How do I install, activate and use Aerosoft VDGS in Microsoft Flight Simulator?
Install and activate Aerosoft VDGS in MSFS, use its docking displays, and fix blank gates, missing packages and SimConnect connection errors.
Install Aerosoft VDGS on the Windows PC version of Microsoft Flight Simulator through Aerosoft One, redeeming the supplied product key if the entitlement is not already attached to your account. Install a compatible airport, start the VDGS driver, confirm it connects to the simulator, then taxi slowly towards a supported stand and follow the display.
What do you need for Aerosoft VDGS?
Aerosoft VDGS requires the PC version of Microsoft Flight Simulator, the desktop VDGS component and scenery that explicitly supports that system. VDGS stands for Visual Docking Guidance System; installing it does not add working docking displays to every default or third-party airport.
- A compatible Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 or Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 build of the software.
- A Windows installation of Aerosoft One and the account or product key associated with the purchase.
- An airport package that specifically lists Aerosoft VDGS support.
- The matching VDGS driver or runtime supplied through Aerosoft One.
Check the listed simulator compatibility for both the airport and VDGS component. An MSFS 2020 airport loading successfully in MSFS 2024 does not prove that its docking-system integration is supported.
How do I install and activate Aerosoft VDGS?
- Close Microsoft Flight Simulator. Remove or uninstall obsolete VDGS copies before installing the replacement. Two versions of the runtime or two copies of its Community package can prevent detection.
- Open Aerosoft One and sign in. Use the account that owns the airport or VDGS entitlement. If the product is absent, use the client's product-key redemption facility; some airport packages supply the required component without a separate VDGS key.
- Select the correct simulator. Choose Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 or 2024 as appropriate and confirm the installation location detected by Aerosoft One.
- Install both required parts. Install the supported airport and its VDGS module or driver. The desktop program belongs in the location chosen by its installer, not inside
Community. - Check the simulator package. Any Community-facing component must be in the active Community folder and must not be buried beneath an extra wrapper directory. Our guide to Community-folder package structure and missing MSFS mods covers the folder checks in detail.
- Run the VDGS driver. Start it from its installed shortcut, or verify that its automatic launcher is running, and then start Microsoft Flight Simulator. Wait until the driver reports that the simulator is connected.
Licence activation is complete once Aerosoft One associates the entitlement with the account and the installed VDGS application opens normally. A blank display at one airport is usually a scenery, stand or connection issue rather than failed product activation.
Can I manage VDGS with MSFS Addons Linker?
You can link Community packages used by the airport or VDGS integration, but leave the external driver in its normal installed location. Our MSFS Addons Linker setup and profile guide explains how to enable linked packages without creating duplicate copies.
A mistake we see constantly is enabling the airport scenery while leaving its separate VDGS package disabled in the Addons Linker profile. Both components must be active before MSFS starts scanning packages.
How do I activate and use VDGS at a stand?
There is no single stand-activation command shared by every Aerosoft VDGS airport. Many installations detect the aircraft automatically as it enters the capture area; others require the stand to be enabled through the airport's own control panel or toolbar interface.
- Confirm the driver is connected. Do this before approaching the gate rather than after the aircraft is already parked.
- Use a supported stand. Not every parking position at a compatible airport necessarily has an operational unit.
- Approach on the painted centreline. Taxi at walking pace once the display recognises the aircraft. The symbols vary between VDGS models, but the steering indication shows the correction needed to regain the centreline.
- Reduce speed as the stopping distance closes. Avoid large steering corrections close to the terminal.
- Stop immediately at the stop indication. If the display reports an overshoot or fails to reset, move clear and approach again, or reload the stand if the airport implementation requires it.
VDGS controls the visual parking guidance only. It does not assign a gate, operate the jetway, start pushback or replace other ground-service functions. If another add-on produces a marshaller at the same stand, disable one guidance method so that two different stopping positions are not presented.
Why is Aerosoft VDGS not working?
| Symptom | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Driver says disconnected | MSFS is not fully loaded, the wrong simulator target was installed, or SimConnect is unavailable | Start the simulator, verify the selected MSFS version and follow our SimConnect installation and repair checks. |
| Every VDGS display is blank | The driver is not running, the integration package is disabled, or the airport does not use Aerosoft VDGS | Check the desktop process, active Community packages and the airport's stated compatibility. |
| Only one gate is blank | That stand is not modelled, has no active VDGS unit, or requires airport-specific activation | Try a documented supported stand and check the scenery's installed manual or control panel. |
| Installed package does not appear | Wrong Community folder, extra folder nesting, Addons Linker profile disabled, or MSFS Safe Mode | Confirm the active package path, enable the complete profile and start MSFS in Normal Mode. |
| Display does not recognise the aircraft | The aircraft is outside the capture area, badly off-centre, or unsupported by that scenery profile | Approach slowly on the centreline and update both the airport and VDGS component through their installer. |
| Key is rejected or the product is missing | Wrong Aerosoft account, mistyped key, or entitlement already attached elsewhere | Verify the signed-in account and key characters. Reinstalling package files will not repair an account-level licence problem. |
Does Aerosoft VDGS work on Xbox or PlayStation?
The desktop Aerosoft VDGS installation described here is PC-only because console editions cannot run its Windows companion application or accept manually downloaded Community packages. An airport sold for a console may include a different, self-contained docking implementation, but that does not make the external Aerosoft VDGS driver installable there.
Our explanation of why external MSFS utilities and manual mods cannot be installed on Xbox covers the same platform restriction.