe that there is software for recovering from such a disaster, perhaps you could explore that avenue?
How To Recover Deleted Files (2023 Guide) – Forbes Advisor

I must admire your self-control in the face of something so very frustrating.

38 minutes ago, Reader said:

My guess would be that the Rex installer is designed to delete its own folder after uninstalling.
Every Rex installer that I have used has allowed the user to install into a location of their choice.
It looks like you chose D:\ as the installation location, instead of D:\at least one folder, so the installer
just did as it was told and deleted the folder D:\

Fortunately, not all installers behave like that, FSX and P3D installers and to be fair most others are
programmed to delete just what they installed and not the folder that they installed into if that folder
is not empty.

I believe that there is software for recovering from such a disaster, perhaps you could explore that avenue?
How To Recover Deleted Files (2023 Guide) – Forbes Advisor

I must admire your self-control in the face of something so very frustrating.

Yes I know this but that's part of what made me so mad, is why did they program it that way when the majority of other installers don't to that.

As long as you have not written anything else to the drive since then, there are several products both free and paid that should allow you to "undelete" the deleted drive......

This may not work 100%, but there are many things that might still be rescueable.

I hear you, and I feel with you!  I can't believe that an installer would erase everything on your D-drive instead of only those files that are used by the program.

This is really beyond frustrating. The best bet for you is to use one of the recovery programs to find out how much you can recover from your drive. Normally, if you erase a file (even from the recycle bin), it is not physically erased on the hard drive, but merely its entry in the file "address list". I sincerely hope that the files are not physically erased and that you will be able to recover them.

Files related to the flight simulator are at least downloadable; I hope you didn't lose valuable personal files, such as documents and photos that are unique.

18 minutes ago, Afterburner said:

I hear you, and I feel with you!  I can't believe that an installer would erase everything on your D-drive instead of only those files that are used by the program.

This is really beyond frustrating. The best bet for you is to use one of the recovery programs to find out how much you can recover from your drive. Normally, if you erase a file (even from the recycle bin), it is not physically erased on the hard drive, but merely its entry in the file "address list". I sincerely hope that the files are not physically erased and that you will be able to recover them.

Files related to the flight simulator are at least downloadable; I hope you didn't lose valuable personal files, such as documents and photos that are unique.

Yeah I think someone would know better to make an uninstaller that does that.  I'm sure there's ways to program an uninstaller not to do that.

I'll look into the file recovery thing, I forgot that was a possible option.  Thanks for the tip.

Edit: The thing is, I'm so sick of constantly wasting time having to tinker, download, install, uninstall, troubleshoot and all the other word not allowed that come with simulators.

I just want to fly dam-mit.

Edited December 19, 20232 yr by Kalnon

How about the old "system restore".

13 minutes ago, Penzoil3 said:

How about the old "system restore".

I did not have any for that drive.  I only made restore points for my OS drive.  In fact I'm even not sure restore points work on non-OS drives.  I should look into that though, interesting thought.

Edit:  I also want to add, never ever should you wait 5 years to reinstall Windows!  All the weird problems I was having have all vanished.  Also all my flight simulators seem to run better, more smooth.  In MSFS for 2 years I had a stutter that would occur about every 1 to 2 minutes of flight, now it's completely gone.  I had tried everything to get get rid of it except the Windows reinstall till now, had a small stutter in DCS World as well and sometimes in P3D, now all run smooth as butter and I can actually enjoy them (once I reinstall P3D)

I even did regular OS maintenance like using CCleaner and opening Command Prompt and running "sfc /scannow" every so often, update drivers, etc. still my OS went to word not allowed.

Edited December 19, 20232 yr by Kalnon

Sorry for your software woes.

REX folks are largely amateurs when it comes to programming IMO.  Don't get me wrong, their textures are fantastic, but the actual software usually leaves a lot to be desired.  For example, their weather rendering has never been good IMO, and there have been a ton of reports of problems with their software over the years.  Unfortunately you had to learn this the hard way.

One of the most important rules in computing: if its important, back it up.

Dave

I dread the day windows ten is no longer supported and I have to upgrade to windows eleven. Not even sure my seven-year-old Alienware R6 will support it.

21 minutes ago, Patco Lch said:

I dread the day windows ten is no longer supported and I have to upgrade to windows eleven. Not even sure my seven-year-old Alienware R6 will support it.

As long as the PC will support it, in my experience and dare I say, that of millions of others,
the version update from Windows 10 to Windows 11 was the smoothest and most trouble-free
Windows version update so far.

I also dread updating to Windows 11.  After taking years to finally learn all the ins and outs of Windows 10 (I'm a slow learner), I'm not yet ready to start that whole process over again with a new OS I have to learn.  I plan to keep using Windows 10 until support is dropped by MS and they force me to have to upgrade.

Edited December 19, 20232 yr by Kalnon

5 hours ago, dave2013 said:

Sorry for your software woes.

REX folks are largely amateurs when it comes to programming IMO.  Don't get me wrong, their textures are fantastic, but the actual software usually leaves a lot to be desired.  For example, their weather rendering has never been good IMO, and there have been a ton of reports of problems with their software over the years.  Unfortunately you had to learn this the hard way.

One of the most important rules in computing: if its important, back it up.

Dave

Yes I did learn the hard way.  I already just purchased another drive off Amazon so I can completely back up my entire drive D being that it is such an important drive for me having had so much of my flight simulator stuff on it.  I had to use my credit card cause I'm broke but at this point, I'm willing to do anything to not have to go through this again.  Plus my drive D is starting to getting older and I'm sure wear and tear is slowly eating away at it's lifespan.  It's a WD Black HDD so it is a good quality drive and I've rarely had a WD drive fail on me but no drive last forever and I'm not taking chances again.  This much I have learned now.

8 hours ago, Patco Lch said:

I dread the day windows ten is no longer supported and I have to upgrade to windows eleven. Not even sure my seven-year-old Alienware R6 will support it.

 

2 hours ago, Kalnon said:

I also dread updating to Windows 11.  After taking years to finally learn all the ins and outs of Windows 10 (I'm a slow learner), I'm not yet ready to start that whole process over again with a new OS I have to learn.  I plan to keep using Windows 10 until support is dropped by MS and they force me to have to upgrade.

Rumors have it that Windows 12 will be released next year already, so you may just bypass Windows 11 to go with the new version until support for Windows 10 ends.

And it is now official that Microsoft will offer extended support for Windows 10 beyond its end of lifetime in October 2025 at a subscription fee. The fee amount is unknown yet, but you will have the OS supplied with security updates for three more years until the end of 2028, which gives you almost five years from now. Let's hope that the fee is acceptable, in which case I will continue using Windows 10.

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/windows-it-pro-blog/plan-for-windows-10-eos-with-windows-11-windows-365-and-esu/ba-p/4000414

Quote

While we strongly recommend moving to Windows 11, we understand there are circumstances that could prevent you from replacing Windows 10 devices before the EOS date. Therefore, Microsoft will offer Extended Security Updates.

Like the Windows 7 ESU program, your organization will be able to purchase a yearly subscription to security updates. The yearly commitment is renewable for three years. Devices enrolled in ESUs will receive monthly security updates to keep these Windows 10 PCs secure.

The ESU program for Windows 10 will include critical and/or important security updates. ESUs do not include new features, customer-requested non-security updates, or design change requests. Technical support beyond the ESU itself is also not available.