can you run fsx on 2 computers?

There should be no problem as activation merely requires you to type in the number. No need to do the other thing (whatever it's called) on-line.

It's your software, you paid for it. The computers are your property. You paid for them.

If they try to give you a hard time, tell them to come and see me

God bless Microsoft.

Yes, you're allowed two installs but if you need to reinstall on the first computer, you will run into a problem. The activation takes a snapshot of your computers configuration.
Read this: ➡ https://flyawaysimulation.com/news/3811/

Its a load of crap, they are saying that you need to purchase more than one copy if you want to install it on another computer you own.
I have a crack here that will skip the activation process, it is just two files you need to replace in the fsx root folder.
I have tried it on my laptop, it works great.

Does anyone know a file sharing site? Ill stick it on there for anyone who wants it.

Another software pirate.

If you aren't going to abide by the terms of the EULA, why did you lie and check the box that says "I agree"?????

I, like an A-Hole bought two copies and couldn't get one to run. Bestbuy wouldn't take it back and I spent hours on the phone with Microsoft without success. They said they should have all their issues worked out in a few weeks. I ended up returning one copy to Microsoft. At this point, if the cracks, hacks, fixes, patches or (whatever each individual choses to call them) are getting the job done and Microsoft is not, "Play Ball!!!" We owe them (Microsoft) nothing. Do what you gotta do, but get those planes in the air.

I have installed it on 2 PC's with no issues. Home PC and office PC.

starnut wrote:

I have installed it on 2 PC's with no issues. Home PC and office PC.

Yet another illegal act someone is bragging about.

You are allowed two installs, you're allowed unlimited installs on the same computer. Installing on two computers isn't wrong but should you have to reinstall the program on the first computer, you'll have a problem. The program will retain the computer configuration of the last installation. I think.

I have a suggestion for Flyaway. To preserve the integrity of this site, ban anyone who claims to have committed any acts of software piracy, or who aids another in doing so, or recommends it. If that seems too drastic, at least remove posts condoning such illegal activity.

CrashGordon wrote:

Another software pirate.

If you aren't going to abide by the terms of the EULA, why did you lie and check the box that says "I agree"?????

I have paid for my software, I stumbled across the files when searching for fsx addons and tried them out of curiosity and they worked. That is not breaking any terms and neither is redistributing the patch.

CRJCapt wrote:

You are allowed two installs, you're allowed unlimited installs on the same computer. Installing on two computers isn't wrong but should you have to reinstall the program on the first computer, you'll have a problem. The program will retain the computer configuration of the last installation. I think.

Exactly right, and if Microsoft cant come up with an easy way for people to use the product legally then ill stand right by these patches.
You can also get booted from the activation if you upgrade certain hardware or install certain MICROSOFT updates. Where is the sense in that?

It seems to me that most of you who are involved in this thread don't own the OS Installation Disc.

Am I far off the mark?

Tailhook wrote:

It seems to me that most of you who are involved in this thread don't own the OS Installation Disc.

Am I far off the mark?

Windows?? I own a few copies, all legal.

Doyley wrote:

Tailhook wrote:

It seems to me that most of you who are involved in this thread don't own the OS Installation Disc.

Am I far off the mark?

Windows?? I own a few copies, all legal.

When I said '...most of you' - that's exactly what I meant. I figured that those who have never actually owned an OS Installation disc probably have never reformatted a HDD (unless off course it's in their line of work).

I'm aware that you know your way around computers. This and similar threads expose a lot of confusion regarding the installation of FSX.

My probing was prompted by my assumption that each time you reformat your HDD, you have a clean slate - this at least is my experience.

My guess is, that any information regarding previous installations is also erased. If I'm wrong, please tell me - I do want to learn.

Tailhook wrote:

My guess is, that any information regarding previous installations is also erased. If I'm wrong, please tell me - I do want to learn.

I agree on this Format erases everything.

Formatting ERASES nothing...the information is STILL there. Wiping, on the other hand...

YellowC4S wrote:

Formatting ERASES nothing...the information is STILL there. Wiping, on the other hand...

We're talking reformatting - not formatting.

So what is Wiping then? Never heard of that before... would you mind explaining?

When you format a drive it erases the information but not the image of that information. The image can still be read and used to create a new drive with the formatted information. The image is not erased until it has been "written over". Wiping is a process of erasing the drive by means of a program that makes several passes, (depending on how badly you want the information gone vs how much time you have to do it), and erases the drive. Drives fail all the time and nowadays drive restoration is a big business. I can restore a drive that has failed as long as Windows recognizes it. I can then make an image of that drive and restore it to a new drive. I can do this for a couple hundred dollars. If your drive has totally failed it has to be taken apart in a "clean room" and rebuilt. This process can run into the thousands.

YellowC4S wrote:

When you format a drive it erases the information but not the image of that information. The image can still be read and used to create a new drive with the formatted information. The image is not erased until it has been "written over". Wiping is a process of erasing the drive by means of a program that makes several passes, (depending on how badly you want the information gone vs how much time you have to do it), and erases the drive.

I think I understand what you mean by Wiping. Erasing Data without the need to reformat the HDD?

On the other hand, when I reformat my HDD using the OS' Installation Disc (we're not confusing this with some 'Recovery Disc' or 'Restoration Disc' that brand computers supply), before opting to reformat the HDD rather than reinstalling or repairing the OS -- why am I always prompted that this process will erase all data... a joke?

My experience combined with your claim (or my misreading of it) would mean that indeed everything gets erased: Programs, Drivers and all my Files except certain other data... like what?

hmmmm...trying to figure out how to explain this. Ok, it doesn't erase the data, it hides it. But the data is still there and will be until it is written over or wiped. For example, say you were involved in some kind of computer crime. You may think that if you format or erase the data from your hard drive that that is getting rid of the evidence. But the evidence is not erased. It is still there. Think of it like doing a crossword in pencil. You make a mistake and you erase it. But if you examine what you erased very thoroughly, you would still be able to see what you just erased. All formatting does is prepare a disk to accept data.

Yes, I understand this principle. Like deleting a file but it will still be "hidden" until overwritten.

I was under the impression that the reformatting process included the wiping of the HDD.

So, in the context of this topic, my assumption that should someone run out of the 'allowed' number of installs - a reformat should turn the counter back to zero... unless someone like yourself starts to use all that fancy recovery software on my HDD and foils my attempts at the unmentionable. 😀

Formatting will not ZERO out a drive. There will still be ONE's there. Those ONE's represent the HIDDEN data. When you wipe it, those ONE's will become ZERO's.

My guess is, that any information regarding previous installations is also erased. If I'm wrong, please tell me - I do want to learn.

The computer will not recognize that FSX has previously been installed if you format it. I believe MS store certain details about your computer when you activate FSX that are not disturbed when you format your computer so you can then reactivate easily. This is called an Installation ID.
But, from what ive read, if you replace certain hardware or install certain Microsoft updates this unique ID can change so MS does not recognize your installation ID anymore and it wont let you reactivate FSX and this is where problems arise for people that have bought FSX legally. That is the reason that I am for the patch.

I understand MS have a tough job on their hands trying to stop pirates getting hold on their software but they are stopping legitimate users from using the software properly and they are not providing efficient support for people experiencing the problems.

Its the same story when activating XP. They use a similar process for that. I make many re-installations for friends and I was always having problems activating it even though it was completely legal. That was until I got my hands on a patch. MS dont loose out and it makes my life a hell of a lot easier.

YellowC4S wrote:

Formatting ERASES nothing...the information is STILL there. Wiping, on the other hand...

Let me add what i know here...

Formatting a drive is the process we use the first time we use a hard drive.
So there are no data at all at the disk.So nothing to erase and no image on the disk.
Re-formatting is when we ,as already have been said, ''delete'' all the existing files from the disk.
Yes the image is there but only an image which is recognized only from specific programs and not from simple software as FSX is.
Besides if you create an new Installation of an OS in you drive after re-formating, all the data from the old image replaced from the new one.
So according to the fact that FSX will be installed after the installation of the OS the old image has already messed.

I don't think that MS include such a complicated function in their DVDs.I mean the function which will recognize the image of our deleting-if you wish to say in that way- data.

The mistake was mine because in my country we use the word Format for both options(Format and re-Format..it is wrong but thats our way anyway...) 😉

??This help??

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disk_format

Format.
http://www.ehow.com/how_6026_format-hard-drive.html

YellowC4S wrote:

Formatting will not ZERO out a drive. There will still be ONE's there. Those ONE's represent the HIDDEN data. When you wipe it, those ONE's will become ZERO's.

I shouldn't have used the word ZERO - I just couldn't think of another way of expressing myself. I'll try again:

If indeed I'm limited to a certain number of installations on the same HDD - let's say 2 - then surely, something keeps count of my istalls so that once I'm trying to exceed that number, further attempts will be rejected.

My assumption is that a reformat will also erase the information pertaining to that count. Therefore, after a reformat I would be starting with a clean slate and be able to install FSX 2 times again should the need arise.

Hypothetically now, I have installed FSX twice. I need to install it again but am rejected. I reformat my HDD and have again 2 installations at my disposal. After a few months I've exhausted those 2 and because my 3rd attempt is rejected again -- I see myself forced to reformat the HDD again in order to get yet another 2 installations... and so on.

That's the theory anyway. I am aware how tedious this is. But that's just what I might have to do, keeping in mind that I've installed previous versions of FS a dozen times or more.

Formatting will not ZERO out a drive.

I realize now that the term 'formatting' seems to be loosely used meaning either formatting or reformatting.
This for me remains a cause for much confusion and misunderstandings. 😁

I have a question. What exactly is it that people do that requires them to go through this irgy of reinstalling programs. In the past 1-1/2 years I have reinstalled exactly one program...and that was due solely to my own stupidity.

So what is it that people expect to accomplish by all this re-installing?

In the life of a computer, as time goes on they tend to accumulate lots of "trash" in the form of .dll files etc. Then there is the problem with fragmentation, adware, spyware and whatnot. Couple this with the known fact that programs sometimes install incorrectly or incompletely despite having notified the user of a successful and/or complete installation. All of these factors over time will slow down even the fastest computer. If it does not bother you then fine. I tend to install/re-install every 6 months or so.

CrashGordon wrote:

I have a question. What exactly is it that people do that requires them to go through this irgy of reinstalling programs. In the past 1-1/2 years I have reinstalled exactly one program...and that was due solely to my own stupidity.

So what is it that people expect to accomplish by all this re-installing?

Are you using XP? If so, im very surprised that you have not had to reinstall Windows in this time.
I also tend to reinstall Windows every 6 months otherwise it can become unbairable.
And its not like I dont know what im doing on the computer. I look after it better than anyone I know, its just something ive accepted when using Windoze.

Hi all, Wow! This has turned away from the original question into a computer lesson. First, when you install a new program that requires activation, that program doesn't care if you have it installed on same hard drive or that you installed it a hundred times before. It sets a period of time that you will have to activate, or the program stop working. If you wanted to go on forever like this, you would have to re-format/reinstall the program. When you try to activate, it uses the code from the CD you type in, along with hardware codes for that unique number as someone earlier suggested. After a few times, as with XP, when that number changes due to different hardware, it will ask you to call in, and usually they don't give you a hassle. This is because they have the capability to see that CD # and tell if it's still active on a second computer. As far as formatting, you DO NOT erase all files from the HDD. You simply change the FAT(file allocation table) that is like a index in a book, so that it no longer knows thew files are there. Sofisticated and expensive software can recover these till that location on the HDD platters is overwritted. If you delete a file, generally only ythe file extension is changes so the FAT does not recognize the file and allows it to be overwritten later, in other words if the file is names Fly.dll, and you delete it, it will be named Fly._ll and the OS will not know it is there and write over that spot on the hard drive. Clear as mud?

Doyley wrote:

CrashGordon wrote:

I have a question. What exactly is it that people do that requires them to go through this irgy of reinstalling programs. In the past 1-1/2 years I have reinstalled exactly one program...and that was due solely to my own stupidity.

So what is it that people expect to accomplish by all this re-installing?

Are you using XP? If so, im very surprised that you have not had to reinstall Windows in this time.
I also tend to reinstall Windows every 6 months otherwise it can become unbairable.
And its not like I dont know what im doing on the computer. I look after it better than anyone I know, its just something ive accepted when using Windoze.

Yes, I am using XP with SP2. It is still the original installation that this computer arrived with. Of course, I don't install a lot of dufus programs which screw up the registry, and if I remove a program, I make sure to completely remove it.

Habu wrote:

As far as formatting, you DO NOT erase all files from the HDD. You simply change the FAT(file allocation table) that is like a index in a book, so that it no longer knows thew files are there. Sofisticated and expensive software can recover these till that location on the HDD platters is overwritted. If you delete a file, generally only ythe file extension is changes so the FAT does not recognize the file and allows it to be overwritten later, in other words if the file is names Fly.dll, and you delete it, it will be named Fly._ll and the OS will not know it is there and write over that spot on the hard drive. Clear as mud?

Crystal clear. You pointing out that the file extension gets changed during the process opens a new door of perception.
I have read about file extensions having been changed without the user being aware in different contexts such as queries about lost files and a possible way of recovering those. What I hadn't come across until I read your post is why this happens.

Thank you!

Couldnt you run 2 computers that are connected to the same hard drive and cd reader.... you could then use the 2 computer screen's which are on diff accounts at the same time to play the same game. School computers all all connected to 1 hard drive etc.... why cant you do it at home?

Hello, i have the same problem. My hardware ist from this site fsx and i use widefs and fsuipc.

The question I have does not concern the legality of FS, and who does what with it. I have legal copies of FS so it doesn't make a difference to me. I just want to know if both computers on my network have to have the full FS installed (and try to keep it simple) to run FS on 2 computers? My computers are networked together. My main computer already runs FS quite well but, I want to use one computer solely to run the instrument panel and the other one to run scenery. Do I need to install the FS program on both computers or do I just copy the scenery files to the second computer and map the program to point to the scenery file on the second computer? Not multi monitors now I already have that, just the how this should be done to do what I want to do.