MSFS 2020 has been behaving perfectly for me until earlier this week, I did two things, the first was to install a windows update (security) and the second was to try the MSFS 2020 Map Enhancement tool, which installs the latest Bing maps. When I launched MSFS 2020, with these two editions, all worked fine.

However the following day when I tried to launch MSFS 2020, I got caught up in a 'checking for updates' loop. Rebooted and the same happened. tried a repair to the app, checked all drivers, apps, windows updates, and the nVidia driver, to check that they were all up to date - which they were, and again the problem persisted.

Then saved my official folder, emptied the community folder, and uninstalled and reinstalled MSFS 2020. This freed up the 'checking for updates' loop and takes me to the main menu. Could not get an aircraft to launch.

I have found numerous potential solutions to address what I think is my problem on Google, and have tried all those I found - they have not solved my issue. One was to remove the MSFS 2020 Map Enhancement tool which I did via uninstall.

Finally I uninstalled MSFS 2020 again, and did a full download of the programme and reinstalled. With or without an empty community folder, I get to the main menu page with no problem. I select an aircraft, and press fly. It loads until around 80% and then freezes - not every time but sometimes. If I wait 10 minutes (sometimes not every time)  the aircraft loads.

Cannot figure out why this is happening, or what I can try to do to resolve this issue.

All and every suggestions would be very much appreciated.

Happy Flying.

From what I've read (because I don't use it) the map enhancement tool makes entries in the windows hosts file to redirect searches from the MSFS map servers to Google or wherever.  These entries should be removed when the program closes but an improper exit may leave them there. I don't believe simply uninstalling the tool will fix that. So check your hosts file if you haven't done so already.

Yes, it is the hosts file. Remove all lines (they will be at the bottom) not starting with #. Restart your computer. All will be well. Lines starting with # are null and do nothing. During the restart any changes needed to hosts will be done by Windows.

Thanks guys - it proved to be a problem with the host file. I found the follopwing which made it helpful for me to resolve the issue.

This fixed it for me 5 min job:
After reading your post, I went to the FAQ of the mod on flightsim.to and followed the following:

App should restore to bing map when it close, if not, please delete The following two lines in the C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts file:

"127.0.0.1 kh.ssl.ak.tiles.virtualearth.ne t
"127.0.0.1 khstorelive.azureedge.ne t

Rebooted my machine, logged into MSFS 2020, and no issues with connections to the server, or being switched to offline

I had more than one line of each of the above, and had to save the file as 'save as' and then manually place it in the folder. Anyway, all is working well now.

Many thanks

Lesson learned... Don't mess around with base features of the scenery system... Wait for MSFS 2024 for the Official Bing Update... It's not going to take long...