hi all 🤗

I'm new, as you can see.

I actually wasn't I was here like 20 or so years ago but you know... things happen.

Things like in Man in black. You start to forget things eh

If title wasn't clear enough here's my explanation - after latest update (I have Xbox version and I update it manually. always use latest betas) the Community folder has completely gone !?!

OF course I google it, but seems that doesn't happen THAT often. Luck me huh.

I just love FS2024, I have never ever complained about anything up to this point, I'm the guy who reads STEAM reviews and thumbdown most of the bad reviews (but not like random there's always a reason behind it)

so you can imagine my surprise when last night THIS struck me.

All my for almost two full years build handpicked addons, mostly community stuff some paid (but I believe I can retrieve all payware), just hundreds and hundreds of data

Simply puff. gone

I read (on Reddit I believe) that some guy complained about the same issue then (and they mark that as a "solution"!?) after about two days all stuff magically reappear back !??? offensive initials not allowed ??

How could hundreds of gigabytes just disappear and then reappear by itself, it's almost... you know... I'll believe it when I see it.

So maybe tomorrow when I start my sim my folder magically came back 😍

Joking aside, has anyone have any idea ?

Not optimistic tbh, how could it come back. It's not like it's somewhere else on my hard drive

and I guess it's not in some ...cloud. pun intended 😔

Were you on the SU6 beta by any chance? I think there is something you need to do when moving to a beta to a release version, though not sure as I don't use betas (once bitten, twice shy).

Personally, I have a zip file of my community folder on another drive in case this ever happens (it did happen once or twice in msfs2020 but so far, I've not needed it in msfs2024 - touch wood).

12 hours ago, bagra4u said:

So maybe tomorrow when I start my sim my folder magically came back 😍

It's possible that the sim isn't picking up your community file and a reboot of your PC and a restart of the sim will bring it back but...if you can't find the folder on your PC then it is probably wiped.

When your sim updated to the official SU6 release did it download around 16 gig? If so, then it's reinstalled the whole sim and the contents of your community folder have evaporated.

There's a risk of this happening when the beta goes 'official' if your sim is located in the default location it was initially downloaded to.

I've learnt this the hardway to. It's a pita and you have my sympathy.

The only way to avoid this is to move or copy the contents of the folder to somewhere safe or rename the folder itself before updatingthe sim. After the update it can then be copied back.

If it is gone then I'm afraid it's a case of rebuilding the contents of the community folder manually....☹️

Edited August 15Aug 15 by DD_Arthur

learned the hard way to prevent automatic updates (Steam) and always move my community folder out of the sim before an update.

I even disable the internet which is definitely not needed but makes it absolute.

Edited August 15Aug 15 by UAL4life

1 hour ago, UAL4life said:

learned the hard way to prevent automatic updates (Steam) and always move my community folder out of the sim before an update.

I even disable the internet which is definitely not needed but makes it absolute.

The easiest way is to rename your community folder before the update. And after update, delete the new community folder created and rename your original back to community.

First of all - thank you guys for your replies 👍

It's not most interesting topic title (like 'look where have I landed last night!!!🙀') and it would be way too optimistic to expect that you got some actual solution here.

but at least you read and give your condolences and advice 'well, next time...'

in my defense - that was one GIGANTIC folder, not sure I had place to have them two "just in case" (it's SSD)

Like I said - I always update, sometimes guess game update itself, sometimes I had to start an update, like this time

(maybe that's a lesson - if it asks to manually update you first move your Community folder) then continue with update.

Which gives me idea (for a next time lol) - I'll just MOVE that folder to other location (not copy it) and then space wouldn't be a problem.

Btw, my Community folder is not in game folder itself. not that stupid.

Here is my game folder - M:\XboxGames\Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024

and Community folder - M:\XboxGames\_MyName_Community

But it didn't help anyway, cause, you know better than me, sim have a hundred cfg files in different locations, just to make it hard for us to track them all 🙄

That was case the with Community folder I guess also. it didn't stand a chance

hey at least I can take this as A FRESH START !?! 🙂

😒

On 8/14/2026 at 11:00 PM, bagra4u said:

I have Xbox version

Just to clarify, when you say you have "the Xbox version", do you mean that you have the MS Store version of MSFS, that you're running on PC?

(and not MSFS running on an Xbox?).

21 hours ago, JYW said:

Just to clarify, when you say you have "the Xbox version", do you mean that you have the MS Store version of MSFS, that you're running on PC?

(and not MSFS running on an Xbox?).

Yes yes of course, sorry about the confusion

It's just an MS Store version

but the game actually starts with an Xbox App, hence the commotion 😁

I suppose you already checked the Recycle Bin to see if community is there.

Moving a zipped file is much much faster than moving a folder full of files. FastCopy is a free app that moves files much faster than microsoft copy/paste.

Not all usb ports run at the same speed. Check the user manual of your motherboard to see which USB ports are the fastest ones.

If you move from desktop computer to external drive, the connecting cable should be a fast one or the whole process will slow way down (almost 10 times slower).

I use this cable because my computer does not have a usbC port, so the cable is USBC (the external drive side) to USB A (the computer side). Speeds lock in at constant 380Mbs using the fast USB A ports on the back of my computer. If I use the slower USB A ports on back of my computer, or a slower rated cable, then the speeds with FastCopy lock in at 40 MBs (almost 10 times slower).

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09QKHPT35

FastCopy

FastCopy Official site

My external drive is 2TB Crucial model X9Pro. It cost me $150 in December 2025. It is now $400 because storage chips are expensive now.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C9WHSZZN

I use MSFS Addons Linker (on flightsim.to) . All my addons are stored on a folder outsite MSFS. Addons Linker links the the files I need to my community folder. If ever my community folder gets wiped, nothing is lost. Actually, should this ever happen, I need to do noting because Addons Linker will simply restore the links.

8 hours ago, willy647 said:

I use MSFS Addons Linker (on flightsim.to) . All my addons are stored on a folder outsite MSFS. Addons Linker links the the files I need to my community folder. If ever my community folder gets wiped, nothing is lost. Actually, should this ever happen, I need to do noting because Addons Linker will simply restore the links.

So you saying they always occupy TWO places ??

Oddly enough, I have AddonsLinker. But guess I don't use it

Or I don't use it properly 🤔 which is almost the same

19 hours ago, Fielder said:

I suppose you already checked the Recycle Bin to see if community is there.

not there, trust me

But never mind.... I'm deep into process of next harvest. My Community is already over 200G in size.

With some still waiting to be installed 🙂

15 hours ago, bagra4u said:

So you saying they always occupy TWO places ??

No, what an addon linker does is create a link in the community folder to where the files really are. Think of it like a shortcut (it is called a symlink). The folder has an arrow on it in windows, so if you click on it to open it, it takes you to the "real" location. The shortcuts themselves take up almost zero space.

So your community folder just has a bunch of links to the real folder which can be anywhere on your system.

I never thought I needed an addon linker until I lost my community folder twice. It wasn't going to happen a 3rd time.

So on my system, my community folder is located in the default location, but I install everything to a different drive. The sim doesn't know the difference, and managing the folder is a ton easier.