++IMPORTANT++ For those who cannot launch Hardline

[Ethenstien]

For the last two days now when I have attempted to launch BF Hardline, I see bfh.exe and ActivationUI.exe appear in the task manager for a moment before they both exit. Finally last night I decided to open a ticket with EA support and have them call me. The fourth guy I talked to was really patient and helpful (odd I know) and I have finally made some progress. See below for the steps I took before contacting EA support:

""Also looking for help on this. Literally no error at all, and the beta, along with BF4 and BF3 both work properly. I have a different GPU than OP, a GTX 970.

I have also re-installed all drivers, DirectX, vcredist_x64, PunkBuster, Origin, and I have deleted the Origin AppData. I have also allowed all related programs through my antivirus and firewall, and I have attempted to launch with both the firewall and antivirus disabled.

The end result is the same, bfh.exe and ActivationUI.exe open and close multiple times, and nothing happens. Meanwhile the battlelog webpage

sits on "joining server"  indefinitely (I left it sitting on that when I went to work this morning, 9 hours later and it still says the same thing).""

The guy I got on the phone had me send him a copy of my DxDiag, and he then emailed me a few things to try.

"" Firstly I would advise to try and create a new test admin account on your computer. I will leave instructions on how to do this.

Creating a new administrator account is a useful step if you're experiencing issues launching or installing games, or if your games crash or freeze during play.

A new administrator account creates a new copy of the registry, making registry troubleshooting steps such as registry "cleaning" and manual uninstallation unnecessary.

Windows 7

Click the Start button, then select the Control Panel.
Select "User Accounts".
Select "Manage User Accounts".
Be advised: Non-administrators will need to provide admin credentials here.
Click the "Add" button.
Enter a name for the account and click the "Next" button.
Select "Administrator".
Click the "Finish" button.

http://help.ea.com/article/how-do-i-run-a-program-or-a-game-as-an-administrator

If that doesn't work then I would suggest trying a clean boot of your computer.

A clean boot is used to disable background tasks and services that are running on a Windows computer. This is done to prevent the background tasks and services from interfering with proper game execution.

You can find steps on doing this at the below link:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929135 ""

After I received the email I created a separate admin user account, logged into it, launched Origin, and Hardline. And the game actually stayed open! I was able to play several rounds. I logged back into my main user account, and I had the original problem. As far as I can tell it's an issue with the user account permissions or the registry interfering with either bfh.exe or ActivationUI.exe.

Anyways I am able to play for now, but it's not a complete fix. I am still in contact with the same customer service rep ( some "tech specialist", I was transferred through three different people that had no idea of what the problem was, and one of them argued that the game wasn't released yet!) I will keep you guys updated as I learn more, hopefully this guy can help me identify the actual problem.

Sorry for the uber long post, but seeing as several people have been asking around about this issue, and no one seems to have a solution, I figured I would try to help out with what I know. It's just a temporary solution for now, but hopefully soon I can figure out what the root of the problem is, and figure out a more concrete fix.

[Ethenstien]

""Also looking for help on this. Literally no error at all, and the beta, along with BF4 and BF3 both work properly. I have a different GPU than OP, a GTX 970.

I have also re-installed all drivers, DirectX, vcredist_x64, PunkBuster, Origin, and I have deleted the Origin AppData. I have also allowed all related programs through my antivirus and firewall, and I have attempted to launch with both the firewall and antivirus disabled.

The end result is the same, bfh.exe and ActivationUI.exe open and close multiple times, and nothing happens. Meanwhile the battlelog webpage

sits on "joining server"  indefinitely (I left it sitting on that when I went to work this morning, 9 hours later and it still says the same thing).""

The guy I got on the phone had me send him a copy of my DxDiag, and he then emailed me a few things to try.

"" Firstly I would advise to try and create a new test admin account on your computer. I will leave instructions on how to do this.

Creating a new administrator account is a useful step if you're experiencing issues launching or installing games, or if your games crash or freeze during play.

A new administrator account creates a new copy of the registry, making registry troubleshooting steps such as registry "cleaning" and manual uninstallation unnecessary.

Windows 7

Click the Start button, then select the Control Panel.
Select "User Accounts".
Select "Manage User Accounts".
Be advised: Non-administrators will need to provide admin credentials here.
Click the "Add" button.
Enter a name for the account and click the "Next" button.
Select "Administrator".
Click the "Finish" button.

http://help.ea.com/article/how-do-i-run-a-program-or-a-game-as-an-administrator

If that doesn't work then I would suggest trying a clean boot of your computer.

A clean boot is used to disable background tasks and services that are running on a Windows computer. This is done to prevent the background tasks and services from interfering with proper game execution.

You can find steps on doing this at the below link:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929135 ""

After I received the email I created a separate admin user account, logged into it, launched Origin, and Hardline. And the game actually stayed open! I was able to play several rounds. I logged back into my main user account, and I had the original problem. As far as I can tell it's an issue with the user account permissions or the registry interfering with either bfh.exe or ActivationUI.exe.

Anyways I am able to play for now, but it's not a complete fix. I am still in contact with the same customer service rep ( some "tech specialist", I was transferred through three different people that had no idea of what the problem was, and one of them argued that the game wasn't released yet!) I will keep you guys updated as I learn more, hopefully this guy can help me identify the actual problem.

Sorry for the uber long post, but seeing as several people have been asking around about this issue, and no one seems to have a solution, I figured I would try to help out with what I know. It's just a temporary solution for now, but hopefully soon I can figure out what the root of the problem is, and figure out a more concrete fix.

[EA_Bastian · Accepted solution]

Thanks for sharing your experience! I hope that will help some players, please feel free to jump on other topics and share your knowledge or specifically this workaround there as well. I will mark this issue as solved for better visibility in our community.

Cheers

Basti

[EA_Bastian · Accepted solution]

Thanks for sharing your experience! I hope that will help some players, please feel free to jump on other topics and share your knowledge or specifically this workaround there as well. I will mark this issue as solved for better visibility in our community.

Cheers

Basti

[C0rvain]

I have an similar/ the same problem, the game doesn't start, activationui.exe and bfh.exe are started, then stopped in the taskmanager. All the while battlelog keeps on joining server and nothing happens.

After two calls to the support and doing everything plausible and still no step further to playing, I stumbled on this thread. And creating a new fresh admin user account allows me to start and play Hardline.

Dunno why, but it works.

TL;DR When Hardline is stuck on "joining server", create a new admin user account and try again, it might work then.

[Rykane]

I also had this issue but I managed to fix it.  This is how I fixed it.

I right clicked the Battlefield Hardline shortcut on the desktop and went to "troubleshoot compatibility" and click "try recommended settings" and ran the program and it managed to start up. It could be maybe a registry file not being installed or it fixing some settings but it worked for me.

I hope this helps other people as I was getting extremely frustrated with the lack of error/documentation for this problem.

[shook_ones_pt_2]

Tried this and didn't work...just keeps showing the "joining server" message. The bfh.exe and ActivationUI.exe appear for about 10-15 seconds then disappear. Creating a new admin account is a ridiculous fix. Can we please get someone from EA acknowledging this is a really issue that needs urgent attention. 

[grassotto]

could we get a real fix for this issue? i haven't even tried creating another admin account to see if it fix it, it makes no sense, i can run <1000 games on my pc without messing with windows accounts

[grassotto]

OK, as suggested on another thread in here , i solved this issue buy installing Origin client in its default folder, origin games folder can stay anywhere instead. This is pretty stupid in a modern game and should have been fixed

[REDxMisfit]

Had the same problem only for battlefield hardline and solved it thanks to your post that popup in the google research for "activationui.exe battlefield hardline".

So there's a problem somewhere in the link between origin & battlefield hardline (my others origin game ran fine, including BF3/BF4).

But i guess EA will never correct this bug, they rather prefer taking our money than listening to the bug we encounter or the evolution we want for origin client !

Like the wishlist requested since Origin client was release, few years later it's still not there while a small company called GoG (CD Projekt Red owned) have release a BETA client called GoG Galaxy which is not finished but is more pleasant to use, got many options, many bonus, a whishlist too (Oh My God !), and a game collection where you can easily navigate, see the recent news on the game, read the changelog of all upgrade your game received and many more.

It's just a smaller company doing a better job than the TITAN(nic) that is EA.

Thanks anyway to all the customers finding solution to problems, when EA (& EA support) fails to !

[axe0par4]

I finished Battlefield 3 and Battlefield 4 and today wasted whole day to try and launch Battlefield Hardline. Yes in 2020 Corona time. Finally added origin folder to Anti-Virus exclusion and problem is solved. Phew.

[EA_Atic]

I'm closing this thread to stop it being necroed.

If you have any issues with Battlefield: Hardline please make a new topic about the issues you are having and what kind of steps you have tried to solve it.

/Atic