How to get rid of SecuRom, NOW

[Bronxboy]

Hello all, first time posting, as I too have been having issues with the game & my pc in general after installing AL and I would like to remove SecuRom and use the No-CD crack.

I will be attempting to remove SecuRom tonight via the instructions here, but I just have one question: I see a few people mention the No-CD patch for AL, and I'm not quite sure what thats means, as all I found on GameCopyWorld was a No-CD crack. Is this a hacked version of the official patch that will eventually be out for AL? I'm new to all this stuff, so please forgive my noobishness.

[jsalemi]

The no-cd crack is what you want -- it replaces the game .exe.  Save your original .exe somewhere (I just zip it up and leave it in the same folder), because you'll need to restore it when the patch comes out so the patch can be applied.  You'll need to get a new no-cd.exe for the patched version, though, so don't be in a rush to patch until the revised .exe is available.

[Bronxboy]

Okay, so I've managed to delete SecuRom (I think I did it right! lol. No errors!) and apply the No-CD crack, because the game loaded with it. Go me!

Thanks for explaining about the patch and the updated NO-CD crack, I will be patient until I see the new version - whenever that is! However, one quick question: Should I not keep the original EXE just out in the open in the same folder as the NO-CD one? I renamed the crack and the game loaded up fine, with the original EXE in the same folder.

[kutto]

Where is your shortcut pointing to, out of curiosity? Just having a crack does not mean you are running it.

[jolrei]

Okay, so I've managed to delete SecuRom (I think I did it right! lol. No errors!) and apply the No-CD crack, because the game loaded with it. Go me!

Thanks for explaining about the patch and the updated NO-CD crack, I will be patient until I see the new version - whenever that is! However, one quick question: Should I not keep the original EXE just out in the open in the same folder as the NO-CD one? I renamed the crack and the game loaded up fine, with the original EXE in the same folder.

Yes, you can keep the original .exe in the folder.  My question now is, if you renamed the no-cd.exe the same name as the original, did it not overwrite the original?  Or did you rename the original something else first?

I generally name the no-cd crack something like ALno-cd.exe, and point the shortcut to it, leaving the original .exe intact.  That way I don't have to rename things again when I want to install a new EP.

[Bronxboy]

Yes, I left the original .EXE with the original name, and named the crack ALNOCD.exe actually!

I didn't rename the original .EXE in case the crack wouldn't work and I would need to use the original method. Thankfully though, its all working. I have the CD away in its case and the game running all by itself.

[butheircousins]

i heard that simrom causes problems with lots of peoples computers but my computers have never had problems with it i am going to live simron on for now but if there are problems i will take it off

[Tsenatserix]

By the gods, are you retarded? Seriously. Who could possibly be this stupid? Probably a sock; my money is on The Tard's sock, sent to make her seem wonderful in comparison, so that her return would be made better for her.

[witch]

simrom - the new STD. Snork.

[Zazazu]

By the gods, are you retarded? Seriously. Who could possibly be this stupid? Probably a sock; my money is on The Tard's sock, sent to make her seem wonderful in comparison, so that her return would be made better for her.

Interesting thought.

[Triskele]

Thank you for giving me an option in regards to killing this little bastard of a program.
My laptop is getting renamed in honour of its saviour. I think I've lost a third of the functionality since this got itself nestled in my registry.
I'll refrain from cursing in text though.
I hope they win the lawsuit.

[seelindarun]

I realise this is a long thread, but Zazazu answered this question already.  Please search.

[J. M. Pescado]

I uninstalled SecuRom successfully... or so I'm hoping.  I'm not even really sure how it got on my computer, but that's not the issue at hand here.  However, if anyone knows if SecuRom was included in the free Spore Creature Creator demo, let me know, as that would be incredibly stupid to put an anti-piracy program on a demo...

It was. Copy protection is placed on demos because of the belief that crackers will use the demo as a "known plaintext" to attack from. What it REALLY accomplishes is simply giving them something to examine before the game even comes out.

[Triskele]

Anyone have any idea about my other question?

http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/2/704675

Does this help?

[Zazazu]

Anyone have any idea about my other question?

It sounds like you skipped Step 3:

3. If that damned SecuRom folder still can't be deleted, even after correctly following the instructions above, download DelinvFile from http://www.purgeie.com/delinv/dldelinv.htm . Run the executable and find the C:\Documents and Settings\YOUR NAME HERE\Application Data\Securom folder and open the sub-folder. (Sorry, mine's gone, but I believe it was named "User Data"). On the right, choose each malformed file and delete. Go back into My Computer and delete that SecuRom folder for once and all.

[vecki]

I finally got around to downloading the no-cd crack for Apartment Life and removing SecuROM from my computer.  I hadn't had any problems with SecuROM that I knew about, which is why I took so long to get around to it, but just knowing it was there was starting to grate on me.

This was not fun given that the instructions were for PCs with XP, and Vista does stuff differently because it wants to wrap you in cotton wool and tell you that you're not smart enough to do this.  So I spent a lot of time googling how to do stuff under Vista which would have been simple under XP (well, simple following the instructions, anyway).

I think I'll have to run CCleaner at some point because when I next rebooted the computer, there was some sort of error in the startup files (not sure what - I didn't pay enough attention, and it didn't seem to cause any problems in the stuff that I used).  If it comes up again I'll take a screenshot.

ETA: Bloody computer made a liar out of me.  No error on startup this time.  Hmph.

ETA (Again): just checked out my registry files.  Securom found its nasty way back in there despite using the no-cd crack.  The computer was happy to let me delete the folder though so I don't know if I did it WRONG or if this is meant to happen?

[seelindarun]

I'm too ignorant to help with whether you did it wrong, but maybe it would be a good idea to post what you did in tutorial form, as in the top of this thread?  It would make it easier for others who know more to point out where you might have taken a wrong turn.  Also, I imagine more people will have to adopt Vista and your findings will be useful for them, if only as an initial draft.

[vecki]

Apologies for big long quotes in advance - this is what I had to do differently in the EVIL world of Vista.

How do I get rid of that nasty, interfering DRM?

Download regdelnull.exe and place it in C:\
Go to "Run" and type in "cmd", then type the following:

cd C:\
regdelnull hkcu -s
regdelnull hku -s
 
The two regdelnull calls above will scan the whole of HKEY_CURRENT_USER (abbreviated to HKCU) and HKEY_USERS (abbreviated to HKU). It's possible you may find other null registry keys during the scans, since you're not targeting *just* the SecuROM keys doing it this way. regdelnull will prompt you with the full pathname of every key it finds though, which will contain the name "SecuROM" if it's one of the ones you're after, so you can check names and only respond "y" to delete those two.

This worked normally.

Follow the guidelines below ripped from http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/98241-13-remove-securom-malware-uninstalling-bioshock-demo:

* Step 3: Removal of the Securom service and related utilities.
Open a Windows command prompt and change directory to "c:\windows\system32". Type "uaservice7 /remove". This will stop the Securom user access service, and clean up its relevant registry entries. On the Windows command prompt type "regsvr32 /u cmdlineext.dll". Reboot and then manually delete the files "uaservice7.exe" and "cmdlineext.dll" from "c:\windows\system32". Note: Both of these files are Securom installed files which can be verified by checking their file properties (Right click - Properties).

This also worked normally, aside from uaservice7.exe not appearing in the directory.  That could simply be a configuration thing (and I've seen it mentioned in thread so I'm not too distressed about it)
 

* Step 4: Removal of Securom files under "C:\Documents and Settings".
Securom installs a hidden directory with 6 files under "C:\Documents and Settings\<Your Administrator name>\Application Data\Securom". The first 4 ordinary text files can simply be manually deleted once Windows explorer has been configured to show hidden files and folders. The two remaining malformed nominally unremoveable files require a special method to delete: Invoke a Windows command prompt with full Administrator privileges by typing the following into a Windows command prompt: "at <your current time + 1 minute> /interactive %systemroot%\system32\cmd.exe" e.g. "at 9:02pm /interactive %systemroot%\system32\cmd.exe". This will open a new Administrator command line when the time set has been attained.

/

This was a little different.  Vista denied access to schedule running cmd as an adminstrator (this is where it protects you from yourself, because obviously, if you can enter the command as above, you're obviously going to do something which will make your computer asplode ).  Instead of going into Command prompt and then scheduling it to run as an administrator, click on the 'start' button, if cmd doesn't automatically come up in the list, type cmd in the search box, when it does appear, right click on it and choose 'Run as administrator'.

In this new command prompt change directory into the Securom folder e.g. "cd C:\Documents and Settings\<Your Administrator name>\Application Data\Securom". Issue the following command to show the two remaining hidden malformed files: "dir /A". To delete the two remaining hidden malformed files issue the following command: "del /F /AH *". Confirm "yes" for each of the two file deletions of the malformed files. Finally, the directory "C:\Documents and Settings\<Your Administrator name>\Application Data\Securom" can be deleted as per normal practice from within Windows explorer.

Instead of typing "del /F /AH *", because that didn't seem to delete the files, I typed "del *.*".  When I then ran a dir /a, the files were gone.  The Securom folder was then happy to be removed as per the above.

2. Double check your registry files. Still see any keys under HKEY_CURRENT_USER---Software---Securom? Just delete the suckers. Won't blow up.

Yup.

3. If that damned SecuRom folder still can't be deleted, even after correctly following the instructions above, download DelinvFile from http://www.purgeie.com/delinv/dldelinv.htm . Run the executable and find the C:\Documents and Settings\YOUR NAME HERE\Application Data\Securom folder and open the sub-folder. (Sorry, mine's gone, but I believe it was named "User Data"). On the right, choose each malformed file and delete. Go back into My Computer and delete that SecuRom folder for once and all.

N/A for me so don't know if there was anything different.

4. To not get it again, you need to start loading from a no-CD crack. I get mine at gamecopyworld.com. I recommend any versions by Fairlight. Make sure that, if you have patched your game, you get the patched version of the crack. Go to "C:\Program Files\EA GAMES\The Sims 2 LAST EP\TSBin" and change the name of the crack to whatever you like. Then place the crack in the same folder. Make a shortcut to this on your desktop, and run the game from this new shortcut.

Yup.  This worked exactly the same.

Last night after playing off the no-cd, I idly went into Registry and noticed Securom had snuck back into the registry files.  However like I mentioned in my previous post it had no qualms about being deleted again, and didn't appear in my Application Data directories (yes, I made sure hidden files and folders were visible), so not sure if there's a problem there or not.

EDIT - Played again last night, Securom didn't find its way back in that time.  Vecki's inconsistent computer behaves inconsistently.

[gfitz]

I have followed the steps here to remove SR but I have a question and a problem. I found a folder in my Programs called PACE Anti Piracy. Anyone know what that is? I only have Sims stuff installed on this PC. Also in my registry, there is a folder called Brain Drain? Don't know if that is related or not...

Now the problem...the no cd crack will not launch my game. I had downloaded it so I didn't have a CD. I put the crack in the appropriate folder for BV and tried naming it alternately Sims2EP6.exe or Sims2Launcher.exe. The game will not load. Is that because I didn't use a CD to install?

And the no CD crack is a 7z file so I don't even no if renaming it is right or if I need to "unzip" it?

Any help is appreciated. And thanks SO MUCH for this thread.

[mitchellcjs]

PACE Anti Piracy is a security program bundled with some new PCs.  Could it have come with your computer when you purchased it?  I don't know about the Brain Drain.  As for .7z files: there is a program called 7zip that you need to "unzip" these file types.  7zip is an excellent program.  You can get it here.

[gfitz]

PACE Anti Piracy is a security program bundled with some new PCs.  Could it have come with your computer when you purchased it?  I don't know about the Brain Drain.  As for .7z files: there is a program called 7zip that you need to "unzip" these file types.  7zip is an excellent program.  You can get it here.

Ah...thank you for that. I figured 7zip files needed to be unzipped but I downloaded the application and get nothing but a quick flash of a window like a command prompt window. Maybe I did it wrong. Either way, I can't get the no CD crack to work.

But thank you for the info!

[WhiteQueen]

Well, the time has come for me to finally get rid of SecuROM from my computer as AL is fucking me up big time.  My plan is to uninstall all of the games (something I've been meaning to do for a while anyway), remove SecuROM, reinstall the games in order, and use a no-cd crack.  Unfortunately, I can't even get past the first step.  I've been trying to download RegDelNull from here - http://technet.microsoft.com/en-ca/sysinternals/bb897448.aspx - since yesterday morning, but I keep getting "a connection to the server could not be established" error.  Every other link I've found leads back to that page.  I don't suppose anyone still has it on their computer and can upload it?  Or am I doomed to delete the offending files directly from the registry?   

Also, I'm sure I know the answer to this one, but I'll ask anyway.  The latest crack from Vitality at gamecopyworld says to apply the official patch first and then replace the exe.  I've never patched my games and don't feel the need to start, so can I ignore that instruction, or should I use the older link from Reloaded instead?

Thanks in advance!   

[jolrei]

Yo, Whitequeen - I have it on my 4shared account.

Regdelnull.zip

[KinwatsaZ]

Hi,   Well the AL no CD is only my second one ever.    And I am now confused.   I downloaded the No CD from GameCopyWorld for AL with the patch.   The original No CD exe was some 44K in size...44,738...The new downloaded exe for AL with the patch is only 6,288Kb in size.   Anyone able to explain to me why?  Shouldn't the size be relative?   Is it the correct one?   Is this safe to use?   What about the patch would have resulted in a vastly smaller exe?    Did it or no?    I will hold off on patching and applying the No CD until someone can get back to me.   Thanks in advance.   K

[Mootilda]

Hi,   Well the AL no CD is only my second one ever.    And I am now confused.   I downloaded the No CD from GameCopyWorld for AL with the patch.   The original No CD exe was some 44K in size...44,738...The new downloaded exe for AL with the patch is only 6,288Kb in size.   Anyone able to explain to me why?  Shouldn't the size be relative?   Is it the correct one?   Is this safe to use?   What about the patch would have resulted in a vastly smaller exe?    Did it or no?    I will hold off on patching and applying the No CD until someone can get back to me.   Thanks in advance.   K

Different people who make no-cds have different philosophies about the "correct" way to do it; this can result in wildly different sizes.  As long as the no-cd works, I wouldn't worry about it.

What this really tells you is how much of the game is devoted to refusing people access to the game.  When all of that code is removed, the resulting EXE can be a lot smaller.