Fixing Command and Conquer Error: Generals Won’t Run in Windows 10

Command and Conquer Generals is a popular online strategy game released back in 2003, so problems with Windows 10 are expected.

How to fix it

Create a new options.ini file

• Navigate to the C: Users username Documents Command and Conquer Generals folder.
• Inside, create a new text file with parameters and paste the following into it:

AntiAliasing = 1 CampaignDifficulty = 0 DrawScrollAnchor = FirewallBehavior = 1 FirewallNeedToRefresh = FALSE FirewallPortAllocationDelta = 0 GameSpyIPAddress = 10.0.0.2 Gamma = 50 IPAddress = 10.0.0.2 IdealStaticGameLOD = Low LanguageFilter = false 79 SFXVolume = 71 ScrollFactor = 16 SendDelay = no StaticGameLOD = High UseAlternateMouse = no UseDoubleClickAttackMove = no VoiceVolume = 70

Save the file and change the extension from “.txt” to “.ini”. To do this, you must enable extensions for known file types.

• Right click on “options.txt” and select “Rename” from the list.
• Rename it from “options.txt” to “options.ini”.

Buy Ultimate Collection

If you have a game on disc, it will not start due to compatibility issues. The only solution is to purchase the Ultimate Collection or the digital version. The digital version does not have the same restrictions as the CD version.

Update Windows 10

• Open the Settings app. Windows Key + I combination.
• When the Settings app opens, navigate to the Update & Security section.
• You will see the status of your PC and the last time you checked for updates. Click the Check for Updates button.
• The OS checks for updates and downloads them in the background. When your computer is up to date, check to see if the problem is gone.

Modify your registry

• Press Windows Key + R and type regedit. Press OK or Enter.
• Log in as an administrator and try again.
• In the left pane, go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE SYSTEM CurrentControlSet Services secdrv.
• You will see secdrv DWORD in the right pane, double click it to open its properties.
• Set your values, then click OK to save your changes.
• Close Registry Editor.

Use the command line

• Press Windows Key + X to open the Win + X menu. Select Command Prompt (Admin) from the list of results.
• When the Command Prompt window opens, type “sc config secdrv start = auto” followed by Enter.

Run the game in compatibility mode

• Find Command and Conquer, right-click and select Properties.
• Go to the Compatibility tab, check the Run this program in compatibility mode box. Select Windows from the list and check the Run this program with administrator rights checkbox. Click “Apply”, “OK” to save the changes.

Copy the game files

• Change to the installation directory.
• Find game.dat, make a copy of it in the same directory.
• Delete the original game.dat.
• Rename the copied game.dat file to game.dat.
• Find generals.exe, create a copy, delete the original, rename the copy to generals.exe.

Create a new user profile

• Open “Settings”, go to the “Accounts” section.
• Find “Family and other people” in the left pane. Select “Add a user for this computer”
• Select “I do not have this person’s login information.”
• Next, “Add a user without a Microsoft account.”
• Enter a name, click Next.