Please login with administrator privileges and try again

Below is the response that I received from 2K Support. I consider it unacceptable. They should work with M$ to fix it or provide a DRM free patch to allow you to play the game.

I also ran across this post at TechDirt, which I encourage everyone to read: DRM Still Breaking Games Nearly A Decade After Purchase. Essentially, game manufactures can "brick" (disable) your games at any time and for whatever reason. Very disrespectful towards their customers.

Georg S., Oct 10, 5:22 PM:

Hello Rimworldsmail,

Thanks for getting back to us.

It appears that the latest update to Windows has caused an issue with many types of copy protection software, and thus making these games inaccessible currently.

However we may be able to transfer you to a Steam installation which would remove this requirement and allow you to continue playing.
Because Glu Mobile announced that it would be shutting down servers for several older games using GameSpy Technology (such as the disk based version of Civilization:IV) we have transitioned Civilization:IV from GameSpy to Steamworks.

To be eligible to receive the Steamworks version of Civilization:IV you will need to have an active Steam account and provide us with the following information:

A photo of the physical disc and case accompanied by your email address written on a piece of paper in the photo.

We will review eligibility based on your photo, so if you get a Steam key it won't be right away and we'd like to ask you to be patient as we work through the queue.

With Regards,

Georg S.
2K Support
Click to expand...
 
Calibar said:
Finally found the issue, which is to say I found which update (KB3086255) from the latest Windows update has caused the issue. The issue is that the secdrv service had been disabled, which incidentally is the same reason Civ4 doesn't work on Windows 10 (I am using Windows 8).

I found the information here (I hope it's okay for me to post this link - it wasn't easy to find via Google):
http://myonlinesecurity.co.uk/september-2015-windows-updates-kb3086255-breaks-many-games/

I ran the two commands listed from a command prompt with admin privs and was then able to run Civ4:

sc config secdrv start= demand
sc start secdrv

I assume that to be safe it should be stopped and then again disabled after running the game. Probably a good candidate for a couple of batch files.
Click to expand...

Thanks, you're my hero right now. :)
 
kburlz said:
The first part worked, I am playing again, (awesome, thank you) but the stop command doesn't keep the game from working, which makes me nervous that I am vulnerable. A similar window pops up that says secdrv has stopped, but the game still works. Maybe this is a good thing?
Click to expand...
The game only requires the secdrv to launch so you can safely stop the service after Civ4 has started.
 
:lol:

So first they annoy a whole generation of gamers by requiring them to insert the disc every time they want to play the game and then this. True work of art. It's amazing these companies expect people to stay honest given how hard they're at it to screw gamers over.

I don't see why 2K couldn't simply release a patch that disables DRM for Vanilla and Warlords, given they did it for BtS.
 
Calibar said:
I didn't uninstall the update because it appears that secdrv is a real security concern so it's not necessarily a bad idea to have it disabled when you're not in need of it.

To reduce the pain of having to enable and start the service to run Civ and then stop and disable it so that the service isn't left running (it only needs to be running to launch Civ), I created two batch files. Each must be ran as an administrator.

start-secdrv.bat:
start cmd.exe /k "sc config secdrv start=demand"
start cmd.exe /k "sc start secdrv"

stop-secdrv.bat
start cmd.exe /k "sc stop secdrv"
start cmd.exe /k "sc config secdrv start=disabled"

The /k is to keep the windows open, so that you can initially see the results. Eventually, you'll probably want to change it to /c, to close the windows automatically for a cleaner process.
Click to expand...

For those of you using this method you can bypass having to right click -> run as admin every time with following process:
1. Create shortcut to batch script
2. Right click on shortcut, click properties
3. Press the 'advanced' button (in the middle of the properties window, shortcut tab if for some reason it opens in a different tab)
4. Check the 'Run as administrator box'
5. Double clicking on the shortcut will now launch the batch script in admin mode without any input from you
 
When I try this (sc start secdrv), it just says something around the lines:

"[SC] StartService FAILED 1275:

Loading driver suspended"

Not sure how the latter part is translated. Can somebody help? I'm using Windows 10. Running everything with admin privileges and admin account and I used the other command before this one with a succes.
 
When I'm trying to start secdrv then I'm getting [SC] StartService FAILED 1058. I'm running as admin and Please suggest me something.

The service can't be started, either because it is disabled or because it has no enabled device associated with it.
 
I tried the above (albeit I'm on windows 10) and got the following:

C:\WINDOWS\system32>sc config secdrv start=demand
[SC] ChangeServiceConfig SUCCESS

C:\WINDOWS\system32>sc start secdrv
[SC] StartService FAILED 1275:

This driver has been blocked from loading
Click to expand...

I am at a loss
Appears like Microshaft is in cahoots with large game developers to force us to buy new stuff to replace old reliables.
 
I tried this for Win 10 but got the message that it failed as the secdrv service does not exist - indeed it is not there in the registry; I note that on one of the tech sites that it continues by saying if you do get the "log in as administrator..." message in W10 then there is currently no workaround. any other suggestions from the wily or wise?
 
For what it's worth I had to modify for some errors I received. It needed a space after the = . Using Win 7. I added the Timeouts for troubleshooting. You may be able to remove.

I have to assume that the people running the show at MS are not the same folks. They have no appreciation for those of us who grew up on MS. As a simple illustration you can not mark an email as "important" from the O365 suite online. I've been able to do this in Hotmail since 2001. Really Microsoft?

1. Create new text file and save as yourname.bat
2. Right Click on the .bat file and click edit
3. Paste the text below
4. Change the Start command string to match the path of your civ.exe file (right click on the shortcut and copy the path. This launches and runs off my CD)
5. Save
6. Right click on the .bat file and select "run as admin"
______________________________________

start cmd.exe /k "sc config secdrv start= demand"

TIMEOUT 10

start cmd.exe /k "sc start secdrv"

TIMEOUT 10

START "" "C:\Program Files (x86)\Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 4\Civilization4.exe"

TIMEOUT 10

start cmd.exe /k "sc stop secdrv"

TIMEOUT 10

start cmd.exe /k "sc config secdrv start= disabled"
 
I've been playing Civ4 for years both on Win8 and Win10.
Last night Windows installed a bunch of updates for the Microsoft Office and voila I am getting this 'Access denied' message for the game.
I did check the list of installed updates, but KB3086255 is not among them. It actually does not exist on my computer at all.

I opened admin command prompt and typed this recommended command:
Code: 
sc config secdrv start=demand
I am getting
Code: 
[SC] OpenService FAILED 1080

The specified service does not exist as an installed service.
Any ideas what I can do?
 
Has some new update been released that fixes the issues with secdrv.sys? I'm pretty sure I had removed update KB3086255 (the update that disables secdrv.sys) but I've noticed that it's back or still in my list of installed updates even though games that require it run normally. I even expressly went to command prompt to disable the driver and yet I'm not getting the administrator privileges message I'm supposed to be getting when I start a game.

Windows 7.
 
Yeah, so do I after removing and reinstalling that update. I probably just had re-enabled secdrv.sys through command prompt and forgotten about it. Disabling the driver again doesn't seem to work though.
 
I've gotten into this discussion at the official forum of another game about secdrv.sys and it's hilarous. First a moderator would keep insisting that there's only a problem on Windows 10 and fiddling around with compatibility modes would do. I had to re-explain it over and over that it secdrv.sys was the issue and that it also affects older versions of windows. And then a post of mine got deleted because of a hint towards no-cd crack even though another moderator had suggested another solution that amounts to the same thing, but just in a more roundabout way. No-CD cracks CANNOT be mentioned, even though they've pushed people towards using them.
 
Did you guys make sure to a) update to 3.19, and b) Run as admin? I'm on Win 10, and have been playing Fall from Heaven 2, Final Frontier Plus, and Ashes of Erebus with no issues. The 3.19 update removes the requirement to actually have a disc in the system so that should typically fix an issue with the drm.
 
Just Civ IV vanilla and Warlords no longer runs, but BTS has no problem.
 
Since this seems to be a proper thread with people with some experience, I'm going slightly out of topic, talking about a different problem with Windows 10.

I have Civ4 Beyond the Sword with 3.19 patch (CD version), so I don't have any problems with protections and CD.
However, since I moved to Windows 10, I've noticed that my custom settings (MyGames folder, with saves, logs, ini files, etc) is no longer under users/myUser/MyGames, but under users/myUser/OneDrive/Games, and I have found this folder to have been automatically uploaded to my OneDrive, I don't know how and why.
However, the CivilizationIV.ini file is getting deleted and recreated every time I start the game, so all settings I can set there are always deleted and lost. This means: autosave settings, mod to autoload, last game settings (map, difficulty, speed), my player name (every time I am prompted to play with the name PCUS01, and I hate to have to change it every time), settings to enable debugging a mod, etc.

Have you noticed a similar behavior in your experience with Windows 10?


p.s. I know, I would really like to get back to Windows 7, but now I'm stuck with this Win10 and I have to go on with it!!!
 
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