After a disk failure

[E.E.]

I had FSX installed on my secondary HDD when it expired (the HDD, that is). The HDD replaced, now I can't unistall FSX from control panel nor can I 'repair' it because just as the repair is nearly complete the thing thinks I have removed the DVD from the drive. Can anyone help?

[Capt_Cronic]

try here;
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/928080

delete fsx main folder, download and run the reset tool from the page above
then reinstall fsx.

[E.E.]

Thanks Captain Chronic! It almost worked I got the error HRESULT 80004005 though. Microsoft Community came up with the answer to this however. To run MicrosoftKB928080 it seems necessary to go to the start menu, find Accessories and then Command Prompt on which you right click and choose run as administrator. I thought as I am the sole account user everything ran 'as administrator' but it is not so. Then I went through the procedure described and got a 'success'.

Thanks anyway the pointer was the valuable thing.

[Fozzer]

With all this new-fangled, Windows 8 "Administrator" malarkey/complication, it make you wonder why we all don't re-install our trusty copy of Windows '98/XP instead... ...!

Paul...In Windows 8.1, I am now GOD!.... ...!

[Capt_Cronic]

excellent !
Glad to hear it worked

[E.E.]

Well, it didn't work, not one little thing is changed. I'm back where I started!! FSX won't repair itself, coming to a halt just before completion with either an error number or the suggestion I have taken the disk from the drive - a well recorded event in other forums!! It won't uninstall because a DLL file called Gameux InstallHelper is needed which I cannot find on my computer or the installation discs!!! And I cannot find the FSX entry in the registry which in extreme frustration I was going to delete because an attempt to repair ALWAYS assumes I want to reinstall FSX to the same HDD which as far as Windows7 is concerned is a dead duck, deceased and gorn to heaven!!!! I've done the msconfig bit recommended elsewhere and the one which was suggested concerning the error 80004005.
Actually, I was very happy with Windows Me because I managed to keep it alive long after Microsoft lost interest in it. In the end I had to upgrade my computer because it couldn't cope with increased broadband speeds.
So any more suggestions before I uninstall windows? Pleeeeeze!

[Capt_Cronic]

delete the following folders;

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Games\Microsoft Flight Simulator X
C:\Users\(Your Name)\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\FSX
C:\Users\(Your Name)\AppData\Local\Microsoft\FSX
C:\Users\(Your name)\My Documents\Flight Simulator X Files
C:\Program Data\Microsoft\FSX

search registry and delete all references to "Microsoft Flight Simulator X"



now try and reinstall

[Bass]

You need to remove any, and i mean ANY FSX folders, hidden or not hidden on your main (OS) drive!!
Then run CCleaner registry clean.
After cleaning up, you should be able to install FSX whereever you want it!

Gameux!!! Why on earth are you using such "things"??

Note: Sri Capt for overlapping.

[E.E.]

Gameux.dll is a Microsoft file probably linked to DirectX. My simple problem is that FSX has been decapitated because I had it installed on my secondary drive which went off to see its maker! Now, when I try to uninstall or repair FSX it can't find the body of the program I suppose, and comes up with seemingly spurious reasons for that. Trying to uninstall all mention of FSX from my C: drive is likely to meet with failure. If it was that simple none of those naughty paedophiles would be damned by evidence from a computer they'd imagined they'd cleaned!
As for registry cleaners, Microsoft's view is that they are all smoke and mirrors, for an unlinked entry in the registry does no harm but take up space - so I'm told. What I have not been told yet by these wizards is how to fix my problem. No-one would believe the number of sure-fire fixes I've found in other forums and which have all done nothing for me.
One thing I have found is that most downloads of free software come with many unwanted applications that install themselves whether you agree or decline and simply deleteing them in control panel is not always immediately 100% effective. Worse still, those downloads you have to accept from adobe for their FlashPlayer always come with unwanted apps which though free on the face of it can cause problems which seem to need a bought app to remove them!
Fozzer ... even the mightiest of the God's must fall, ask my mate Jupiter!

[Capt_Cronic]

did you try my last suggestion above ?
it worked perfectly for me

fsx does check the registry so you do have to delete the entries.

[E.E.]

I found the answer! Where was it hiding? Somewhere in these forums and I found it by a google search of the exact wording of the error report and going through the responses word by word. There's an awful lot of subjective stuff isn't there? In the end someone suggested 'the Microsoft uninstall tool'. I couldn't find it nor could anyone else but that's not unusual because many free tools are just fronts for purchasable software that comes with a lot of other stuff which can create further problems!
Then someone suggested a real fix from Microsoft that was no longer available. Then he came back with a current link and Lo and Behold!!!! After hours of digging around in Microsoft Support I found what they had forgotten about (deliberately I think because there was a hint it deleted more than it should sometimes) I was desperate so I took the chance --- and now I am airborne again. The funny thing is that FSX did a few things it has never done before on start up. I installed SP1 and SP2 before starting so that might explain it but it was all good anyway. Now I am looking forward to the days and days spent downloading aircraft from Simviation and elsewhere. I have learned to use windows Backup in future though!
The link is http://support.microsoft.com/mats/Progr ... _Uninstall strangely enough.