Back up flight sim settings, plans, controls, add-ons and licences before reinstalling Windows, then verify and restore them safely, including Steam.
Before reinstalling Windows, copy your flight simulator’s user data, saved flights, flight plans, control profiles, add-on libraries, installers and licence records to an external physical drive. Record every package path, verify that the backup opens, then reinstall the simulator cleanly and restore compatible files in small batches.
This answer covers PC flight simulators generally, including Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 and 2024, FSX, X-Plane and Prepar3D. Cloud synchronisation may recover some settings, but it rarely includes manually installed aircraft, scenery, plugins or every locally stored plan. We never treat it as the only backup.
What flight simulator files should I back up?
Back up everything you created, installed or changed; default simulator files are usually replaceable through the original launcher or installation media.
- Flights and flying records: saved flights or situations, flight plans, missions, logbooks, aircraft states and recorded flights.
- Settings and controls: configuration files, exported controller profiles, camera views, graphics settings and assistance preferences. Take screenshots of critical bindings because Windows may identify the same joystick or throttle differently after reinstallation.
- Add-on content: aircraft, liveries, airports, scenery, plugins, gauges, effects, AI traffic, sound packs and navigation-data customisations.
- Add-on configuration: scenery order, plugin settings, aircraft presets, content-manager records and configuration folders belonging to external utilities.
- Installers and licences: original installation packages, serial numbers, account details and any supplied deactivation instructions. Copying an activated program folder rarely preserves its activation on a new Windows installation.
- Location records: note the full path of every Community, Custom Scenery, add-on or package library, especially anything stored on another drive.
What can I safely leave out?
Generated caches and temporary files are normally better rebuilt than restored.
- Rolling, scenery and shader caches
- Crash reports, diagnostic logs and temporary downloads
- Launcher download caches
- Default aircraft and scenery that the launcher can verify or download again
If your connection is slow, preserving downloaded default packages may save time, but the new installation must still validate them. Do not restore a cache that may have contributed to stutters, loading failures or crashes.
Where are flight simulator settings and add-ons stored?
Most simulators split their data between the installation directory, your Windows profile, Documents and one or more separately selected content libraries.
| Simulator | Files and folders to locate | Common mistake |
|---|---|---|
| Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 or 2024 | The selected Packages location, Community content, locally stored plans, screenshots and any configuration belonging to add-on managers. Installed or cached official packages can be preserved to reduce downloading. | The Packages library may be on a different drive from the launcher installation. Community add-ons are not protected simply because the simulator was bought through Steam or the Xbox app. |
| FSX and FSX: Steam Edition | Documents\Flight Simulator X Files, the FSX configuration and Controls data under your Windows profile, plus aircraft, gauges, effects, scenery and external add-on folders. Use our folder-by-folder FSX backup checklist to find the scattered files. | Older add-ons often place components in several locations, not just the main FSX folder. |
| X-Plane 11 or 12 | Aircraft, Custom Scenery, Resources\plugins, Output preferences, saved situations, flight plans and any add-on-specific folders. | A backup kept inside the X-Plane directory will be lost if that directory or drive is erased. |
| Prepar3D | Saved flights, plans, control exports, version-specific profile folders, add-on packages, scenery libraries and installers. | Add-on packages can live outside the simulator folder, and different Prepar3D generations maintain separate profile data. |
Enable hidden items in File Explorer and inspect %APPDATA%, %LOCALAPPDATA%, %PROGRAMDATA%, Documents, Saved Games and every custom library drive. If Documents is redirected into a synchronised folder, confirm that the files are downloaded locally rather than represented by online-only placeholders.
Do not assume that the largest folder is the most valuable. The default simulator may be downloadable again, while a small configuration folder can contain years of control assignments and scenery registrations.
There is no backup option in my simulator — what should I do?
Use File Explorer to copy the relevant folders manually; most flight simulators do not provide one complete “back up everything” command.
Export controls, profiles or settings where the simulator offers an export function, then copy the remaining files yourself. If there is no option to export a profile, record it with screenshots and preserve its local configuration folder where one exists. Cloud-only data cannot always be exported as a normal file.
A full Windows system image can provide an additional recovery route, but it should not replace a readable file backup. Restoring an entire old Windows image merely to retrieve one flight plan or controller profile is slow and may reintroduce the fault that prompted the reinstallation.
I’m on Steam — do I still need a manual backup?
Yes. Being on Steam protects your ownership of the simulator and allows its standard files to be downloaded again, but it does not guarantee a backup of manually installed add-ons or every simulator setting.
Steam Cloud only synchronises the data that a particular simulator has been configured to include. It should not be expected to preserve Community content, Custom Scenery, external package libraries, third-party plugin settings, installers or licence information.
If the Steam library is on a secondary drive that will not be formatted, record its path before reinstalling Windows. After Steam is installed again, add or select that existing library and let Steam discover or verify the simulator files. For Microsoft Flight Simulator on Steam, locate its separately selected Packages folder as well; preserving the small Steam application alone is not enough.
How do I create and verify the backup?
A trustworthy flight sim backup is a readable copy on another physical drive, accompanied by a simple inventory of what it contains.
- Close the simulator and related tools. Exit the launcher, flight planner, add-on managers and background utilities so that databases and configuration files are not changing during the copy.
- List every storage path. Record the simulator edition, installation directory, package libraries, scenery folders and utility-data locations. If you are also changing drives, our guidance on moving a simulator and its package library to another SSD explains the path problems to avoid.
- Export what can be exported. Save controller profiles, flight plans, scenery lists and presets through their applications where supported. Photograph or capture screenshots of bindings that cannot be exported.
- Copy rather than move. Put the files on an external physical drive in folders labelled by simulator and version. Do not keep the only backup on another partition of the disk that Windows Setup will modify.
- Preserve recovery information. Save installers, serial numbers and deactivation instructions. Confirm that you can access any account or email address needed for reactivation.
- Verify before erasing Windows. Compare folder sizes and file counts, open several flight plans and inspect representative aircraft or scenery folders. Test compressed archives rather than assuming they were created correctly.
We also recommend checking that the external drive can be read from another Windows account or computer. Files protected with Windows file encryption may remain unreadable without the original encryption certificate, even though they appear to have copied successfully.
Can I just copy the whole simulator installation?
Usually not. Copying the complete directory is useful as an extra safeguard, but Microsoft Flight Simulator, FSX and Prepar3D also depend on profile folders, package records, Windows components or registrations stored elsewhere.
X-Plane is more self-contained, so preserving its complete directory often retains much of the installation. Protected aircraft and some plugins may still require reactivation or freshly installed supporting components.
A mistake we see constantly is copying only the main installation folder while overlooking Documents, AppData and an external scenery library. Avoid trying to preserve protected Windows application folders such as WindowsApps by forcing new permissions; back up the simulator’s user content and selected package library instead.
How do I restore the flight sim after reinstalling Windows?
Install and launch a clean copy once before restoring personal files, so the simulator creates fresh folders and configuration data for the new Windows installation.
- Install Windows drivers and the launcher. Sign in with the account that owns the simulator, then install the correct simulator edition to its intended drive.
- Launch the simulator once. Allow initial setup to finish, load to the main menu, close the simulator and confirm that its new profile folders exist.
- Reconnect package locations carefully. If supported, select an existing package library and let the launcher validate it. Check the recorded path rather than relying on the new default.
- Restore personal data first. Copy saved flights, plans, camera files and compatible control profiles into their matching locations. Test all axes and buttons for duplicates, reversed inputs or missing assignments.
- Reinstall complex add-ons. Use the original installer for aircraft, scenery and utilities that install services, shared gauges, runtimes or licence components. Simple liveries and self-contained scenery can normally be copied back.
- Restore content in small batches. Test the simulator after each group of aircraft, scenery or plugins. If loading fails, the last batch provides a manageable list of suspects.
- Let generated files rebuild. Do not restore old shader or scenery caches. Confirm the scenery order, open a saved flight plan and test one representative aircraft before adding the rest.
FSX users should follow the safe FSX installation and selective restoration order rather than copying the old installation wholesale.
Why are my restored add-ons or controls missing?
The most common cause is a wrong library path, an extra nested folder or a configuration file that refers to the old Windows installation.
- No aircraft or scenery appears: confirm that the simulator is reading the restored library. A copied add-on may be one folder too deep, leaving its actual package inside another wrapper folder.
- FSX scenery folders exist but are not listed: the files were copied, but their Scenery Library registrations were not restored. Follow our steps for recovering missing FSX scenery entries.
- Controls are duplicated or dead: Windows may have assigned new device identifiers. Remove duplicate automatic bindings, recalibrate each device and rebuild only the affected profile.
- The simulator crashes after settings are restored: rename the old configuration file and let the simulator create a fresh one. Re-enter the required settings instead of forcing an incompatible file from another simulator version.
- A paid add-on requests activation: reinstall it with its original installer and use the authorised licence process. An activated file copied from the old PC is often tied to the previous Windows installation.