Halo 2 will not install on Windows 7

Hello everyone! It's me again, the problematic Emperor!

So I recently purchased a retail version on Halo 2 for PC from Best Buy and did not know it had so many issues with Windows 7?! I mean, I figured, hey, it works on Windows Vista, shouldn't have any problemos on Win 7, right? Boy was I wrong!

Anyway, the problem is that I can't even install the darn thing. Every single time I try opening the installation file it just freezes, the splash screen, I mean. I tried running on admin, tried under different versions of Windows, tried updating the redistrib's...nothing has worked thus far. Weird part is Halo 1 works perfectly fine AND I also got a Retail Quake 4 PC today and that works great, just have to run it as admin.

Any ideas/advice? Thanks in advance! :)

I just purchased this same game a week ago and it installed without a hitch. Before I attempted installation, I had read that earlier versions of Windows Live needed to be removed before installing this game. I did this and had no problems.

Do you have Windows Live installed?

SQUID said:

I just purchased this same game a week ago and it installed without a hitch. Before I attempted installation, I had read that earlier versions of Windows Live needed to be removed before installing this game. I did this and had no problems.

Do you have Windows Live installed?

Ummm.....no I don't think so. If I do, I'll uninstall and try again but I don't recall having that installed. Will let you know if I do/don't and what happened. Thanks! :)

Okay the only two things I had installed that had anything LIVE in the name was: Microsoft Office Live Add In AND Microsoft Live Essentials. I did install Messenger and Mail but I don't want to remove the photo gallery or movie maker b/c I DO use them. Do you think these may be the issue? If so, I suppose I could remove them...but...sigh...I can use another gallery program I guess. What do you think?

By the sounds of it you will need to update to the latest version of windows live.

Windows Live Essentials 2011

Go here and update to the latest, and try again, if it doesn't work, ill look for another fix

Sorry I meant Games for Windows Live needed to be removed before installing. It seems that the updated client version 3.0 will not let Halo 2 install in some cases. It looks as though that is not your problem though.

Trying to see if I could get the game installed was a success. However getting the game to run is a different story as I get this error attempting to run the game....



Not only that but my resolution changes and I can't do anything to the desktop unless I Ctrl+Alt+Delete

Anyways this issue have something to do with the fact that the game is looking for Live 1.0 when the latest version I have installed is 3.0

Here's a link here.....

- Halo 2 Windows 7 (combining threads/issues) - Games for Windows Live
- Halo 2 on Windows 7 will not start due to Windows live 3.0 not compatible

Again, getting the game to install on my Windows 7 x64-bit wasn't a problem, running the game is.

Try downgrading to an older version, that my help, also the error shows something about a halo 2 dedicated server, you aren't hosting a server on your machine are you?

XxbowjrxX said:

Try downgrading to an older version, that my help,

If you're talking about live, you can get it off the disk itself.

XxbowjrxX said:

the error shows something about a halo 2 dedicated server, you aren't hosting a server on your machine are you?

No I'm not running or hosting a server. Never did.

Anyway I just wanted to see If I could get the game installed seeing how the OP said he couldn't get it to install. I'm not really interested in playing it again, so it's no biggie to me. Plus I don't feel like going through the hassle of the proposed fix.

So....

1- Did the game install on Windows 7 (64-bit).... yes.

2- Did it run for me.... no

3- Did I try the proposed fix in here - Halo 2 on Windows 7 will not start due to Windows live 3.0 not compatible.... no

Sorry

Well these procedures didn't fix the game.... When you try to load a Games for Windows – LIVE game, you receive one of the following error messages: "System Cannot Find the Path Specified" or "LIVE gaming on Windows failed to initialize". Just tried them without success.

I've also tried....

- Uninstalling and reinstalling the game.

- Uninstalling the latest version of Windows Live (3.3) and just installing the one from the disk.

- Updating on top of the Live version from the disk (1.) to 3.3.

- Both procedures listed here.... When you try to load a Games for Windows – LIVE game, you receive one of the following error messages: "System Cannot Find the Path Specified" or "LIVE gaming on Windows failed to initialize"

- Installing the game on different directories.

So far non of those has worked.

Anyways I was trying to help out the OP but I seem to have hit a wall. I'm sure there's other things
to try but I haven't checked them all.

For those having the issue give some of the other suggestions in the links I posted a try.

Peace