Can’t Install EA app on Windows 7 – Error INST-21-25006

Hear me out when I say this. You will be in a massive lawsuit for ruining people’s experience and forcing them to pay money while losing their product. Every individual who was forced to pay to keep up with your selfish individualism and soulless, money‑driven idea will see justice in the near future.

For those who are unable to install the EA app under Windows 7 due to error INST-21-25006, I made this hacky workaround guide to get it working again.

With all due respect, the title of the thread is "Can't Install EA app on Windows 7 - Error INST-21-25-006"

If your issue is different, instead of complaining about it being different and possibly getting buried here, then perhaps a different thread that addresses your concerns regarding your Windows 10 issue.

If anyone is taking further action, I'm down with any way I can help.  Feel free to message me.

And now I remembered as to why PC gaming mostly fell out of favor for me, forced obsolescence! I used to really like PC gaming a few years ago, but ever since Steam announced they would be dropping W7, not really that much anymore! Now I ONLY have Minecraft, and if anyone recommended me a game that required me to have any kind of game client installed, I won't buy it! The last time I ever bought something from any game client was November 2022. These days, I'm mainly investing in legacy consoles, including Nintendo DS/3DS, GameCube, Game Boy Advance, PS Vita, PS3, and PSP, because at least with these, as long as I have the system, I'm good to go. I'm not forced to have some game client installed just to play the game. Also, my gosh, I remember when I first got The Sims 4 (back in May 2022), which I literally no longer have access to, from Steam and needing to have another game client installed, which was Origin at the time, I wasn't impressed, literally needing to have TWO game clients installed just to play 1 game, like it's ridiculous, and I don't think I'm alone in saying this! Nowadays, I only use PC for specific things, and that's about it. For gaming, my Nintendo/PlayStation collection is what I'm into anymore.

Oh, but I will note that I have The Sims 2 and The Sims 3 on discs, which don't need the EA App, so I can still play these on my W7 PCs.

Sincerely,

A former Sims 4 player

I honestly wish some high-powered legal firm would file another class-action against EA for these sorts of anti-consumer  business  practices where they sell goods and services and then fluidly change implied and reasonably inferred terms after accepting payment.

There are gamers who prefer to at least keep one machine with Windows 7 for playing older games or becauae -- let's face it -- it's objectively better for DX11 and lower games. They bought EA's products with the warranty and representation that their machines met the system requirements. Then, because EA decided to lock out Windows 7 at a later date via their launcher, they can no longer play games they paid for on the systems on which they installed them.

Seriously, they need to be hit hard for this kind of nefarious business practice.

I really wish some high-powered legal firm would file another class-action against EA for this sort of crap. There are gamers who prefer to at least keep one machine with Windows 7 for playing older games or becuase -- let's face it -- it's objectively better for DX11 and lower games. They bought EA's products with the warranty and representation that their machines met the system requirements. Then, because EA decided to lock out Windows 7 at a later date via their launcher, they can no longer play games they paid for on the systems on which they installed them.

Seriously, they need to be hit hard for this kind of nefarious business practice.

I completely agree, this is BS. I have games like Crysis 3 that actually run BETTER on Windows 7 than they ever did on Windows 10/11. This is now a a trouble-free gameplay experience that is permanently and artificially lost to me, because of EA app BS.

This is the very same discussion we are having here in the linked thread:

Can’t Install EA app on Windows 7 – Error INST-21-25006 | EA Forums - 13252055

I'm also on Win7 and having spent a LOT of money over decades, I want to access my games that I PAID for, without having to worry about what EA is supporting or not.  If they don't want to support Win7, fine, but then stop trying to keep me from accessing what I've paid for by forcing me to use your app -- let me run the games without the app that you refuse to support.  That would seem fair to me, given what it's cost us to support YOU all these years.

Honestly, Speedster370BG, spare me the patronizing bullcrap.  I work in the industry and there is ALWAYS an option that can allow those on older platforms to still get/play what they paid for, while also relieving them of the burden of pushing updates to that iteration.  The onus of security then falls to those who play/still use their chosen OS.  That said, while it might make sense for EA to abandon updates to Win7, then why force your customers to still use the gating platform to access, again, what they paid for.  If they don't want to support it, fine, then allow your customers to use their purchased game(s) unimpeded by your gating platform.   And trust me when I say EA has no horse in the race to 'force you to upgrade' when it comes to what version of Windows you use, it's purely what they choose to support, beyond that, they could clearly care less.  Furthermore, with all due respect to those who choose to use Linux, offering the idea of installing a whole different OS, including, in some cases, having to use yet more additional software just to get some games to play, is hardly offering any kind of 'reasonable' solution whatsoever.