Windows 10 Problem Reporting Thread

[catty-cb 4,401]

What exactly would this " SafeDisk problem "  on cited reports?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SafeDisc

From memory SimCity 4 uses SafeDisc v2, so if Windows 10 doesn't allow its use anymore then anyone with disk copies of the game aren't going to be able to install it on their computer, it shouldn't effect the electronic versions ....

[NCGAIO 562]

"From memory" SimCity 4 "uses SafeDisc v2," ...        

... so if Windows 10 doesn't allow its use anymore then anyone with disk copies of the game aren't going to be able to install it on their computer ....  ...

Sorry friend ... I expect an answer of  who cited the problem!

Either way is a very simplistic explanation and I do not see how you can help on something.

Who knows can learn more if  explain exactly what the problem is with "SAFEDISK v2" beyond what the Wikipedia says, of course!

 

[rsc204 21,815]

I dunno, maybe try googling "win 10 safedisc"? It's not just plausible, a quick search shows you indeed the file SECDRV.SYS is missing from Win 10 final builds.

This issue is not unique to SC4, this is standard copy protection and the required files to validate it need to be installed on your PC, much like other libraries. It appears MS kept this in the preview releases, then on launch day removed it, tells you something doesn't it?

So now thousands of classic games will no longer work because you can't validate them, isn't that pretty much DRM, this is why I hate DRM, one day it will kill all your games, but not enough people care to get something done about it.

There is actually a way around the problem, but I'm not allowed to talk about it here.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

What exactly would this " SafeDisk problem "  on cited reports?

If you had followed this thread you would have found https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/games_windows_10/secdrvsys-not-loading-in-windows-10-this-will/65a6fe83-08df-4760-b2ad-6b1ce61d40d4?auth=1

[catty-cb 4,401]

...this is standard copy protection and the required files to validate it need to be installed on your PC, much like other libraries. It appears MS kept this in the preview releases, then on launch day removed it, tells you something doesn't it?....

One of my users at CB upgraded to Windows 10 last week she is now back using Windows 8 which she hates, as most of her games including Banished either wouldn't work or weren't playable anymore in WIN 10, and after reading about the complete lack of privacy you agree to when you upgrade to WIN 10 she is talking about going over to a MAC, she doesn't know enough about Linux to want to make that far of a change and as an ex-ubuntu myself I'm seriously thinking of going back to it or maybe Mint which I always liked.

-catty

  Edited August 5, 2015 by catty-cb  

[NCGAIO 562]

Half disappointed ... expected more explanations to understand the issue  than mere indications of searches on google coming from users with such dominion over the game and operational issues.

But it seems a matter of fact the problem is not just with said driver but also with all drivers that are not WHQL as mentioned in another post and that cause problems in the same way they did in any previous OS.

Rrsolved-problem-nvidia-panel-windows-10-amp-gt540m

Maybe more once of known comings and goings MS for tapping into some diehards and  ensure that nothing affecting the stability of the OS (Unless either it even as happened to some of  your own Automatic Updates)

Antivirus suites are being used as a tool to remove software that MS deems contrary to its outlook

Solution for those who have protected CD might be to use resources to bypass the exe protection  that for obvious reasons no one wants to mention or " disable driver signature enforcement "  in the Win 10 that a bit more complicated but it will still exist for a while at least support the installation for system administrators.

Logically it must be recognized that repurchase of the game in digital form is the safest option for those with urgency to migrate Win10 and that are not familiar with the technicality used to try alternatives.

For those who do not have as much urgency ...   maybe it will be lot easier..

Anyway tks for SafeDisk links  ... learned a lot from them!  
 
NC.

note: Perhaps this hint will also stop at the topic of openness ... and wait to see

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

@Catty: Don't worry about Ubuntu.  I've been using it (fully updated) since 2007.  I paid a short visit to Mint (installed it as an alternate boot) a while ago, but found it not ready for people.  At that time the Cinnamon desktop was in development and really not there.  Later users of Mint have found things to be better.  I've taken the full tour from Debian, to Ubuntu, to Mint and eventually came to Ubuntu as the best compromise.

For people doing the usual Mom and Pop things on their home systems (browsing, e-mail), I see no objection to either Ubuntu or Mint.  Since I've been running wine for a long time with scripts I've developed for myself, I haven't looked at PlayOnLinux for a long time and have no plans to do so.  There have been a good review of it or two, so I guess it is better now than when I first tried it.

Technically I am running Ubuntu 15.04+all current updates with wine-1.7.44 which is the latest Beta.  Running beta software is not for the faint of heart nor the inexperienced computer user.

  Edited August 6, 2015 by A Nonny Moose  
fix typo

[catty-cb 4,401]

....I've taken the full tour from Debian, to Ubuntu, to Mint and eventually came to Ubuntu as the best compromise....

For a while I was getting a number of Linux publications and each month they came out with a different operating system and I think I can say I pretty much tried all of them including ones like Puppy Linux

http://puppylinux.org/main/Overview and Getting Started.htm

But that was on my old computer which was home built, it broke down a couple of years ago and I did contemplate repairing it but at the time I was selling up and buying a new house as my Mother was coming to live with me so I needed more room ... and with running a website I needed a computer so it just ended up easier to go down to the local shop and come back with a HP All-in-one-desktop running Windows 7, I did of course buy the maximum amount of memory it could take and put that in ... I seriously don't recommend upgrading all-in-ones if you can avoid it

-catty

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

....I've taken the full tour from Debian, to Ubuntu, to Mint and eventually came to Ubuntu as the best compromise....

For a while I was getting a number of Linux publications and each month they came out with a different operating system and I think I can say I pretty much tried all of them including ones like Puppy Linux

http://puppylinux.org/main/Overview and Getting Started.htm

But that was on my old computer which was home built, it broke down a couple of years ago and I did contemplate repairing it but at the time I was selling up and buying a new house as my Mother was coming to live with me so I needed more room ... and with running a website I needed a computer so it just ended up easier to go down to the local shop and come back with a HP All-in-one-desktop running Windows 7, I did of course buy the maximum amount of memory it could take and put that in ... I seriously don't recommend upgrading all-in-ones if you can avoid it

-catty

Sometime, if you ever get the time, you might consider trying a Linux dual boot with the version of your choice.  You might be surprised at how far things have gone.

After I made my post today, I loaded up the Cinnamon desktop on Ubuntu and while it certainly has overtones of Windoze, I found some of the control panel stuff unusable because they use black backgrounds with dark gray type.  Whoever designed that has never heard of ergonomics.  The small type and the lack of clarity simply confirmed my decision not to use that particular desktop.  I couldn't find a way to fix it, and did not feel like digging around in the source code.  I spent a couple of hours mussing with it, and just felt it wasn't worth any more effort.

BTW, I get my machines from a tame local OEM builder who will sell me a machine to my specification naked of any software.

[catty-cb 4,401]

Probably need to go back to talking about Windows 10, but before we do ... yes I had the old computer as a dual boot with a section of the hard drive formatted so both OS could use it, it saved having to log off and on, I think from memory I was using PCLinuxOS with a KDE desktop when my motherboard give up the ghost.

 

[Trabman21 6]

Is it possible to copy and paste the two required files for the SafeDisc program from our old Windows OS to Windows 10? Installing Windows 10 backs up your old OS (in my case Win 8.1) in case you want to revert back to it, so I still have copies of all the System 32 files on hand. 

Currently, secdrv.sys is located in these two locations in my Windows.old backup file:

Windows.old\Windows\System 32\drivers

Windows.old\Windows\WinSxS\amd64_macrovision-protection-safedisc_31bf3856ad364e35_6.3.9600.16384_none_4e6b3758913c9240

Could copy and pasting the files into their Windows 10 counterpart location solve the issue? Or is my idea completely ludicrous and reflects my horrid understanding of computers accurately? 

 

[KiethMarkus2014 14]

Is it possible to copy and paste the two required files for the SafeDisc program from our old Windows OS to Windows 10? Installing Windows 10 backs up your old OS (in my case Win 8.1) in case you want to revert back to it, so I still have copies of all the System 32 files on hand. 

Currently, secdrv.sys is located in these two locations in my Windows.old backup file:

Windows.old\Windows\System 32\drivers

Windows.old\Windows\WinSxS\amd64_macrovision-protection-safedisc_31bf3856ad364e35_6.3.9600.16384_none_4e6b3758913c9240

Could copy and pasting the files into their Windows 10 counterpart location solve the issue? Or is my idea completely ludicrous and reflects my horrid understanding of computers accurately? 

 

Oh never though of that

[rsc204 21,815]

You know until recently that would have worked yes, however Windows 10 brings more new security features... Windows driver signing requires that every driver on your system has been authenticated by Microsoft. I don't know about Win10, but I know each new iteration of Windows makes it harder and harder to run unsigned drivers/code.

From the details i've been able to garner so far, it seems this may not work. Either way, you've nothing to loose trying it, I'm not sure if these just need to be in the applicable folders (such as system 32) to be loaded upon Windows startup (like regular DLLs), or if you'd need to find a way to actually install them on the system itself though. It's certainly not a bad idea though.

[Ganaram Inukshuk 906]

Is it possible to copy and paste the two required files for the SafeDisc program from our old Windows OS to Windows 10? Installing Windows 10 backs up your old OS (in my case Win 8.1) in case you want to revert back to it, so I still have copies of all the System 32 files on hand. 

Tried that, no luck. I couldn't even make a new folder within the second directory. (Not that I don't wanna go in there or even think about what consequences it could have.)

  Edited August 7, 2015 by Ganaram Inukshuk  

[Trabman21 6]

Is it possible to copy and paste the two required files for the SafeDisc program from our old Windows OS to Windows 10? Installing Windows 10 backs up your old OS (in my case Win 8.1) in case you want to revert back to it, so I still have copies of all the System 32 files on hand. 

Tried that, no luck. I couldn't even make a new folder within the second directory. (Not that I don't wanna go in there or even think about what consequences it could have.)

That's a bummer.

I think that, with the way Microsoft is heading with its future update system, we might not be able to create a new folder in the directory as doing so might compromise the installation of future Windows Updates (in relation to verifying the integrity of the OS by MS's servers). 

Either that, or, due to the update, your administrative privileges, much like mine, may have been...erm...for the lack of a better word... compromised (I can't seem to access certain files now as, according to Windows, I'm "lacking"  administrative privileges, even though my account is the administrator for my PC.  I can still access other administrator only archives in other areas of my computer normally inaccessible by non-administrative accounts. I might need to do some magic with the command prompt to fix this, but that's for later). 

Off to Google Chrome for a solution!!! (s**** Edge) 

Edit: Aaaand my search brought me back here...

 

 

  Edited August 7, 2015 by Trabman21  

[Ganaram Inukshuk 906]

I've recently been considering rebuying SC4 off of one of the sites mentioned here, though depending on your stance on game distribution or whether or not you still have your CD activation code, you could get it from Origin as well.

Though I feel like focusing on Win10+SC4 experiences gone right should be just as important as the Win10+SC4 experiences gone wrong; the issue's only with the CD version of the game (not a problem for me to rebuy the game discless; results may vary), though I feel like people should fill us in on what went right, though in the other thread.

[Trabman21 6]

Does anyone think it would be possible to convert the SC4 CD to and ISO file and somehow delete the two SafeDisc files (SECDRV.SYS), located in ProgramFiles (x86)\Maxis\SimCity 4 Deluxe\Apps, and on the disc itself?

So, theoretically, if the CD was copied to an ISO file, you could just delete these two SafeDisc files and run the game? Or does the executable (SimCity 4.exe on the apps folder and/or RunGame.exe on the disc, which would now be in ISO format) check to make sure these two SafeDisc Files exist and are executed? (This would render my idea useless .)

An important question: What is the difference between a digital copy and the disc version of SC4, from the perspective of the SafeDisc/game verification system (or whatever it is called)? If the digital copies do not have the two SafeDisc files, then are the executable to the game still the same or different? Assuming what I theorized above about the executables is true, that they check for the SafeDisc files, would that mean that the digital version of SC4's executables do not check for the SafeDisc files? Would that be the only difference? 

In that case (and I have a feeling this may or may not be illegal), if you would copy the SC4 disc to an ISO file, you could delete the two SafeDisc files in the game, then, theoretically, get a copy of the executables for the game from someone who bought the game digitally, and SC4 could then run properly on Windows 10? 

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Is it possible to copy and paste the two required files for the SafeDisc program from our old Windows OS to Windows 10? Installing Windows 10 backs up your old OS (in my case Win 8.1) in case you want to revert back to it, so I still have copies of all the System 32 files on hand. 

Tried that, no luck. I couldn't even make a new folder within the second directory. (Not that I don't wanna go in there or even think about what consequences it could have.)

What, not even in "safe mode"?  Do they still have safe mode?  How are you supposed to maintain your O/S?  [I know, I know, they don't want you to.  Yet another assertion by Microsoft that they own your machine.]

[Trabman21 6]

Hello everyone!!!

I just found out why we cannot modify our System 32 folder, or anything to do with windows! (I apologize for my language, as I created this little picture last night, during which time I was very, very, very, disappointed with my decision to upgrade to Windows 10.

Looks like Big Brother is looking out for us after all! 

Seriously though, what is this? I tried, for over 20 minutes, to change the administrative privileges so that I would, at minimum, also have full control of my computer. That did not work? Does anyone have any ideas on how to fix this? Do I need to go into the dreaded command prompt and do what google tells me to do there? **

**Before anyone asks, yes I attempted to change who the Owner of the folder was was, but to no avail. I will attempt do to this again later on after I have time. Also, this applies to the System 32 Folder as well (possibly even more).

  Edited August 7, 2015 by Trabman21  

[JP Schriefer 5,590]

lol

I thought they were going to only upgrade the system without permission. Looks like a joke they have more permissions then you in your own machine...

  Edited August 7, 2015 by JP Schriefer  

[hkboondoggle 20]

@Trabman21: 

Hey, did you try the "takeown" & "icacls" function in the command prompt?

There two functions are pretty much the equivalent of the linux chmod 777 in Windows environment, which work at least in Win 7 afaik. And I wonder if they can also be applied in Win 10.

[Trabman21 6]

@Trabman21: 

Hey, did you try the "takeown" & "icacls" function in the command prompt?

There two functions are pretty much the equivalent of the linux chmod 777 in Windows environment, which work at least in Win 7 afaik. And I wonder if they can also be applied in Win 10.

Well, I tried to do that, but I think I messed up somewhere (I probably just mistyped something in the command prompt though, but since I'm too lazy to try that more than twice, I just asked google to solve my problems ). So, after I when to google,I  found this neat program from tenforums.com. It adds a "Take Ownership" tab in the Context Menu (So it does everything on the command prompt for you . Useful for me, as I'm too lazy and not skilled enough with the command prompt to successfully use those functions on my own, apparently . ) 

Anyways, all my administrative troubles are over now (unless taking ownership of these files ruins future updates....meh, I'm not too worried about that. I'm just happy I have full control of my PC now.)

Oh, If anyone is wondering for a link to the program, I found it on one of tutorials I was looking at after I failed with the command prompt (Well, it's not the tutorial, but a link from the tutorial that I followed) - http://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/3841-take-ownership-add-context-menu-windows-10-a.html

I figure that if I just add a "Take Ownership" tab to the context menu, I will forever be free from having to use the command prompt ever again!  I have an eerie feeling that the next update is going to ruin everything though...

 

Edit: I just wanted to add in that I tried using the standard method of changing the owner ship of other folders within the Programs (x86)\Windows folder, and that worked out fine. I'm unsure why it didn't work with the System 32 and WinSxS folders. 

 

  Edited August 7, 2015 by Trabman21  

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Good for you. 

And I still  wonder just what in the name of all that's accursed does Microsoft think they are?  They are not the gods of computing and they have no damned business taking over people's hardware.  May the curse of Von Neuman descend on them and the fleas of a million camels infest their armpits.

This dog in the manger attitude at Microsoft must stem from the beginnings of their culture.  What a horrible case of paranoia these people have.

  Edited August 7, 2015 by A Nonny Moose  

[Trabman21 6]

Alright guys, I'm about to do a test and see if I can add in the two SafeDisc files from Windows 8.1 to Windows 10 and see if I can run SimCity 4. Since no such files or folders exist in Windows 10 (well there is one, but it is located in the SysWOW64 folder), I should be able to add them in without affecting anything else in my system. Wish me luck, I'll report back with my findings. 

Edit: Well that didn't work.  Looks like I'll just have to but a virtual copy of the game .

  Edited August 8, 2015 by Trabman21  

[JP Schriefer 5,590]

It's a shame. I think other guys got it with even without a virtual copy, not so sure about that.

[Ganaram Inukshuk 906]

I would've expected such results, so (heh heh) I re-bought the game off of GOG earlier today. It's not so much a problem for me since I keep losing the disc and the manual, and (from what I've heard), it may not be a problem for others who already re-bought the discless version prior to Windows 10, even though their discs were still in good condition.

Short of doing anything illegal or damaging (the former of which we won't be having), it looks like the recommended version is now 1.1.641: the pre-patched discless version. (That is, unless an update occurs that supports it again.)

  Edited August 8, 2015 by Ganaram Inukshuk  

[blunder 1,079]

All glory to windows 7. Upgrading OS troubles .... /shudder.

[nix831 0]

So what is the (current?) final consensus?

I have a CD version of Sim City 4 Deluxe that simply wont start up since upgrading from w7->w10.

Should I shelve this and download it from Origin/GOG/whatever?

Or is there a work-around that's been discovered?

  Edited August 8, 2015 by nix831  

[Ganaram Inukshuk 906]

So what is the (current?) final consensus?

I have a CD version of Sim City 4 Deluxe that simply wont start up since upgrading from w7->w10.

Should I shelve this and download it from Origin/GOG/whatever?

Or is there a work-around that's been discovered?

So far, unless a later update rolls out, the consensus is to find an (authorised) online distributor that can (legally) give you the prepatched discless version.

[Indiana Joe 1,750]

Some time in the next few versions of Windows, support for CD-ROMs and DVDs is going to drop entirely.  So getting digital copies of games while you still have the registration code is a good proactive idea.