After the debacle with the ghost 2024 update that wiped out my settings, I started up 2020, got a 2 GB update, and after that, the sim wants to install a 197 GB update with the content... which I had on a separate drive and has now been deleted.  The Community folder survived, but the Official folder is empty.

Luckily, I do not really fly 2020 anymore, but why would Microsoft have deleted all the Official content?

I hope I am alone in this.. this is not good.. 🫢

 

Edited March 22, 20251 yr by Bert Pieke

Next step in the saga was allowing 135 GB to load into the Official folder, and now I am back in business.

No idea what happened.. 😞

It wiped the official folder ?? Was it the MS Store version of MSFS or the Steam version ?

Edited March 23, 20251 yr by Daube

Same thing happened to me yesterday....all of a sudden I couldn't launch MSFS, I got that blue error message saying that the app could not be found, I thought I deleted it by mistake as I was trying MSFS 2024 for a week now.

Luckily I had a previous backup of the onestore and community folders. 

 

Edited March 23, 20251 yr by emsss78

Fortunately no impact to 2020 here... 

Did YMML-ZSPD yesterday and ZSPD-KSFO is 3 hours underway now, no issues.  My Community location is custom in 2020.  

5 hours ago, Daube said:

It wiped the official folder ?? Was it the MS Store version of MSFS or the Steam version ?

Store version.

28 minutes ago, Bert Pieke said:

Store version.

Default or custom community folder location Bert?  I am also on store but my Community is just M:/Community  

So they wiped out both your installs?  I'm sorry, that's not fun at all. 

Same here, 2020 community folder wiped completely. What a sad state of affairs in the MS dev team!

I don't know why this didn't happen to my 2020.  But I'm happy it didn't.  Sorry to the other guys.  That sounds like no fun

I have used Macrium as a backup of my entire PC for years. Use to be you could buy a version for around $30 which was good for lifetime, now they want $49 a year, which I am not going to buy, because my 3 year old version works fine. Anyway, if I ever lose anything on my PC, I can restore it in a matter of minutes from my backup drive. It has saved me many times over the years I have had it.

 

9 minutes ago, micstatic said:

I don't know why this didn't happen to my 2020.  But I'm happy it didn't.  Sorry to the other guys.  That sounds like no fun

Is your community folder location default or Custom?

I was also unimpacted and mine is custom.  Wondering if that is the determining factor here...  @Peter Z KCLE_EDDN , @Bert Pieke do you guys run custom Community locations or default?  

Sorry for you guys, what a royal pain in the rear...

58 minutes ago, Bobsk8 said:

I have used Macrium as a backup of my entire PC for years. Use to be you could buy a version for around $30 which was good for lifetime, now they want $49 a year, which I am not going to buy, because my 3 year old version works fine. Anyway, if I ever lose anything on my PC, I can restore it in a matter of minutes from my backup drive. It has saved me many times over the years I have had it.

I used Macrium several years ago to transfer my OS from an old 2TB Toshiba HDD to a 1TB Nvme M2 drive. It worked flawlessly.

1 hour ago, psolk said:

Is your community folder location default or Custom?

I was also unimpacted and mine is custom.  Wondering if that is the determining factor here...  @Peter Z KCLE_EDDN , @Bert Pieke do you guys run custom Community locations or default?  

Sorry for you guys, what a royal pain in the rear...

I use the default community folder.  However I use addon linker and store most things somewhere else.  

1 hour ago, psolk said:

Is your community folder location default or Custom?

I was also unimpacted and mine is custom.  Wondering if that is the determining factor here...  @Peter Z KCLE_EDDN , @Bert Pieke do you guys run custom Community locations or default?  

Sorry for you guys, what a royal pain in the rear...

Custom.. but I was part of the 2024 beta.. and that may have had a knockon effect..

When you reinstall msfs 2020 or 2024, it will reinstall into a default location. Next you overwrite all those default folders with your stuff stored in the non default location. And you're back in business.

With 2024, you have to move BOTH Community and your StreamedPackages folders from the default location. I would also move Official2020 and Official2024 folders, even if they are empty.

If you don't move "StreamedPackages" folder, you will spend some hours reactivating and deactivating various of all those hundreds of streamed packages to get back to where you were.