Windows update disables SafeDisc DRM in Windows Vista/7/8

Windows 10, Microsoft’s newest operating system won’t run games requiring SecuROM or SafeDisc as well because of security loopholes they may introduce on the system.

So this means some of the games that were previously playable on Windows 8 / 8.1, Windows 7 Service Pack 1 and Windows Vista Service Pack 2 might not be playable anymore since the Safedisc DRM has been disabled. In a security update released this month and first spotted by RockPaperShotgun, Microsoft has removed the SafeDisc DRM driver, secdrv.sys, from all supported versions of Windows.

As reported by RockPaperShotgun, games that rely on SafeDisc DRM will no longer run with Windows update KB3086255. To turn off the support, just follow the same procedure and type “sc stop secdrv” in the prompt. A risky alternative is to hunt around for no-CD cracks for the affected games, as you might get more (malware, viruses) than you bargained for. Microsoft has offered a quite technical workaround (either temporarily using command prompt or more permanently via the registry), but it comes at the price of leaving a PC potentially vulnerable to certain attacks.

Microsoft alleges that this apparently for your safety, and the good news is that games or other kinds of software using the SecuROM DRM will be safe from this. That in itself isn’t necessarily a bad thing, given their various problems and security flaws, but it is potentially an issue for owners of those games, who will have to either re-purchase them digitally or, ironically, download a crack.

The workaround requires that you start the driver before you play games that require Securom and stop it again the moment you are finished playing these games. Currently, it appears that SecuROM games will still run on Windows Vista, 7, and 8.