Forum Discussion

justinb113's avatar
justinb113
Seasoned Veteran
2 years ago

Re: can't download the sims 4, stuck on "preparing".

I fixed it on Windows 11 doing the following steps. 

  1. Close the app (taskbar > exit)

  2. Task Manager > Processes > End Task: EA Background Service 

  3. Run (Windows key + R) > %ProgramData%\EA Desktop then delete everything there

  4. Run (Windows key + R) > %AppData% > Local then delete anything that says EA / Electronic Arts / Origin

  5. Run EA App as Administrator

After preparing for hours i did this and it immediately started to download.  

6 Replies

  • Nickle1206's avatar
    Nickle1206
    2 years ago

    THIS WORKED FOR ME!!!!!!!!! THANK you SO much for this! It was stuck on preparing for EVER! did exactly as you noted and now it is downloading and will be done in 23 minutes 🙂 You saved the day!

  • moonnyxx's avatar
    moonnyxx
    New Rookie
    2 years ago

    Unfortunately this hasn't worked for me. I've noticed that reformatting my drive as NTFS seems to get past the "preparing" part but download speeds are incredibly low and the estimated download time often shows an unrealistic amount. This isn't drive-specific, as I got my other NTFS USB drive and the results were identical. 

  • HedyHeartsong's avatar
    HedyHeartsong
    Seasoned Newcomer
    2 years ago

    My last two purchases would never pass preparing in the download (One kit and For Rent).  I saw your instruction and followed your procedure partially.  It worked!  Thank you.  I did not know where to start.

    I fixed it on Windows 11 doing the following steps. 

    1. Close the app (taskbar > exit)

    2. Task Manager > Processes > End Task: EA Background Service 

    3. Task Manager > Processes > End Task: All other EA related processes that were running

    Restarted the application and downloaded both as soon as I requested.

    Going to check it out now!

    Thank you again,  HedyHeartsong

  • moonnyxx's avatar
    moonnyxx
    New Rookie
    2 years ago

    Update: I js did a full factory reset of my computer and that didn't do anything. Also here's a dxdiag if that helps.

About EA app Technical Issues & Bugs

Having issues with the EA app? Join us to report bugs, and find help with downloads, DLCs, purchases, and login errors.8,319 PostsLatest Activity: 3 hours ago