FSX Demo Time Limit has Expired

[watsonab]

Just bought and installed FSX SE on a drive that also has a properly registered FSX Acceleration on it. I'm getting the following message: "Thank you for trying Microsoft (R) Flight Simulator X. The demo time limit has expired and Flight Simulator will now shut down." I've done a Web Search for a cause/remedy for this issue but no luck. Any advice would be appreciated. Btw, I've used the Acceleration for years and have never had to even consider doing a reinstall, nor do I intend to now. What has the installation of SE done to my primary FSX installation?

[Licopolis]

You can try to restore the state of system settings and (maybe) installed files by recovering WIndows to one of earlier Restore Points (they are typically created when Windows updates itself and - sometimes - prior to software would make changes to the system).

Goos news is that mostly everything that works with Acceleration will work with SE. But to make it work you will probably need to install it again, for the SE.

I cannot answer your question though. Most likely it is something that is held within Windows Registry but I don't know what exactly.

[watsonab]

Thanks for your reply. What the installation of FSX SE on my Windows 10 PC appears to have done is cause my original FSX to revert to Demo Mode and after about 30 minutes I get that "The demo time limit has expired ..." message. I have uninstalled SE but I still get the message running FSX. I may have to refer this to the Dovetail Games boffins as it seems a bit much to end up with a nobbled app apparently from SE installation.

[chelmo]

This may help.....then again, it may not.....

https://www.avsim.com/forums/topic/458665-a-couple-of-tips-for-fsxse-users/

But otherwise I would do a search on Avsim.

[watsonab]

Thanks for your reply, chelmo. The issue in that link relates to scenery installation whereas mine is almost certainly a dll/registry one. I will keep searching for a solution and have posted to Dovetail Games Support on the problem.

[TextRich]

watsonab, are both FSXes on the same hard drive? I have the DVD one installed in a separate hard drive and FSX:SE installed to my main C hard drive.

[watsonab]

Yes, unfortunately they were. I have since uninstalled FSX SE but Sim remains in Demo mode. I followed the advice to make a backup of FSX before installing SE but I just can't work out how to get it back to its fully activated state. I've tried a system restore which didn't work but I'm going to have another go at that using a restore point going back to the last Windows update. Btw, I presume your FSX wasn't affected?

[TextRich]

Originally posted by watsonab:

Btw, I presume your FSX wasn't affected?

No mine isn't. Last year I reinstalled my entire computer and made sure to put the DVD version, which I only for testing purposes, into an external hard drive. I then installed FSX:SE. No conflict between them both so far. I am guessing the boxed and Steam versions share the same registry so when you uninstalled the DVD version, the demo indicator was stuck with the Steam version.

These may help you if you need to do the full system wipe:

https://fsxinsider.com/transitioning-from-boxed-fsx-to-fsxse-part-1-fsx-stripback/

https://fsxinsider.com/transitioning-from-boxed-fsx-to-fsxse-part-2-installing-fsxse/

[watsonab]

Okay, thanks very much for that :)