Ambitions won't start up on my laptop

Are you getting an error message? Do you have the disc or dl version? If you own a later released to market pack then AMB then you need the latest released to market disc to play. Once installed to pack is there - the disc only verifies ownership. If you have the dl version then you probably need to be on line the forst time you play to authenticate.the installation.

this is the error message it gave me:  

aplication startup failed unable to copy file /aplications/The Sims3.localized/The Sims3.app/Contents/Resources/AddOns/The Sims 3 Ambitions.app?Contents/Resources/Preferences/update_gamekeys.reg to Users/jennycone33/libaray/Preferences/The Sims 3 preferences/update_gamekeys.reg  

i have the disc version of both ambitions and the base game (sims 3) 

I have never seen that message before. Is the game installing? It looks like there is a problem with the game key. Do you share that computer with other users? Does your user have administrator rights? First guess is the installer is trying to add/modify the registry and your user does have the rights to do so.

i am the only one that uses this computer. i the game is installed, i get that message when i try to run the ambitions expansion pack. 

What's your operating system ?