How to install Microsoft Flight Simulator
Installing Microsoft Flight Simulator requires a Microsoft account or Xbox account and its password.
If you don't have an account yet, please prepare one in advance.
Get started with Microsoft account (Microsoft)
Account with Xbox (Microsoft)
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Contents
How to purchase Microsoft Flight Simulator
First, complete the purchase procedure.Check your computer's network/sleep settings
For MSFS2020, the game is large and may take several hours to download.
If possible, avoid installing software on holiday evenings or at night when Internet traffic is high.
If the internet is disconnected during installation, the installation may fail. I recommend connecting with a LAN cable rather than Wi-Fi.
Also, be careful not to let your computer turn off or go into sleep mode while downloading. Don't run your computer on battery power; connect it to an outlet using an AC adapter or something similar. Then open the Windows [Start]-[Settings]-[System]-[Power & Battery]-[Display and Sleep] screen (see right) and set "Sleep when connected to power" to "Never."
For MSFS2024, by storing almost all data in the cloud, the initial data download is kept to a minimum, so you probably won't need to worry about these settings.
Download the game main module
When you click the name of the purchased software on the "Library" screen, a screen like this will appear.
Click the "Install" button to install it on your computer.
When you click the "Install" button, a screen like this will appear.
First, select the drive where you want to install Microsoft Flight Simulator in the "Installation Destination" field.
You can select from a list of save destination drives that have been added in advance in the Steam app . Choose a drive with at least 9GB(MSFS2024) / 2GB(MSFS2020) of free space.
Then click the "Install" button at the bottom of the screen.
For MSFS2024, the license agreement will be displayed here.
Check the contents and click the "Agree" button.
The game will then start downloading, and "Downloading" will be displayed on the Steam app screen.
The game main module has a capacity of..
For MSFS2024, 8.07GB and will take about 20-30 minutes to download.
For MSFS2020, 1.12GB and will take about a few minutes to download.
Once the game has finished downloading, a "Play" button will appear on the Steam app screen.
Click this.
Alternatively, click on the MSFS icon on your desktop.
By the way, the huge 150GB of game data for MSFS2020 will start downloading after a few more steps.
If you purchased the game through Steam, you can install the Steam app on multiple computers and log in with your ID to install the same game on all of them.
However, you can only play the game on one computer at a time.
When you start the same game on multiple computers at the same time, it becomes streaming (remote) play. The first computer to start the game becomes the server, and subsequent computers connect to it to play. The game screen of the server computer will be displayed on all computers.
If you're installing on a second or subsequent computer, click the "▼" button to the right of "Streaming" on this screen. Then select "This computer" to install.
If you want to play on multiple computers at the same time, you will need to prepare multiple Steam accounts and make a purchase for each account. You can also play by streaming (remote) from another computer.
Steam Support :: Steam Account Use
Steam Family Sharing
Warning when starting the game
If this screen appears when starting MSFS, it means that MSFS is already running on another computer using your Steam account.
In this case, you will not be able to start MSFS on this computer.
You will be making a remote connection to the computer on which the game is already running.
If you enter the 4-digit passcode displayed on this screen onto the computer screen where the game is already running, you will be connected remotely.
If you want to start MSFS on this computer, please shut down MSFS on the other computer.
If a warning screen like this one appears when starting MSFS, your computer's functionality and performance do not meet the minimum requirements for MSFS.
However, this does not mean that the game cannot be started.
Clicking "OK" will start the game.
For the minimum MSFS requirements, please see the following page:
Can you enjoy Microsoft Flight Simulator without a GPU? What are the minimum requirements?