This is an lengthy work-around for a persistent problem that I haven't seen resolved in other forum discussions. I hope what I've offer below can help someone out there who is so aggravated they're ready to send their new system back in and ask for a refund--don't
do that, please.
So here we go:
You're trying to install a game, right? But you found the game's installation status is in a download mode, right? Why is it downloading?! You have a hard-disc you've just bought from Amazon, Ebay, ect., and inserted it into your Xbox and you're viewing
a download process and not an installation process, right? That's because the download part is, I believe, updates and patches, and the installation part is the game itself, both packaged together into one process. Great!--but it's going to take maybe over
70 hours to complete this download/installation before you can ever play the game, and in view of that, it also comes to mind that you're going to 'pay through the nose' for all the GB's you've consumed over the monthly allowance afforded to you by your ISP--right?
"RIGHT!", you exclaim.
You have to get offline, if you're online, to stop the download/installation to got to straight installation. But before you do that, you're going to have to go through the following steps first:
1. Go to "my games and apps", this can be done at your home page.
2. Using your arrow key-pad on your controller (or your "L" (left) stick), scroll down to "manage queue" and then press "A" on your controller, this will make the border around "queued" in the manage area, on the right side, highlight green or blue or
whatever color you chose to to default to. Press "A" again and this will bring you to a screen where you are given the option to "pause all" or "cancel all", using your arrow key-pad or left stick, slide over to "cancel all" and press "A". It will ask to clear
the queue? Press "A" to clear the queue. Xbox will now execute your command, and, after completion, you will remain on the "manage queue" screen.
3. Next, press the Xbox logo button on your controller (don't press and hold it down, just press it and let off of it, holding it down will bring up options we don't need for this operation). Now, you should see a drop-box with a list of choices, scroll
down to "settings" and press "A". Scroll down to "System" and press "A". With your arrow key-pad, slide over to "storage" and press "A". This command will bring you to a screen that gives you two choices: clear local saved games or clear local xbox 360 saved
games, choose the first option which is already highlighted for you by pressing "A". Xbox will then execute your last command and clear local games, (don't worry, this will not uninstall or delete any games you may have already installed, and it will not delete
games you may have in your cloud, this only clears out the disc space that was used when you started attempting your online game download/installation.) and it will power down and restart on its own, allow a few minutes for this to complete.
4. Take out the game disc you were attempting to install, flip it over (so it doesn't get scratched) and lay it down on top of your xbox. You want the disc out so that after xbox restarts, it doesn't 'see' the disc and want to go straight back to downloading
updates, and I promise you, it will if you do. After Xbox restarts, your controller will be powered down, so PRESS AND HOLD down the xbox logo button on your controller to power it back up: it will light up, blink once or twice and remain solid white to indicate
that's it's ready to use.
5. Next, press (but do not hold down) the xbox logo button, scroll down to settings and press "A". Using the arrow key-pad, slide over to "network settings" and press "A". Now, since you are "online" right at the moment, slide over to "go offline" and
press "A". Xbox will execute your command by switching from "go offline" to "go online" in the grey tab, so that when you want to go back online next time, you come here and simply press "A", so that xbox will execute your command to return youn to online
mode. Also, as an extended preventative measure, unplug your ethernet internet connection wire from your xbox to make sure there's nothing, internet-wise, coming into your xbox--paranoia? Maybe, but better to be paranoid than sorry later.
6. Next, press "B" twice to go back to your home page. So, up to this point, we have cleared the queue from further installing a game online, cleared local saved games and changed our online to an offline status. Next, DO NOT SIGN IN. You don't have to
sign in to install a game. Trying to sign in causes xbox to prompt you to connect online again and you're back where you started. So, don't sign in. Now, reinsert your game disc you're wanting to install, flipped over and laying on top of your Xbox. After
reinsertion, you will then see it come up somewhere at the top of your home page and it will signal to you that it's installing. Go to "my games and apps" on your home page and press "A". Look down on the left side--see how much faster your installation is
progressing now?...should complete under 20 minutes. Now, using your arrow-key-pad, scroll down to "manage queue" and press "A". On the right, under manage, you should now see the highlighted border of the grey tab that says "queue 1", now press "A". You
now see the installation progression bar at the bottom of the screen that, inside the bar, presents a "ready to start" opportunity, ignore it. Trust me, ignore it. Please, ignore it. If you choose not to ignore it, at least in my experience, you may pay
heavily to the GODS OF CONFUSION for the next several hours, trying to figure out what-in-the-heck went wrong and where do you go from here. Let the game complete the entire installation before proceeding.
7. Once the game completes, take out the game disc and restart your console, this part of the procedure will validate your game installation. Once the system has restarted, leave the game disc out, go back to "settings"-->"network settings"-->"go online".
Plug back in your ethernet internet connection wire and sign back into your xbox. *******KEEP THE GAME DISC OUT YOUR XBOX******
8. *******To install offline, you're going to have to play offline, too, at least for now so you can enjoy your game; you will update, play multiplayer and seize all other exciting online features at a later time of your choosing.******* So, to achieve
this, as you're back online and will need to be online and signed in to do this: you're going to have to personalize your profile. Go to "settings"-->"General"--> Personalization and press "A". Here, you can edit and personalize/customize your avatar, even
set your avatar as your gamerpic (something I did, and recommend doing as a preventative measure). Once you've done this, you will see a list on the right side that will give you the option to "appear online" or, by pressing "A", appear offline. Press "A"
to "appear offline". Making this change, in effect, is what really allows you to play offline, otherwise, your game will bug you at the splash page about "who you are" because it doesn't see a profile that its satisfied with--really, it doesn't. Now, go back
to "settings"-->"network settings"-->"go offline". Unplug your ethernet internet connection wire from your xbox. Reinsert your game disc and wait for the prompt at your home page, which is when you see your newly installed game appear, when it does, slide
over to it, (if you need to) press "A" and start playing your game! From here on out, to play offline, you'll first need to be online, sign in and go to personalization and then to your profile to make sure you "appear offline", because every time you go out
of the game or restart your computer, you will go back to "appear online" by default, which, again, will need to be changed to "appear offline" to keep playing any installed games offline.
If and whenever you want to play online, you'll need to complete the update. To complete the update, simply go to your "settings", "network connections" and "go online" and plug back in your ethernet internet wire and sign back in. Reinsert your game disc
and let the system take back control over wanting to fully download, update and install your game. Because of the way my ISP ekes out GB's to me, my best hours for doing updates is between 2am to 8am in the morning , a time when I get bonus GB's and faster
download times. If I don't use those hours, I'd surely pay a pretty penny for prime-time downloading, and that a glacially slow connection speed.
Best Regards