I am now 94, but still very active operating my flight simulator. I recently installed the PMDG 737-800, and Chaseplane, and had problems completing the Device Setups in Control Settings. I have now got 7 different profile settings in both "Airplane and General" Control Devices which I unnecessarily created over a period of time.

I have now ended up unable to fly,   because some profiles have got muddled up. For instance when I select FLY when in the cockpit view on the runway threshold, I find that the landing gear, although down, is indicating UP, with 3 greens and 3 reds. When I press "END" on the keyboard I cannot go to the default external view. When I attempt to carry out an Approach and Autoland on the 737, at a fairly late stage in the approach the throttles fail completley, and I have to abandon the approach and exit with ESC, otherwise it crashes. There are several other things that don't work, but I won't wast time explaining them.

I am well aware of the many very professional videos available explaining the setting up and installation of such things, but I need to know how to resolve things. I would like to delete all of the Control and Device Settings, and create new profiles for three aircraft I fly, 1) PMDG 737-800, 2) Hawker Hunter, ( I used to fly them over 70 years ago) 3)Chipmunk. I then hope that all 3 aircraft will be set up and operate as previously, before I messed things up.

I was a professional pilot for over 45 years, and still need to be completely in charge of the situation, but it's becoming a lttle more difficult as time goes on. Is there anyone reading this, living in the UK in Buckinghamshire, maybe who could contact me  

I hope this will help with how to reset to defaults

 

MS STORE

 

Go to C:\Users\YOURNAME\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.Limitless_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalCache\

If you don’t see AppData, enable View → Show → Hidden items in File Explorer.

 

Inside LocalCache, delete:

InputProfiles

Controls

UserCfg.opt (optional – resets UI settings too)

 

If present, you can also delete:

Content.xml

SceneryIndexes

WASM

These will rebuild automatically.

STEAM VERSION

 

Go to

C:\Users\YOURNAME\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024\

If that folder does not exist, check:

C:\Users\YOURNAME\AppData\Local\Packages\

 

Delete

InputProfiles

Controls

UserCfg.opt

 

Optional:

Content.xml

SceneryIndexes

WASM

 

Restart PC, launch the sim, and the default profiles will automatically rebuild and start fresh.

This has been a recent issue for me as well.  For just one control, my HC Alpha.  One profile selection is settling on a default MSFS 2024 profile. Before each and every flight I have needed to change that setting to an actual HC Alpha saved profile.  The MSFS 2024 typical persistence that exists, carrying that profile in place  from one MSFS 2024 to the next is not carrying over as it has previously done.

 

13 hours ago, roytc said:

I am now 94, but still very active operating my flight simulator.

congratulations! glad you can enjoy flightsim through all these years!

8 hours ago, LRBS said:

rebuild and start fresh

isn't there a "reset" button somewhere in the lower left that I was always afraid to touch?

6 hours ago, turbomax said:

isn't there a "reset" button somewhere in the lower left that I was always afraid to touch?

Perhaps, if it is, I missed it.

On 3/4/2026 at 2:19 PM, roytc said:

I am now 94, but still very active operating my flight simulator. I recently installed the PMDG 737-800, and Chaseplane, and had problems completing the Device Setups in Control Settings. I have now got 7 different profile settings in both "Airplane and General" Control Devices which I unnecessarily created over a period of time.

I have now ended up unable to fly

If it makes you feel better, I’m 61 and 40+ years of software engineering and find the Control page in MSFS 2024 horrendous (still) … a case of how to build a complex presentation for XBOX only when it could be accomplished much more efficiently for a PC.  Asobo, please … have a different UI for PC users.

There are many issues with the Controller pages in MSFS, but some ones to think about:

1.  Make sure you do NOT navigate to the controller pages from Menu settings in flight, always hit Esc and then select Settings and then navigate to the control page (otherwise you can lose settings).

2.  Watch out for the Filters (assigned, unassigned, etc.) even more so when using text search hint, this can leave you wondering what happened to your assignment.

3.  Recommend you “Duplicate” settings from similar aircraft types and then give them a name specific to your aircraft and variant.  

4.  Stay a million miles away from the Locked settings.

It’s a user interface I want to forget but keep getting reminded by it every time I purchase a new aircraft or switch to another aircraft.  Sometimes I almost fear touching it as I need a refresher course 😉 

Item #3 above IMHO, is the safest option to perform.  The downside is that you have to cycle thru many controller profiles when you switch aircraft … without a dropdown this can be tedious (thank consoles for this horrible UI).

Edited March 5Mar 5 by SayAgain

9 hours ago, turbomax said:

isn't there a "reset" button somewhere in the lower left that I was always afraid to touch?

 

MSFS would need something like control setup in Aerofly for beginners, maybe somewhere in between MSFS and Aerofly's implementation like so:

Edited March 5Mar 5 by turbomax