GSX has been disabled by user settings

[Captain6398]

I very recently purchased GSX, but upon installing everything, I got the message : GSX has been disabled by user settings. I went into the launcher, enabled every airport. I then read online that I was not the only one having this issue. I tried everything listed, but nothing worked: I uninstalled GSX, I launched the Update program. I uninstalled everything completely, deleted the Addon Manager folder, reinstalled everything, no change. I excluded the Addon Manager folder from antivirus scanning. Nothing changed. I am left out of options. Anyone know how to fix this?

If nothing works, can I request a refund by sending an email to FSDT or do I have to do it in this case via paypal.

Any help would be much appreciated, thanks 

[virtuali]

You need to clarify if this happens on certain airports, or everywhere.

[Captain6398]

It happens at every airport. I also tried running the offline installer with no change.

[Daikan]

I have exactly the same issue and I tried reinstalling and updating multiple times using both live and offline FSDT installers and also adding the folder "C:\Program Files (x86)\Addon Manager" as an exclusion to Windows Defender and even disabling virus protection altogether - nothing helped.

The only workaround I found to be working reliably is to manually start couatl as admin before starting MSFS - something I would like to avoid because the whole MSFS installation is running under a non-privileged user account.

Is couatl really required to run as admin?? If not: How can I debug this further?

[virtuali]

Is couatl really required to run as admin??

No, it's not, it's not how we install it by default and how we suggest setting it that way and, in fact, it might cause exactly that: a failure to being started automatically.

[Daikan]

Thanks for the feedback.

The failure is NOT that couatl is not started - I can see it running in task manager under the same user as MSFS. But when this is the case it can't be used due to the error reported here. Only when I stop the process and restart it manually as admin GSX will work in MSFS.

Any suggestions on how I can debug or fix this?

Btw I did not choose to install ANYTHING as admin - I simply ran the installer as a non-privileged user and when it prompted me for an admin PW that's what I did in order to proceed.

[virtuali]

I should have explained better: you should not run Couatl as Admin normally, and doing this, will prevent it to start automatically in most cases.

 That doesn't mean Couatl doesn't work as Admin, because you surely can start it manually that way. However, if your Windows user account has limited permission, running Couatl as admin will effectively means you are running as another user, so it won't see the Activation, since activation is by-user.

The easiest solution is to just give yourself admin permission, then Deactivate/Reactivate GSX Pro again, so you won't have to run "As Admin", and the users will match.

If for some reason you can't do that, you can check this post, which explains how to activate using a limited permissions user account:

https://www.fsdreamteam.com/forum/index.php/topic,28730.msg187338.html#msg187338

[Daikan]

However, if your Windows user account has limited permission, running Couatl as admin will effectively means you are running as another user, so it won't see the Activation, since activation is by-user.

Again: In my case running as admin works without issue - it is activated and fully working AFAICT. Hence, I assume it is seeing the config and activation just fine, but ONLY if it is running as admin (even though MSFS and couatl are running with different accounts).

Also, I ran the installer as a non-privileged user but it automatically prompted me for my admin password before I could proceed with setting everything up incl. activation. Nowhere during installation and/or setup have I deliberately chosen the admin user by myself. Does this mean that the activation and config is done in the context of the admin user even if the installer is started from a non-privileged account? If so, then this looks like a bug to me as this should be done in the context of the non-privileged user that originally started the installer... There should be no need to go through all the hoops described in https://www.fsdreamteam.com/forum/index.php/topic,28730.msg187338.html#msg187338 to get GSX running with a non-privileged account UNLESS it is clearly stated somewhere that GSX must be installed and/or run as a user with admin permissions for it to run correctly (AFAIK this requirement isn't stated anywhere).

[virtuali]

Again: In my case running as admin works without issue - it is activated and fully working AFAICT. Hence, I assume it is seeing the config and activation just fine, but ONLY if it is running as admin (even though MSFS and couatl are running with different accounts).

Nowhere I said GSX won't work as Admin. In fact, I stated the opposite: that if your normal user account is limited, you MUST run Couatl as Admin, precisely because the installer MUST and WILL run as Admin, and it has no choice, because it must install system libraries that can't be installed as a regular user.

Also, I ran the installer as a non-privileged user but it automatically prompted me for my admin password before I could proceed with setting everything up incl. activation

So yes, the moment you gave the admin password, the installer was running as Admin, that's how it's supposed to work.

Does this mean that the activation and config is done in the context of the admin user even if the installer is started from a non-privileged account?

Of course, that's how every Windows program works. Even if you *start* a program as a regular user, if the program is configured to run as Admin, it WILL run as admin and everything it will do and save, will be in the admin context.

There should be no need to go through all the hoops described in https://www.fsdreamteam.com/forum/index.php/topic,28730.msg187338.html#msg187338 to get GSX running with a non-privileged account UNLESS it is clearly stated somewhere that GSX must be installed and/or run as a user with admin permissions for it to run correctly (AFAIK this requirement isn't stated anywhere).

You are surely not required to "go through all the hoops" and, in fact, you said yourself it works by simply running the Couatl engine as Admin. However, this MIGHT cause the sim to refuse starting it automatically, so there's a side effect.

If, instead, you "go through all the hoops" and reactivate under the limited permission user, you won't have to run the Couatl engine as Admin anymore, because the Couatl engine by itself, DOESN'T NEED ADMIN ACCESS, it works in every user but, in order to SEE the activation, it must run with the same user that DID the activation.

[Daikan]

Does this mean that the activation and config is done in the context of the admin user even if the installer is started from a non-privileged account?

Of course, that's how every Windows program works. Even if you *start* a program as a regular user, if the program is configured to run as Admin, it WILL run as admin and everything it will do and save, will be in the admin context.

I'm using tons of Windows programs that are installed as admin but when they are *started* under a regular user their config is stored in the context of THAT user. Hence, I don't quite understand why the GSX activation info is so special and needs to be stored in the admin context when the runtime itself doesn't otherwise require admin privileges...

You are surely not required to "go through all the hoops" and, in fact, you said yourself it works by simply running the Couatl engine as Admin. However, this MIGHT cause the sim to refuse starting it automatically, so there's a side effect.

If, instead, you "go through all the hoops" and reactivate under the limited permission user, you won't have to run the Couatl engine as Admin anymore, because the Couatl engine by itself, DOESN'T NEED ADMIN ACCESS, it works in every user but, in order to SEE the activation, it must run with the same user that DID the activation.

I have NO CHOICE but to go through all the hoops because I cannot give out the admin password to the non-privileged user that is supposed to be running GSX + MSFS. You should not automatically assume that all GSX users have admin access on the PC that is running it.

TL;DR the manual should CLEARLY state that admin user access is required for running GSX - this is currently not stated anywhere AFAICT.

[virtuali]

Windows programs that are installed as admin but when they are *started* under a regular user their config is stored in the context of THAT user. Hence, I don't quite understand why the GSX activation info is so special and needs to be stored in the admin context when the runtime itself doesn't otherwise require admin privileges...

Because the installer requires to run as admin, the the Couatl engine doesn't. You think it's a "problem" of the Couatl engine that it CAN work with no admin privileges ? We might as well automatically set it to run that way, and you wouldn't have noticed any difference.

Doing what you are asking, would mean scanning through all the other users in the system, to replicate the activation registry for each one. Which is not only out of standard, it's wrong: what if multiple users have different purchases on the same PC?

I have NO CHOICE but to go through all the hoops because I cannot give out the admin password to the non-privileged user that is supposed to be running GSX + MSFS. You should not automatically assume that all GSX users have admin access on the PC that is running it.

If you are not allowed to give admin permission to yourself, (like when using a corporate PC?), then just ONCE, when you activate the first time, follow the procedure to activate in a limited user. Since our activation persists an unlimited number of uninstall/reinstall, you really need to "go through all the hoops" only ONCE, when you activate the first time, then never again until you change the PC.

the manual should CLEARLY state that admin user access is required for running GSX - this is currently not stated anywhere AFAICT.

The manual shouldn't said that, because it's not true. Admin access is NOT required to run GSX, clearly proven by the fact that, if you activate as a limited user, IT WORKS.

At most, we can just add the procedure to activate as limited user to the manual, instead of just a post on the forum.

[Daikan]

If you are not allowed to give admin permission to yourself, (like when using a corporate PC?), then just ONCE, when you activate the first time, follow the procedure to activate in a limited user. Since our activation persists an unlimited number of uninstall/reinstall, you really need to "go through all the hoops" only ONCE, when you activate the first time, then never again until you change the PC.

Yes, that is the necessary "hoop" I'm referring to. And FYI: It's not for MYSELF, it's for another user to whom I provide non-privileged access to the PC for the purpose of using GSX + MSFS.

the manual should CLEARLY state that admin user access is required for running GSX - this is currently not stated anywhere AFAICT.

The manual shouldn't said that, because it's not true. Admin access is NOT required to run GSX, clearly proven by the fact that, if you activate as a limited user, IT WORKS.

The point is: I CANNOT activate as a non-privileged user. Like I said: If I run the installer as a non-privileged user then it will AUTOMATICALLY prompt me for the admin password. If I don't do that the installer cannot proceed and activation will not be possible. Therefore: If the installation/activation requires admin permissions and GSX is not running correctly UNLESS couatl is started under the same user that performed the activation then OBVIOUSLY admin access is required and this should be clearly stated in the manual.

[virtuali]

Yes, that is the necessary "hoop" I'm referring to. And FYI: It's not for MYSELF, it's for another user to whom I provide non-privileged access to the PC for the purpose of using GSX + MSFS.

If your regular user is limited, you have another "Administrator" user in Windows, which will temporarily take over as soon you enter the admin password. This is why the activation doesn't work on the regular user: it's not the same user.

The point is: I CANNOT activate as a non-privileged user. Like I said: If I run the installer as a non-privileged user then it will AUTOMATICALLY prompt me for the admin password.

Are you now trying to remind me or explain how the installer (which we configured like that on purpose) works?

If I don't do that the installer cannot proceed and activation will not be possible.

Precisely. That's what "on purpose" means.

The point is: I CANNOT activate as a non-privileged user.

Of course you can, following the alternate procedure explained in the post I linked before:

https://www.fsdreamteam.com/forum/index.php/topic,28730.msg187338.html#msg187338

Therefore: If the installation/activation requires admin permissions and GSX is not running correctly UNLESS couatl is started under the same user that performed the activation then OBVIOUSLY admin access is required and this should be clearly stated in the manual.

That's precisely what I said. The program itself DOES NOT need admin permission to RUN, clearly proven by the fact IT WORKS if you activate as a limited user using the alternate activation procedure. It's the installer that does the activation that needs admin permissions so, again, you have two choices:

1) Activate normally as admin, then run Couatl as admin

OR

2) Activate as limited users, run Couatl as limited user


Option #2, with the "going through the hoops", is much better, because you do it ONLY ONCE, then never again until you change your PC, while #1 requires to always run the Couatl engine as admin, which also has the side effect that MSFS might not start it automatically, so it's "easier", but it's not the best solution.

It's simple as that. The only thing "missing" from the manual is a copy of the post on the forum explaining the limited user activation method.