Access denied

[Smittendownes 0]

hi, i have owned and played sim city 4 for years with no problems on my computer, and then on my laptop. i wanted to play the other day and i got a message that pops up saying 'access denied. please login with administrator privileges and try again". i am under the administrator account and i have read tips about granting access to everyone under properties of the game and nothing has worked. i uninstalled and reinstalled the game several times and that did not work as well. all I wanted to do was play my game and instead i monkeyed with my computer for hours trying to get the game running. anyone that can help i would appreciate it. i have heard some people say they can redeem the code in the box for a free download... any clues guesses or anything would help. thank you

[rsc204 21,804]

What version of Windows are you using? Also what version of SC4 are you using, is it the original disc-based one or a digital download?

See here, MS have disabled the drivers that allow the DRM of the disk-based version to be validated on Windows 10. They extended this via an update for Windows versions Vista-8.1 too. If you have the former, you are out of luck and need to buy/obtain a digital replacement. If its the latter, you can work around the problem.

[Smittendownes 0]

i'm using windows 8. i'm using the original Simcity4 Deluxe disc, and it doesn't work anymore. thank you for your reply! i can try to solve my problem now, and if not i'll buy a digital replacement  

[rsc204 21,804]

It's totally fixable for Win 8.1, you just need to follow the instructions in the linked post.

As a last resort, Origin will give you a free digital copy, you just need to provided proof of ownership of the original disks. Once more, full details are given in the post regarding the issue. If you plan to upgrade to Windows 10 at any point, you'll need a digital version sooner or later.