This article covers the following platforms
MSFS 2024 loads third-party PC add-ons from its Community folder.
How do you want to install it?
Some Parallel 42 products ship their own installer, which finds the simulator and puts everything in place for you.
- Close MSFS 2024.
- Download the installer for your product from your Downloads.
- Run it and let it finish its own update check.
- Choose the simulator installation you actually use, if it detects both Steam and Microsoft Store.
- Complete the prompts and wait for the success message.
- Launch MSFS 2024 and confirm the add-on appears under Marketplace → My Library → Community.
Already have the product? The installer detects it and offers a combined Reinstall/Update.
Simstaller is free and installs downloaded add-ons without making you hunt for the Community folder.
- Download and install Simstaller.
- Open Simstaller and select MSFS 2024.
- Confirm Package Destination points to your MSFS 2024 Community folder.
- Select Install MSFS add-on(s) and choose the downloaded zip, or drag it into Simstaller.
- Let Simstaller extract and install the package.
- Launch MSFS 2024 and confirm the add-on appears under Marketplace → My Library → Community.
- Find your active Community folder. Launch MSFS 2024, open Marketplace → My Library, select the Settings gear beside the search bar, then select Open. Leave that File Explorer window open.
- Close MSFS 2024. Do not add or replace packages while the simulator is running.
- Extract the download. Unzip the add-on before placing it in the Community folder unless its developer provides an installer with different instructions.
- Check the folder structure. Open the extracted package folder and confirm files such as
manifest.jsonandlayout.jsonare inside it. If you must open another identically named folder to reach those files, the package is nested one level too deep. - Move the package folder into the Community folder you opened in step 1.
- Launch MSFS 2024 and check Marketplace → My Library → Community. If the package appears there, the simulator has detected the installation.
Place the add-on directly in the Community folder rather than using an on/off add-on manager.
Replacing a version you already have? Delete the old package folder first — do not merge the new files into it. Simstaller does this for you.
Default Community folder locations
The in-sim Open button is the most reliable method because MSFS 2024 lets you change this location. If you have not changed it, the defaults are:
Microsoft Store or Xbox app
%LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\Microsoft.Limitless_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalCache\Packages\CommunitySteam
%APPDATA%\Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024\Packages\CommunityPaste either path into the File Explorer address bar and press Enter. If your packages use a custom location, open that location from Marketplace → My Library → Settings instead.
If the add-on does not appear
Parallel 42 products support official public releases only, not beta or Insider builds.
- Open your profile from the main menu — the build version sits under your gamertag. If the sim won’t get that far, press Alt+Enter and read it from the title bar.
- Compare it with the current public build in the official release notes.
- If yours is higher, you are on a beta build. Revert to the current public release before troubleshooting further.
The MSFS 2020 and MSFS 2024 editions of a product are often separate purchases, and a 2020 edition will not load here.
- Check the product page for an MSFS 2024 edition.
- Open your Downloads and confirm which edition you own.
- Download and install the MSFS 2024 edition.
Some very large packages sometimes stop other add-ons from loading correctly.
- Move the traffic package out of Community, onto your desktop.
- Start the simulator and confirm the add-on loads.
- Move the traffic package back. Once the add-on has loaded once, the two often coexist.
- If it disappears again, leave the traffic package out.
Microsoft Store and Xbox app are the same install and share one Community folder; Steam has its own. The location can also be moved, so the folder you found in Explorer may not be the one in use.
- Open Marketplace → My Library and select the Settings gear beside the search bar.
- Select Open. That is the folder MSFS 2024 actually loads from.
- If the add-on is not in it, move the add-on there.
- Restart the simulator.
- Open Marketplace → My Library → Community.
- Find the add-on in the list.
- If it is disabled, enable it and restart the simulator.
- If it is not listed at all, MSFS 2024 is not reading its folder — check the Community folder above.
Community is read at startup, so anything copied in mid-session is ignored.
- Close the simulator completely.
- Confirm the add-on’s folder sits in Community.
- Launch the simulator again.
The folder MSFS 2024 loads from points at Community instead of the folder above it, so the path repeats.
Path repeats Community
Community\Community\addon-name\manifest.jsonCommunity sits beside Official
Community\addon-name\manifest.json- Open Marketplace → My Library and select the Settings gear beside the search bar.
- If the path ends in
\Community, change it to the folder holding both Community and Official. - Restart the simulator.
A nested folder hides the add-on’s files, so the simulator starts without loading it.
Nested one level too deep
Community\addon-name\addon-name\manifest.jsonFiles directly inside
Community\addon-name\manifest.json- Open the add-on’s folder inside the Community folder.
- Right-click the nested folder and select Cut.
- Go back to the Community folder.
- Right-click an empty area — not another folder — and select Paste. If the menu shows Cut or Copy above Paste, you right-clicked a folder; try again on an empty area.
- Open the add-on’s folder again. You should see the add-on’s files instead of a second folder with the same name.
- Launch the simulator and confirm the add-on loads.
Installers read the simulator’s configuration to find its active package folder, and that only exists once the simulator has run.
- Launch the simulator once, then close it.
- Run the installer again.
Still stuck? Delete the add-on, download a fresh copy, and reinstall it with the simulator closed, following any installer the developer supplies.
For more detail about Community folders and third-party packages, see Microsoft Flight Simulator Support.