You receive the "Your computer has run out of available memory" error message when you start Flight Simulator

Note Because there are several versions of Microsoft Windows, the following steps may be different on your computer. If they are, see your product documentation to complete these steps.


To resolve this issue, use one or both of the following methods, depending on your situation.

Method 1: Available hard disk drive space

1. Click Start, and then click My Computer.
2. Right-click the hard disk where Flight Simulator is installed, and then click Properties.
   
   Note Flight Simulator is typically installed on drive C.
3. Make sure that the amount of Free space is more than 500 megabytes (MB).

Note 500 MB of available hard disk space is required to play Flight Simulator. 1 gigabyte (GB) of available hard disk drive space is recommended. If you do not have at least 500 MB of available hard disk space, you must remove or delete some of the files or programs on the hard disk drive.

Method 2: Rebuild the Windows paging file

1. Log on to the computer by using a user account that has Administrator permissions.
2. Click Start, click Control Panel, click Performance and Maintenance, click Administrative Tools, and then double-click Computer Management.
3. In the console tree, right-click Computer Management (Local), and then click Properties.
4. On the Advanced tab, under Performance, click Settings.
5. In the Performance Options dialog box, under Virtual memory, click Change.
6. In the Drive list, select the drive that contains the paging file that you want to rebuild.
7. Under Paging file size for selected drive, type 0 (zero) for Initial size (MB) and for Maximum size (MB), and then click Set.
8. Restart your computer.
9. Repeat steps 1 through 6.
10. In the Virtual Memory dialog box, under Paging file size for selected drive, click System managed size, and then click Set.
11. If you are prompted to restart your computer, click Yes.

Method 3: Adjust the Game settings

1. Start Flight Simulator X.
2. On the main screen, click Settings.
3. On the Settings screen, click the following tabs in turn. On each tab, move the slider to the left to the Low or Medium setting.
   • Graphics
   • Aircraft
   • Scenery
   • Weather
   • Traffic
4. Try to play the game.

Method 4: Update the video driver

To determine the name and the manufacturer of your video card, follow these steps.

Windows Vista

1. Click Start .
2. In the Start Search box, type dxdiag, and then press ENTER.
3. Click the Display tab.
4. Under Device, view the information for Name and Manufacturer.
5. Click Exit.

Windows XP

1. Click Start, click Run, type dxdiag in the Open box, and then click OK.
2. Click the Display tab.
3. Under Device, view the information for Name and Manufacturer.
4. Click Exit.

Notes:

• For information about how to obtain and install the latest version of the video driver for your video card, contact the manufacturer of the video card.
• If you have an NVIDIA video card, visit the following Web site to download the latest desktop video card drivers:
  http://www.nvidia.com/
• If you have an ATI video card, visit the following Web site to download the latest desktop video card drivers:
  http://www.amd.com/

Method 5 : Play the game in window mode

1. Start Flight Simulator X.
2. Start a Mission or Free Flight, and then click Fly now.
3. After you start a flight, press ALT+ENTER to switch to window mode.
   Note To switch back to full-screen mode, press ALT+ENTER again.

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