Zero Hour fails to start. "Activation.dll" error: 0xc0000005 (Access Denied)

[BlueCheese66769]

Hello All!

I'm using "EA App" in PC with an account that linked to Xbox with GamePass.
Downloaded 3 games under "Command & Conquer - The Ultimate Collection" game, and faced with this situation:
- 1 works (Command and Conquer 4 Tiberian Twilight)
- 2 fails (C&C Generals Zero Hour + Red Alert 3).
Last two fails to start by EA App. When I launch any of it by "EA App", "EA App" minimized, a gray loading window pops up for a sec, "EA App" reopens, and that's it, like nothing happened.

Found this event under "Event Viewer\Application", EventID 1000:
- Faulting application name: Generals.exe, version: 1.0.0.1, time stamp: 0x50415093
- Exception code: 0xc0000005    (Access is denied)
- Faulting application path: C:\Program Files\EA Games\Command and Conquer Generals Zero Hour\Generals.exe
- Faulting module path: C:\PROGRA~1\EAGAME~1\COMMAN~1\Core\Activation.dll

"SetProcessDPIAwareness failed. (Access is denied.)"

"Red Alert 3" uses the same activation mechanism, and fail to start with the same reason...

I tried all the possible things I could imagine, like
- restart OS / EA App
- clear EA App cache
- reinstall game
- run "EA App" and the game itself as admin in compatibility
- run game from elevated cmd
- Disable "In-game overlay"
- test in W10 22H2 and in W11 22H2, both fails the same way
- offline / online
- EA App version: 12.64.0-5321-e75f858ca
- reinstalld DirectX (pre 2010 too), and /redist vc content
- removed AntiVirus

- through Origin

Tried through Origin as well, but my "EA Play" subscription is not listed in Origin (it is listed in "EA App" witht the same account...).
When I tries to launch C&C Generals while Origin runs, Origin complains about missing Activation Code.
If I provide the same Serial Key I found in EA App for the game, then Origin says it is already used . Which is true, but in the same EA Account...

Also checked ProcMon trace, there is no Access Deny regarding to any file/registry key. It misses Activation.INI from some location, but creating empty .ini files does not help.

- Maybe if someone can provide a workingthe content of the "...\Command and Conquer Generals Zero Hour\Core\Activation.ini" file, worth a shot.

Checked TTT (Time Travel Trace - process memory dump) as well, issue occurs inside Acvitivation.dll with some ServiceDeny, but without internal EA Symbols we cannot see more.

Also contacted multiple times with EA Support (chat), but none of them were able to help or provide anything so far, just repeating the same templates... (thank you, sorry...)

I hope some of you can provide me a solution to do the trick with this Activation.dll ACCESS_DENIED issue, and finally can launch Generals Zero Hour and release my stress with that old game.
Thanks a lot!

[melados3]

@BlueCheese6676 Have you found a solution to this? I am not too tech savvy and I have tried a lot of different things just as you have to address this. It is so weird because it was working fine prior to the switch to the ea application from Origin. This only happened to one of our family members running command and conquer zero hour. The others are not having this issue. They also have that grey loading screen pop up for a second then it goes away, and the Ea application opens back up.

[BlueCheese66769]

Actually yes. Not a nice workaround, but works. Got the idea from another thread here, and can confirm it works.

Use NO-CD Crack, then you can play with your official and paid game under a paid service. It's nice, isn't it? :D 

With this method you bypass the issues with Activation.dll...

[antpitt]

@BlueCheese66769 joining in this thread, after weeks of trying to figure out why Zero Hour and Red Alert won't load after mandatory EA update.   I tried everything in many other forums and none of them worked.   Finally saw my event log error with the exact same activation.dll error as this thread.

Can you elaborate on the NO-CD crack workaround?

[Zifro]

I can confirm this issue. Yesterday i met with a few friends where our original purchases dates back ~20 years. Having bought the game more than once. Both physical + Origin. Now for a meetup where the 20 year old game can not be launched initially due to login servers being down. Our last mate encountered this ridiculous DRM issue with Activation.dll. Thank god the old NO-CD crack was to be found on an old HDD backup. You saved the day @BlueCheese66769 !🥳

EA, fix your * or just stop making old offline titles unplayable when your servers are down..

[8cf6a8109c100174]

Anyone able to fix this issue without a NO CD hack? I'm also experiencing the issue.

[Nyerguds]

@8cf6a8109c100174 "access denied" might point to virus scanner issues; when a virus scanner goes over executables that try to launch, it tends to make them inaccessible for a moment, and that could have such side effects. So maybe you could look at that and make sure the involved libraries and executables are ignored by the virus scanner.