Medieval 2 Crashes it and explorer on Reinstall?

[LeeFoster2]

I recently tried reinstalling M2TW Gold (Disc) after not playing it for about a month. I've never had a problem with the game installing on my gaming desktop, even with Windows 7. The installer progress stops working at random intervals and never resumes. When i try to relaunch the install from the disc, my cursor goes into the hourglass and windows explorer crashes. I've searched extensively online for a fix, but never found a post with my unique issue. I hear people saying a Windows 7 update has been causing trouble, might start there? Sorry if i'm lacking information, this crashing has drove me mad.

[LeeFoster2]

Typo in the title supposed to say crashes *itself* and explorer.

[Frunk]

The Windows Security Update issue (link below in my signature) has not so far been associated with your described issue. Users experiencing that problem are usually able to install without issue, but the game simply does not run when a launch is attempted via any of the various methods. The cursor may briefly change to appear to be "loading" for a split-second, but no one has reported any crash of Windows Explorer, related to that problem.

Let's not rule it out entirely, though.

Are you currently using Windows 7?
Have you recently reinstalled your operating system, or upgraded to Windows 10?
When did the game last run properly?

[LeeFoster2]

Yes I'm using Windows 7. I've had the same version of Windows since this PC was built and I last played the game with no issues probably 2 months ago.

[Frunk]

And the game is installed, correctly and without any noticeable issue?

Are you able to launch any Kingdoms campaigns?

[LeeFoster2]

You misunderstand. I stated that the game "installer" freezes and crashes at random intervals, the base game will not finish installing, let alone kingdoms.

[Frunk]

That was my question. So the game was working 2 months ago and you uninstalled it. Now upon trying to reinstall, the installer crashes and freezes, along with Windows Explorer, at various intervals.

That pretty much confirms that the issue is not secdrv.sys related.

I have a suspicion that your problem is to do with your registry. Something may have gone wrong during the uninstall and "part" of Medieval 2 still exists in the registry, which can bugger things up.

Download WISE Registry Cleaner (credit goes to Gigantus for introducing me to this program). Install it and run a scan, then click "Clean". Restart your system, then attempt to install Gold again.