Vista - Flight Sim X/DirectX Installation Problems

Hi,
I got FSX Deluxe today and after running both disks and installing the game I get a notice saying:
"Flight Simulator cannot run because the version of Microsoft DirectX(R) installed on your computer is incompatible. Please reinstall DirectX 9.0 by running Flight Simulator Setup, or download the current version from www.microsoft.com/directx."

I have downloaded the November 2008 Update from several websites and I am able to run them and get to the point that it brings up the "Installing Components" screen and then a notice comes up saying:
"Setup has detected one or more DirectX component files are in-use by an application. Please exit all applications before running DirectX setup agian."
After that it brings up a screen saying that the installation has failed with a "finish" button. I have closed all files and tried agian, restarted my computer and tried, turned my computer all the way off let it sit and read it a story and tried agian, I have combed through the processes in Task Manager and removed any that I believe could have been using DirectX and tried all the combinations above agian.

I am running a Dell Inspiron 1525 with 32 bit Vista Ultimate, and haven't had problems with any other games up to this point (World of Warcraft, Age of Empires, Halo, ect.). I am sorry if this is a repeat thread, I've been all over the place looking for possible answers and haven't found anything. I figured that this would be the best place to find help.

Thank you,
Hobbs

Hi Hobbs

I think your problem is to do with User Privileges and Permissions.

Download the MS DirectX End-User Installer here.

Download details: DirectX End-User Runtime

Install by right clicking on the DX9 exe and selecting Run As Administrator.

Norm

Thanks for the advice Norm,
Unfourtounatly I still had the same problem. I downloaded and saved DirectX 9 from your link and ran it as an administrator and it still came up with the same error screen. I then tried installing it in safe mode with network (the thought process being that there would only be csrss.exe, winlogin.exe, and explorer.exe running) and yet agian it said that there were one or more component files in use.

Screenshot of the installer, error screen, and task manager:


Thank you,
Hobbs

Try this

Bring up task manager, close or "End Process" all the processes
under your name that aren't explorer.exe or taskmgr.exe

Try running dxwebsetup.exe again

Norm

Thanks Norm,
But I am still getting the same problem. Could it be that I have DirectX 9 already and that is why it doesn't want to install? In that case what could possibly be wrong between Flight Sim and DirectX? I have uninstalled and reinstalled it 3 times now as well as downloading all of the patches and running the repair and everything seems to be in order (from what I can tell going through the Program Files and my experiance with it at school - Taking an aviation class). Is there any way to uninstall/reinstall all DirectX files with out destroying to OS?

Thank you,
Hobbs

The dirextXwebupdate is just that, it updates the Directx files to Version 9c. You have a corruption there somewhere but I am not sure what it is. Your problem is not uncommon. Try googling your error message. There are many instances that appear but no obvious solutions

Norm

Norm,
Thanks for all of your help, to be honest I spent a good 6 hours working over this and looking through the internet (no joke from when I got home at 4-ish until I went to bed at 11) I have found other problems but none that are the same as mine, I have tried the solutions posted there to no avail. Do you think that uninstalling/reinstalling the OS (you can do that right?) would solve the problem?

Thanks agian,
Hobbs

Are you talking about Vista? This is a drastic step, you would lose any data ie emails, docs, photos etc you haven't backed up. A less intrusive option would be to uninstall FS, reinstall it as Administrator.

Norm

Okay, I'll try that and report back.

Thank you,
Hobbs

I just read that Antivirus can interfere with the installation of FSX. Try disabling it while you are installing.