Where is the X-Plane 11 installation folder?

X-Plane 11 has no fixed installation folder. A standalone copy sits wherever you chose during setup, often in an “X-Plane 11” folder on the Desktop; Steam stores it under the selected Steam library’s steamapps/common/X-Plane 11. The correct root contains the X-Plane application plus Aircraft, Custom Scenery, Output and Resources.

Where is X-Plane 11 installed by default?

Standalone and DVD installations have no mandatory default path because the installer lets you choose the destination. The Desktop is common, but X-Plane 11 may instead be on another drive or in any folder selected during setup.

These are examples, not guaranteed locations. A second Steam library might place the simulator at a path such as D:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\X-Plane 11. On Windows, a Desktop managed by OneDrive may put it under C:\Users\username\OneDrive\Desktop\X-Plane 11.

How do I find the exact X-Plane 11 folder?

The quickest method is to reveal the files from the same shortcut or Steam entry you use to launch X-Plane 11.

1. Start with the active launcher. In Steam, use the library command for browsing installed or local files. This opens the correct root even when the Steam library is on another drive.
2. Reveal the executable. On Windows, right-click the working X-Plane shortcut and choose Open file location, or search for X-Plane.exe. On macOS, find X-Plane.app and show its enclosing folder. On Linux, inspect the target of the launcher.
3. Move to the root folder. The executable and the simulator’s main folders must be alongside one another. On macOS, stop at the folder containing X-Plane.app; do not enter the app’s Contents directory.
4. Confirm which copy is active. Launch X-Plane, close it, and check the modification time of Log.txt beside the executable. The freshly updated log identifies the copy you just ran.

This last check matters when a computer contains a demo, backup, old installation or second Steam library. A mistake we see constantly is adding files to one copy while the shortcut launches another.

How can I tell whether it is the correct folder?

The correct X-Plane 11 root contains the platform application and several recognisable simulator directories at the same level.

• X-Plane.exe on Windows, X-Plane.app on macOS or X-Plane-x86_64 on Linux
• Aircraft
• Custom Scenery
• Output
• Resources
• Log.txt after X-Plane has been run
• Usually Global Scenery when global terrain is installed

A folder containing only an installer, downloaded archive or aircraft is not the root. Nor are Aircraft, Resources and Custom Scenery themselves the installation folder; they sit inside it.

I can’t find it or don’t see it — what should I check?

If the expected folder is absent, X-Plane is usually installed in a different library, on another drive or under a redirected Desktop rather than missing altogether.

• Use Steam’s file browser: Do not guess the library path. Steam can store games separately from the client itself.
• Check cloud-managed Desktop folders: OneDrive and similar folder redirection can move the apparent Desktop away from its conventional path.
• Show hidden folders: macOS hides the user Library folder, while Linux hides names beginning with a full stop.
• Reconnect other drives: An external drive may be unmounted, or a Windows drive letter may have changed.
• Check the simulator version: An X-Plane 12 folder is a separate installation. If that is the version you launch, use our instructions to locate the active X-Plane 12 root.
• Look beyond the installer: Downloading the installer does not mean the simulator has completed installation.

If a localised search reports “nie znajduje” or “není tam”, it only means the search did not find that name at the location checked. Search for the platform executable instead, then verify the surrounding folders rather than relying on the folder name alone.

Where is the folder on Linux?

On Linux, standalone X-Plane 11 remains wherever you installed or extracted it, while Steam places it inside the active Steam library.

Press the file manager’s hidden-files shortcut if .local or .steam is not visible. A Flatpak installation of Steam may use a path beneath ~/.var/app/com.valvesoftware.Steam/, so Steam’s own browse-files command is safer than guessing.

For a standalone copy under your home directory, this terminal search can locate the executable:

find "$HOME" -type f -name 'X-Plane-x86_64' 2>/dev/null

Linux file names are case-sensitive. If X-Plane is on another mounted drive, search that mount point as well.

Where can I find the X-Plane installer?

The standalone X-Plane installer is a separate programme and is not guaranteed to remain inside the completed X-Plane 11 installation folder.

If you downloaded it, check the browser’s download location, commonly the Downloads folder, and any folder where you extracted the installer package. Deleting the installer does not delete an existing simulator installation; obtain a fresh installer from the source associated with your X-Plane licence if you need to repair or update it.

Steam installations do not use the standalone X-Plane installer for normal installation, updates or file verification. Those tasks are handled through Steam. If a standalone installer does not list a copy that you moved, use its facility for selecting or locating an existing X-Plane folder rather than installing over an unrelated directory.

Where do an A220 for X-Plane or NextATC files go?

An X-Plane 11-compatible A220 belongs under Aircraft, but an ATC package belongs under Resources/plugins only when it is supplied as an X-Plane plugin.

An A220 is not present in every X-Plane 11 installation, so not seeing an A220 folder does not mean you have found the wrong root. Extract the complete aircraft folder somewhere beneath Aircraft, keeping its .acf file, objects, liveries and any included aircraft-specific plugins together. Confirm that the package explicitly supports X-Plane 11; an X-Plane 12-only aircraft may not work in it.

X-Plane’s built-in ATC needs no separate installation folder. An external ATC application may install outside X-Plane entirely, while a plugin-style package may supply a hierarchy beginning with Resources/plugins. The name NextATC alone does not establish which type it is, so retain the supplied folder structure and do not create a guessed NextATC directory in the root.

Our folder-by-folder X-Plane add-on instructions cover aircraft, scenery and plugins, including the extra wrapper-folder problem that often prevents an add-on from appearing. Orthophoto packages need separate placement and ordering; see our Ortho4XP file and scenery-order guidance for those.

Can I move the X-Plane 11 installation folder?

A standalone X-Plane 11 installation can normally be moved as one complete folder while the simulator and installer are closed.

Move the whole root, not just the executable or Aircraft folder, then update shortcuts and point the installer or updater at the relocated copy. For Steam, use Steam’s storage or installation-move function instead of dragging the directory manually; our safe relocation steps for standalone and Steam copies explain the differences.