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

Anonymous
2015-08-01T20:13:40+00:00

Hello,

I have discovered an unfortunate problem with Windows 10.

Many games from the early-mid 2000's used Macrovision's SafeDisc (version 2) as a means of copy protection. At game startup, Windows loaded SECDRV.SYS to verify an original game disc was in the drive, after which the game would start.

When you try to run ANY game which uses this SafeDisc form of copy protection in Windows 10, the following happens:

 - You get an error window that tells you to log in with Administrator Privileges and to try again. This happens on any account, even those with Administrator access. The game fails to start.

 - If you then set "Run as Admin" compatibility mode on the game's startup file, the message disappears, but the game doesn't start.

 - Keeping a window open for C:\WINDOWS\SYSWOW64\DRIVERS shows SECDRV.SYS appearing at the moment you try to start the game. Based on its size, it appears to be the file that is present on the game disc (tested across several games), even though I see no disc activity and cannot find the file elsewhere on my system.

 - The Windows event log shows that SECDRV.SYS failed to load.

 - This happens both with an upgraded install (Windows 8.1 > Windows 10) and with a fresh Windows 10 install, with one of the games being installed immediately upon the fresh install completing.

 - On my Windows 64-bit 8.1 system, C:\WINDOWS\WINSXS has a folder called amd64_macrovision-protection-safedisc_31bf3856ad364e35_6.3.9600.16384_none_4e6b3758913c9240 with a SECDRV.SYS in it, presumably the one that ships with Windows. Windows 10 had such a folder in early builds, but it is missing from the release build. It appears SafeDisc support is missing entirely.

OTHER TESTING I HAVE DONE:

 - I updated one of the games to a version that no longer required the CD check, and it started immediately and ran perfectly once the check was removed. However, this is possible only with a very limited number of games, or resorting to fixes that violate the game's EULA or put the user's system security at risk.

 - I tried disabling driver signature verification and installing one of the games again; same problem.

 - Multiple compatibility modes; same problem. XP (Service Pack 3) mode and / or Run as Administrator mode make the error message go away, but the games still fail to launch.

SIGNIFICANCE:

Unless this is fixed in Windows 10, a massive catalog of older games will cease to function in Windows 10 for the simple reason that they cannot pass the SafeDisc copy protection check. I am accustomed to some games breaking with every new version of Windows as technology progresses (for example, the loss of the ability to run 16-bit programs in 64-bit Windows), but this seems to be an unnecessarily harsh change.

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Gaming

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  1. Anonymous
    2017-12-21T12:35:00+00:00

    Considering its old games and windows keys work 4 XP  and newer or if they don't just reinstall XP your newer hardware should handle the virtual machine and the game at the same time...

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  2. Anonymous
    2017-12-21T12:33:10+00:00

    Seems like the best option is to run a virtual machine of windows xp and do it...

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  3. Anonymous
    2017-11-26T23:39:05+00:00

    That you see a Microsoft logo anywhere while running into problems does not mean the problem is a Microsoft problem.

    Security comes before compatibility.

    Everyone else updated their drivers. Macrovision didn't. Blame Macrovision. Or EA or whomever else that packed a crap 'security driver' from Macrovision with the stuff they sold to you.

    That said in addition to the instructions already here, I found out today on a Fall Creators Update 64-bit system the additional step that might be necessary is to copy the driver file to C:\Windows\System32\drivers and to update the driver service with that path:

    copy C:\Windows\SysWOW64\drivers\SECDRV.sys C:\Windows\System32\drivers

    sc.exe config secdrv binpath= C:\Windows\System32\drivers\SECDRV.sys

    I will change that post to reflect this. Those instructions are on page 23.

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  4. Anonymous
    2017-11-26T23:28:16+00:00

    If Microsoft won't help me with my problems, then my only solution is to vote with my feet. If Apple doesn't support it, at this point who cares, but Microsoft lost me as a customer. I used the Windows7 workaround by deleting the offending update. Age of Empires works great now.

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  5. Anonymous
    2017-11-26T23:18:26+00:00

    If you cannot get the game to work, get an XP disk and install that on a partition/disk with enough space for all the games you have with cd checks

    then at the back of the disk install windows 10 and dual boot

    this works with disks up to 2TB, secondary disks for XP are limited to 2TB as it does not like GPT

    steam games are fixed so no problems with windows 10

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