SECDRV.SYS Not Loading in Windows 10; this will break thousands of older games.

These posts go back to 2015, I cannot play MYST URU, due to this issue. You would think that going back several years Microsoft would Engineers would have come up with a way to allow us to do this without having to search for illegal hacks on the internet. I have been through several iterations of trying to work around this but as noted in earlier posts, it appears that the only recourse is to downgrade this PC to 7 or maybe try moving over to using Macs.

Microsoft, its 2017, can we provide some feedback on this thread so that we can finally use the games we paid for legally please ?

Sure you enabled this for security but how about finding a way to at least switch this off so we can use our other products  that rely on this ?

2017 People ... let's get with the program. I can't believe with all the complaints over so many years , the brilliant engineers at Microsoft have not come back with a way to fix this !!!!!!!!!!

Stop ignoring the many users that have been so loyal in using your products.

It's all totally wrong. Never before has anyone basically forced customers to bin their archives of legally purchased goods. My classic vinyl LP's , I decided to replace them with re-mastered CD's. I replaced my mobile phone when something new offered more. MS gave away ??? a free upgrade of OS. It came with Xbox app & automatic downloads, I ran straight back to Win 7. I can check if a latest update is a change of Latvian currency to Euro, that's the point all 10 users have basically handed their computers over to MS. Vista was junk, but everything since 7 has nothing of use to PC users, it's all for toy computers. Laptops & Tablets have the advantage of mobility, but phones are the market now. One OS for all of those , nonsense.

The only reason I added the bit about illegal noCD patches is because on more than one occasion, I've actually seen Microsoft engineers recommend this approach in the past.

I know the kinds of things that corporations do in order to make profits, and it honestly sickens me. In the lats 10 or so years, the number of PC games I've actually paid for can be counted on one hand. All other non-free games that I have gotten for PC in that time were gifted to me. I like PC gaming for many reasons, but I'd rather pay for games on PS3, instead of my PC for obvious reasons.

EI" instead of recommending ILLEGAL no-cd patches!!! "

MS does not recommend noCD patches, but using a noCD is the only option on Win10 if a disk based

game is affected by MS's DRM Blocking.

What MS wants is for people to pay or a 'new' download version which has had the DRM "removed".

This is essentially the same a using a noCD fix, because when a game is 'patched' in this way they

most often just create a new  .exe  to bypass the DRM. Just as the hackers did years ago.

Only difference is MS and the publishers want you pay again.

Note that this is not the only instance of DRM causing issues. A lot of disk based games from between

'04/'06 use DRM that is not compatible with any 64bit Windows (StarForce, Tages and SecuROM in particular,

but Tages did release a 64bit update around the time of the release of the first Witcher game ).

The only fix for the majority  of these games is also a noCD fix (with a few game having a 'patch'  from the developer).  Additionally, there were a number of DRM versions that got stuck in a disk check loop

that could go on, and on, and...

• Using a noCD has always been the best option with disk based games, if only for convenience, but

with DRM blocking they have a secondary feature.  If the DRM, or Windows, prevents you from playing a

game the product is faulty.

Consumers have rights too, and that includes a functioning game (EULA 'Agreement' or not).

MS's DRM Blocking should be considered a malware. It prevents the end user from using their software.

Much the same as a malware could.

• The secdrv.sys driver, if installed, is bypassed when using a noCD, which makes this the safest way to

play these games as this circumvents the secdrv.sys drivers loading during the disk check.

Secdrv.sys is supposed to be a threat because it has to run with Admin privileges. 

Disabling MS's DRM Blocking, or uninstalling the relevant update in Win7/8/8.1 opens this backdoor.

If secdrv.sys driver does not load, any malware that were to have been sneaked into this file cannot launch.

Technically illegal in some countries maybe, but I've never heard of anyone being taken to court for using

a noCD fix.

• Note that this is not an endorsement of Piracy, but a fix for legitimate copies of games.

The faulty nature of so many versions of DRM , the endless complaints that followed, and the potential for

bad publicity (as if they don't already have a bad enough rep) is very unlikely to see anyone with a physical

copy of a game being taken to court for using a noCD fix to make it possible to play a game they

have paid for.

The likelihood is even more remote since the advent of on line activation and the money grubbing

single activation business model that has killed the second hand PC game market

(while the console second hand market still  thrives).

• I could go on about MS's other misadventure into gaming, and their own faulty, and probably the most

reviled of all DRM,  which they abandon (and abandon users in the process)...

GFWL ( Games for Windows Live), but I'm worn out :) .

[ EDIT:  As this is the Win10 forum it should be noted that the commands posted in earlier  threads do not

work on Win10. 

These only work on Win7/8/8.1 because DRM Blocking was built into Win10 vs being added as a Windows update.

• The option to self sign the secdrv.sys driver is viable on Win10, but why bother ?

Use a noCD fix. Done deal... ]

.

This issue is really problematic for me, because I have a LOT of older games that simply will not run on Windows 10 x64, due to secdrv.sys being blocked by Microsoft.

Right now, I have 2 computers for gaming. One has XP SP3 (32-bits), which is locked down, and I never add anymore updates to it. The other dual boots between 7, and 10 (both 64-bits). Soon, I'll be upgrading my primary rig to a machine that will only have Windows 10, thus eliminating all versions of Windows between XP and 10, and thus all games that require higher than XP, but lower than 10 to run. In order to run those games/apps, I'd have to have THREE computers for gaming, which is definitely overkill, especially since I don't physically have room to add a third computer for this purpose.

I've just added the following post about this in the feedback hub for Windows 10 for the USA region, with the following Category: Security, Privacy, and Accounts > All other issues. Please upvote!

EDIT: Added a comment to the post in the feedback hub, pasting this post URL in the comment, because the URL was cut off in the original feedback. The entire URL shows in the comment.

Title: Windows x64, SafeDisc/SecuROM Copy-protection (SecDrv.sys), and older games

Post:

Many older games use secdrv.sys copy-protection to ensure that users are running a LEGALLY LICENSED copy. Microsoft has gone out of it's way to block the secdrv.sys driver from loading in Windows 10, despite that there are official microsoft workarounds for allowing this same driver to load in older versions of windows, allowing users to take the risks.

Give Windows 10 users the same option granted to users of older versions of windows, in regards to this driver, or do what you've done with it on multiple occasions in the past. PATCH THE VULNERABILITIES, instead of recommending ILLEGAL no-cd patches!!! Stop blocking LEGALLY PURCHASED older games!!!

This is considered a problem, because a VAST number of PC users are gamers, and this issue cripples ALL games which require secdrv.sys to run, including old MICROSOFT games.

Reference this Answers post for more user input: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/games\_windows\_10/secdrvsys-not-loading-in-windows-1