Hi everyone - to help coordinate the clutter, I'm creating a series of official sticky threads covering major issues.

This is the official thread for any issues that are preventing you from LAUNCHING the game. If you're experiencing such an issue or have a solution to such an issue, please post and discuss it here.

Thanks!

UPDATE [March 12, 10:20pm MST]:
Thanks for your patience everyone. We released a BETA patch this afternoon that fixed a number of these release-control related issues as well as an issue where the game would ask for non-existent drives. Also, we have further updates and workarounds for a number of these issues. Hopefully this will get the bulk of you up and running in time for the weekend. If you are still affected, please continue to post and help each other out and we'll continue to make these blocking issues a priority.

The primary culprits for many of these issues remain out of date video drivers, interference from antivirus software, Windows administration rights, and errors within users' Windows setups. We're continuing to investigate these issues and are identifying fixes and workarounds wherever possible.

EV#52959 – Some are getting “The application will not run on a Windows guest account or an account with insufficient privileges” error, regardless of Admin status.

• We have confirmed internally that this issue is not resolved by the BETA patch.
  


• We believe this to be a result of WMI misconfiguration in a user's
  system. You can see if this is the case if your Windows is unable to see
  your system's hardware components (ie. processor, RAM, etc). You can
  verify if you are in this situation by doing the following:
  
  WinXP:
  1) Right click on My Computer and click on Properties
  2)
  Incorrect information will be displayed for your system's Processor and
  potentially other hardware components in the bottom right
  
  Win7/Vista
  1) Go to the Control Panel
  2) Click on System.
  3) You should see something similar to this: http://i.imgur.com/HN86i.jpg
  
  If
  this is what you're seeing, your WMI configuration has been corrupted.
  As a result, Windows is unable to determine your Processor and other
  hardware components and therefore DA2 is unable to determine your
  hardware components during activation.
  
  To fix this, you will need to rebuild your WMI repository. I
  want to stress that this fix is not for users who are not running as
  Administrators. You must be logged in as an Administrator. In
  addition, if you are at all uncomfortable with the process of touching
  your system's WMI files, please wait for a more official fix.
  
  WinXP:
  Download the WMI Diagnosis Utility from Microsoft's site and execute the VBS script within. http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=D7BA3CD6-18D1-4D05-B11E-4C64192AE97D
  
  Win7/Vista:
  1) Open a Command Prompt (Windows Key + R, then enter 'cmd')
  2) Within the command prompt, execute the following command: ' net stop winmgmt ' without quotations.
  3) Rename your Repository folder (%SystemRoot%\System32\WBEM\Repository) just in case you wish to restore it.
  4) Within the command prompt, execute the following command: 'winmgmt /salvagerepository' without quotations.
  5) The above command will rebuild the repository if it is corrupted and then restart the WMI service.
  
  After your WMI repository has been rebuilt, please try and activate DA2. If you're still seeing the same symptoms, it could be that you're running on an older BIOS that needs to be updated. We've also had user reports of having to enter "c:\>net localgroup administrators NetworkService /ADD" in the command prompt as a final step. Another user reports that their winmgmt service was disabled. They were able to run msconfig and enable it, then start winmgmt from the command prompt, which finally fixed it for them.
  

EV#52957 – Some are getting a “Dragon Age II has stopped working” error

• Users have confirmed that this issue is not resolved by the BETA patch.
  


• Some (but not all) users have been able to resolve this issue by installing the latest ATI or Nvidia beta drivers. For more
  info about graphics drivers, see the DX11 thread -
  http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/300/index/6420212
  

EV#52973 – Some are getting a AWC.dll error

• Early reports suggested that this was due to an outdated version of the Windows .NET Framework, but we no longer believe that to be the case. Instead, we now believe it to be related to Admin accounts. Some users are reporting that the issue is resolved by creating a new user with Admin rights in the Users control panel, then logging under that account to install and validate the game. After having done that, they were able to log back into their regular account to play the game.

EV#53092 – Some are getting a black popup that disappears immediately.

• We believe this is related to interference from anti-virus software.
  Users are reporting that the issue resolves if you turn off all
  anti-virus software as well as your Windows firewall and then reinstall.
  

EV#53093 – Some are gettting partway through the release check progress bar, then crashing.

• User reports suggest that this has to do with Administration privileges. Under Windows 7, you will need to run an elevated command prompt (basically run cmd.exe as administrator). Then you have to enable the hidden built-ina dministrator account for Windows 7 using the following command prompt: "C:\windows\system32>net user administrator active:yes"  ...Then log off of your account and log into the built-in administrator account where Dragon Age II should now run successfully. If you need more detailed instructions on the built in administrator go here - http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/507-built-administrator-account-enable-disable.html ...Windows Vista is essentially the same process - see http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555910

EV#53094 – Some are failing silently after pressing Play.

• User reports suggest this is resolved with the 1.01 BETA patch.
  


• For Steam users unable to access the BETA patch, previous reports suggested that it might be tied to interference from AVG or other anti-virus software. Other reports suggest it might be related to graphics drivers.
  

 EV#53095 - Some are getting a "Dragon Age II has encountered a problem and needs
to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience." error

• We have more reports of this but are still trying to identify the cause.

EV#53198 - Some are getting a "The version of the file is not compatible with the version of windows your running" error

• User reports suggest that it might be tied to interference from AVG or other anti-virus software. We're continuing to investigate.


• A lot of users are reporting success from the following procedure: Under AVG settings, go to the "exceptions" tab
  under Resident Shield then unblock the activation software by adding this line to the "add path" tab:
  C:\Users\Username\AppData\Local\Temp\mtka_tmp ...It's possible this file is causing problems with other forms of anti-virus software as well.
  

Some are successfully getting through release control but hitting the DX11 issues immediately upon launch. Some can’t access the launcher, however, and therefore can’t drop their settings down to DX9.

• Definitely grab the latest ATI and Nvidia beta drivers, as described in the DX11 thread - http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/300/index/6420212 ...Turn your settings down to DirectX9 if you can. If you can't run the launcher or config utility, there is a DX11 line in the DragonAge.ini file which you can set to UseDirectX11Renderer=0 - it doesn't exist until you run the game, however. Depending on when you're failing, you may not have an *.ini file to edit.

Yep, I cannot play my copy because of the admin rights, Been posting under another thread since yesterday. "Administrative Issues"

North America
Windows vista service pack 3
signature edition

Having issues with clicking play and getting the message "Dragon Age II has stopped working"

Updated to the lastest nVidia beta driver and rolled back to 195.62 for a GeForece 9600M GT, tried DirectX 9 and disabling Vertical Sync and Full Screen Play and uninstalled and reinstalled the game several times to no positive progression.

My game is completely broken, as far as I can tell... I press Play and then nothing. No date check, no crash info, just plain nothing. All drivers are updated and such. And yes, I already tried uninstalling, redownloading and reinstalling the game.

The game was officially released 4½ hours ago. Demo worked perfectly fine, btw, not a single issue there.

Is there perhaps a way to force a date check?

I also have posted in other threads. My problem is I can install the game, but when I press play and it get's to the release date check it goes to 30% then produces an error screen. No matter how many times I press retry it does not work.

I have tried so far...reinstalling, setting admin rights on exe. files (and other related files), turning off all firewalls/virus programs, and setting ports.

I am est U.S. time, and have a hard copy of the game from amazon.com. Comp specs also meet and exceed all min requirements.

same problems here:

Germany (03:32am now)
WinXP Service Pack 3 or Win7 Professional - on both OS DA2 won't start.
Nvidia Geforce 9600M GT

The game crashes after the date check...again, again and again. Didn't see one second of the game so far.

This is my problem and apparently with Windows 7 64 bit this is happening to many people. My computer surpasses all requirements, I've updated the nVidia and audio drivers, still I hit play and it turns itself off. What ever happened to customer support?

I have windows vista 64 bit ati mobility radeon 4650 and I downloaded the beta update from the link in the forums created the exception to the firewall uninstalled and reinstalled at least 4 times and tried to run the .exe as an administrator with dx9 with the lowest possible settings and highest and nothing works it always crashes.

im not sure but everytime it runs the release date checker it gets to about 70 percent and then just closes.

Alright fine... Since you locked my thread... (Really? After 28 hours 3 convos directly with EA tech support & not a single solution that has worked.... ugh not happy)

I install DA2>Restart Comp>Hit Launcher>Configt happy times go>Release Date Checker Go> Game crashes immediately after that.

After the first attempt to play Release Date checker does not show up anymore it just crashes immediately after I hit play on the launcher.

Updated my NVidia drivers to old drivers & tried it, updated to current driver, updated now to beta driver.

Played through DA2 Demo (Steam version) fine three different times.(I have since deleted My Docs>Bioware>DA2 Demo folder to see if thats what was causing a crash).

28 hours still havent seen anything but the launch screen.

Using Windows 7 64bit. I get the launcher, but when I press play nothing happens. The date check seemed to complete, but still no game.

Australia
Win XP SP3
DA2 Digital Version (gamersgate)
Logged in as administrator. Only account on system.

13 hours after release time.

My game launcher comes up, I click "play" and I see the DA2 logo and then a windows flag saying "game has stopped working"

I reinstalled DX manually from the disc as the troubleshooting suggested, no help there.

win 7 64bit, nvidia geforce GTX 295, quad core i7

bioware pre-order signature edition, fully unlocked and registered

Launcher comes up just fine then the black window pops for about two seconds when i hit the play button then.. nothing.
Drivers updated
DX9/Dx11 attempted
Ran as administrator
deactivated AVG
reinstalled multipule times
authorized online
still nothing...

When I press Play from the launcher a black box opens and then quickly disappears, then nothing. I've updated drivers, tried Direct X 11 and 9 with different launch settings, reinstalled multiple times, still nothing.

i got mine to work; chose configure tab on game screen, then video option and set it on directx9 (was on 11 as default)

Hope this helps

Same as pretty much everyone in this thread. W7 64bit. Updated drivers. Tried both versions of DX. Reinstalled, restarted, etc. but "Dragon Age 2 has stopped working" the second i click "play".

I'm having a similar problem as well. After the release date check finishes and I press "Play" nothing happens. DA2 is not shown running in the processes at all. I'm running XPsp3. I have it on Directx9.

Definitely smells like a DRM problem.

ok we just fixed magor's problem. there is definitely something wrong with the drm checks going on with retail versions of the game. I have steam version and it works fine.

DOWN WITH DRM!!!

Just adding my own plight to the list.  Digital Download version to a PC running Windows Vista SP2.  It won't let me play because of administrator permissions, despite the fact that I'm running it on an administrator account.  I tried a bunch of the fixes people are suggesting in these forums, to no avail.

@Shadow of Light Dragon

I got that exact error myself yesterday.  I figured I could get around that by using the exe in the bin_ship folder.  

I also got the awc.dll error and created a shortcut to the ea core server exe.  I haven't needed to use it since trying it yesterday.  Don't know why.

WinXP 64-bit SP2 Black
Intel i7 925
Gigabyte EX-58-UD3R Motherboard
EVGA GeForce GTX 260
6GB Memory

warblod wrote...

i got mine to work; chose configure tab on game screen, then video option and set it on directx9 (was on 11 as default)

Hope this helps

i forgot to mention that my problem was getting start screen and game stopping also.

Can't play, at all.

anti-virus picks up release control as a virus, kills it. uninstall the game, turn off anti-virus, reinstall game. doesn't launch at all.

when I go into bin_ship and click on the executeable, it says my version of windows isn't supported.

I have Windows Vista 64bit.

I have tried everything that has been previously mentioned in this thread. Still nothing. I open the game up. Click play on the launcher, my cursor turns into an hour glass and a second later, I get "Dragon Age II has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience." No black screen, nothing!

I have Windows XP 3.  I am running Directx9.0c.  I ran the Demo just fine - actually it went well.

I've talked to about 5 -7 Representatives on ea live chat and they have all not been able to fix my problem, im running vista 64 bit and after i install the game and go to the launcher and press play just nothing happens.  after i get a error message saying that its not compatable with the 64 bit and to contact someone about it.  unbelievable

please help >.<