Checklist: Troubleshoot game issues on Xbox Series X|S

If Microsoft Flight Simulator freezes, quits unexpectedly, or has trouble starting please work your way through the following troubleshooting steps.

RESTART THE SIM

Sometimes a game freeze or startup problem can be caused by a temporary issue that can be corrected simply by exiting and restarting the game. If the game is running, try exiting to the Home screen. Here’s how:

 

1. Click on your gamertag in the top right corner of the screen
2. Click Sign out
3. Press the Xbox button on your controller to open the guide.
4. Highlight Microsoft Flight Simulator then press the Menu button on your controller, and select Quit.
5. Restart the Microsoft Flight Simulator.

 

Note Some game freezes can keep you from exiting the game. If you can’t return to the Home screen, skip to Step "Power cycle your console".

INSTALL UPDATES BEFORE FLYING

• Launch Microsoft Flight Simulator
• Go to Profile > Content Manager > "Update available"
• Select the content to download, click update then wait for the download to finish

CLEAR UP HARD DRIVE SPACE

If your hard drive is full (over 75%), delete games you're currently not playing to clear up additional space.

ENABLE ROLLING CACHE OR INCREASE THE SIZE OF THE ROLLING CACHE

1. Click on your gamertag in the top right corner of the screen
2. Click Sign out
3. Press the Xbox button on your controller to open the guide.
4. Highlight the game, press the Menu button on your controller, and select Quit.
5. Restart the game.
6. Go to Options > General Options > Data
7. Enable Rolling Cache 
8. Set a rolling cache limit of 16 GIB or more
9. Click Apply & Save

CLEAR THE RESERVED SPACE 

Clear the reserved space then reinstall your additional content via the content manager.

1. Press the Xbox button on your controller to open the guide.
2. Highlight Microsoft Flight Simulator, press the Menu button on your controller, and select Quit.
3. Once you fully quit the game, press the Xbox button to open the guide and then select My games & apps > See all > Games.
4. Highlight Microsoft Flight Simulator, and then press the Menu button on your controller.
5. Select Manage game and add-ons > Saved data.
6. Highlight Reserved space
7. Press A then select Clear Reserved Space
8. Launch Microsoft Flight Simulator
9. Redownload the content of your choice via the Content Manager

POWER CYCLE YOUR CONSOLE

Try power cycling your Xbox. A full power cycle completely reboots your console. Doing this does not erase any of your games or data.

1. Turn off your console by holding the Xbox button on the front of the console for at least 10 seconds.
2. Turn your console back on by pressing the Xbox button on the console or the Xbox button on your controller.
   Note If you don’t see the green boot-up animation when the console restarts, repeat these steps. Make sure you hold the power button for at least 10 seconds until the console completely shuts down.
3. After you have completed the previous steps to power cycle your console, try to restart your game.

TEST YOUR NETWORK CONNECTION

A network connection issue can sometimes affect gameplay. Here’s how to test your Xbox connection:

1. Press the Xbox button to open the guide.
2. Select Profile & system > Settings > General > Network settings.
   Note Any outages will appear under Current Network Status.
3. On the Network settings screen, select Test network connection. If the connection test is successful, your console will connect to the Xbox service.
   Note If you're prompted to update your console software, select Yes.

 

If this step didn’t work, see:

Troubleshoot your Xbox network connection

USE A DIFFERENT PROFILE

Sometimes gameplay can be affected by corrupted profile data on your Xbox console. To see if this is the case, try playing the same game using a different profile on your console.

1. Press the Xbox button to open the guide.
2. Select Profile & system, and then select Add or switch.
3. Select a profile other than the one you were previously using.

 

If you don’t have a different profile set up on your Xbox, you can create a new profile just for testing purposes, or have a friend load their profile onto your console to test the game for you. For help adding another profile to your Xbox console, see: Sign in to Xbox

 

4. Now restart the game to see if it works correctly under a different profile.

If you can play the game with a different profile, go to Troubleshoot game issues on Xbox Series X|S - Basic troubleshooting

 

If you can't play the game using another profile, go to either of the following pages:

• Troubleshoot issues playing disc games on Xbox
• Troubleshoot digital game issues on Xbox