Re: The Sims (2000) on Windows 10

@danielr02 , sounds like the modified Sims.exe file is the reason the game is not running. Are you trying to run the game with the CD not in the drive? Just trying to get more information to see what the problem is.

@danielr02 , ok sounds like you'll need to reinstall the game. You may need a workaround as sometimes Windows isn't particularly helpful. Here are instructions on how to reinstall and make sure the game installs properly this time. Also make sure there are no residual The Sims left before reinstalling.

Please also make sure that if you have any saved games (usually found in the Documents folder) to move that folder to your Desktop for safekeeping so you can add them back in.

1) Insert your The Sims CD/DVD into your disk drive and open up your local hard drive.

2) Go to File, New Folder. Create a new folder and name this folder "Disk Images."

3) Go into the "Disk Images" folder and create another folder called "Disk1." If you're installing a version of The Sims or an expansion pack with multiple disks, create folders for each disk. Label them "Disk2," "Disk3" and "Disk4." *Note* It's important you do not put a space in between "Disk" and the number you use.

4) Open up "My Computer" and select your Sims CD. If the autorun comes up, cancel it as well as the installation.

5) Right-click The Sims CD. Click "Explore."

6) Click on the "Edit" tab at the top of the window and choose "Select All." You can also press CTRL+A.

7) Click on the "Edit" tab again and select "Copy." CTRL+C also works.

8) Head into your "Disk1" folder. Go to the "Edit" tab and select "Paste." CTRL+V works as well. Continue until you've copied and pasted the information from all the disks into their appropriate folders.

9) Find the autorun file in the "Disk1" folder and double click it. This should install the game as normal. When you are finished, you can delete the "Disk Images" folder.

Tips

If you encounter any file transfer errors when copying and pasting, try cleaning your disk. If that fails, your disk is either scratched or corrupted.

It sounds like something either became corrupted or something "erased" the game which is weird. However, this should allow you to reinstall the game and be able to play again.

@Tremayne4260Thanks. I have done as listed, but setup.exe (the autorun file) does not appear to run correctly. When opening both setup.exe on the disk or the folder, it opens the file as a background process. I can't seem to figure out how to fix this: running it in compatibility mode doesn't work (not sure if that would anyway) and the icon does not appear on the taskbar.

@danielr02 are you running as Admin? When you try to install the game, make sure you remove the disk from the drive and run from the Disk Image. Just trying to think of things that may prevent the game from installing.

@Tremayne4260Yes, running the file with nothing in the disk drive and running as administrator. Tried disabling anti-virus and tried turning off all non-Microsoft services to no avail.

EDIT: Just restarted my PC - also received a Windows update. Installer is now working (from folder), but after getting stuck at 100% for a while, claims that the uninstallShield is open.

@danielr02 , Ok found this on the internet. Try this.

1. Ensure user launching installer, have full administrative privileges on the machine.
2. Make sure no other installations are running in the background.
3. Verify that two instances of the setup are not running, if so end one of them. Go to 'Task Manager'->Process, look for _INSXXXX._MP. Where XXXX are numbers. If there are two similar processes running, terminate one of them using 'End Task' option.
4. Detect if a copy of IsUninst.exe is running, if so end the task. Go to 'Task Manager'->Process, look for IsUninst.exe. If there are two 'IsUninst.exe' processes running, terminate one of them using 'End Task' option.

@danielr02 , I searched the internet to find ways to install and run older games on Windows 10. Since The Sims is 20 years old, there may be something in the coding that Window 10 doesn't like. Because of the forum rules, I can't always post links to solutions, but I do encourage you to do a Google search for "installing older games on Windows 10". There were several articles and YouTube videos on the subject.

For future reference (if anyone comes across this thread), I was able to fix the problem of the "Setup has detected that Uninstallshield is in use" error by navigating to C:\Windows and deleting IsUninst.exe. The launcher was running at the time therefore meaning that IsUninst.exe was not actually running.

However, the same error with the game not actually running is still continuing. I have tried running as admin, and also running as admin with Windows 7, Windows XP (SP3) and Win 98/ME under compatibility mode.

I also attempted to use a modified Sims.exe file (No CD), but both are appearing in the events log as APPCRASH.

@Tremayne4260 I did as you suggested and searched through Google, but it seems to bring up the same old admin/compatibility settings/no CD patch answer, which doesn't work.

@danielr02 , I'm not sure of any other suggestions to try at this point. It may be that the game is no longer playable on Windows 10. There may be another solution found on Leefish's forums as they mostly play Sims 2, but they may have other The Sims players who can help you get the game running. I'm sorry I wasn't more help, but I tried to think of everything I could to get the game to run.

@Tremayne4260No problem - it's probably something related to SECDRV.SYS being removed from Windows 10 which can't be fixed. Thanks for your attempts at helping, anyway!

EDIT: I was able to get this game working on Windows XP - I installed Livin' Large and House Party and sure enough the game loaded (with several issues, but hey I'm just glad the game is finally working)

@danielr02 , wonderful! I'm glad you got it to run again. 🙂

What would be the best way of myself playing the sims complete collection through windows 10?