Age of Mythology - Windows 10

Check with Event Viewer, but I guess you are having the same problem as myself and a number of others.

It's the fact that Windows 10 doesn't come with SECDRV.SYS driver, and the one that comes with the game is a 32-bit driver that isn't signed and won't work. This driver is part of the copy protection mechanism on AOM and other games.

The driver was provided with Win 8.1 64 bit, which is why it worked on that platform.

Which all together means that AOM (and other games that use the same copy protection technology) can't work on Windows 10 until Microsoft provide a compatible driver.

To the best of my knowledge, there is as yet no statement as to whether it will ever be supported ...

Ok, yes this is correct. Safedisc is not supported on Windows 10.

Options:

* Buy a digital version of the game that doesn't have safedisc (steam has Age of Mythology - Extended Edition, which I've played on Windows 10. Although I won't make a promise it will work on everyone's system)

* See if Macrovision has a download for secdrv.sys. I haven't seen or tried this but it is an idea.

Pity the syste compatibility report forgot to let us know about this before commencing. I have the genuine Microsoft version of AOM Gold, already installed on the machine that was upgraded ... Just knowing it was incompatible would have been a start. Luckily i got to the root cause quickly so no time wasted.

Hello,

Thank you for posting your concern here in Microsoft Community and welcome to the Windows 10 family.

From the description provided, I understand that you are unable to launch the game.

I would suggest you to disable all non-Microsoft services and not necessary startup apps and see if any third party applications are arising the issue. Please follow the below steps.

1. To disable all non-Microsoft services consult the article called Clean Boot. 

Follow: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/929135

Note: After troubleshooting, refer to this section "How to reset the computer to start normally after clean boot troubleshooting"

Disclaimer: A clean boot is performed to start Windows by using a minimal set of drivers and startup programs. This helps eliminate software conflicts that occur when you install a program or an update or when you run a program in Windows. You may also troubleshoot or determine what conflict is causing the problem by performing a clean boot. You must log on to the computer as an administrator to be able to perform a clean boot. Your computer may temporarily lose some functionality when you perform a clean boot. When you start the computer normally, the functionality returns. However, you may receive the original error message, or experience the original behavior if the problem still exists. If the computer is connected to a network, network policy settings may prevent you from following these steps.

2. To disable any 3^rd^ party unwanted startup programs in Windows 8 and above, follow: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/20119.how-to-enable-or-disable-startup-programs-in-windows-8.aspx 

(Applies to Windows 10 as well)

Additionally, I would also suggest you to check for the compatibility of the game for Windows 10 from the below referred link.

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/compatibility/CompatCenter/Home

Kindly keep us posted on the status of the issue. If it still persists, we would be glad to assist you further.

Thank You.

The result is the same after a clean boot.

There are three events associated with the game not starting, on each occasion:

Event ID 7000

The SecDrv service failed to start due to the following error:

This driver has been blocked from loading

Event ID 1060

The description for Event ID 1060 from source Application Popup cannot be found. Either the component that raises this event is not installed on your local computer or the installation is corrupted. You can install or repair the component on the local computer.

If the event originated on another computer, the display information had to be saved with the event.

The following information was included with the event:

??\C:\WINDOWS\SysWow64\drivers\SECDRV.SYS

the message resource is present but the message is not found in the string/message table

Event ID 7000

The SecDrv service failed to start due to the following error:

This driver has been blocked from loading