"Sims 4 already running" new variant to known problem?

@Divinephyton1  Try running Origin, Steam, and the game as an admin: right-click on each .exe or its shortcut and select "Run as administrator."  If you can't find the Sims 4 .exe, just open a File Explorer window and search for TS4_x64 in the upper right corner.

Have you also added Origin.exe to your list of antivirus exceptions?  Origin is supposed to just run in the background, but perhaps it's doing something more aggressive now.  If you want to make sure that this is in fact not an antivirus issue, try disabling it completely while you play.  I'm not saying you need to get rid of your antivirus entirely, just that it's a useful test.

Hi Puzzelzaddict,

I have tried managing the rights for the programs, and tried 'run as administrator' for all the programs you stated (and included 32 bit TS.exe)
I had also set up my antivirus properly before, which adds exceptions for Origin, Steam, TS and TS_x64. I double checked it again. Other people have had luck trying this, but not me.
As you recommended I've also tried completely disabling every part of my antivirus (short of uninstalling); no success ☹️

Thanks for the link! I've tried them up to "Creating a new windows admin profile", which worked for running the game!

Does that get me any closer to finding the solution for my main admin profile, or could it be any number of reasons, and should I continue to workaround like this?

@Divinephyton1  When the game works in a new account but not the old one, there are a few common causes:

• Corrupt user data:  Something in your Sims 4 user folder (in Documents/Electronic Arts) is preventing the game from running.  The simple test is to put that folder on your desktop and see whether the game works.  If it does, the issue is one or more files in the old folder.

• Syncing with OneDrive or similar:  This usually causes different errors, but it's still worth checking.  You can disable OneDrive or just stop the automatic syncing.

• Borked permissions:  This one is harder to troubleshoot, since there are plenty of variables.  If you're comfortable with the takeown /F command, you can try using it on the Documents directory in your old user account.  Or you can poke around the security settings looking for anomalies.  If not, let me know, and I'll write up something after I've had time to sleep.

I finally bought Sims 4 through Steam and I can't seem to play or solve the problem.
I uninstalled it several times, cleaned it, but I'm still not working.
The box always says "enable to start, sims 4 is already running".
I also can't find the Documents \ Electronic Arts folder that people talk about.

Some help?

@Alexandra28Silva 

Please read previous answers in this thread.