Sims 2 (disk) installation issue

@zoraaisling I’m preparing a step by step solution for your issue, I just need you to confirm whether you have any of the following bundles:

• The Sims 2 Deluxe / Double Deluxe
• The Sims 2 University Life Collection
• The Sims 2 Best of Business Collection
• The Sims 2 Fun with Pets Collection 

Or are all your packs individual releases?

Hi @mate54 Thank you so much for responding!  I have just come back to say that, of course as soon as I ask for help, I have found a solution!  I found this thread on a forum, and this video.  I followed the instructions and finally everything is working!  (Well, up until Freetime, which, for some reason, won't read in my drive...)  Thank you for being ready and willing to help!  (PS: I have all of the individual packs, I got them as they came out)

[CM Edit: Links removed]

@zoraaisling I’m glad to hear you have been able to find a solution!

Have you been able to install patches for all Expansions and Family Fun Stuff? Some of them fix crucial issues (Seasons patch, for example) so I highly recommend having them all installed.

Thanks, yes I've been patching as I go.  But now I have a different problem, which I don't think is actually related to the Sims specifically, I think my computer's security has overreacted and now won't let me install anything.  I'm off to the wider internet to try and find a solution to this problem :-)

It turned out that the solution to this error ended up solving the issue I've been having with Sims 4!  It was telling me that my administrator had blocked installation of TS2 expansions.  Here's what I posted on the Sims 4 thread:  "...In the end, I changed a setting in 'Local Group Policy' called 'User Account Control: Run all administrators in Admin Approval Mode'.  And my Sims 2 install worked.  I thought "no way could that have been the issue with Sims 4" and tried loading it.  This time I got a different error message, saying a folder had been locked.  I turned off the setting locking folders and...  now my game loads!  I wont recommend that anyone changes their security settings, but I just wanted to let you know what happened for me.  If you do want to try this yourself, search google for the terms above to get instructions."

Thanks for that alternative, if I start having issues again, I'll try the clock trick.  Yeah I was a bit concerned about telling people what had worked for me, which is why I said I can't recommend it, and didn't offer any links.  Having read about what the features are that I turned off, all but one I'm comfortable with keeping in mind how I use my computer.  One I'm a bit...  iffy about!