How do I uninstall and reinstall X-Plane 12?

To uninstall and reinstall X-Plane 12, first back up any aircraft, scenery, plugins and control profiles you want to keep. Remove the existing installation through Steam or delete or rename the standalone X-Plane folder, then install a fresh copy. Test it unmodified before restoring add-ons individually.

Should I repair X-Plane 12 instead of reinstalling it?

Use repair or file verification when only the simulator's core files appear damaged; choose a clean reinstall when you need to eliminate unknown add-ons, altered preferences or files left by an earlier installation.

For startup failures, work through our X-Plane 12 crash diagnosis and repair checks first. Reinstalling is unnecessary when a graphics driver, security software, unstable overclock or disconnected storage device is the real cause.

What should I back up before uninstalling X-Plane 12?

Back up only personal content you recognise, and place the backup completely outside the X-Plane 12 directory.

• Aircraft — third-party aircraft, modified aircraft and their liveries; stock aircraft can be downloaded again.
• Custom Scenery — airports, libraries, meshes and orthophoto packages.
• Resources/plugins — individual third-party plugin folders only. Do not restore the entire Resources directory over a fresh installation.
• Output/preferences — joystick profiles, key assignments and other preferences you may want to recover.
• Output/FMS plans and other personal files under Output, such as saved situations, replays or screenshots.
• Custom Data — manually installed navigation data, although reinstalling that data cleanly is often safer.

A mistake we see constantly is placing the backup inside the folder that is about to be deleted. Copy it to another drive or an unrelated directory and confirm that the files open before proceeding.

How do I perform a clean X-Plane 12 reinstall?

1. Close X-Plane and related software. Exit the simulator, its installer and any utilities that write to its folders.
2. Make the backup. Save the user-created folders listed above. Keep the old root-level Log.txt if you are investigating a crash, but do not restore it later.
3. Remove the installed copy. For Steam, use X-Plane 12's uninstall command in the Steam library. For a standalone copy, delete the complete X-Plane 12 folder; the simulator is largely self-contained and does not require a registry cleaner. Our complete X-Plane removal instructions cover leftover folders and platform-specific precautions.
4. Check for files Steam left behind. Steam normally removes files it manages, but untracked plugins, scenery and aircraft may remain in the installation directory. Delete or rename that remaining directory if the aim is a clean reinstall.
5. Install into an empty folder. Download X-Plane 12 again through Steam or run the standalone installer and select a new, writable location. Do not point the installer at a folder containing the old copy. See our fresh installation steps for X-Plane 12 on PC and Mac for the complete installer process.
6. Launch the simulator before adding anything. Load a default aircraft at an airport supplied with X-Plane. The first start may take longer while caches are rebuilt.
7. Restore add-ons gradually. Add aircraft first, then scenery, followed by plugins one at a time. Start X-Plane between each group so that a faulty package is easy to identify.
8. Restore preferences last. Recreate settings manually where practical. If copying back Output/preferences also restores the original fault, remove it and allow X-Plane to generate fresh preferences.

Will uninstalling X-Plane 12 delete my add-ons?

Deleting a standalone X-Plane folder deletes every add-on stored inside it, while a Steam uninstall may leave third-party files that Steam does not manage. Neither behaviour should be treated as a backup method.

When restoring content, copy only the relevant package into its proper folder rather than merging an entire old installation with the new one. Our guide to the correct aircraft, scenery, plugin and livery folders explains where each add-on belongs.

Why did reinstalling X-Plane 12 not fix the problem?

A reinstall usually fails to solve the fault because old content survived the uninstall, the same damaged settings were restored, or the cause exists outside X-Plane.

• The old folder was reused: extra plugins and modified files remained alongside the replacement files.
• The whole backup was copied back: this reintroduced the file that prompted the reinstall.
• A different X-Plane copy was launched: check the executable's actual location, especially if several installations or shortcuts exist.
• The fault is external: graphics drivers, permissions, security software, unstable hardware and controller utilities are not replaced with X-Plane.
• Only one add-on is incompatible: leave it out and obtain a version explicitly intended for X-Plane 12 rather than repeatedly reinstalling the simulator.

Keep the renamed old installation until the clean copy has completed several successful flights. Once your aircraft, controls and scenery have been recovered and tested, the old folder can be deleted.