Question:  Does our beloved ol' FS9 install and run on Windows 10  & 11?    Back in the day, it ran almost flawlessly on my old cptr.  with Windows 7 but  now I'm faced with today's Windows 11 operating system and am concerned about so-called "compatibility", in spite of Microsoft's' claims. 

Now that we've relocated to a retirement community and have a new computer, I'd really like to get it going once again but  am  afraid to try it  on 10 or 11.   Anybody have experience with these newer OS's and our old FS9?  Learned long ago not to install it in the default location and away from Drive 'C', but you can't avoid the 10 or 11 operating system.   Would appreciate some advice.     JonB  

Edited May 7May 7 by Ray Proudfoot
Text in spoiler changed to standard post.

I have had it working perfectly on Windows 10 since time immemorial. Others use it on Windows 11 equally well, I'm sure.

Search the forums for a guide to a flawless installation method before you start.

For a PC upgrade, I install Flight Simulator afresh, and then copy across my entire installation from the old machine on top of it. Everything works perfectly for me by that mehthod apart from having to enter licence numbers for a few addons with complex pirate-prevention features.

John

Thanks for the response John.  Glad to hear that you have it working normally for you.  My old cptr finally broke down and locked up on me after years of use, and then we ended up selling the house and moving into an apartment. Been awhile but we finally settled in. Getting ready to buy a replacement cptr. just for the sims but I know vendors only give you Win 11 these days so that's what prompted my question.  

Did you have to resort to the "compatibility " adjustment to get it to run?  I've heard that the later Windows systems often require it since our dear old FS9 was written in a much earlier language, almost like DOS!   I know that the MS Train Sim program came out first or at about the same time, has never been updated, and won't work on Win 10 or 11.  For the flight sim I find FS9 to be much more flexible and versatile than the follow on versions.  

By the way, I really enjoyed using the "Instant Scenery" program to add scenery to otherwise bland airports that only showed runways; that is until the guy who created it walked away and dropped the program some years ago when Win 10 came out,  saying it was too much work to update the program.  Have or did you ever use it yourself?   I'm trying to find out if anyone has put out a similar program.  By chance have you heard anything?   Of course I realize that not everyone is into adding scenery, and are happy with what is built into the newer MSFS editions, but I just thought I'd ask. 

Fortunately I learned early on to make lots of backup copies so, like you,  I'll have something more then just the default FS9 version when I finally get the new cptr.  Hopefully soon, but in the meantime many thanks for your response John. The forums are a great source of information and help.   

JonB    😉

  

To get FS2004 working in Windows 10 & 11...

1. Do NOT install into it's default C:\Program Files folder, install into, for example. C:\Flightsim 2004

2. After the install ..Download & run the FS9.1 update patch

Flight Simulator 2004 Update v9.1

3. Download & replace the existing fs9.exe with the FS9.1 No-Cd patch

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004 v9.1 No-CD Patch for FS2004

4. Right-click the (replaced) FS9.exe & click the 'Compatibility' tab

Select 'XP mode' or whatever XP mode there is.

Then .. Click the 'run as Administrator' box

Run the sim... All should be perfect!

You will probably find that the sim will run a bit smoother as well.

Enjoy!

 

I need to check, but I'm sure I don't have Compatibility mode enabled at all, and I have no issues. I did a flight last night in my Win 11 laptop. But I confirm I'm forced to use windowed mode at all times. Somehow, Win10 and 11 don't play nice with full screen mode.

It has just been a habit of mine to set Compatibility & Admin, &

At the moment, I'm running 3 different themed versions of FS9.

I also use windows mode.

Just looking at your mobile rig...

I'm also using an ASUS A15 Ryzen 7 4800H16GB RAM & a 500GB SSD. AMD onboard, & NVIDIA RTX 3050 GPU

I have a 2TB & a 500GB portable drive permanently plugged in, & am running my sims, including P3Dv4.5 from them.

I did a test by running FS9 from the SSD & then from the portable drive, & found not much difference. No lagging at all.

As long as it works.....🤩

16 hours ago, Luis Hernandez said:

I need to check, but I'm sure I don't have Compatibility mode enabled at all, and I have no issues. I did a flight last night in my Win 11 laptop. But I confirm I'm forced to use windowed mode at all times. Somehow, Win10 and 11 don't play nice with full screen mode.

I'm fine in Windows 10 full screen mode, although I don't use it too much as modern "wide" screens stretch the proportions a bit. But perhaps the reason it works for me, but not for you, is that mine is set to use XP SP2 under compatibility mode.

John

Mine is also set to XP SP2 mode. 

Not sure & cannot remember why, but I've always set it to that.

3 hours ago, John Hinson said:

I'm fine in Windows 10 full screen mode

You don't switch applicacions frequently, right? In my laptop, I have to do so very frequently (alternating between PF3, FSBuild or Simbrief in Chrome, FS Real WX and the sim), and that's where I get the problems.

7 hours ago, Luis Hernandez said:

You don't switch applicacions frequently, right? In my laptop, I have to do so very frequently (alternating between PF3, FSBuild or Simbrief in Chrome, FS Real WX and the sim), and that's where I get the problems.

Not quite sure why you assume that, Luis?

My arrangements are not the same as yours, of course, but I use PF3, FDC, TGS Display and FSFlobal alongside Flight Simulator, and FSNavigator within it, and these have always worked fine for me. (I even occasionally make small adjustments to airports and AI traffic during the flight to save doing so afterwards). That's not to say I would necessarily expect such combinations to work for everybody because there can be so many other factors on a given setup. All I am saying is that such combinations can work.

Best regards,

John

Mine works without issues W11

Nebojsa

Not quite sure why you assume that, Luis?

Well, in all my Win10/Win11 rigs, when I had FS9 in fullscreen mode, I always got a a freeze when switching back to the sim. It didn't matter if I was using an Nvidia GPU, an AMD APU or even an Intel one! My workaround is using Borderless Gaming. But as you say, there may be a setting or other factor that I have that may give me this issue.

Just tried again last night in my laptop, setting FS9 in fullscreen mode, and enabling antialiasing in Settings>Hardware, and not only it works, but apparently I get better performance than in windowed mode. Apparently the issue is in FSX only (and I thought it affected both sims). This changes everything I knew about FS9 in Win10/11. I stand corrected.