Sims 3 Launcher Not Working

@alexmaxzac  You don't need to apologize for your computer's state at all.  I'm sorry for the delay in responding, but I wanted to get a second opinion from someone who knows a lot more about Windows than I do.  He looked over the thread and your dxdiag and said there are a few different approaches you could try:

• You could try to address the issues one by one, first the update errors and then the problem installing .NET.
• You could do an in-place upgrade, for which you'd need a Windows 8.1 volume license install medium.
• You could reset your computer to factory settings.
• Or you could upgrade to Windows 10.  Lenovo has Windows 10 drivers for this system, so you wouldn't need to worry about hardware incompatibilities.

Whichever approach you want to try next, I can post instructions.  The person I asked thinks that overall, upgrading to Windows 10 is probably the best approach if you're willing to do it, and otherwise the in-place upgrade or repair install would be more likely to help than the piecemeal approach.  But if you'd like to start with the first option and see how it goes, that's easy enough to do.

@puzzlezaddict I think i'd like to go with the first option just to see if that helps anything if that's ok.

I have a slight feeling that the Windows Update may be causing or could be just encouraging the problem is happening. I looked into the update, it is an update for Microsoft Edge on Windows 8.1. This is supposed to replace Internet Explorer, which I have heard that Sims 3 relies on immensely, and also my computer previously had a Bad Image error for Sims 3 with the 'ieframe.dll containing an error'. So, maybe if the update works, the problem could be resolved.

Also, I would love to try and see if I can install .NET or resolve my problem by installing .NET, as hopefully this would help the issues with Sims 3 Launcher more.

Thanks

@alexmaxzac  Okay, try this:

• Search for "Command prompt," and choose the option to run as admin
• Enter this command:  sc config trustedinstaller start= auto
• If it says "success," great, now enter this:  net start trustedinstaller
• If the service was started successfully, try sfc again, then DISM

For the .NET Frameworks, it's a good idea to install both 4.8 and 3.5, just in case you need the newer one at some point.  For 3.5, try the installer linked here:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/framework/install/dotnet-35-windows-10

You can download 4.8 from the link on this page:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/framework/install/on-windows-8-1

@puzzlezaddict Hi, I'm really sorry for replying so late.

The DISM and SFC errors are still occuring, and also when I try to download the .NET programs, it says they installation cannot occur because it is already installed on my computer. The only option it gives me is to close the setup. 

Do you think doing something to help my Windows Update run will help everything? At the moment, it is stuck on 0 and I end up cancelling the update. Would the update be what is stopping the sfc from running? The Windows Update KB4567409 is pending?

Thanks.

@alexmaxzac  You don't need to apologize for the late reply.  I'd be curious to hear though what messages you saw when you input the commands I listed earlier.

I would say it's likely that the failed Windows updates and the failed DISM and sfc have the same root cause; the .NET issue may also be related.  Let me know what the commands said, and I'll get back to you.

@puzzlezaddict Hi,

The commands are different for each one.

The setconfig (first command) says it was a success.

The second command says that the trusted installer has been started.

When I try to run DISM after doing these commands, it says that the remote procedure call failed.

When I try to run sfc after doing these commands, it says There is a system repair pending. Restart windows and run sfc again.

I haven't tried in a few days though, as I have been quite busy with school, i'll try again now and report back.

@alexmaxzac  At this point, there probably isn't much more you can do other than some kind of reinstall of Windows.  If you have an install medium for 8.1, you can do a repair install; if you don't, you could do a reset.  Or you could install Windows 10, which may be the best outcome overall.

Let me know if you need help with any of these options.

@puzzlezaddict Ah ok, would this mean that my files would be erased? If so, would there be anyway to keep my files?

I really wouldn't want to lose my saves, but if I have to, to play the actual game, then that would be ok.

Thanks.

@alexmaxzac  In theory, upgrading to Windows 10 wouldn't erase your files, and I believe a repair install wouldn't either, although I'd have to look up the details for 8.1.  (The reset would delete everything.)  In practice, any time you do something like this, it's best to back up all your critical data beforehand.

If you don't have an external hard drive or USB stick to use, you can upload your saves to a cloud storage service (Google Drive, Dropbox, etc.), or more than one if the free allotment for each service isn't sufficient.  Zipping folders before uploading them helps with the overall size and with the organization on the upload sites: instead of having dozens of loose files, you'll have a single .zip that you can extract back into a folder with its internal file structure intact.

@puzzlezaddict Ok, how would we do a repair install. I really wouldn't want to delete my files so could you make sure that this wouldn't?

Thank you so much for being so so helpful.