Possible Fix for Joystick/Controller Issue

This is possible fix for the joystick/controller issue that has been plaguing many users since Windows 8/8.1 has come about. First of all, I am not promising anything to anyone or taking responsibility for any issues with your system. I discovered this by accident and it worked for me, use at your own risk. I have been using flight sims since I first bought FS95 in 1996, and this is the first issue that I had learned to live with, until now.

My issue was that after a period of time, the controller (Pro-Flight Yoke and Rudder that I picked up at EAA in Oshkosh this past summer) would stop working. I tried every fix I could find on the forums including a complete reinstall of WIN8/8.1, and even recently bought a brand new gaming machine (not just because if the controller issue, but I was able to convince the wife that I needed to upgrade.) I got very frustrated and eventually found that the CTRL-ALT-DEL combo worked for the most part to get it working again as soon as it would stop working. Then I installed FSX:Steam with the exact same results. No problem, I was used to the work around. Then yesterday I tried flying from KGRB to KATL. While on approach to KATL, the controller stopped working and the CTRL-ALT-DEL work around wasn't working. I flew the flight three times before I could get it finished (Yes, I started from the beginning each time, because I'm a geek that way) and had to hit the combo several times during each flight. This morning I tried something new to fix a minor issue. I got so excited that this fixed my controller issue, that I completely forgot the minor issue that I was trying to fix. This worked with no controller crash after a flight from KATL-KLSE with ESDG Citation II, KLSE-KGRB in Carenado B1900D, and then KGRB-KSEA in CLS MD81/82, which the first leg should've caused the issue over 15 times. I would have never gotten over 20nm without the issue, let alone over almost the entire virtual United States. No issue at all during any of these legs with settings set at High with UTX and REX textures/weather loaded!!

This might work for you, or might not. (Currently I have FSX:Steam, but should work in FSX or FSX Acceleration also, I think):

(Must have Administrator privileges)

1:navigate to your FSX.EXE file and right click, then select 'properties'

2:click on the 'Security' tab

3:select 'ALL APPLICATION PACKAGES' and click 'EDIT'

4: Check every box under 'ALLOW' except for 'Special Permissions'

5: click 'Apply' and then 'OK'; then go fly and see if it worked for you.

Again, I'm not promising anything, but this worked for me and I wasn't even looking for a solution for it at the time. It's like my personal discovery for penicillin. If it works for you, then great.

Sounds to me as if FSX and/or your controller software was not wet to run as administrator. This is basic game 101 since Vista.

-Pv-