Wow this fixed it for me.
Activation packages back from 10 minutes to 2.
Something with sync clock

https://forums.flightsimulator.com/t/activating-packages-takes-20-mins-on-every-start-of-the-sim/670233/100

 

Update. 
Started MSFS2024 5 times and all 5 times within 2 minutes.

Edited November 28, 20241 yr by altenae

Oh.

My.

God!

Thank you for posting that link (I don't pay close enough attention to the "official" forums to have spotted that myself). Synced my time (it was out by 1 minute) and my startup time for MSFS dropped from an average of 8-10 minutes down to around 2 mins (did 3 tests).

Edited November 28, 20241 yr by Malaromane
Typos

1 hour ago, altenae said:

Wow this fixed it for me.
Activation packages back from 10 minutes to 2.
Something with sync clock

https://forums.flightsimulator.com/t/activating-packages-takes-20-mins-on-every-start-of-the-sim/670233/100

 

Update. 
Started MSFS2024 5 times and all 5 times within 2 minutes.

That's a great find.  In 2020 an out of sync clock could actually prevent the sim from launching at one time.  Not sure if they ever fixed that. 

This has worked for me - clock hadn't been sync'd since August and tried two starts and now I am down to 3 mins load time.

Thanks for the tip.

(Had a spurious 3 min start yesterday but reverted back to 15 min until this post)

1 hour ago, psolk said:

In 2020 an out of sync clock could actually prevent the sim from launching at one time.  Not sure if they ever fixed that. 

there is nothing to be fixed, it is part of Microsoft's copy protection, otherwise your credentials will not be accepted by the gaming services/DLLs.

https://flightsimulator.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360017133940-How-to-install-a-new-update-safely

SYNCHRONIZE TIME SETTINGS

• Go back to Start, then select Settings > Time & Language.
• Select Date & Time and toggle the “Set time automatically setting" and “Set time zone automatically” to ON.
• Click on Synchronize your clock to synchronize your system's clock with an Internet time server.
• Then click Region, double-check that your country or region is correctly set up (for example if you live in Canada, make sure that the region isn’t automatically set to the USA or vice-versa)

Edited November 28, 20241 yr by turbomax

9 minutes ago, turbomax said:

there is nothing to be fixed, it is part of Microsoft's copy protection, otherwise your credentials will not be accepted by the gaming services/DLLs

Interesting thank you. 

It sounds like in 24 it will launch just take a while whereas in 2020 it would prevent it from launching so sounds like progress.  I'll never forget going through one of those launched the SIM and nothing happens for over a day before I realized my clock was wrong LOL. 

Looks like this is solving it for other users as well. 

Perhaps one for the tips and tricks thread or a temporary sticky.

Edited November 28, 20241 yr by psolk

I can 't even access most https web sites if my date/time settings are wrong. unfortunately Microsoft does not report this to the user when MSFS2020/2024 starts, this could easily avoid frustration for many users.

if my date/time settings are off, MSFS2024 will load fine until the very end and then just sit there and only show "Quit to desktop". that's all. 😄

Edited November 28, 20241 yr by turbomax

21 hours ago, altenae said:

Wow this fixed it for me.
Activation packages back from 10 minutes to 2.
Something with sync clock

https://forums.flightsimulator.com/t/activating-packages-takes-20-mins-on-every-start-of-the-sim/670233/100

 

Update. 
Started MSFS2024 5 times and all 5 times within 2 minutes.

WOW, this worked for me also. I was getting 4 to 5 min on boot times. I sync my clock and now my 2024 load time is 1 min, 20 sec average. I was hating the long load times compared to my 2020 install.

Edited November 29, 20241 yr by Wise87

20 hours ago, turbomax said:

there is nothing to be fixed, it is part of Microsoft's copy protection, otherwise your credentials will not be accepted by the gaming services/DLLs.

Yes - same thing in an MS business network.

If the time is off more than 5 mins, authentication will fail.

I use an app that forces a reset of the time on my PC, not using any process built into windows. It just connects to the internet and forces the correct time. From day 1 of release, 2024 loaded very quickly.

EDIT: I installed this freeware because the wrong time was causing weird problems way back when 2020 was first released.

D4 sets the clock every time you restart your computer.

Dimension4

http://www.thinkman.com/dimension4/

Edited November 29, 20241 yr by Fielder

44 minutes ago, Fielder said:

I use an app

why so complicated:

Going to give this a try when I get home as well. I’m sure mine is off by a bit. Been waiting 4 or more minutes loading the sim up.

Because that did not work for me. Windows is supposed to keep the clock in order. It did not work for me automatically nor manually.

D4 is automatic. And it does all the work. And it doesn't stop logging into one time source or another until it does work.

The non-intuitive bit with the Windows settings is that if you have "Set time automatically" enabled but you leave "Set timezone automatically" disabled, Windows will not automatically resync the PC's time periodically. You have to have both "Set time" and "Set timezone" enabled in order for the sync process to run without user intervention. At least that's been my experience.

52 minutes ago, Fielder said:

I use an app that forces a reset of the time on my PC, not using any process built into windows. It just connects to the internet and forces the correct time. From day 1 of release, 2024 loaded very quickly.

EDIT: I installed this freeware because the wrong time was causing weird problems way back when 2020 was first released.

D4 sets the clock every time you restart your computer.

Dimension4

http://www.thinkman.com/dimension4/

Ham radio operators use that program as well for their digital modes.