ActivationUI.exe has stopped working. ME2

[Gorehawl]

ActivationUI.exe has stopped working.

I recently wanted to re-revisit the classic trilogy and stumbled upon this. I tried many suggestions from people on the forums and nothing worked. Even tried with the help of technical support which again didn't really help. Was more or less same stuff from forums.

What worked for me was to replace the .exe file on my Mass Effect 2 folder with the one from my Mass Effect folder.

Not sure if other versions of this file will work or I am just one very lucky guy but it did for my case. Also tried with the one from Mass Effect 3 but it didn't. I hope this helps if you're having a bad day :P

It seems that devs messed something up and the updated version doesn't work or needs something we miss. I'd suggest they just leave the previous version alone or even the one from original Mass Effect. It's a real shame to have to spend 2-4 hours to work on a problem you shouldn't have in the 1st place. Please devs do listen to your customers and don't do things harder for us. Not everyone has the time, the energy or willingness to troubleshoot and try everything under the sun.

[EA_David · Accepted solution]

That's some great info. If you want to chase up on this I'd be curious if you find any errors if you run the Windows System File Checker.

You have a workaround for now, so you may not want to, but if you're interested you can find the steps for doing so here: https://support.microsoft.com/en-ie/help/929833/use-the-system-file-checker-tool-to-repair-missing-o...

[EA_David]

@GorehawlThank you for the update and the extra detail. I agree that we want to identify what's happening so that extensive troubleshooting isn't needed. 

I think this issue is related to Windows, as ME2 is quite old and hasn't had major updates in a while. Can I check what version of Windows you have and what version you're on?

[Gorehawl]

Thanks for the quick reply.

I am running Windows 7 Ultimate with Service Pack 1. More info are included on the attached files of DxDiag and MsInfo.

I have to disagree that the fault lies in the OS since I have maintained the same configuration and was able to play back then but not last night. The usual suspects like Firewall and Antivirus have been excluded as I have disabled and uninstalled em without success. Also note that AV and Firewall never gave me any trouble in the past.

Anyway, I hope this helps and we get to the bottom of this for the sake of other users. I am happy to provide any other info.

[EA_David]

@GorehawlThanks for the extra info. I think you're right about the OS, and we are investigating an issue with a security update in Origin. It was affecting a small number of users and shouldn't prevent the game from launching, but it's still worth checking.

There should have been a small update to fix this that was released a few hours after your post, can you update Origin and check again today?

[Gorehawl]

I have checked, I run Origin Version 10.4.10.52731 - 0 and still no dice. ActivationUI.exe still fails to work.

Mass Effect 1

Mass Effect 3

Syberia II

Battlefield 3

all work fine though. Might try a few other games when I have time. But it seems the issue is specifically tied to Mass Effect 2.

[EA_David · Accepted solution]

That's some great info. If you want to chase up on this I'd be curious if you find any errors if you run the Windows System File Checker.

You have a workaround for now, so you may not want to, but if you're interested you can find the steps for doing so here: https://support.microsoft.com/en-ie/help/929833/use-the-system-file-checker-tool-to-repair-missing-o...

[Gorehawl]

Well dress me up and call me a unicorn.

I run a scan with File Checker and found errors which it was able to correct. This has fixed the problem. The game launches fine with it's own version of ActivationUI.exe.

What perplexes me though is why would this only happen for this specific game.

I'd attach the CBS.log file but it seems the forums don't allow for larger than 10 megs and don't like .7z or .zip extensions.

[EA_David]

Thanks you for the update, that's great to know. I'd guess that the damaged files weren't widespread, so it only affected the files ME2 referenced.