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

Albeit due to moderation rules this reference might put the whole thread into a digital bin because it might be seen to encourage using of illegal cracks:

As a Microsoft Certified Professional totally support this post above and mention of gamecopyworld.com which has been a pretty reliable source for me in the past 20 years or so for numerouslegal occasions so quite a lot of time before the secdrv desaster in Windows 7 and later.

How? Because I was too lazy to get my originals out of the shelf and on top of this did not want to wear the package and discs as a collector of games.

Who thought that an orignal game disc would be technical-like even still readable 20 years later, did we?

However be CAREFUL and

• use Microsoft Essentials or any other up to date antivirus.
• use an Adblocker
• updated Flash Player if any
• use private mode in your browser.
• use an updated 7zip (there are known security holes)
• use your mind and don't fall easily into luring and blinking stuff / links.
• double check links
• abort anything if you feel unsafe

If the file gets flagged as dangerous you might still use it it is not going to be flagged as:

virus, worm, trojan. Most likely at least MSE will recognize most cracks as such, like key tools etc.

It is a shame that original owners are punished just because the orignal creator of secdrv is givng a **** to invest a little of their money to recertify the secdrv.drv with Microsoft.

Just to put it right: Microsoft did a controversional thing. But they did it right. The consequences are not bearable though.

The secdrv.sys story is comparable with as if Google would shut down any access to Playstore for any device using Android 5.x or earlier, or Whatsapp might prevent usage with an Android version like that for security reasons, which they intentionally don't because they don't care for any danger but merely for the growth of their userbase.

With this in mind, happy gaming. Make your expeirence secure yourself and forget about secdrv.sys and how to circumvent it with other nasty methods. I can just plea for the webpage named before.

Being an MCP doesn't mean swat really. Don't insinuate it brings any weight to what you recommend. Using Security Essentials is downright stupid if you're on Windows 10. And you really should be on Windows 10 for a whole list of reasons, one of which is security, even if you then allow it to load SECDRV. Full stop.

gamecopyworld is a solution, not the solution. It's a lot of hassle for every single game you play and I usually still need to reach for the CD to install the game (again).

Dual booting is more secure, at least if you just refuse to use most if not all of your credentials on that copy of Windows and use a local account or a separate Microsoft account for the purpose of playing these games and encrypt your other disk part with BitLocker and refuse to give this copy of Windows the recovery key.

Installing cracks is a major security issue. Nobody vouches for these files to be secure. There is usually nobody responsible for these files, meaning the only thing you know is maybe some sort of community reputation. gamecopyworld is a great vehicles to test out zero days. Don't complain here you weren't warned.

"gamecopyworld is a solution, not the solution."

Cannot agree more, and it is a feasible solution for some.

"Using Security Essentials is downright stupid if you're on Windows 10"

This is your personal opinion, in reality it has proven its threat defending capabilities and they are still growing with every iteration of Windows 10. It is at least one of the few solutions where Microsoft won't compromise you to uninstall it in case of an support incident, let it be a private use or small business.

"Being an MCP doesn't mean swat really. Don't insinuate it brings any weight to what you recommend."

just a way to show I am not just a John Doe average user out there. Each of us forumer here may have plenty or few expierence in the field, this is one way to prove it. I fell into this MS drug in 1986 so can kindly expect I have done a whole lot. Though I never had the time to promote to MSCE or higher.

"Installing cracks is a major security issue"

this can be true. It depends on your system health, firewall and security awareness. It is not like I recommended it without taking any measures, Eric

"gamecopyworld is a great vehicles to test out zero days"

I doubt that one will recode a crack for a random old game just to use zero days. I admit timestamps of files can be manipulated easy, there was even a DOS tool for this.

"Dual booting is more secure, at least if you just refuse to use most if not all of your credentials on that copy of Windows and use a local account or a separate Microsoft account for the purpose of playing these games and encrypt your other disk part with BitLocker and refuse to give this copy of Windows the recovery key."

Thats the truth but at the end it is cumbersome as I've said. Setting up a dualboot and force to load an unsigned driver is like telling a noob how to flash lineage on Android to update ones devices.

"Don't complain here you weren't warned."

I have warned too, but not in your manner: "Like you are at risk for sure and a bad boy if you do".

"It's a lot of hassle for every single game you play and I usually still need to reach for the CD to install the game (again)."

I would like to disagree, I prefer ISOs or Alcohol images if there was no other way to get the stuff off my owned medias.

If you mean Windows Defender, then you're right. If you insist on calling that Security Essentials, that's just the wrong name for it. If you insist downloading and installing the actual Security Essentials product, it's stupid as I said. That's an old product for Windows XP and Windows 7. Just don't do anything after getting Windows 10 and you'll have the best AV there is. Microsoft is serious about that being true.

Installing cracks is a major security issue. Full stop. You load untrusted software, potentially with elevated permissions, suppose the game requires that. Sure you can have a measure of awareness and protection, but the risk comes from the crack. It's that simple. Once you load it, it goes off at light speed and you just can't see all of what it in fact does.

Many games I've tried it with don't install from .iso's. I'd say it is about 50-50 whether going through the hassle of trying it out ever pays off.

Eric there is no much difference between Security Essentials on Windows 7, 8.0, 8.1 or 10.

"Once you load it, it goes off at light speed and you just can't see all of what it in fact does."

I haven't suggested to turn off AV, then there are firewalls.

But I hear you that it is nothing for anyone, not an universal solution.

Instead of dualboot or cracks, one might also consider to setup a Windows 10 in a Hyper-VM and reaching through the GPU into the Hyper-VM using Remote-FX to play games. The performance is really good.

The user needs to enable Hyper-V role and everything else is quite easy to do.