How to Uninstall FSX Acceleration in order to get a fresh install of both

I have a need to uninstall FSX Acceleration but I have never actually uninstall FSX. Normally, I run my Factory Recovery program and install everything fresh. But, this time I thought it better to just uninstall FSX Acceleration and then reinstall that. As far as addons, all I have is Airports and Aircraft. The only complete AC I need to reinstall is Level-D 767 and I have done that a few times; the only othe AC are Repaints. The Airports are nothing to install. I have no scenery or anything like that. I tried to "Repair" FSX but it didn't help. FSX said it was fixed but it wasn't.

 

Do I have to uninstall Acceleration first and then FSX or just FSX? I would appreciate any help that might save me a lot of grief. I'm not concerned about losing any files because I have two different types of backups of my files.

 

I have Windows 7 Home Edition x64.

Hello Tim,

 

Be aware that this will set FSX back to default, so things like texture modifications and the fsx.cfg dll.xml exe.xml cameras.cfg and so fourth will all be bog standard after repair so if you have any mods or need to refer to tweaks and addon utilities in the config, dll library or xml addons then please back those up before uninstalling/reparing/reinstalling.

 

Yes you must uninstall Acceleration first to do a repair on FSX, otherwise you will only be repairing FSX Acceleration.

Then run the FSX repair from the DVD Disk 1. For FSX and FSX SP1 SDK you must install these before moving on to FSX Acceleration installation. Then Reinstall Acceleration and (Optional) Acceleration SDK thereafter. Interestingly you must install the FSX SDK, FSX SP1 SDK, while in FSX standard mode, and then FSX Acceleration SDK's.

Once you have installed FSX Acceleration and run FSX at least once between installations of FSX standard & FSX Acceleration which will also reinstall SP1 from the Acceleration DVD as well as Acceleration which is effectively an enhanced SP2.

 

Over the years I have only had the need to try the Repair function once, it was not overly effective in solving my underlying problem, which was of course corruption due to permissions issues because I had initially installed FSX Gold Deluxe AccPack to the default location as I had done on my early WinXP SP3 32bit OS, but was now upgraded to Win7 64 Pro on a more powerful 64bit machine, "Program Files (x86)" the default location was initially not a problem but soon became one. When FSX was built for WinXP 32bit OS and WinVista there was no such protected folders, but the introduction of Vista and Win7 64 and onwards to Win 8 & 10 64bit, (protected locations -- "Program Files" & "Program Files (x86)") emulate 32bit FSX for 64bit machines/64bitOS. Not a wise idea to reinstall in these protected locations as quite often when required to write to a config or XML permissions can be refused corrupting config data, (If that's where you have installed FSX it might be best to reinstall FSX fresh either in C:\FSX or on a Dedicated drive D:\FSX) I chose to install FSX to a dedicated drive with plenty of control of Admin permissions and room for an ever expanding simulator addons inventory.

 

The normal process for uninstalling FSX Acceleration, is to open "Control Panel" from the windows start menu, in "Category view" you will see "Uninstall a Program" click this option, scroll down the list till you find "Microsoft Flight Simulator X: Acceleration" when highlighted right click with mouse to bring up "Uninstall" left mouse click Uninstall. This will uninstall Acceleration, when finished close and reopen uninstall a program, @ the FSX icon in the uninstall a program list, FSX installed will now show "Microsoft Flight Simulator X" with possibly (SP1) or (Standard). Note: any addons requiring AccPack may not work a until it is installed again. (Choosing uninstall again at this point will uninstall the remaining "FSX Standard" completely from your drive.)

After Unstalling AccPack You should now run FSX in Standard mode at least once to confirm settings in the FSX.cfg, set your scenery graphics and settings to your liking and do a brief flight with the default flight "Friday harbor with the trike ultralite (just click the fly now button without making changes to the senario.

If you have also installed "Microsoft Flight Simulator X: Acceleration SDK" you might wish to uninstall that first before uninstalling Microsoft Flight Simulator X: Acceleration, then once you have reinstalled Acceleration then reinstall the Acceleration SDK.

There are notes about the procedure here: https://www.fsdeveloper.com/wiki/index.php?title=SDK_Installation_(FSX)

 

There are also other forum resources if you use your "Bing or Google search" a number of results will come up which expand or say similar to what I have written above.

 

Cheers Jethro

Here's the "bible" on how to uninstall/reinstall FSX: https://support.precisionmanuals.com/kb/a87/how-to-uninstall-and-reinstall-fsx.aspx ..........Doug

The thought of reinstalling FSX makes me cringe. I haven't done that in years. Same with Windows 7.

 

All the hours and hours of reinstalling all the add-ons and configuring the way you want it could take weeks.

 

I just make clones of my drives once in a while "just in case".

 

Good luck with it anyways.

Thanks for all the responses. I was reading all you wrote and clicked on the link to the "Bible" on how to uninstall/reinstall FSX. While I was preparing to remove FSX, I had a Blue Screen of Death event. I traced the problem to my 7-year-old GeForce GTX 560 Ti video card. Somehow that also fried my 3-TB USB 3.0 external drive witch was just loaded with all kinds of FS Progs and other files. I used the "Bible" on how to completely uninstall FSX and found it to be really good. All went very smoothly and made it unnecessary for me to remove FSX in the usual manner which was to run my PCs Factory Recovery and reinstall tons of programs including FSX. The failing Video Card, however, means, for the present, anyway, that I don't have to bother reinstalling FSX. So, here I go on my 3rd Sabbatical from FS. Oh well. Thanks guys for the help. I've always said FS would not be what it is without Pete Dowson and Flightsim.com.

Hi Tim,

 

Very sorry to read that your problems have multiplied, the malfunctioning GTX560Ti while a significant failure is not the end for FSX, if you can find a suitable replacement. However I would be more concerned with the data loss on the possibly fried 3TB USB3.0 external drive. It might be recoverable if it isn't working through the USB port, by converting it to an internal SATA drive. Thus bypassing the USB 3.0 interface and external power supply. (Most external 3.5 drives are SATA and can easily be converted to internal drives, sometimes their spin speed is the only restriction 5400rpm instead of the faster 7200rpm depending on the brand) I have done this on several WD essentials and passport drives where the failure was limited to the USB and power coupling, all the data was still there just as I left it. You will need to extract the drive from the enclosure and hook it up to an available internal SATA cable attached to your motherboard SATA connections (what's more, internal SATA is faster than USB) mine are rated to run @6Gb/sec on an asus board, the SATA bus has a closer link/circuit connected to the processor ram and memory. Hopefully your drive is recoverable and your collected FS software / data is still where you left it.

 

Cheers Jethro

Hi Jethro,

 

Thanks for your kind words and message of hope. I'm not sure about my capabilities in converting this GoFlex Drive into an internal HDD but I certainly have the room in the tower case. I have two hard drives in it, now, and when I bought the pc the Geek Squad told me there was room for two more hard drives in the case. That would be a good idea but I might want to talk to The Geeks about doing it for me. I could go to the store and buy an internal HDD and install it but I usually have the Geek Squad do it for me. My reasoning is that if I mess something up, it's on me; but if they mess something up, it's on them. So, even if they charge me $50 or so, I think of it as a deal. ;)