If you are on Mac Catalina please check out this thread "The Sims 4 macOS Catalina Troubleshooting" .
Open up your task manager and click "more details"
If you see Sims 4 is open, close it.
This should work.
we have already tries this multiple times and the sims 4 does not appear to be running on task manager we even tries uninstalling orgin and the sims but that didn't work either please help
Feb 9 2019. Brand new purchase & first time install of Origin and The Sims4. Windows 10
The common theme in this topic is that Windows is denying the game to run. It seems the problem is Windows Permissions.
The error message says that the game is already running, that is false, the problem is the game is missing permission to run. After experience with Sims2 + Sims3, this is EXACTLY the kind of mistake Electronic Arts has made before.
Every person may experience a slightly different solution than this. Because the problem is permissions, everyone's security settings maybe different. Here is the solution that worked for me:
1 Windows Security Centre
2 goto "allow an app through Controlled folder access"
- from Security Centre, open Virus & Threat Protection, open Ransomware Protection, click Allow An App.
- or from the search bar you can type "allowed apps" and it should get you there.
3 click the + sign to Add An Allowed App
4 navigate to your file folder with "Origin.exe" and add that. (IE: C:\Games\Origin\)
4 navigate to your file folder with "TS4_x64.exe" and add that. (IE: C:\Games\Origin\The Sims 4\Game\Bin\)
5 close the Origin lancher app, including from TaskManager, to make sure its not still in the background.
6 Run: TS4_x64.exe (or however you normally run the game)
Hope this helps someone.
Even if your steps are different on your computer, the idea is Windows Security is the problem.
Good Luck
Community Manager
