Can't Init SimConnect - error code 0x80004005 - Solution

[Ray Proudfoot]

This may be helpful to anyone having SimConnect problems and specifically the message "Can't Init SimConnect - error code 0x80004005" which appears during the initial load.

I am running P3D v3.4 purely for a 32-bit FS Labs Concorde but it was fine a month ago. I spent nearly two hours uninstalling and reinstalling SimConnect, Visual C++ 2005 files and FSL Concorde but nothing worked.

So I tried launching v4 and that was fine. It was something in my P3D v3 setup. I searched for SimConnect.xml and discovered I had one in my v4 setup. But for some unknown reason there wasn't one in my v3 setup.

I copied simconnect.xml to %APPDATA%\Lockheed Martin\Prepar3D v3 and it solved the problem.