Removing secuROM

I am sure this had been posted, but I am having trouble finding a clear link on GOOGLE.

If I unistall a secuROM game I understand it does not uninstall secuROM.

So how do I get rid of this thing?

(none insulting post replies only please, I am asking for help)

Quoted from their FAQ:

3.2 How do I remove SecuROM™ from my machine?

To remove SecuROM™ related files please follow the instructions below. Before you start the uninstallation, close all programs which are running in the background.

The link below contains a tool which removes SecuROM™:

http://www.securom.com/support/SecuROM_Uninstaller.zip

Please follow these steps:

• Download the ZIP file
• Extract the application into a temporary folder
• Launch the application and follow the instructions.
  A dialog box will appear. To start the SecuROM™ uninstallation, press the button.
  Note that you need administrator rights to run this uninstallation utility.

Please note that this uninstallation process will not remove the SecuROM™ DRM license information. Removing the license information may result in a lost activation, or may prevent other SecuROM™ protected software on your PC from working. This uninstall process allows you to remove SecuROM-related files without losing a purchased software activation. See section 4 for more information about license information.

Note that some or all of those files and registry keys may be re-created in their respective locations upon each launch of a SecuROM™ protected application.

If you have used SecuROM™ protected applications for multiple users on your PC, it may be necessary to run this tool under each respective user account.

http://www.securom.com/support/SecuROM_Uninstaller.zipManyac

somehow i do not believe that is the solution.

I just skimmed through the Class Action law suite against EA because of SecuROM (look at Spore.pdf), and apparently, you can only uninstall the program if you completely wipe your harddrive. If you are having issues with firewalls, virus scanners, or authorization on programs, SecuROM could be the problem.

I'm not going to buy anymore games that include this stupid piece of **** that supposedly will stop piracy. People who pirated the game will not have SecuROM, so how is SecuROM suppose to help!?

I found this a while ago when I needed to remove SecuROM. Can't remember the site, now, but I saved the instructions, so here they are...

Securom uninstallation instructions for Windows XP SP2

Disclaimer 1: Only attempt these uninstallation instructions if you are reasonably computer literate and have backed-up your entire system.

Disclaimer 2: Only attempt these uninstallation instructions if you have no games installed which require Securom to be present.

Disclaimer 3: Only attempt these uninstallation instructions if you previously had to authorised your PC with Securom before you could play a game and that game is now uninstalled.

* Step 1: Uninstall the Bioshock demo.

* Step 2: Remove the Securom registry entries.

The Securom registry entries are deliberately made non-removable by default. In order to remove them download the http://www.microsoft.com/technet/s [...] lNull.mspx RegDelNull registry editing utility from Microsoft and install it on your C partition.

Run the following two commands from a Windows command prompt:

"C:regdelnull HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareSecuROM -s" and

"C:regdelnull HKEY_USERSSoftwareSecuROM -s"

where "" can be determined by searching the registry for the "Securom" directory key.

This "" typically has a form like "S-1-5-21-2052111302-1757341266-724545543-500". Once these two RegDelNull commands have been successfully issued the registry should be checked to confirm that these two keys have been deleted. If they are still present they will now be removeable due to the action of the RegDelNull utility.

* Step 3: Removal of the Securom service and related utilities.

Open a Windows command prompt and change directory to "c:windowssystem32". Type "uaservice7 /remove". This will stop the Securom user access service, and clean up its relevant registry entries. On the Windows command prompt type "regsvr32 /u cmdlineext.dll". Reboot and then manually delete the files "uaservice7.exe" and "cmdlineext.dll" from "c:windowssystem32". Note: Both of these files are Securom installed files which can be verified by checking their file properties (Right click - Properties).

* Step 4: Removal of Securom files under "C:Documents and Settings".

Securom installs a hidden directory with 6 files under "C:/Documents and Settings/Application Data/Securom". The first 4 ordinary text files can simply be manually deleted once Windows explorer has been configured to show hidden files and folders. The two remaining malformed nominally unremoveable files require a special method to delete: Invoke a Windows command prompt with full Administrator privileges by typing the following into a Windows command prompt:

"at /interactive %systemroot%system32cmd.exe"

e.g. "at 9:02pm /interactive %systemroot%system32cmd.exe".

This will open a new Administrator command line when the time set has been attained. In this new command prompt change directory into the Securom folder e.g. "cd C:/Documents and Settings/Application Data/Securom". Issue the following command to show the two remaining hidden malformed files:

"dir /A".

To delete the two remaining hidden malformed files issue the following command:

"del /F /AH *".

Confirm "yes" for each of the two file deletions of the malformed files. Finally, the directory "C:/Documents and Settings/Application Data/Securom" can be deleted as per normal practice from within Windows explorer.

Hope that helps. If you cannot find the SecuROM directory under the suggested directory, it may instead be under C:/Documents and Settings//Local Settings/SecuROM.

And here is a list of SecuROM 7.xx protected games I've managed to compile from around the net. Note: I do not think all of these install hidden directories etc., on your PC - some just use SecuROM as a simple disk check without installing anything, but don't ask me which games do what because I'm not sure.

Games Protected by SecuROM 7.xx

Advent Rising
ARMA: Armed Assault
Battlestations Midway
Bioshock
Bloodrayne 2
Boiling Point: Road To Hell
Broken Sword: The Angel of Death
Broken Sword 4
Caesar IV
Call Of Juarez
Clive Barker's Jericho
Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars
Commandos: Strike Force
Company of Heroes (Gold)
Constantine
Crashday
Crime Life: Gang Wars
Crysis
Dark Messiah Of Might & Magic
Destination: Treasure Island
Dreamfall: The Longest Journey
Driver (4)
Driver (4): Parallel Lines
El Matador
Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion: Shivering Isles
Empire Earth 2: The Art Of Supremacy
Empire Earth 3
F.E.A.R.
Far Cry 2
Fifa 2008
Frontlines: Fuel of War
Gears Of War PC
Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter
Gothic 2: Night Of The Raven (expansion)
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
GTR 2
Guitar Hero III
Happy Feet
Heroes Of Might & Magic V: Hammers Of Fate
Heroes Of The Pacific
Hitman: Blood Money
Hoyle Card Games
Jade Empire: Special Edition
Juiced
Lego Indiana Jones
Lego Star Wars
Lego Star Wars II
Madden NFL 08
Mass Effect PC
Medal Of Honor: Airborne
Monopoly: Here And Now
Moto GP URT 3
Myst V – End Of Ages
Need For Speed: Pro Street
Neverwinter Nights 2
Prey
Pro Evolution Soccer 6
Project Snowblind
Psychonauts
Rainbow Six: Vegas
Rogue Trooper
Roller Coaster Tycoon 3: Expansion
Serious Sam 2
Sid Meier's Railroads
Silent Hunter: Wolves Of The Pacific
Splinter Cell: Double Agent
Spore
Stacked Poker
Star Wars: Battlefront 2
Star Wars: Empire At War
Stronghold 2
Stronghold Legends
Stubbs The Zombie
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow Of Chernobyl
Supreme Commander
The Da Vinci Code
The Guild 2
The Matrix: Path Of Neo
Tomb Raider: Anniversary
Tomb Raider: Legend
Total Overdose
Turning Point: Fall of Liberty
Vietcong 2
Warhammer 40,000: DoW: Dark Crusade
Warhammer 40,000: DoW: Winter Assault
Warhammer 40,000: DoW: Soulstorm
World In Conflict

So keep in mind that if you have any of these games installed, next time you run them after removing SecuROM they may either not work, or they may reinstall SecuROM 7.xx on your PC.

And here is a list of SecuROM 7.xx protected games I've managed to compile from around the net. Note: I do not think all of these install hidden directories etc., on your PC - some just use SecuROM as a simple disk check without installing anything, but don't ask me which games do what because I'm not sure.

Games Protected by SecuROM 7.xx

Advent Rising
ARMA: Armed Assault
Battlestations Midway
Bioshock
Bloodrayne 2
Boiling Point: Road To Hell
Broken Sword: The Angel of Death
Broken Sword 4
Caesar IV
Call Of Juarez
Clive Barker's Jericho
Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars
Commandos: Strike Force
Company of Heroes (Gold)
Constantine
Crashday
Crime Life: Gang Wars
Crysis
Dark Messiah Of Might & Magic
Destination: Treasure Island
Dreamfall: The Longest Journey
Driver (4)
Driver (4): Parallel Lines
El Matador
Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion: Shivering Isles
Empire Earth 2: The Art Of Supremacy
Empire Earth 3
F.E.A.R.
Far Cry 2
Fifa 2008
Frontlines: Fuel of War
Gears Of War PC
Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter
Gothic 2: Night Of The Raven (expansion)
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
GTR 2
Guitar Hero III
Happy Feet
Heroes Of Might & Magic V: Hammers Of Fate
Heroes Of The Pacific
Hitman: Blood Money
Hoyle Card Games
Jade Empire: Special Edition
Juiced
Lego Indiana Jones
Lego Star Wars
Lego Star Wars II
Madden NFL 08
Mass Effect PC
Medal Of Honor: Airborne
Monopoly: Here And Now
Moto GP URT 3
Myst V – End Of Ages
Need For Speed: Pro Street
Neverwinter Nights 2
Prey
Pro Evolution Soccer 6
Project Snowblind
Psychonauts
Rainbow Six: Vegas
Rogue Trooper
Roller Coaster Tycoon 3: Expansion
Serious Sam 2
Sid Meier's Railroads
Silent Hunter: Wolves Of The Pacific
Splinter Cell: Double Agent
Spore
Stacked Poker
Star Wars: Battlefront 2
Star Wars: Empire At War
Stronghold 2
Stronghold Legends
Stubbs The Zombie
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow Of Chernobyl
Supreme Commander
The Da Vinci Code
The Guild 2
The Matrix: Path Of Neo
Tomb Raider: Anniversary
Tomb Raider: Legend
Total Overdose
Turning Point: Fall of Liberty
Vietcong 2
Warhammer 40,000: DoW: Dark Crusade
Warhammer 40,000: DoW: Winter Assault
Warhammer 40,000: DoW: Soulstorm
World In Conflict

So keep in mind that if you have any of these games installed, next time you run them after removing SecuROM they may either not work, or they may reinstall SecuROM 7.xx on your PC.

RobertBowen

God that sucks.

Seems it should be illegal to not uninstall after you remove the game

[QUOTE="RobertBowen"]

And here is a list of SecuROM 7.xx protected games I've managed to compile from around the net. Note: I do not think all of these install hidden directories etc., on your PC - some just use SecuROM as a simple disk check without installing anything, but don't ask me which games do what because I'm not sure.

Games Protected by SecuROM 7.xx

Advent Rising
ARMA: Armed Assault
Battlestations Midway
Bioshock
Bloodrayne 2
Boiling Point: Road To Hell
Broken Sword: The Angel of Death
Broken Sword 4
Caesar IV
Call Of Juarez
Clive Barker's Jericho
Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars
Commandos: Strike Force
Company of Heroes (Gold)
Constantine
Crashday
Crime Life: Gang Wars
Crysis
Dark Messiah Of Might & Magic
Destination: Treasure Island
Dreamfall: The Longest Journey
Driver (4)
Driver (4): Parallel Lines
El Matador
Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion: Shivering Isles
Empire Earth 2: The Art Of Supremacy
Empire Earth 3
F.E.A.R.
Far Cry 2
Fifa 2008
Frontlines: Fuel of War
Gears Of War PC
Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter
Gothic 2: Night Of The Raven (expansion)
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
GTR 2
Guitar Hero III
Happy Feet
Heroes Of Might & Magic V: Hammers Of Fate
Heroes Of The Pacific
Hitman: Blood Money
Hoyle Card Games
Jade Empire: Special Edition
Juiced
Lego Indiana Jones
Lego Star Wars
Lego Star Wars II
Madden NFL 08
Mass Effect PC
Medal Of Honor: Airborne
Monopoly: Here And Now
Moto GP URT 3
Myst V – End Of Ages
Need For Speed: Pro Street
Neverwinter Nights 2
Prey
Pro Evolution Soccer 6
Project Snowblind
Psychonauts
Rainbow Six: Vegas
Rogue Trooper
Roller Coaster Tycoon 3: Expansion
Serious Sam 2
Sid Meier's Railroads
Silent Hunter: Wolves Of The Pacific
Splinter Cell: Double Agent
Spore
Stacked Poker
Star Wars: Battlefront 2
Star Wars: Empire At War
Stronghold 2
Stronghold Legends
Stubbs The Zombie
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow Of Chernobyl
Supreme Commander
The Da Vinci Code
The Guild 2
The Matrix: Path Of Neo
Tomb Raider: Anniversary
Tomb Raider: Legend
Total Overdose
Turning Point: Fall of Liberty
Vietcong 2
Warhammer 40,000: DoW: Dark Crusade
Warhammer 40,000: DoW: Winter Assault
Warhammer 40,000: DoW: Soulstorm
World In Conflict

So keep in mind that if you have any of these games installed, next time you run them after removing SecuROM they may either not work, or they may reinstall SecuROM 7.xx on your PC.

Makari

Do/will these games still have SecuROM if they are purchased and downloaded through the steam client?

Do/will these games still have SecuROM if they are purchased and downloaded through the steam client?mkshift

does Crysis really have securom ? i just recently installed it and didnt warn me about it but Crysis Warhead warned me. and it was saying "checking the game release date over the net"... i was really annoyed when i saw it, what if i wouldnt have net ? these new things are crap, i cant play a game i pay for it, ridiculous...

so i have this crap on my computer eh?

does Crysis really have securom ? i just recently installed it and didnt warn me about it but Crysis Warhead warned me. and it was saying "checking the game release date over the net"... i was really annoyed when i saw it, what if i wouldnt have net ? these new things are crap, i cant play a game i pay for it, ridiculous...

so i have this crap on my computer eh?

TheLegendKnight

Not all SecuROM 7.xx games use the online activation or limited activations 'features'. Some simply do a disk check. I can't tell you which specific games install null entries in your registry and hidden directories on your hard drive. All I know is that it happened to me. The games I personally bought and installed include:

Bioshock, Boiling Point, Call Of Juarez, Company of Heroes, Crysis, Dark Messiah, ES4: Shivering Isles, F.E.A.R., GRAW, NWN2, Prey, Project Snowblind, Rogue Trooper, S.T.A.L.K.E.R., and the Warhammer 40k expansions.

Any one of them (perhaps all of them) were responsible for installing that malware on my PC and running UA7service.exe in the background every time I booted up. Although I used the method outlined above to remove SecuROM from my PC, I did eventually reinstall the OS. I'm planning on doing a complete reformat and reinstall sometime soon, when work pressure eases off.

If you're concerned that you may have SecuROM 7.xx installed on your system, my advice is to check. Go into Windows Explorer, turn on 'show hidden files and folders' and then check inside your 'Documents and Settings' folders to see if there is a SecuROM folder in there. Open up Task Manager and see if UA7service.exe is running in the background. Go into your Windows/System32 directory and look for files starting with CmdLine... Then you'll know if SecuROM 7.xx is installed and potentially causing problems.

so is there a way to install a game without installing securom ?

or

can we totally remove them from our computers and play the game ? ( maybe no dvd patches will help ? )

so is there a way to install a game without installing securom ?TheLegendKnight

No, not legally.

can we totally remove them from our computers and play the game ? ( maybe no dvd patches will help ? )

TheLegendKnight

You mean remove SecuROM and play the game? If you remove SecuROM, the next time you run the game it will simply reinstate what you removed, or won't work at all.

I don't know about no-CD patches, but I believe the only way to play the game without SecuROM being on your PC at all is to use a cracked version (ie, pirated), which I would not advise or condone.

The games I purchased that I listed above I simply put in a box and put the box in a cupboard. I'm just resigned to not playing them, and regretting having bought them in the first place. If I'd known then what I know now, I simply wouldn't have bothered. That is why I'm trying to compile a list of all games using SecuROM 7.xx, and not buying any games until I have found out what copy protection is used. For me it's just not worth the risk, or the money.

After all, a game (in the UK at least) costs £25-£30. My PC cost substantially more than that a couple of years ago, and I've already had to replace 2 DVD drives which cost me as much as the game. The first drive was replaced because it wouldn't read some of the game disks, due to the copy protection used. The second was replaced because it stopped working completely after trying a data backup with Nero, which SecuROM 7.xx apparently doesn't like. I'm not going through that again just because game publishers want to ship malware with their products, and dictate what hardware/software I should have on my PC and how it is used.

Do I miss not being able to play those games I bought? Sure, I do. But it's not the end of the world, and I still have plenty of games to play. It's only a hobby and light entertainment, after all.

its like they ( publishers, instead of developers i believe ) are forcing people to use pirated copies...

damn i liked crysis alot and got warhead at full price (30$) ( i bought crysis cheaper (25$ :lol:) because there was a price drop ) and now it makes me feel like i installed that damn thing twice...

ok now i got an idea, my hdd has many partitions and i use different part for games, lets say D: . if i for_mat C: ( where windows xp is ), can i play those games without reinstall ? most installed games dont require reinstall and i can play them easily even after countless for_mats but does this method work for games with securom ?

*ps i didnt know f.o.r.m.a.t word was censored too...

For SecuROM protected games that require online activation and have limited activations, reformating and reinstalling your OS will definitely use up an activation and require you to verify it online again. Be sure to use an activation revoke tool for a game if there is one available before reinstalling your OS, or you will lose that activation.

As I said before, some games may cease to function if they can't access the SecuROM files. Some have SecuROM imbedded in the .exe file and will probably just reinstall the components it needs the next time you run the game - so you would be back to square one. SecuROM is tied into the game code - and some games are even designed so that they deteriorate over time if they can't access SecuROM. This was one of the issues with Titan Quest - many people reported bugs and problems, but they were actually running cracked versions of the game, and the 'bugs' arose because the game could not access the copy protection files to verify that it was a legitimate copy, so parts of the game stopped working. I understand that other games use similar methods.

It does not matter on which partition you install a game (I install all of my games onto a separate hard disk) - if the SecuROM files are installed, they will still go under 'Documents and Settings' and in your Windows/System32 directory. I don't believe there is a way to 'fool' SecuROM or the games that use this malware - other than reverting to illegal means (which I cannot recommend).

its like they ( publishers, instead of developers i believe ) are forcing people to use pirated copies...TheLegendKnight

Search you registry...I bet you do have it. Most if not all EA games install it on your PC.A1B2C3CAL

It depends on the game and how it works.

If you are using a game that is at the final updates and it doesn't need to access the internet [like GOTY Oblivion] then you can remove securom after installing the full game, then use a no-cd as your startup. As long as you don't put the disc back in the system or updates it after the fact, your system will be securom free.

(this site can help by giving you advice and a good uninstall process : http://reclaimyourgame.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=282&Itemid=40)

As for the games that don't have that option, you are stuck with securom as long as you play the game.

As for the people who read this and may ask why use a no-cd after removing Securom, well if you had set up you PC with a backup prior to installing the game and something goes wrong after you have the game on it, you can't go back as long as Securom is on your PC. I've tried many times and all it did was corrupt the reg files where I had to reformat.

I had to reformat my PC to totally get it out.